Candlemas

Well, I managed to get all of the items I was working on for Candlemas complete. Teresa was very happy with her new apron dress. Angie was thrilled with the Ghawazee coat, she might get to even wear it a few more times, before it's too big. She's lost 40 pounds and is still going. So the plan is to start yet more new garb for her, in a smaller size. I think we'll sell the stuff that is too big if I can't adjust it. Margaret was thrilled that I completed her gold silk kimono (construction done, embroidery needs finishing) she did manage to stain it 1st time out. But it can be covered with more embroidery, so no real harm there. Dave needs new pants, his current pair of Thorsburg trousers are pulling apart in the seam. I've decided I need to finish the head-dresses I was making for Angie and myself. It's been over a year since I touched them. I had the chance to talk to fiber peoples over the weekend and got some pointers. Looks like I will be attempting to tension Norse clothing with a frame for the purposes of the tablet woven trim.  Dave's keeping his eye out for a deal on a book that was recommended 'Woven into the Earth'. I'm also planning on starting a new tunic or two for Dave. Hopefully I will get to start those on Friday. I will be using the russet linen I bought for him. We have several events coming up and it would be nice for everyone to have something "new" to wear.

Things To Consider

I'm working on the trim for the apron dress today. I'm running into a few small problems. Problem #1: Following the directions in the book-wrapping the weft around the edge of the fabric is leaving the warp room to move around (closer to the edge of the fabric). Current Solution: I modified my overcast stitch into a buttonhole stitch. This creates a twist in the thread on the back side of the fabric and seems to be holding the warp in place. Having re-read the section in MGR-NCP (Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns), I discovered no additional helpful information. It simply says the weft is overcast. I considered that perhaps I was not pulling the stitches tight enough, however pulling the stitches tighter causes the fabric to bunch creating a wavy upper edge. Happily the addition of the buttonhole stitch has improved the appearance of the trim. I have to consider that the direction of my twisting could be part of the problem. The information in the book does not state which direction the warp was twisted clockwise/counter clockwise, and this could effect the way the trim lays. If the drawing in the book is accurate, then I am working in the correct direction. (See post "The Trouble Begins for image) Problem #2: My hand is cramping from holding the fabric taught and the new twists in place while my other hand is manipulating the needle. This means I have to take more breaks. Which is not the way I like to work, I want to sit down and work for at least an hour at a time. But I'll deal, probably better to take extra breaks anyway. I'm really hoping to have the chance to run these issues by some of the other fiber/fabric folks next weekend at Candlemas. I also want to do additional research on the apron dress. At least in the case of the Greenland finds, as summarized in the book, they were big on symmetry, going so far as to even add false seams to garments. My current pattern for these aprons does not comply with this. I am curious to see if this desire for symmetry was  local particularity or if it was a habit elsewhere that was brought by the Norse to the settlements in Greenland. If symmetry was of significant enough importance to cause the addition of false seams, then potentially I will need to re-work my pattern in the future.  More on this as it is discovered.

And So The Trouble Begins

The trim I decided to use on the Apron dress is pretty but not what I had originally planned on . Here's the problem. My current reference- Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns, has this wonderful information on how garments were finished, the length of the stitches, the number to the inch, ect. In the section titled "Footweaving and tablet-woven piping" it discusses the technique I initially tried. Where you have "a combination of tablet weaving and stitching where the weft thread in the tablet weaving is also the sewing thread that secures the edging to the cloth." and then a great illustration showing how this works from the front and back side. It looks like this:

Image A shows the back side of the fabric, image B is the front side. Keep in mind this was done on a much smaller scale creating a weave that is so compact the weft is only visible on the reverse (back) of the fabric. For those who are not overly familiar with weaving and it's terms. The "weft" is the stitches wrapping around the side of the garment, the "warp" is indicated by the threads running up the length. It looks fairly straightforward. Here's where I ran into problems. I could not maintain proper tension on both the garment and the threaded cards, WHILE, threading a needle through the warp. I attempted to use the footweaving technique to apply tension however it only works for a few inches and then I had to hunch over because of the shortening of the warp as I worked. So I turned to a simplistic version of the same technique where I only use two threads on the warp. This allowed me to use my left hand to hold the garment and warp in place, my right hand did the stitching and twisted the warp together and I used my foot to apply tension to the other end of the garment. I'm not all together happy with my results thus far, but I figure it's a start. It has been suggested that I clamp the garment to a table or other sturdy item and work with it under tension that way. I have yet to try this due to time constraints. I also hypothesized to my husband that perhaps they stretched the fabric on a frame to complete this part. The book alas does not offer an opinion. Besides being decorative, this was part of the finishing techniques, and was done after the seams had been completed. I will continue to post updates on this technique as they develop. I am currently unaware of this method being used with in our group and look forward to seeing how it is received. 

In other news, I need to go shopping for supplies for Angie's ghawazee coat, although the lining is together and all the pieces are cut. I need lacing and bias tape to make the lacing/button loops out of. So I'm at a standstill there until after I make the trip to town today. I am also altering the design somewhat by adding the sleeves in a different color. I'm actually on track to get things done on time and without sewing away all night the night before! 

I have not touched the kimono today, but will take it with me when I go to work, sewing while I wait for Margaret to get out of school. Thus far it is the only project not presenting me with some type of issue, unless you count the part where I sewed the sides together before I attached the sleeves. Not a huge problem but they are much easier to attach prior to sewing the sides. Thankfully it's a simple fix.