it's like the eye of a duck

And feeling rather exhausted:

Friday: went and played board games with skill_grl and vree, among others. They introduced me to a fun little game called Once Upon A Time which has the most delightful quality of getting weird/silly/naughty with amazing speed :)

Saturday: rapier photo shoot, which went well and the results of which will likely be highly instructive additions to the text. I didn't ask anyone along because this was all business for the person I was doing it for, and it was just as well because the "set" was fairly close quarters. It was not hellishly hot but it was awfully humid, and I learned that doublet/breeches are good protection against mosquitoes, though perhaps overkill (lamentably, they got my hands :/) Holding different poses as still as possible for the camera across 3 hours is pretty taxing and the hand-above-my-head imbrocota swiftly became "imbrocotaaaugh!" :P

Today: mock tournament at fencing club in which I lost spectacularly, but got a second wind in time for direct elimination (I lost, but it was only by 2 touches). I've worn a hole in the thumb of my best glove and am for the first time considering the possibility that having proper fencing shoes (instead of cross trainers) might be a good idea, so I've been doing online price comparisons. B. also brought phenomenal homemade oatmeal cookies (chocolate chips, walnuts, AND kahlua-soaked dried cherries!), and where there are cookies, it cannot be all bad :)

It has been threatening to rain all weekend - lots of grumbling thunder but no rain until this afternoon, which provided a wonderful accompaniment/excuse for napping while reading on the sofa :) Slowly but surely I'm making my way through Medieval Costume and Textiles 3 and mixing it up with Sorcery and Cecilia.

Also sewed on the vest; the arm openings are now fully faced, and I hope to do another update (with photos!) by the end of the week. I did the facings by hand and for entertainment during I've been indulging my love of vampire films: Shadow of the Vampire (disturbingly excellent performances by John Malkovich/Willem Dafoe) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (disturbingly hot performances by Gary Oldman/Anthony Hopkins).

If this reads like "just the facts, ma'am" it's because I'm deeply tired from burning physically for 2 days. I would love a massage and pedicure but my skin is still cranky (dye from new towels? Marinating in my own sweat for 2 days?) and one of my toenails still isn't healed up from dropping something on it back in the spring (?? can't remember what). One thing is for sure, I'm definitely going to sleep well and early tonight!!

1. Wash on your machine's hot/heavy cycle and dry on the hot/long cycle. Seriously, boil and cook it if you possibly can for maximum shrinkage.

2. When dry, finish the raw edges so they won't keep raveling. Use a serger if you've got it, but I imagine a zig-zag stitch will do pretty well.

3. Wash and dry again, same settings.

4. Wash again as before, and then take the damp cloth and freeze it.

5. Yes, I said freeze it! Put it in an unprinted paper or plastic bag and put it in the freezer. Freeze solid.

6. Take out frozen fabric and iron until flat - depending on the length involved, this could take hours so don't start unless you have a hope of finishing in one session.

It could be my imagination or wishful thinking, but this seems to result in fabric that is both soft enough to consider wearing but crisp enough to lay out properly.

I think I got the idea from an h-costume post years ago.

Hats from the Ascot Races, 2007. I especially love the LP :P

Gacked from vvalkyri:

If you're maybe noticing that you're older than you used to be, and are feeling sad/angry/confused/worried/frustrated that you haven't accomplished as much as you/other people in your present or past/annoyingly critical voices inside your head think you should have, and if you're maybe feeling something like "I'm not a real grownup like everyone else," and if you're maybe also feeling sad/angry/confused/worried/frustrated that your body isn't working the way it used to, and you're maybe thinking, "if that's true then how am I going to DO all those accomplishments that I/other people/voices in my head think I ought or want to do?", and maybe you're also wondering how are you going to dig out from under the accumulation of habit and procrastination and self-doubt to some sense of satisfaction in your life again, then post this same sentence in your journal.

And how :/ The link dump from last night, while scenic, was me avoiding working on things that I genuinely do want to work on, but are at awkward un-fun steps right now, so I was slackin'. Which is irksome because I think I've kept the creative vibes from the Medieval Congress/University until the past week or so.

And yeah - I need to live a long life in good health if I'm going to get to everything I need to get to.

Going to attempt to get off my ass and at least tweak the vest pattern again (damned fiddler-crab physique) even though I spent half the day on the Beltway in searing heat (and my car is like a shark - the A/C ventilates better when it's moving. Traffic = blowing hot air).

No, not THOSE kind of pleasures! :P

Last night D. and I went out to a local Italian restaurant. Not our usual haunt, which offers tasty food in great abundance, but a place across the street that's been there for years that we didn't go to simply because the location suggested that it was probably a sub and pizza joint :P D. discovered it was actually a modest but very highly regarded county restaurant while reading reviews and it's he I must credit that we finally went.

Oh. My.

There's food for fuel, food that is abundant and tasty but nothing exceptional or unexpected (think Cheesecake Factory or Outback Steakhouse) and then there's surprisingly savory food that you want to eat slowly so as to catch every nuance. This place is definitely the latter :)

( inadequate food description )

Portions were reasonable and I left feeling full but not stuffed. We will definitely be going back - it's practically in our backyard so it will be hard to resist!

Engaged in other sensual pleasures today by making my first trip to G Street Fabrics since.. I don't know when. Last fall sometime, whenever the designer fabric section had the ultrasuede out.

I went with the hopes of finding reasonably priced linen, and though that fell through I did pet a lot of other things - silk chiffons, Tasmanian wool (soft and velvety, not scratchy at all), Aleskine (silk/wool blend), leather (in perfect oxblood red, but not enough for the vest, alas), satin-woven cotton shirting... ahh!!

I admit I'm still nervous about working with or even looking at certain luxury fabrics. I constantly doubt that I have the patience or knowhow to choose a project that would be workable in, say, silk chiffon, and almost feel like my ignorance shows on my face and the salespeople would shoot me before they'd sell me any but - yeah, I know that's stupid. I need to just bite the bullet and realize that after all these years with a sewing machine, I might actually know what I'm doing :P

Went to the local SCA university today.

The Good: Part of my reason to go to the event was to try and meet more people to do historic fencing with - as reported earlier, I thought I might have misjudged the nature of fencing within the organization.

Well, I was right! Turns out there is serious historic scholarship, but it's governed by the arts and sciences "department" rather than with competitive combat - evidently drills and demonstrations don't fall under the same rules as free fencing where winning is the goal. So, yes, I've found some more people playing the game I want to play, and I know where to find them too. Very cool :)

I also attended a class for newcomers that gave me some insight into the royalty hierarchy and who to curtsey to and when, and was reminded again that manners matter - sometimes just being there is being supportive, and sometimes one just has to shut up and be gracious. Given that I'm often uneasy in new situations, it helps me to have what I can do to be polite and help and how to address people spelled out for me.

Tangential to the class, I was reminded again what an overall generous organization the SCA is - people eager to share knowledge, answer questions, share food, water, space, etc. There are some good people there :)

I also stepped out of my usual interests and took a couple of dance classes - one on classes for multiple dancers, and one on fighting/flirting with dance. This worked out well because 1) it's a good workout, and 2) again with being shy, show me something to do in a social situation and I'm less stressed by not being able to find things to say :P Didn't do much fighting or flirting because I was busy watching my feet, but evidently I did ok my first time out.

orangesophie, on the other hand, flirted like mad and danced very well ;) She was funny as hell!

It was my friend C.'s first SCA anything, and though she was tired by the end I think she had a good time, especially the dance and medical/surgeon/physick classes. I hope she sticks with it if it struck her fancy.

The Bad: I thought the venue would be air conditioned and, as such, wore my doublet/breeches fencing kit (pockets! And I wanted to wear my new swank duds). Er.... no. Which brings me to:

The Ugly: Always Cold Me was damp flushed and rumpled by the end of the day, as was everyone else. There was temperature control, but not enough to warrant wearing 3 layers of long sleeved canvas :P The people in Greek garb clearly have the right idea for summer events!

So, I'm going to spend the evening swilling water like there's no tomorrow. Because I'm getting up for (modern) fencing practice tomorrow morning....

Today I finally had a time to edit/upload more fencing doublet pix:

( piccage )

Full gallery from work in progress to completion.

I also got off my butt and made my golf ball target for sport foil (and to a lesser extent, smallsword) point control practice - damn but that thing is hard to hit, and hence, good practice!

Easy to make though, once I drilled through the golf ball's crunchy exterior to get at the mushy middle (we are a two Dremel tool family - this pleases me :))

Today I huddled up on the sofa with "Chamber of Secrets" and "Prisoner of Azkaban" to make a final long-winded "push" on the doublet. I have largely succeeded :)

All of the buttons are now on, all of the buttonholes are now finished. I may add one additional button near the top to make sure there are no blade-friendly gaps, but even so, all that remains would be that button and hole and hooks and eyes for the collar (the buttons are round beads that might feel "choking" if pressed into my neck by the mask).

Pictures forthcoming, hopefully including me in full kit with Vera once my over-the-knee socks arrive :)

* No exaggeration: each button and hole took about 3 yards of thread each. I used up almost 2 spools of 110 yards each on this thing!

In a fit of dedicated sewing, I managed to cut out, assemble, and baste in place the tabs/"skirts" for my fencing doublet. I took a couple of pictures, and have some questions for anyone who's made men's Elizbethan/16th century before:

( pix here )

Background: I'm loosely basing this on Janet Arnold's research of a fencing doublet from 1610, with some alterations: I'm using linen instead of kid, and the front is pointed because my navel lies below my waistline.

My concern: despite their resemblance Arnold's drawings/proportions, these tabs look too large to me! I didn't pad with cotton batting because I didn't want to add bulk (the batting is sparse enough I didn't think it would add much stiffness), but these look like a row of droopy dog's ears! Am I perhaps basing my opinion (incorrectly?) on the smaller sized tabs seen on women's stays and bodices from the same time period?

Short version: Is this how it's SUPPOSED to look? If anyone can answer I'd appreciate it - given the layers of fabric I'm sewing on by hand, I'm reluctant to wear out my hands a stitch further until I know this is right.

The Tudor Tailor:

Short version: Recommended! Long version: This well-illustrated volume is a terrific overview of of 16th century English clothing - both the history and how to make it - for those who are interested but not familiar with the time period. In addition to silhouettes for the entire time period, both men and women AND all social classes are included, with examples from art and pictures of a few extant pieces.

There is a section on basic hand stitches, gridded pattern layout (one caveat: if you're uncomfortable with pattern drafting or layout, this might be a bit over your head), and fabric selection. And it's reasonably priced!

If you're interested in this making accurate, good looking costumes for this period and want to do it well, this book will never replace Janet Arnold, D'Alcega or primary sources, but it is a fairly comprehensive "startup" guide. Before this I'd have suggested that the best "introductory" text was Winter and Savoy's Elizabethan Costuming, even though it falls incredibly short on historical accuracy and focuses on female costume. (I may sell my copy, as I've kinda "outgrown" it now - any takers?)

Disclaimer: Not affiliated with the writers or publishers, just a happy customer/costumer.