Sock UFO

I bought yarn from a friend ages ago that had some cow hair mixed into the wool. I intended to make a pair of naalebound short socks from it, thinking that they would be slightly more water repellant than regular woolen socks. Unfortunately I miscalculated how much yarn I would need and was unable to finish the socks. I put them aside and thought that I should buy some more yarn to finish them and then I forgot all about them. When I finally got around to asking the seller had no more left of the yarn so I had to go for something else for the last bit of the socks. If one tries to look at the bright side of this I have not only finally finished the socks, but also used up a small ball of brown yarn that I have had for ages. 

Upgrading veils

I have a couple of thin cotton veils that I have been using for ages. The first one I got at a Christmas gift exchange in Gotvik my first year as a member. After that I made a smaller one, which I every time I weat it think is too small, and a larger one that looks cool but is always getting in the way of things, so the first medium-sized one is the one I have been using the most. I have also had  some fine hemp fabric that I meant to make a couple of better veils out of. I have had it for quite some time not getting around to actually cutting and hemming it. This year I did actually manage to make one half circel veil and one oval. The hems could have been narrower, but at least I have new crispy veils. I like the way it falls around the face, it is slighty more stiff than the other ones. Ignore the strange placement and view of the veil, I accidentally just deleted a better photo. 

Sorting stuff

I got rid of the most annoying UFO:s little over a year ago before moving, but there are still projects that I gave up in the middle lying about here.

Yesterday I finished a silk veil, a long oval or maybe a rectangle with very rounded corners. I think that the reason why I stopped hemming it was the realization that it is a slippery silk that will probably make me go crazy when trying to make it stay on my head. Well, it's soft and shiny so I will probably give it go, but I need to find som thin good-looking pins to keep it in place. It's also possible that I stopped because the rolled hem was uneven and that I really, really didn't want to unpick it.

Pink Skjoldehamn hood

I don't think there will be nuch done by made for the Historical Sew Fortnightly. It looks like I never made the blog roll and the things I should finish won't fit in the challenges.

This is a hasty version of a viking hood, and the fit is not great. It's however very much what I'm missing for my viking garb, something to keep the cold off my neck and shoulders. I used information from the Internet, mainly from http://www.medieval-baltic.us/skjold.html and made alterations as I went along. The main piece had a fold on top of the head when I started, but it was much too long so I shortened it there instead of taking out the gores and cutting away fabric at the bottom.

Another UFO

I found another UFO the other day, a knitted wool cap that just needed fastening of threads and a run through the washing machine for felting. It is not yet fully dry, but I tried it on with a linen cap under for a quick photo. I think it turned out fine.

It had been sitting on a shelf for quite some time, but as I recall it the knitting was fairly straight forward. Lady Helwig suggested using nine needles and making all changes once per needle rather than by counting. I really liked that.

HSF14 Challenge #4: Under It All

Last time I moved I did actually get rid of some of the things that I would probably never finish. This shirt however I could not leave since it is such a lovely soft fabric.

When the Under It All challenge came up I decided to take it out of the bag where it had been sitting for five years or so. I soon realized that the problem was the ruffle. "What ruffle?", you ask. Well, the one that I unpicked, tried once more to attach neatly and then unpicked again and settled for doing without in order to actually finish the shirt. 

I also decided to sew the remaining long straight seams using the sewing machine. I then unpicked those since I had it inside out when sewing them. The only reasonable place to use the sewing machine at the moment is the kitchen table, and by the time I had unpicked the seams someone else had spread out an entirely different project there. So the shirt is hand-sewn since I wanted to finish it rather than wait for my turn to use the table.

The Challenge: A 16th century shirt

Fabric: Thin hemp

Pattern: Loosely based on somebody's description of the Sture shirts, I think. 

Year: 16th century

Notions: thread (linen, silk and cotton by the looks of it)

How historically accurate is it? Reasonably

Hours to complete: No idea, how about thirty?

First worn: Only for the photo. I intend to make a dress to go on top of it.

Total cost: None now, and I don't remember how much it was when I bought it. 

Sewing

I decided to try the Historical Sew Fortnightly.The setup is a new challenge every two weeks, but I might skip some of them. I can't quite wrap my brain around what to do for "Innovation" and "The Politics of Fashion " anyway.  I'm a bit surprised that I decided to do this since I don't really enjoy sewing and don't identify myself as a seamstress. I do enjoy having stuff when it's done though, so this is a way to actually get some things finished.

The Challenge: #1 Make Do and Mend
I have an old green dress that had three small holes near a seam in the lower skirts. I decided to use a patch on one of them and moved the seam 5 mm to get rid of the other two.

Fabric: Thin green wool

Pattern: One of the Herjolfsnes dresses, pattern originally made by a friend.

Year: 14th century

Notions: Thread

How historically accurate is it? Reasonable from the outside. It has lots of machine-sewn French seams on the inside. The patch is made from the same fabric as the dress and hand-sewn with silk thread. The thread is a bit too bright, but I find the result OK.

Hours to complete: Under 1. It was done about a week ago, but I didn't get around to blogging.

First worn: The dress itself maybe in 2008. It hasn't been worn after mending.

Total cost: Almost none, just some thread and scraps.

Brown? How peculiar.

I seem to have bought brown and orange fabric and I fond that somewhat odd since I normally don't like brown. 

The solid brown will become a 14th century dress, the orange a jacket and the lighter brown herringbone one or two underdresses for my apron dress. 

White gifts

I made a new chemise for me. There was enough fabric left for a shirt for Nattfari, but not really for a decent legngth chemise, so I made a shirt. Visby medieval week is a long event, so an extra shirt for him  to change with could be nice.

I also made a new coif for Nattfari. He only had one and it was a bit on the small side so I hope that the new one will be better. He was away when I cut the fabric so the size is a bit of guesswork.

Mending stuff

With less than two weeks until we leave for Visby Medieval Week there won't be much fancy new stuff being done, but some mending of old stuff and perhaps some new underwear. I have started on a new St. Bridget's cap since the one I currently have is made from a cotton fabric, and I also think I need another chemise.

This is one of Náttfari's hoses, and there seems to be a big gap between the foot part and the upper part. I will now spend a couple of minutes sewing that shut, since Náttfari himself is away and will probably not have time to fix it when he returns next weekend. Or rather, if he has time to fix things, there are other things I would prefer that he did. While sewing I'm watching the first season of The Tudors.

New underdress

I have had this fabric for quite some time. I fell in love with it, but the colour is not very flattering on me so I have been unsure of what to do with it.  I also had a piece of the same fabric in green and white which I used as a lining for a liripipe hood. It is a linen/cotton mix that frays a lot, so it needs rather large seem allowances.

First I made a pair of oriental pants out of the fabric, but they were not baggy enough to be comfortable, so I have now undone them and made an underdress for my viking garb. There was some unused fabric to add as well.

Boring sewing

Now I only have the last little bit of hemming left on my new shift and I find it boring.

Ah well, I need it done in two weeks for Double Wars. I got rid of all the less good ones when I moved a couple of months ago.