I have been so busy! So much busy in my weeks that I haven't blogged about it :( So now I am blogging.
I went to St Basil training after work a few weeks ago. I pulled apart one sleeve of my red cote and sewed it back together all nice and neat. Then I decided that maybe I don't want t do it with the other one, maybe it can just stay the way it is. I dunno. It's just such a pain fiddling with sleeves. I also pulled the back seam in about half an inch, but I have yet to try it on to see how it fits. I intended to do that today because I want to look at pulling in my blue wool surcote, but then I didn't. My next fortnight off from work on thursday night I was asked to stay back, so I didn't make it to college training. I needs the monies for my Pennsic fund. Tomorrow is my next early Thursday so I'll go and try on the red cote, get some second opinions and hopefully get some help with pulling in the blue cote.
I have an idea for the wool cote. I think I'm going to unpick the lining completely, and cut off an inch or so from the front seams where the buttons are. It means doing my buttonholes all over again, but it also may give me a chance to straighten up the edge the whole way down, so hopefully I'll end up with a straight front seam. There's more crooked seams, but the front one is the one that bothers me the most. Anyway, I should only have to do that, adjust the neckline when I sew the lining back in, then reshape the back seam. And I need to make the sleeves a little shorter and slightly tighter. I've decided I want my wool cote to be wearable for Championship, which is in less than two weeks! I'm intending to wear my ginger cote almost the whole event, since I'll be spending most of it in the kitchen. Maybe my red cote too, depending on how I feel about it. But it can get cold at night and I'd rather throw on another layer than get out my thick cloak. We shall see.
Speaking of Championship, it's getting all exciting! I've been a busy bookings officer emailing people about Important Things. I've never sent so many emails in my life. I've also organised a constable for the event AND to hand over my baronial office to :D I've also been thinking about foods. Project eggs benny for breakfast is looking like a go, and we've even started thinkign about what we're feeding people for dinner. Mister Nathan also made me a TAM so I can run the archery stuff :) It's gonna be an awesome event!
Anyway, the main point of this post is to tell you all about what I've been doing today instead of trying on my red cote to see how it fits. I've been drawing! Last week my order of gold thread was finally confirmed and shipped, so as soon as it arrives I'll have all the tools to string up my loom and start weaving my awesome belt of awesome! Except a pattern, I needs to decide what I'm gonna weave with my fancy gold thread. I looked into a motto, and even though I know Mister Nathan was making a joke, I have decided on "Folium saltans in ventum" which translates as a "leaf dancing into the wind" because my main charge is an ivy leaf and I like dancing. It makes sense to me anyway. Anyway, here's a picture of my letters
Yeah I know, what a great picture. When I went to take it I discovered that my camera battery is flat, and my charger is at home. So I've been taking pictures with my phone and emailing them to myself, because the usb cable for my phone is also at home :P Anyway, here's my letters! I'm using the 48 card version of textura quadrata from Guntram. I've also been looking through other heraldic-y sort of patterns from Guntram, and looking at fitting my leaf in there somewhere. I used GTT to draw a leaf
Here's my leaf! Now, the grid in the program is a square grid, but when you weave, the pattern stretches along the band. GTT has a function that shows the pattern stretched how it would when you weave it, but I needed to have drawn my leaf sideways to use it. So I decided to just draw it out to see how it looks
My e didn't fit on the other page, so here he is looking like a little pacman trying to eat the other pretty pattern bit. I originally wanted to put my leaf inside the shield, but it's too small so I couldn't get anything looking like a leaf to fit. I still really like the design, so I might put a chevron inside the shield instead. Underneath is the leaf as a drew it in GTT. It's all stretched and funny looking, so next to it I drew another version that's slightly taller. I didn't count the grid in GTT, and ended up only making it 36 cards tall, so I had some extra room to make it taller. The second one looks better, but I'm not quite sure if it's there yet.
I also like the lions and some of the knotwork with quatrefoils which I might use as well. I might even draw up the little arrowheards on my device and see if I can put them in one of the frames.
So that's basically it from me today. Next week is study break, so I'm hoping I'll have some spare time to finish my blue wool cote whilst preparing for Championship. Once Championship is over I'm hoping my gold thread will have arrived and I can start weaving. I should also start looking at documentation too, I guess :P
I went to St Basil training after work a few weeks ago. I pulled apart one sleeve of my red cote and sewed it back together all nice and neat. Then I decided that maybe I don't want t do it with the other one, maybe it can just stay the way it is. I dunno. It's just such a pain fiddling with sleeves. I also pulled the back seam in about half an inch, but I have yet to try it on to see how it fits. I intended to do that today because I want to look at pulling in my blue wool surcote, but then I didn't. My next fortnight off from work on thursday night I was asked to stay back, so I didn't make it to college training. I needs the monies for my Pennsic fund. Tomorrow is my next early Thursday so I'll go and try on the red cote, get some second opinions and hopefully get some help with pulling in the blue cote.
I have an idea for the wool cote. I think I'm going to unpick the lining completely, and cut off an inch or so from the front seams where the buttons are. It means doing my buttonholes all over again, but it also may give me a chance to straighten up the edge the whole way down, so hopefully I'll end up with a straight front seam. There's more crooked seams, but the front one is the one that bothers me the most. Anyway, I should only have to do that, adjust the neckline when I sew the lining back in, then reshape the back seam. And I need to make the sleeves a little shorter and slightly tighter. I've decided I want my wool cote to be wearable for Championship, which is in less than two weeks! I'm intending to wear my ginger cote almost the whole event, since I'll be spending most of it in the kitchen. Maybe my red cote too, depending on how I feel about it. But it can get cold at night and I'd rather throw on another layer than get out my thick cloak. We shall see.
Speaking of Championship, it's getting all exciting! I've been a busy bookings officer emailing people about Important Things. I've never sent so many emails in my life. I've also organised a constable for the event AND to hand over my baronial office to :D I've also been thinking about foods. Project eggs benny for breakfast is looking like a go, and we've even started thinkign about what we're feeding people for dinner. Mister Nathan also made me a TAM so I can run the archery stuff :) It's gonna be an awesome event!
Anyway, the main point of this post is to tell you all about what I've been doing today instead of trying on my red cote to see how it fits. I've been drawing! Last week my order of gold thread was finally confirmed and shipped, so as soon as it arrives I'll have all the tools to string up my loom and start weaving my awesome belt of awesome! Except a pattern, I needs to decide what I'm gonna weave with my fancy gold thread. I looked into a motto, and even though I know Mister Nathan was making a joke, I have decided on "Folium saltans in ventum" which translates as a "leaf dancing into the wind" because my main charge is an ivy leaf and I like dancing. It makes sense to me anyway. Anyway, here's a picture of my letters
Yeah I know, what a great picture. When I went to take it I discovered that my camera battery is flat, and my charger is at home. So I've been taking pictures with my phone and emailing them to myself, because the usb cable for my phone is also at home :P Anyway, here's my letters! I'm using the 48 card version of textura quadrata from Guntram. I've also been looking through other heraldic-y sort of patterns from Guntram, and looking at fitting my leaf in there somewhere. I used GTT to draw a leaf
Here's my leaf! Now, the grid in the program is a square grid, but when you weave, the pattern stretches along the band. GTT has a function that shows the pattern stretched how it would when you weave it, but I needed to have drawn my leaf sideways to use it. So I decided to just draw it out to see how it looks
My e didn't fit on the other page, so here he is looking like a little pacman trying to eat the other pretty pattern bit. I originally wanted to put my leaf inside the shield, but it's too small so I couldn't get anything looking like a leaf to fit. I still really like the design, so I might put a chevron inside the shield instead. Underneath is the leaf as a drew it in GTT. It's all stretched and funny looking, so next to it I drew another version that's slightly taller. I didn't count the grid in GTT, and ended up only making it 36 cards tall, so I had some extra room to make it taller. The second one looks better, but I'm not quite sure if it's there yet.
I also like the lions and some of the knotwork with quatrefoils which I might use as well. I might even draw up the little arrowheards on my device and see if I can put them in one of the frames.
So that's basically it from me today. Next week is study break, so I'm hoping I'll have some spare time to finish my blue wool cote whilst preparing for Championship. Once Championship is over I'm hoping my gold thread will have arrived and I can start weaving. I should also start looking at documentation too, I guess :P
