100 Days of SCA lite

A bunch of friends do A&S challenges, but as much as I love crafting, I also love service.  So after having taken an LOA from derby for the month of May, I realized I had done something SCAdianish every single day.  Here are some of the smaller things and a calendar I will be updating as I go.

1.  Done on April 30 instead of May 1st because I had to give out my final exam. 
• Started to plan a Spanish Trenzado coif.
2. Researched bobbin lace patterns.
3. Pulled out my pillow (purchased and last used in 2008 >.> ) and made my first foot of lace!






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4. Saturday, went to Queen's Rapier Championship
• Did some kamikaze calligraphy over someone else's art.  Not my best work, but I blame it on not having my own equipment and having to cram too many words in a very small space with a failing marker.



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5. Found out that the hat I want to make follows the pattern for a St Birgitta Coif.
6. Found patterns and fabric for the coif.
7. Went to the Spinners Guild meeting and talked with some weavers about the AEWP class I was planning. 
• Hunted down tubers for soups for sideboard.
8. Pinterest hole researching bobbin lace.  
• Found sources for weaving silk.
9. Nithgaard business meeting
• Sliced up All The Tubers.
10. CLEANED.  
• Hardboiled 90 eggs for Crown Tourney. 
• Worked on blanket stitching the edge of the braid case.
11. Crown Tourney, worked kitchen and setup, shenanigans.
12. Peeled and steeped lemons for Limoncello. 
13. Drafted Venetian bodice from saturday's fitting, realized I missed a couple of points >:[
14. Bought some embroidery books at the PSU book sale
• Went to Joanne's for bobbin lace thread.
15. Got 10 books out of the library to use in my weaving class. 
• Decanted and refilled limoncello peels.
16. Nithgaard A&S meeting.  
• Drafted up my weaving class while Andreas taught calligraphy. 
• Finished up limoncello and balanced the flavors.
17. Went to Æ War Practice!  
• Taught my first class "Whatcha' Wanna Weave?".
• Participated in the Brewer's Competition, won the Cordial category (only participant), got good reviews.  Volunteered to start the Boozy Food category.
• Was the Resident Scribe and found supplies for Maddoc to sign in an apprentice.
18. Worked the Scribal breakfast.
• Carved my first soap stone medallion! Thoroughly enjoyed Shea's class and giving him just enough hell for a new teacher to learn. 
• Went to the Brewer's mead tasting class and learned how to give an evaluation.
• Got great tokens at Court for teaching and winning the competition, and a nifty bar towel that I want to embroider the event on for participating.
• Found amazing pickling recipe!
• Made contacts with a pig farmer.
19. Worked the Scribal breakfast, again.
• Caught people to measure for dresses.
20. Made AEWP recap post.
• Researched linen for dresses.
• Made a list of all the projects I need to complete for Pennsic -____-
21. Started making scroll cases from leftover breakfast bread boxes.
22. Bought and washed linen for two kitchen dresses and two chemises.
23. Cut cardboard for 8 scroll cases.
24. Test out camping equipment for Pennsic.
25. Bought fiber for project
26. SCAdian family party.
27. Spent way too much money I don't have on stuff I will probably only ever use for Pennsic (got a roof rack!), dried out the tent.
28. Beet pickled motherfucking three dozen eggs.
29. BLOG ALL OF THE BLOGS!
30. Get 50 cigar boxes for scribal retreat.
31. Sew scroll cases.
    
32. (June 1) Scribal retreat: Macclesfield Psalter Pg 161
    
    
33. (2) Scribal retreat Part 2: Macclesfield Psalter Pg 170
34. (3) Put away everything from the past three weekends, start coordinating feast
35. (4) Ball up weaving silk
36. (5) Emotional Support Drea, talk through summer plans
37. (6) Nithgaard meeting, continue balling up silk
38. (7) Make a bliaut
39. (8) Scarlet Guard Inn
    
40. (9) Go to Pittsburgh Pride, scare Heavy fighters
41. (10) Make SCA resume
42. (11) Warp and start weaving
43. (12) Weave
44. (13) Nithgaard meeting, weave
45. (14) Didn't want to tame my hair, so I made a Birgitta coif and inset the first bobbin lace.
46. (15) Æthelmearc Æcademy 
47. (16) Beer Pickled Eggs
48. (17) Weave
49. (18) Finish weaving!
50. (19) Research "Ancient Deviled Eggs" and krupnik
51. (20) Meeting with Italian White Vine class! Start Om krupnik.
    
52. (21) Try to sell helmets
53. (22) Read about wild fermentation
54. (23) Read about Basque names, order library book
55. (24) Hood class outline
56. (25) Hibiscus mango krupnik, name research, print old handouts
57. (26) Coffee krupnik, Vigil organizing
58. (27) Spicy pickled eggs
59. (28) Make new shirt for Dave
60. (29) Kingdom For My Horse (so much fun!)
61. (30) 
62. (July 1) Buy way too much linen
63. (2) Cut out Helga Ball dress
64. (3) Sew together Helga Ball dress
65. (4) Hand finish seams
66. (5) Pack for PAX, fit dress
67. (6) PAX Interruptus, retaining
68. (7) Add gusset to Helga Ball dress, hunt down pizzelle press
69. (8) Jump on Jen's elevation dress
70. (9) Meet with Jen for fitting
71. (10) Orangello, dress bodice lining
72. (11) Honey Anise eggs, dress kickplate, Nithgaard potluck
73. (12) Bog Three Day, kitchen prep
74. (13) Bog Three Day, kitchen and retaining
75. (14) Venetian bodice
76. (15) Soy eggs, bodice
77. (16) Blueberry cordial, bodice
78. (17) Bodice
79. (18) Chipotle honey mango eggs, bodice
80. (19) National Museum of Art: 16c research
81. (20) Drive back from DC, post pictures
82. (21) Line bodice
83. (22) Line bodice
84. (23) Finish lining bodice
85. (24) Sleeve panels, viking underdress
86. (25) Decant boozes, Sleeve panels, viking underdress
87. (26) Class handout, Sleeve panels, viking underdress
88. (27) Tiki!viking dress and underdress
89. (28) Last viking under dress, and PENNSIC!
90. (29) Æthelmeark hospitality
91. (30) Get weighted loom form Hrolfr, start new set of garters.
92. (31) Take classes (Aztec Illumination)
93. (August 1) continue weaving
94. (2) Morning Troll, airport
95. (3) Archery, Process at Opening Ceremonies with BMDL, man radios at the Watch
96. (4) Finish apron dress, stamp cabbages on 28 aprons, HOLY SHIT SERVE VIGIL
97. (5) Finish weaving garters, stage makeup for Comedia
98. (6) Retain for TRH at Great Court
99. (7) Teach class, Cartridge pleat Venetian, serve Seven Pearls dinner
100. (8) Attach skirt to bodice, party like a Roman
101. (9) Tear down Æthelmeark Royal, host krupnic "competition"
102. (10) Close up camp and drive home.
103. (11) Three loads of laundry, two of dishes, put bulk items away

Plus so many things I forgot at Pennsic. I took Owen's whitework illumination class, Nicola's died parchment class, Aztec illumination and costuming, and German hats!  It was exhausting, amazing, and probably going to continue.

Viking (and Cranach)

 Yesterday was Easter, but the previous two weekends I went to SCA events.  The first one was Coronation and Anna Leigh's Strawberry Party, for which I made a Viking apron dress.  I lucked out and got the pink wool from Cassie because it was too scratchy for her, and it matched Ye Olde Bliaut I've been working on for five year enough to use it as an under dress.  I used the beads I strung for my Valhalla Back Girl costume from Rollercon last year and the ones I made myself about three Pennsics ago? Unfortunately that string broke at the Strawberry Pizza Party and I had to restring them for Ice Dragon, but Vera Fischer was amazing and gave me three new beads!  I also got a fantastic shot glass from Honnoria Thescorre (Gayle A. Erwin) with a mermaid and boobies ^_^ that is now hanging on a chatelaine. 

Because I am super vain and don't particularly care for Viking attire, I completely cheated.  Yes, they would have used pleating to store up excess fabric that can be let out when pregnant, and I used it to hide in princess seams.  They look straight up and down, but the secret is in how you tuck the fabric inside the pleat.  

I also wove trim!  Simple tablet chevrons.  I learned a lot about decisions I need to make before starting a new weaving project and I want to teach it at War Practice.  I need to get my shit together -_____-  But I'm glad that this all came together in just one week.  I'm impressed!

I also finally managed to wear my Cranach for Coronation!  And I forgot to pack the padded bra it was sized with.  It looked ok, but I have so many ideas of things I want to improve.  Of course.

ROOOOOOOOMAN

There's been a lot of impromptu SCA sewing since this summer, and I have forgotten to document all of it >.>

This week was Aethelmeark Coronation, for which we wanted to dress in Roman in support of Anna Leigh's ascent.  I found three yards of purple linen in my stash and some sari trim Dani had given me and put them together into an under dress. I also used a sari from my stash to wear as an over dress (toga) with veil.  Even when I'm "quickly throwing something together out of my stash", I still take 8 hours to meticulously hand sew the trim on.

I also found myself as part of the slave labor crash team putting together Sven and Sioban's step-down clothes. 12 more hours of meticulously sewing on bias tape and trim!  Other people did the embroidery and tablet weaving and construction, and it was GORGEOUS. And that wooooool...

And the last thing I haven't documented is the doublet I made this summer to wear under my armor.  I loved it so much that I also made pants to wear with it (and, of course, a codpiece).  I wore them as a set once at the beginning of Pennsic, then strapped my arms onto the doublet and haven't pulled it out since -_-  The pants have been getting some regular wear though, so I want to make another doublet that is better fit now that I understand the pattern.  I've also been commissioned by Gary to make a Juan Sanchez Villalobos Ramirez outfit once the linen comes in.

Best thing about this weekend was freaking out people with my dick cheese.  It was beyond amazing.

I did the thing! But she'll probably score the points.

A girl recently transferred to SCAR from California and decided to change her skate name to Zombabe.  I told her she should totally paint her helmet into a brain, but apparently people charge a shitload to do this, and she claimed she didn't have the skill to do it herself.  So I jumped in head first.

1) First, I cleaned off the helmet with alcohol. Simple enough.

2) I traced some pencil lines where I wanted the folds to go, and then filled it in with paint markers.  I didn't particularly like how this looked, but I figured it would adhere pretty well to the helmet and give a good base layer.

3) Clearcoat

4) Clearcoat

5) Clearcoat

6) The easiest thing for me to use was acrylic paint.  It comes in all colors, and it is pretty stable once it dries.  I had to do about three layers overall to get full coverage and good detail.

7) Clearcoat

8) Clearcoat

9) Did I mention Clearcoat?  I even did a light layer after the first acrylic layer.  I want this paint job to survive being banged up in a gear bag.

10) I wanted to add a sblechy red jelly feel to it between the folds, so I caked on red glitter glue.  Again, it took a few layers to build up well, and I probably did a couple of clearcoats in between, for good measure.

11) I added the green shading with a translucent acrylic made for stained glass.  I'm not too thrilled that there wasn't black in my set, so the green came out pretty neon.  But it looked pretty cool all in all.  With probably eight more clearcoats.

12)  In the end, she added name stickers.  I think they fit well.

I did not add a penis.  I have no idea what you are talking about!  Get your mind out of the gutter.

 The vulva is totally legit.

Also, the clearcoat is just Rust-oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Gloss in Clear.  Maybe less than half a can?  And the beauty is that each coat didn't have to be perfect, since I put so many on in the end.  Just give it about 20 minutes between each coat.

It's time for Big Fun!

Yay to waking up at 8 am with an urge to sew!  The last of my current slew of sewing projects was thanks to Love and Lights Productions, which this spring put on Heathers: The Musical.  It was fucking awesome!  Dan was Ram Sweeny and I did a bit of costume alterations and worked the back stage for the four showings.

I wish I would have gotten a better picture of the skirt -_-  I got home at 2:30 am after the friday shows and couldn't stop dreaming of Lydia Deetz's uniform, so obviously I woke up at 8, drove to JoAnn's, struck out, went to Walmart, struck out, and came home to 2.7 yards of a fabric in the correct pattern, but wrong texture.  Whatevs, I'm in the back, I can fake it.

In about four hours, I ironed and sewed down all of the pleats painstakingly matching up all the black lines, got my hair waffled, threw on some falsies, and was ready to roll!  Too bad my hair had absolutely no intention of staying teased (not that it has ever given me that choice EVER).

I love these guys.  This october will be the traditional Rocky Horror Show, followed next spring by American Idiot.  Definitely fun times!

PS: Lipstick is MUFE, and I LOVE IT.

Aethelmeark Coronation 1560's Venetian gown

Dani somehow managed to sucker me back in to formally participating in the SCA and going to Nithgaard meetings and shit where she was teaching how to sew Venetian gowns and needed some assistance.  Dani also suckered me in to joining Pinterest.  So, after about three months of obsession and several long nights indoctrinating me in Game Of Thrones, we made dresses for Coronation.

This portrait was my main inspiration, and what really got me jonesing for punched sleeves.

Just like my Curious Purse, this gown was a Proof of Concept.  In 1560, they would have used a felted wool that had been lightly backed with wax to better keep it from fraying when it was punched.  I was lucky to find a synthetic fabric at Surplus City in a perfect black/rust crossweave.

First I made the bodice with a layer of canvas duck and another of a cheaper and thicker canvas I'd been storing for about eight Pennsics.  I sewed channels for boning and then added the decorative fabric which was hand stitched in place.

I bought ten yards of boning and failed miserably trying to cut it with regular snips. Luckily a hefty pair was $12 at Lowes and I'll probably end up using them for a lot more things in the future.

I made sure I got a very sharp point in the back of my bodice, and that all the channels were properly closed so the bones didn't escape.

In theory, the front should be able to come completely closed at the bottom and have a five inch gap at the top.  This looked well and dandy on the floor, but I did not like this proportion once I put it on.  I should have brought the top in a couple of inches for a more vertical line.  Meh, it's not the end of the world.

Next came a shitload of cartridge pleating.  It was remarkably simple and faster than it probably should have.  After reinforcing the pleats, I attached the top front edge to the bottom of the bodice.  This could have been great, but it definitely needed some help to stick out.  Either the stiff band that everybody tells you to add but you are still going to be too lazy to do, or a bum roll.

Then, came the sleeves.  I took full advantage of this being synthetic and used a pyrograph to cut through the fabric and melt the edge so it wouldn't fray.

Like I said, this was a proof of concept.  After everything was cut out, I had to sew this to a fake chemissette sleeve for it to hold its shape.  It is then that I realized that the beautifully intricate pattern was going to be a little bitch and curl away from my arm at every possible chance.  So I proceeded to tack down every other tab. Meh, whatevs.  I also didn't like visually how open the design was (which was originally what I thought I wanted).

Three strands of pearls and a $2 hair extension later, I was ready to roll.  Mind you, I had to wrap my braid around my head so it didn't get caught in the seat belt.

Too bad I didn't get a picture of the extra long braid encased in "pearls".  It was glorious.

PS: Hand sewing is bad for you.  I left a very significant hole in my finger from several continuous months of projects (not that I'm complaining that I'm finally sewing again!).

Jane Austen (not) Con (but Annual Society Festival)

I am a sucker for cons.  So when my friend Meredith asked me to Jane Austen Con (despite me never having read any of her books), I said yes! So, much to the complaints of my cat, Meredith and GilgaDave came over to my house for two weekends while we sewed and watched All Of The Movies.

We used Sense and Sensibility's Regency era patterns, which were pretty well done and easy to follow.  Mer is very much not a seamstress, and the most difficult part for her was probably taping together all the print outs.  Though I probably cheated a bit and just plowed through everything.  And she has a fantastic tutorial.

Again, I was able to take full advantage of Surplus City's amazingly cheap fabric!  Which is very necessary, because there are too many layers.

 

Chemise from the Underpinnings packet.  We didn't have time to ALSO make stays, so we cheated with a balconet bra.

 

A second under dress who's name, for the life of me, I can't remember. My best guess is petticoat.  This is the third of the white layers that I made and I greatly preferred the lines in these gathers.

(Edit: yes, it is a bodiced petticoat)

Long sleeved Regency gown, lined.  The cotton fabric has really cute white flowers on a slightly sheerer white base.

Pelisse.  Yes, this fabric is synthetic, but it was $2/yard!  I got it in a fantastic steel blue and should have gotten it in dusty purple when I saw it in january, but they were sold out by the time we decided to go ahead with this project.

I had some fantastic rusty red microsuede for a spencer, but we ran out of time.  Mer ended up taking everything home to hem and button herself and trim with lace and embroidery and EVERYTHING!  I had also managed to cut out a gown for myself in a lovely dusty pink I had in my stash since about five Pennsics ago, but that fell to the side for me to make on my own time.

So we're in the process of closing up shop and reevaluating my schedule (and deciding whether I wanted to miss a derby game or not), when I understand that this is, in fact, not just "Jane Austen Con", but the Jane Austen Society of North America, Pittsburgh Region's Annual Festival, with a door cost of $90 plus $25 for the ball.  Seeing as how I have never read any of her novels (though I did grow quite fond of the movies and mini series), I decided it best I bow out.  

I also didn't yet have a job, which I finally have one now! And it even has to do with all of my degrees!  Too bad I'm currently employed through a temp agency that is probably skimming way too much out of what the company pays me (which would still not be what I should be getting if I axed the middle man).  But, at least I've finally been employed for the past ten weeks and it even looks like they have no intention of firing me.