Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Back in the groove...or...the same old rut? hehehe...what's the difference?

I don't know.  Some days it does seem like I'm stuck in a very unproductive rut, but maybe not.

I'm cutting the canvas to build my 'tent', a cover for a carport pole set to be used for SCA camping events.  I really hate sewing large objects.  That's why I passed on starting a slipcover business many years ago, and why I don't do wedding gowns, well, that and the fact that wedding gowns are usually accompanied by brides' mothers.

I'm also plodding along with the cutting and building of enough garb to get through a full-week-long event - Estrella War - it's getting here too fast!  I'll have garb, just not sure how much.

I had decided, after Southern Crusades, that I would definitely have a good hat for Estrella, something with a gorgeous band of thick, plush fur, faux fur of course.  I started looking for faux fur options...wow.  FAKE fur is expensive!  However, I did find a reasonably priced coat on e-bay, some interesting fur trim from the fabric store, and a couple of other fur pieces.  That just left me with the pattern...sheesh...how can something so simple be so difficult.  None of the big 4 have a hat pattern that is right for this.  I did find one on-line, and have been experimenting with it, with 3 different versions partially assembled.

But then the newest issue of Threads arrived and they have a new column in which they pick an old article and do a review of it in a condensed version.  Back in Issue #56, Dec/Jan, 1994/95, they had an article on EXACTLY the hat that I'm trying to make!  YEE-HAW!  The review version of the article is NOT TO SCALE!  It's been reduced down considerably, which I figured out because the hat pattern pieces just looked so wrong.  I pulled my copy of #56 and took a look at the original version of the article, over more pages and with the pattern at 100%.  Yay!  It works!  Test run in some fake sherpa from JoAnn's - a short, slightly sparse sherpa on one side, brown faux suede on the other.  Not quite finished, but it looks pretty good!  Maybe one more test version before I go ahead and start cutting up the coat.

Cloak class on Saturday.  Yes, I know how to make a cloak, but I'm curious as to what the class cloak will be like and will enjoy time with others with this same costuming interest.  Then on Sunday, the Warm Coat Class - a tunic-like coat suitable for medieval and for the COOOLLLLLLDDDD weather at Estrella.  Yes, I could probably manage it on my own too, but I'm going at least partly for the fun!

As I'm cutting surcoats and gowns and such, I'm eyeballing my fabric stash with a slightly different thought process.  I guess I've seen enough interesting garb at events to be able to see my fabric differently.  Maybe some of my pieces won't be exactly period correct, but they'll look good and be fun to wear, not to mention that my stash will shrink a tiny bit - always a good thing.

So, I guess I should get off of here and get back to my scissors.

1 comment:

  1. Ohhhh! I DO love hats!!
    I used to collect Elsa Schiaparelli hats!!
    I can't wait to hear how it went!
    Wishing for pictures, of course. :)

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