Mild to moderate tragedy

So, my husband's SUV decided Friday night that it doesn't really care to start.  This is not ideal.  For one thing, I was planning on taking it to Gulf Wars later this week - it's just easier to pack my tent, plastic totes, bedding and whatnot in the larger cargo space than in my car's trunk.  Plus it's easier to drive a small SUV through a field than to try the same thing with a sedan.  Secondly, while I have time off for GW, he has no interest in participating in SCA activities and has to work all week.  Which means he needs a working vehicle.  Which means I can't take my car.  He's trying to get in touch with a dealer today, and either have their shop fix the problem (if it's not too expensive) or trade the thing in for something that runs.

I've already lost several hours of prep time driving him to and from work these last few days, so even if things work out I'm seriously behind the ball in regard to finishing my packing and sewing.  Macie is being shelved for now and my focus is shifting to a blue tunic that I can throw over my off-white chemise.

Later that night ...

Well, it can be fixed, but my travel budget and site fees no longer exist.  Thankfully there is an event in a couple of weeks that I can day-trip, so I don't go into complete withdrawal.  Next year I'm stockpiling cash so I can spend at least half the War on site and rent a stupid car for the hubby if need be.

Distance teaching

Thursday morning I was greeted by a delightful surprise in my inbox.  A fellow costumer left a question about my Maciejowski project on my Flickr account.  So I made happy, squeaky noises for a couple of minutes, then had some breakfast as I got to work summarizing my sleeve construction scheme.

I've taught a couple of traditional lecture/demonstration A&S classes for the local SCA group, and while I do like that, it really gives me a boost when somebody independently inquires about my approach to a design or construction challenge.  Kinda makes me think those two years of architecture school weren't totally wasted ... I just seem to do better working with medieval clothing reconstructions than with buildings.

In upcoming news, Gulf Wars begins a week from tomorrow, I'm still very much on the fence about whether I'll make camp Thursday or Friday, and Macie is picking up the pace of progress.  The right side torso and gore seams have been finished; the left side torso seam is finished and the gore seams treatments are under way; which leaves the sleeve seam treatments, trimming the sleeve length and skirt, hemming the skirt, and doing the embroidery.  Sounds like a good deal of work.  Hopefully I can make about as much progress tomorrow as I did today, then keep up the pace Monday.

Lockdown

With (now slightly less than) two weeks to go until Gulf Wars, I've put an official freeze on new projects.  I'm fairly pleased with the pace of progress on the Maciejowski gown - the center front and center back seams and gores have been finished, and I've started the seam finishing on one side.  Didn't bother to note which one ...

Tonight I plan on continuing work on those seam treatments and possibly running my cloak through the sewing machine.

My dark green hood also needs seam treatments, buttons, and buttonholes.

There is a dark blue tunic on my garment rack that could possibly be finished before War.  As of yet, I haven't decided whether I'll be on site Thursday or wait until Friday.  Probably depend on the state of my sewing pile.

Off to get ready for work!

Crack that whip!

The other night I started writing a post on hand sewing and why it works for me.  It got a bit rambly, so I'll sum up:

I'm okay with a sewing machine, but out of necessity (starting my SCA involvement before I owned a "mechanical tailor") I was exposed to hand sewing, so I'm much more comfortable with it than someone who has been trained to use a machine.  I appreciate the historic accuracy of constructing a complete outfit by hand, and knowing that it's going to take a good chunk of time to finish, I invest in research and materials accordingly.  I won't have a large wardrobe anytime soon, but every garment that makes the cut will be something I'm proud to wear and tell others I made.

I think it would be really cool to someday become a costuming Laurel - and no, I don't think I'll become an authenticity nut.  I know how hard it is to find period materials on a small budget, and I know the frustration of fruitlessly searching for documentation for a plausible alternative to the prevailing conventions.

After all ... I am trained as a historian.

Here's a teaser!  Hopefully I'll be able to post a shot of the completed outfit before Gulf Wars.

A hexagonal neckline, you say?

Buttonses

Fabric buttons and chain stitch embroidery on my orange linen gown.

It goes to seventy, actually.

The last couple of days have been beautiful.  Right now it's about seventy degrees outside, and I'm ticked that I can't skip work this evening to bask in the warmth and sunshine.  Pleh.

In garbing news, I've started cranking out cloth buttons for my burnt-orange angel sleeve gown.  Of the 19 needed I already have five attached to the front of the gown.  Not too shabby.  It really is amazing what you can get done while waiting for the laundry to finish.

I got my new camera out last night to play with the macro setting.  Button photo to come, once I've read the manual and learned to upload from this puppy.

That time hell froze over twice in the same year

We had our second "real" snow of the season yesterday, but because I wanted no trace of an excuse not to go shopping for a new camera (and other things) I braved the supposedly hazardous roads, bridges, and overpasses to go to work this morning.  I guess I also earned enough to offset a little bit of my bad behavior this evening.

So yes!  New camera with more megapixels and a macro setting!  And a wee tripod!

Also, very pretty faux fur for a Burgundian ... somewhere down the line ... and linen for a new chemise, and value bin cloak lining!  It was a productive evening, all around.

But I very nearly died leaving the fabric store, as the sunlight NEVER reaches the sidewalk in February.  But I didn't die.  Instead I managed to transition to penguin-mode after an initial bout of dramatic klutziness.

In Memoriam A510

I must sadly announce that after years of faithful service my digital camera has quit this mortal plane.  Despite a growing number of malfunctioning components, it clung to life long enough for me to upload all the remaining data it contained.  When asked if it could endure one more small shoot, its screen went dark and the low battery indicator did not come on.

Although we will miss A510, life goes on.  I was already planning a shopping trip later this week, so adding a stop to browse through the digital camera stock, and hopefully find a suitable successor, will not be an enormous imposition.

Once I am again photo-capable, I will have updated shots of the Macie gown, a series on hood construction and modeling, and very likely some cloth button pictures.

My eyes widened exponentially for a few moments.

Last night I peeked in at The Compleatly Dressed Anachronist, to see that Edyth had posted her new monthly goodie.  This month she chose to showcase blog postings on the making of cloth buttons.  One in particular stood out.  While most instructions require the maker to cut out circles of fabric, this one manipulated a square piece, using the thread to gather all the corners into what quickly becomes a nice round ball.

This morning I found myself a scrap of polar fleece and some embroidery thread and decided to give it a whack - a whack which resulted in a happy, gargantuan fleecy button.  My life is forever changed.

Receive the gospel!

I'm a contradictory bird!

So you know that garbing hiatus I was talking about last weekend?  Yeah, okay, since then I've sewn the long seam on the Macie gown's right sleeve, both remaining seams on the skirt, and up one side of the torso.  Perhaps if I stay on hiatus for the rest of the month, I'll have enough of a wardrobe to have something different every day at Gulf Wars, plus maybe some party/court outfits ...

I'm such a goober :)