I thought I'd do a step by step picture diary thing of The Making of the Hinge Sleeves. I finished hemming the green cote last week, so on Thursday I finally had no choice but to face Cutting Out my sleeves.
STEP 1:
Open a bottle of wine. Om nom nom. Tempranillo is my favourite at the moment.
STEP 2:
Lay out fabric and pattern pieces. The wonderful thing about linen is that you can fold it, so you can cut out both sleeves at once!
NOTE: Cats love linen, and I'm pretty sure they can smell it a mile away. At least Tory can. I was laying out my pattern pieces when I heard a loud roaring noise, and it was Tory gleefully making himself comfortable on my linen, purring loudly. Five minutes earlier my sister had gone looking for him, and do you think he could be found? Nope.
STEP 3:
The actual Cutting Out part. I did it. I survived. Sleeves aren't as bad as a whole dress. The only thing about sleeves and linen being double sided is that it's really easy to accidently make two left sleeves, which I have been known to do on occasion. The bits are laid out above as they will be sewn together. Once you join the two pieces, fold it into a tube and make sure it's different to the other one :P
STEP 4:
Completely lose interest in the documentation process. I'm pretty sure on Thursday night I had stitched the two parts of both sleeves together, and finished the seam. I also finished a couple of glasses of wine. For a more comprehensive look at the medieval hinge sleeve, have a look at the La Cotte Simple page, there's also heaps of stuff there about fourteenth century things. The only thing I don't do is put buttons over my elbow. I made my first cote like that, and used rabbit poo buttons. They were uncomfortable enough to lean on, I wouldn't want to try it with hard metal or plastic buttons. I also ended up with gappy bits when I straightened my elbow, because there's extra fabric there to accomodate a bent elbow, it just bags when your arms are straight. Besides, I have long arms and usually put nine or ten buttons along seven inches of sleeve, which is only just over half way up my forearm. If I went all the way up that would be more than twenty buttons on each sleeve, which means more than twenty buttonholes. No thanks. Maybe one day I'll put some fake buttons on one of my cotes, because you don't need to undo them to get your arm in. As it is I only undo the four or five bottom ones, except when I'm in the kitchen or something and need to roll up my sleeves.
Anyway, I finished the green dress tonight. I made minimal effort on it during the week, so tonight I had to sew the buttons and buttonholes on the last sleeve, then attach them both to the dress. Done! Two weeks until Pencampwr, where I wanted to wear it with my green brocade surcote, but I wanted to fix that up first. I still need to warp up both my looms and get started on the band for my awesome bag of awesome, and that's for the class I'm teaching so it's number one priority. If I have time when that's done then I'll make a start on the surcote, but I can't see myself having enough time. Only three more weeks of uni left, and I have assignments due for all the units again. Plus Hairspray opens in two and a half weeks, so I'm busy with rehearsals and stuff for that.
Right now it's my bedtime. Goodnight.
STEP 1:
Open a bottle of wine. Om nom nom. Tempranillo is my favourite at the moment.
STEP 2:
Lay out fabric and pattern pieces. The wonderful thing about linen is that you can fold it, so you can cut out both sleeves at once!
NOTE: Cats love linen, and I'm pretty sure they can smell it a mile away. At least Tory can. I was laying out my pattern pieces when I heard a loud roaring noise, and it was Tory gleefully making himself comfortable on my linen, purring loudly. Five minutes earlier my sister had gone looking for him, and do you think he could be found? Nope.
STEP 3:
The actual Cutting Out part. I did it. I survived. Sleeves aren't as bad as a whole dress. The only thing about sleeves and linen being double sided is that it's really easy to accidently make two left sleeves, which I have been known to do on occasion. The bits are laid out above as they will be sewn together. Once you join the two pieces, fold it into a tube and make sure it's different to the other one :P
STEP 4:
Completely lose interest in the documentation process. I'm pretty sure on Thursday night I had stitched the two parts of both sleeves together, and finished the seam. I also finished a couple of glasses of wine. For a more comprehensive look at the medieval hinge sleeve, have a look at the La Cotte Simple page, there's also heaps of stuff there about fourteenth century things. The only thing I don't do is put buttons over my elbow. I made my first cote like that, and used rabbit poo buttons. They were uncomfortable enough to lean on, I wouldn't want to try it with hard metal or plastic buttons. I also ended up with gappy bits when I straightened my elbow, because there's extra fabric there to accomodate a bent elbow, it just bags when your arms are straight. Besides, I have long arms and usually put nine or ten buttons along seven inches of sleeve, which is only just over half way up my forearm. If I went all the way up that would be more than twenty buttons on each sleeve, which means more than twenty buttonholes. No thanks. Maybe one day I'll put some fake buttons on one of my cotes, because you don't need to undo them to get your arm in. As it is I only undo the four or five bottom ones, except when I'm in the kitchen or something and need to roll up my sleeves.
Anyway, I finished the green dress tonight. I made minimal effort on it during the week, so tonight I had to sew the buttons and buttonholes on the last sleeve, then attach them both to the dress. Done! Two weeks until Pencampwr, where I wanted to wear it with my green brocade surcote, but I wanted to fix that up first. I still need to warp up both my looms and get started on the band for my awesome bag of awesome, and that's for the class I'm teaching so it's number one priority. If I have time when that's done then I'll make a start on the surcote, but I can't see myself having enough time. Only three more weeks of uni left, and I have assignments due for all the units again. Plus Hairspray opens in two and a half weeks, so I'm busy with rehearsals and stuff for that.
Right now it's my bedtime. Goodnight.
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