Fabric Off the Loom

Got the first of 5 fabrics for a Tibetan panel coat done. It will eventually be apiece for my COE-W part 2 and have kumihimo braids all over it. The theme for the coat is "Fire Dragon." This fabric is a Swedish lace, with orange and red in the warp and yellow in the weft. I had a towel from a sample exchange that always reminded me of living flame, even when I would randomly happen to take the towel out of my linen closet. This fabric is based on that. It is 20 ends per inch and 15 picks per inch. Yarns were all around 2000 yd./lb. and ranged from 6/2 to 5/3. Wove 5+ yd., 11 inches wide.

Vacationing with a Police Officer/Relative

We are spending this spring break with my cousin by marriage, Ron, who is a canine officer. Here I am in the bullet-proof vest and a rifle. You don't get to see Vendo, the police drug dog. He lives with Ron and is really a member of the family. We have just gotten done with having Vendo do his whole thing of finding drugs in the backyard. Vendo thinks this is great fun and would do it until he dropped.

My Japanese Kosode for the SCA

Finally had pictures taken of my first real set of Japanese kosode for wearing in the SCA. I had made a couple of sets before but this is the first set that was really color coordinated and made with all natural fibers. The time period would be very late 16th century. This would be appropriate garb for a well to do merchant's wife or perhaps everyday wear for a minor samurai's wife. The first layer is linen. This is a rather "old fashioned" choice since cotton was widely grown by that time and was preferred to linen because it was easier to process and was less scratchy. The second layer is a very light denim. That's right-blue jean material. It certainly is indigo dyed cotton and is therefore very period. It is a twill but the twill line is not very obvious. I have a few scattered hints twills and other simple weaves were to be found in period Japan. It was not all plain weave! I hope to do discharge dyeing on the blue kosode so it will have scattered white designs on it. Outer layer is a print fabric, not indigo dyed, but the shade is pretty close to what indigo would have been. The print is probably too complex for what would have been available in period.

Queen's Prize Tourney, part 2

My second length of fabric for a kosode was a bit more traditional. It was done in cottolin-part cotton and part linen, because the cost of all linen would have been prohibitive. Although it is not intended for someone of the samurai class, they would have liked it because they always loved the look of dark blue indigo. This was Bockens Nialin brand of cottolin. Sett was 20 ends per inch. Beat was 16 picks per inch. It was 16 inches wide after washing. I wove 9.5 yards.

Queen's Prize Tourney Entries-Fabric for Japanese Kosodes

I recently entered the Kingdom of Calontir's Queen's Prize Tourney. This is an arts and sciences competition for beginners. It really is more than a competition. It is a way for people to get their feet wet and figure out what the unwritten rules are in judging the arts and sciences in the SCA.

I entered 2 lengths of fabric that I had woven with the idea that they would be made eventually into kosodes-medieval Japanese "kimonos." The judges were very complimentary about my work and my research.

The first length is intended to be for everyday wear for someone who is not of the samurai class. A merchant's wife or a moderately well to-do craftsman's wife. It is cotton. Sett is 28 ends per inch with 10/2 cotton at 4200 yd./lb. Beat is 11.5 picks per inch. It is 15 inches wide. I wove a little more than 12 yards after shrinkage. This would be a set of garb for late medieval Japan-1550 to 1600, when cotton was widely grown and not expensive.

My First Piece on a Drawloom

My friend, Sharon Bowles, graciously allowed me to weave on her wonderful drawloom last weekend. This is a ten shaft satin and was woven on a single unit drawloom. It is 20/2 cotton in warp and weft. I don't know epi and I'm almost afraid to get out the pick glass to find out. A single unit draw loom has a single draw cord selecting for each half-unit which is 5 ends (since this is a 10 end satin.) You weave 5 picks with the drawcords in one configuration. Then you pull the next lash forward and select new drawcords for the next 5 picks. A drawcord is a piece of knitted fishing line knotted around a guide string to keep it in the proper order in relationship to the other lashes and then the other half is knotted around the drawcords that need to be pulled. Sharon even has a little sign to remind her whether she is using the drawcords from front to back or from back to front. It reads "pull from the front, push to the back" on one side and "pull from the back and push to the front" on the other. This is what we all need in life-something to tell us what to do.

Steve's New Belt

I made Steve a belt. It is ayatakadai work. I really like ayatakadai work-it is rather mindless and does not require a lot of contemplation. It has 24 bobbins arranged in four layers 6bobbins wide. Each bobbin has 6 strands of embroidery floss. It resembles card weaving with the cards alternating S and Z twist. The weft structure is different however. In card weaving there would be only one weft and it would pass through a shed having 2 threads from each card above the shed and 2 threads from each shed on the bottom. This has 2 weft bobbins. The two wefts are thrown through opposite sides through the two sheds created every time a set of moves are made on the ayatakadai. One shed happens on the front face between the first and second layers. The second shed happens between the third and fourth layers on the back face. This results in a very thick braid that is moderately soft if you take care not to beat it too much. Finding a belt buckle was difficult. A 1 inch belt buckle was too little and a 1.5 inch was too big to fit through Steve's belt loops on all his favorite pants. We had to cannibalize a 1.25 inch buckle from an old belt. That size is not available at fabric stores.

More Early Garb

More generic early garb. The under and overtunics are quite generic for early medieval. The cloak is an all wool Kinsdale cloak from Folkway patterns. Wish I still had it. Had to gather the cloak onto the collar by hand.

My Early SCA Garb-The Watermelon Stealing Dress

This was my second favorite dress. It was known as the watermelon stealing dress. It was green on the outside and pink on the inside like a watermelon. You could stuff a watermelon up either sleeve. It is a bliaut, done in the style that suggests that a bliaut had a curved waistline hem that dipped in the front. There is a big question about whether the actual bliauts were a loose gown with a vest with a curved lower front laced over them. or something that was actually cut and tailored to be that way. Whatever, it was a favorite.

My first SCA Garb

Yes, I was one of those born costumers who refused to go to an event in borrowed garb. The picture on the left is my first garb. It was a crinkled cotton, which managed to look old the first time it was worn. Those are tapestry ribbons at the neck and sleeves. It was laced up the back and I used metal eyelets. The date would be generic early medieval.

The garb on the right is about my fourth atempt. It has a cotton undertunic, an overtunic in black and a tabard. I have on a headdress from 1150 so that would be my best guess on the date.

My Old SCA Garb-Physician's Outfit, 1150

The theme this week is a blast from the past. This is my favorite of the old SCA garb. This is a physician's outfit of about 1150. Place would be anywhere in continental Europe. The personna story is that I was a university trained physician, born in Wales, educated in Italy and somehow did not wander back to Wales immediately after graduation.

A Blast from the Past

This came from the Cedar Rapids Gazette, 5/11/1983.
It shows two of my favorite people-Mistress Alina and Lord Gavin.
They still live in Cedar Rapids and they still play in the SCA.
I get to play with them.

My Tudor Court Dress

This is the Tudor court dress that Lady Gwynne so kindly made for me. I made the hat. Will redo the photos when I have redone the corset, since I have lost weight.

I am Still NOT a Broncos Fan

I am still NOT a Broncos football fan. In this photo, our good friends, Mark and Susan, have given me a giant Elway Pez dispenser. I call him John, as in Elway. About all he is good for is dispensing Pez. Photo by my long suffering spouse, Steve, in Fort Collins, CO, 12-05. By the way, I know that Steve would not really, actually hack my website or my blog. However he is still threatening to make my homepage into a Broncos themed extravaganza.

Sarah is NOT an Iowa Fan

For the official record, Sarah wishes it to be known that she is not an Iowa Fan. Too many of her formative years were spent in Ames and she is still an Iowa State fan. Photo taken by my long suffering spouse, Steve, in Fort Collins, CO, 12/05.

Another Witchhunter Robin

Another picture of Sarah in the Witchhunter Robin outfit I made her.

Sarah's Witchhunter Robin Outfit

We now have a scanner that works at our house! This is the outfit that I made last summer for my daughter so that she could go to an anime convention in Cedar Rapids, IA. She is supposed to be the character Witchhunter Robin. This outfit has four layers: a floor length black dress, a ruffled petticoat, a 3/4 length black, knit sleeveless vest split to the waist on the sides and front and back and a floor length, fitted red trenchcoat. Sarah made the necklace with the large red jewel out of Fimo clay. I had the most problem with the dress. It took 8 yards of light weight linen. Since the cartoonists who draw this character do not sew, they have no idea how hard it is to make a skirt swirl and flare out without petticoats and a hoop skirt. I ended up using a Vogue designer evening gown pattern that had a very full skirt as my starting pattern. Then I had to put horse hair braid along the hem to get it to stand out more over the ruffled petticoat. We really lucked out because the red raincoat was only $20 at a second hand store. I have already told Sarah that if she grows too much to wear this costume next year that I am just going to alter the black linen dress-not making a new costume from scratch!

Just Off the Loom

Finally! The dog is off the loom and looks pretty good. This is a moderately coarse wool yardage woven for an SCA friend, Mistress Alina. Eventually it will be make into a tunic for a very dear friend of Alina's who has a Viking persona and is very, very enthusiastic about authenticity.

The wool is a mill end. Several of us spent an evening getting it from cones into skeins ready for dyeing. I had to dye it twice with fiber reactive dyes. Don't know if the dyes were old or if the wool was somehow resistant to dyes. Then it took another evening to get it back into skeins and wound on a warping board in 1 inch wide segments. Several people from the shire learned how to thread through the reed and through the heddles. Then Alina had a death in the family and I had too much to do for several months. When I came back to Alina's loom, a small Harrisville loom, I was convinced that I had a "dog on the loom"-something that really, really did not wish to woven on that loom at that time. I took it off Alina's loom and put it on my AVL at home. It came quietly and I had no tension problems at all. I turned out to be an extremely sticky warp. I tried my usual remedy of spraying it liberally with the cheapest,strongest hairspray I could find. The only thing tht accomplished was to make the loom room smell of White Rain. I still had to clear every shed. One of my weaving friends says that boiled flax seed warp dressing would have spared me all the trouble. The fabric was a little stiff and scratchy before it was washed. 5 minutes on the gentle cycle with warm wash water and cold rinse water, using Orvus paste worked well. It is just a little felted and the hand is much better.

Weaving Draft for Alina's Red Wool Yardage

Draft name: plain weave
Loom: floor loom, jack action

Warp
Fiber: wool
Color: red
Size: 1500 yd./lb. (several yards woven with 4 strands of 6000 yd./lb because I ran out)
Sett: 12 epi

Weft
Same as warp
Beat: 12 ppi

Measurements:
Width in reed: 30 inches
Width on loom: 29.5 inches
Width off loom: 29.25 inches
After finishing: 28.5 inches
Wove 6 yards but did not record how much was originally on the loom.

I am NOT a Broncos fan!

Contrary to whatever my husband may say, I am not a Denver Broncos fan. It started as just a little delusion with him and it has turned into a nasty hobby. Now he takes pictures of me looking at anything related to the Broncos so that he has "proof" that I am a fan. To discourage him from hacking my blog and planting "evidence" that I am a fan, I have done it myself. This was taken when we went to California in 10-06 at the navy Peer in San Francisco.

My New Year's Resolutions

There is a belief among psychotherapists that putting one's goals down on paper makes them more likely to be achieved. Here are mine for next year and a little about why in the world I would want to do these things.

1. Complete all the weaving and kumihimo braiding for part 2 of the Certificate of Excellence in Handweaving from the Handweaving Guild of America. Life happened last year and I did not get the work done and could not submit it. I have 2 years before they will judge again but it may have become time to "fish or cut bait."

2. Become proficient in using my drawloom. I have a Glimakra with 8 shafts on the front and 10 draw shafts. Just cannot seem to ever find the time and motivation to sit down and actually weave on it.

3. Convert my AVL loom to a different kind of drawloom and explore weaving Mayan brocading without having to use pickup or a backstrap loom. Would love to be able to make my own huipils but I hate pickup and my back will not tolerate a backstrap loom for very long.

4. Lose 20 pounds. Like every other woman in America I really want the magic weight loss fairy to come to my house very soon.

5. Help several of my weaving friends start and maintain a blog about doing the COE in Weaving. I have doubts that we will be able to cause a lot of change in HGA but at least we can ventilate. Hope we can help one another figure out the unwritten rules for this thing.

6. Put all the family photographs and paper memorabilia in albums and label them as best I can. I have both my parents' entire collection of photos-none of them labeled. Then I have 30 years of my own photos, most of which are not labeled either.