1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission FINISHED!

The project is finished! They had a fantastic time at the event and received several compliments. I've included a selection of photos of the finished garments below!

Showing off the Sleeves

The Happy Couple in their BRAND NEW Clothes and Chair!

I was thrilled with this finished project and how much they loved it. The banners came out beautifully, too, however it rained HARD almost all day long, so they didn't get to do much billowing in the wind.

It's now hanging in my living room as it came home for laundering, and the bliaut will be entered as an Art/Sci in mid January.

-E

1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission - Part 6 - Daniel's Fighting Tunic

The Pattern

The pattern for the fighting tabard was given to me by Mistress Genevieve La Rousse, who's personal page may be found here. Mistress Genevieve has been very helpful in this project for me, allowing me to raid her library and pick her brain whenever I had questions. The fighting tabard is the same design as her husband, Syr Geoffrey wears.

Here are a few photographs of the original belonging to Syr Geoffrey. I took several pictures so that I could replicate the tabard myself.

Materials, Cut, Construction

The tabard for Daniel was made out of a slightly heavier weight linen, lined with the same garment linen the under gowns were made out of. We discussed putting Daniel's fish on the chest portion, so instead of applique I decided to paint it on with resists. This would prevent it from cracking, peeling, or fading, and would give a stiffer texture to the chest of the garment.

After

Before

 I didn't realize that my toes are peeking out in the bottom of both pictures ;-)

We opted to leave the scales off of this fish so that it would match the fish on the shield. I was unable to trace on this thicker linen, so this fish was hand-drawn.

The entire tunic after assembly, was quite similar to what I had hoped. I left a little bit of extra space in the waist section just to ensure a good fit as this was based on measurements without armor on.

The Finished piece!

I don't think there's quite as much flare in this piece as there was in the original, but I made it to the maximum width of the fabric to prevent me from having to cut extra pieces. It fits and flows quite nicely, now here's to hoping it doesn't interfere with Daniel's fighting style!

~E.

1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission - Part 3.2 - Finishing the Bliaut

Stenciling & Beading

When we last left Ennelynne's bliaut I believe it had just been tried on her during my trip down to Jupiter. This piece is now entirely finished, with the exception of adding the gold onto the arm bands to cover where the maunches attach. The stencil and detail work was all added, and it's on a hanger in the living room ready to be packaged. There isn't much text with this post, it's primarily photos of the finishing touches.

I don't have any photographs of the stencil work that was done on this piece, but the collar and the inside and outside of the sleeves was stenciled. If time permits, I plan to go back and stencil the bottom of the bliaut.

The collar was beaded and decorated, and Daniel's will be embellished to match.

I've also finished the large portion of the girdle belt that will accompany this outfit. I have yet to get the tassels and attach them, but that will be done tomorrow so that it may be tied. It's getting closer and closer to being finished!

~ E. 

1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission - Part 5 - Daniel's Over Tunic

The Cut and Assembly

Unfortunately as time is getting closer to the deadline, I've noticed that I am taking less and less photos of my projects as I am rushing to complete them. This is a habit I'm trying hard to break as it only takes me a few seconds to snap a picture and I really should keep them for the sake of updating this blog. 

Since the last post on the over garments, I have cut, assembled, and stenciled out Daniel's over gown and under gown. The over gown was cut from the same pattern as the under gown, however it was shortened to just below the knee, the sleeves were shortened to just above the elbow, and the sleeves were drafted to be larger in size so that they bag.

The collar opening for it was a keyhole instead of the slit neckline that was more popular on the women's garments. In the future I will narrow up this neckline opening some. I still have a tendency to want to cut the keyhole circle part too large. I think it's because I always manage to forget that the slit part of that style will allow a significantly smaller neck hole to go over the wearer's head. It was then lined and faced in gold silk, the same as Ennelynne's, and hand stitched down so that there is no visible stitching. 

Ennelynne and Daniel came up for a visit last weekend and so I did a lot of preemptive pinning and put Ennelynne to work learning how to hand sew. She did all the finishing work along the bottom hem of Daniel's under gown, and my *wonderful* boyfriend helped by doing the finishing work along the bottom of the over gown. I was forced to make promises that no photographs would reach the public eye in exchange for his assistance. 

Ennelynne, however, made no such concessions ;-) She later reported that hand sewing was indeed less terrible than she originally thought, and actually quite relaxing.

See her smiling? Hand sewing actually isn't the worst thing ever!

Stenciling

The next step to this, once both pieces were assembled in their entirely was to begin the stencil work on them. I had originally planned to specially design stencils for the bottoms of these garments, however time did not permit that and some of the tools I had for stencil cutting performed less than admirably. I opted to use a pre-designed store bought stencil that was in a design that we all liked.

Stencil work on collar finished

The stencilling along the collar took about an hour from start to finish and was accomplished by simply taping off the parts of the stencil that I didn't want showing through. The color in person is much more of a garnet red, and the gold is flecked with pinks and oranges.

This design will later be beaded on all the points and then will be considered finished. A pin of some sort will be worn at the top of the neck opening to keep the V closed. 

I used a different brand of paints than originally purchased for this. When the silk dyes were ordered, I tried the Jacquard Lumiere fabric paints as they had a much better reputation for holding their color when laundered. I'm fairly certain this will still be a "please return to Ella" for laundering piece, but I'm more hopeful that it will survive a trip in my front loader on a delicate setting. 

I then pulled out all the black dyes to pattern the bottom of the under gown, and to add in red to the bottom of this over gown. The process was very repetitive - put down stencil, sponge paint, carefully remove stencil, let paint dry, repeat. I'll spare the details and just toss in a few photographs :)

The bottom of Daniel's under gown

The bottom of Daniel's over gown

Both layers together

I had originally planned for this to be the end of the stenciling on this piece. On second thought, I may go back and add either red or gold stenciling to the sleeves of Daniel's over gown. That decision will be made tonight based on how much extra time I have. 

~E.

1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission - Part 4.1 - Heraldic Banners

Ennelynne's Banners

So in my previous post, there was the idea, testing, drawing and painting, and finishing touches of Daniel's banner. Since then I was able to finish one for Ennelynne as well.  I started out by drawing with pencil on the banner, and then tracing the design with gutta resist. For this project, as it was less busy and on a colored background, I decided to go back over the resist lines and thicken them. You can see in the photo below the thickened lines versus the thinner ones. I think it provides a much nicer and cleaner look for the entire piece. This also allowed me to straighten some of the lines where they were a bit wobbly. Drawing straight lines on stretched silk is more of a challenge than one might think!

Thickening the resist lines with a second layer

After that, it was time to sit and let the banner dry. From start to finish it takes about an hour for the gutta to set. Since this had an extra thick layer I helped it along with a hair blow dryer on a low setting. Once it was dry, this is what you get.

Stretched silk

Then it was time to begin painting! This particular banner was a testy piece to get painted as it had such a large area of single color. I haven't figured out a way yet to get that area to not look streaky when I paint on it, as the paint dries faster than I'm able to spread it. I had someone suggest to me that I try spritzing the whole piece with alcohol as I work on it to keep it moist, but I haven't tried that yet and don't want my first venture to be on a commissioned piece. 

I was able to get the entire thing painted in one evening, but then decided I wasn't a huge fan of the red color that I used for the main body of the background. I talked to Ennelynne and we decided something closer to crimson would be more fitting, so the next morning I applied a second coat of paint in a darker color. 

The initial finished piece

After a second coat in a darker color

I really liked the finished look after the second coat was applied, though didn't really notice a decrease in the amount of streaking that was visible. It's really hard to cover large areas without getting streaks, especially when you have to slow down to paint inside curves, points, edges, etc. After everything had dried, it was heat set by ironing it on high with a towel as a barrier layer (the gutta will stick to the iron). I then threw it in in the dryer on a super hot setting, and then ironed it again.

Ironing banner under a towl

I'm really excited to see these banners finished and flying in the air. I received one more commission piece for a banner that I am hoping to get finished before the event. I had to await a second shipment of dye that was delayed, but has since arrived so I am hopeful.

The last step remaining for Daniel and Ennelynne's banners is to attach the ribbons to them so that they can be attached to flag poles and displayed.

I believe for attachment I will just use plain crafting ribbon, and hand stitch it along the top and bottom edges of the banner. Depending on how that looks once it's hung (I plan to test it in the back yard!) I may add a third ribbon in the middle to allow the banner to fly straight and not curl up on itself.

Until next time!
~ E.

1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission - Part 4 - Heraldic Banners

The Idea

We've all seen the beautiful silk banners flowing in the breeze, decorated with the arms of their owner. This was what I had in mind when starting this project. Having done a lot of work with silk dyes using wax resists, I imagined that making the leap into gutta resist and silk paints instead wouldn't be too far of a stretch. I was right :) I ordered supplies from Dharma Trading, they have a fabulous starter kit that contains 30 colors, brushes, droppers, and a few bottles of resist and is fabulous for someone getting started. The brushes could be a higher quality, but overall I was very pleased with everything in the kit.

Testing the Theory

I decided that the best course of action would be to familiarize myself with the new materials, get a good idea of all the colors I had available and what they looked like, and test the heat setting process. I busted out my embroidery loop and a measure of silk Habotai and went to town :)

I measured out 1 inch by 6 inch rectangles and lined them with gutta. The numbers correspond to the colors in the order they are listed on the invoice for the starter kit. Dharma was kind enough to put them into a nice organized color palette for me ahead of time :) I did them in sections of 7 as that's about how much would fit in my loop at any given time. Once they were dried, I drew a smaller section and smeared circles of the different colored resists that were also ordered. I then painted around them with the black dye to show off what they looked like when used as a resist, and make sure they held lines as well as the black gutta does. 

Here's the full spectrum now it's finished. I was really pleased with how the colors came out. Under advise from another member of our Kingdom, THL Milesenda de Bourges, I ironed the silks under a towel, tossed them in the dryer as high as it would go, and then ironed them again. Bear in mind I had already hot-washed and hot-dried all my silk so that it would pre-shrink before I start the banner making process.

Building the Frame

The next step in the project was to build a frame to stretch the banner on. This thing is huge, and awkward, and huge. About $40 and three trips to Home Depot later, I had my frame assembled. The uncut piece across the top serves as a rest for my arm. It leans across the banner once it's mounted without touching it anywhere, and gives me something to lean on when I'm painting the banners instead of the silk itself.

Laying out and Painting the Design

I mounted the silks up with small binder clips (butterfly clips) and rubber bands. It worked -way- better than  I thought it was going to. The next step was to trace the pattern onto the silk. I didn't have any tape at home so this part was kindof improvised upon, and I ended up drawing the majority of it freehand. It came out really nice though, and I'm pleased with it. I drew in mechanical pencil as I didn't have an old-fashioned regular pencil, and next time I will make sure to find one. It was very faint and hard to see the pencil drawing, so I didn't bother taking a picture of it. However, after the gutta was painted on it was quite pretty and easy to see :)

Then, I got some towels, a pillow on the ground, and started painting. I was able to get the entire thing painted in one evening. I also opted for decorating the black fish with gold scales after it was painted, adding some character. It took a little bit of extra time, but gave it a really fancy look. Also - everyone I have shown these photos to has commented about my "bra" sitting on the couch. It's a bathing suit top, I promise :) 

Below you can see the fish after the gold gutta was drawn on top of the black silk. It doesn't show entirely through on the other side, but enough to get an idea that they are supposed to be scales. The picture of the right below shows where I lined the large areas with glair made from raw eggs. This will help the paint coat evenly and prevents bleeding. 

Finished product!

1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission - Part 3.1 - Bliaut and Ennelynne's Test Fit

Collar

At the end of my last update, I had just pinned and mostly assembled the maunches and had laid out the gown with all the seams pinned down. I hand sewed all the seams down with a running stitch, and measured and cut the gores for the sides. At this point I decided to open the neck seam and start work on the lining for the collar. I machined down both long sides and hand sewed it around the curves. It was then flipped to the "good" side of the garment and pinned down flat. I didn't get any pictures of the process, I did it so fast I didn't even think about documenting it.

After getting it all pinned down flat it moved to the ironing board for another ironing. I'm learning quickly the value of ironing at as many points during this process as I can.

After that I decided to pop it on my head and get a test fitting to make sure everything laid flat and that I liked how it looked. The first results were a bit tricky to judge, as the sides of the garment aren't closed and that makes everything lay a little wrinkly around the shoulder area. I decided that I didn't like the shape of the lining on the back of the garment, and adjusted the way it was faced. 

Before adjusting

After adjusting

 My roommate was snapping these photos for me as I was obviously wearing the garment, and I later went back and straightened the seams on the "adjusted" design. It now lays completely flat and looks really nice :)

The Test Fit

We then packed all our things up and got in the car and headed down to Ennelynne in Jupiter for her test fitting. She was not thrilled about being shoved into a garment with well over 100 pins in it. 

Her "Can't Move, Dress Will Stab Me" Face.

The test fitting went really well - except - I realized that I had over estimated how much fabric was going to be taken up in my *hand sewn* seams, and the dress was too big in the midsection and would not lace tightly enough to give the look I wanted. So. We pinned. And we cut. And we pinned. And we cut. 

I ended up deciding to take the length out of the back part of the gown only. Ideally this won't change the overall look of the garment any, maybe just move the lacing seam a little further back on the body, which should actually improve the overall aesthetic. Here's a few pictures of the test fit. 

I'm sure she's going to hate me, but I just love the facial expressions in all these photos, LOL. The dress had several hundred pins in it, both down the sides, in the sleeves on all sides, and around the neck and collar.

Getting her into it wasn't so bad, but getting her *out* of it proved to be a bit more of a challenge and there were several pins all over the floor. Over all, I was really pleased with the fitting though and the adjustments that were required weren't too bad. Once I got the entire garment on, I wished that I had made the facing on the neck line red also, the contrast with the gold undergown just didn't pop quite as much as I had hoped. 

Facing the Collar

Then began the process of hand sewing down the facing on the collar with teensy tiny whip stitches, so as not to be seen. I had originally purchased a gold thread to do this, but ended up using a salmon pink I had that was a thinner thread and disguised itself more easily into the reds and peaches in the gold of the silk.

Hand sewing the facing down

Finished edge, whip stitches

The entire facing, post stitching but not yet ironed

After pressing. Stitches are virtually invisible!

Assembling Maunches and Gores

Open edges of the maunch, folded to show lining

 The next step was to put together the maunches. I had wanted to hand sew this entire garment, but was quickly running out of time. I'm down to the point where I have a little over a week and a half to get this entire commission finished, so it's time to bust out the sewing machine.

The seams on the open edge of the maunches were machined flat so that they won't roll, and the Elizabethan seams on the gores were pinned and machined flat. I did, however, still hand whip the gores into the garment to give it a nice finished look.
There are very few visible machine seams on this garment. The only places they exist area hemming the gore edges, and along the open edge of the maunches.

Sewing in the seams along the gores was the most time consuming. I used a double strand of DMC embroidery floss, folded in half and waxed. It worked beautiflly for the seams.

After all this was finished, it was time to check the fit again. I slipped it on myself and although it doesn't have any lacings yet I found it to be very comfortable, and everything hung where it was supposed to.

I have had trouble in the past with getting gores in an even place on both sides of a garment, so I made it a point to measure, pin, then measure again, then to put it on and make extra sure. It seems like I've finally figured it out because everything hung exactly where I expected it to.

Adding the Sleeves

The last step to this was attaching the maunches to the dress. Easier said than done. I had a heck of a time getting them even, and I still think they are going to be too long for Ennelynne. She's going to have to -deal- though, and the dress is designed to be worn with the edges folded back anyhow to show off the lining. I ended up machining the attachment seam and then hand felling the edges to close the seams. THIS dress has absolutely zero exposed seam allowances - a task I'm very proud of :) 

In the above pictures you can see both sides of the seam. The black portion is the "upper" arm and I decided to running stitch this to minimize the risk of catching the seam. This is the side that the arm "pushes through" to get the dress on and  I didn't want a finger or piece of jewelry to be likely to catch in the seam. This portion will also be hidden underneath a band of trim, so I wasn't worried about the stitches showing through.

The other side, the red portion, is the maunch and the red is actually the lining. I opted to whip stitch on this side as that seam should never encounter and resistance, and that way I was able to tack only to the red lining and not to the over gown. No visible stitching from the outside that way :)

Once all that was done, it was time to put it on with all its layers and see how it looks. 

Success.

I can't wait to see it when it's laced down the sides and skin tight. I had it pinched under my arms in the side photo and it looks like it's going to give a really clean profile. The lacing will tighten up the shoulder and bust area and create a slight rouching around the midsection. The dress is slightly longer in the front, and will be able to be lifted in the front by a belt to show off the undergarments, if so desired :)

All that's left is to cut and decorate the arm bands, and add the gilding and detail work and this piece will be entirely finished.

I'll leave you with some 12th century porn. I'm *so* showing off my underoos!