Month: November 2007

Clothing and EquipmentLeave a comment

Chausses for Daan

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Finally got a basic pattern, a piece of time, and my husband in the same place.  So this weekend we got a chausse sloper made.  Now I can figure out what pieces of fabric to use.  (It’s clear from our fitting exercise that I will have to fit the actual leg fabric also – but I’ll do the braies first so he can be wearing those. I’m using the La Fleur de Lyse pattern you can buy here for a basic starting point.  However, I notice several things: The hose leg was just about perfect for Daan right off the … Continue reading Chausses for Daan

ResearchLeave a comment

Book Review – Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings

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Mercy, it’s been quite a while since I blogged what I’m reading.  Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings, copyright 1963, by Amy Kelly.  Daan brought me home a library discard copy from his school (they throw out some of the neatest things).  It has a great map in the endpaper – I don’t know if that paperback copy Amazon is selling for $16 has that. Anyway, although Eleanor (Alia-Anor, apparent original spelling, after her mother, Anor) is definitely most of the twelfth century, which is not the 14th century of my current garb construction, she is so influential, and … Continue reading Book Review – Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings

Clothing and Equipment2 Comments

Portable desk

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Okay, this isn’t at first very medieval looking. It’s a fabric desk marketed for how it’s shown, as a construction gadget.  However….it’s foldable, and light, and hangs from just two loops, so it’s got great possibilities as TENT FURNITURE.  Couldn’t you see this as a prep surface for cooking?  a sideboard or display surface in a classroom tent?  It’s fabric, so you can paint it with designs or pin into it to resist the wind…clearly I want one.  Get yours (or buy me one) at Amazon. Continue reading Portable desk

Clothing and Equipment2 Comments

Quick question – neckline

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As I still don’t have my own copy of Textiles & Clothing, by Crowfoot, Pritchard, et al, I have a quick question: Should the cardwoven edge I’m planning for both the neckline and the lacing edge of the bluebonnet be of wool or linen? I currently have on borrow the color card from Rainbow Linen, so I can order any of these colors – my preference is to match as close as possible, but perhaps that’s erroneous?  I will use drawn threads for the seamwork, eyelets and buttonholes*, I think, but for cardweaving I’ll need longer threads and the strength … Continue reading Quick question – neckline

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Update on GFD stuff

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Okay – this is just an update, since I’m not prepared with pics and such.  But I have been sewing, and I wanted to let you know my progress. Bathhouse Keepers Shift – I wore it around the house for a good deal of yesterday.  The shift is machine basted, and fitted properly around my torso.  It supports my chest well enough, and the straps have an interesting side benefit of keeping my shoulders back where they should be. I have learned something important about the eyelets I showed here.  I don’t like them.  While threading a metal tipped lace … Continue reading Update on GFD stuff

Events4 Comments

Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog

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Everyone knows this, right?  Geoff was recently inspired by the Writer’s Strike: Yf ye wonder, lordinges and ladyes, wher Galfridus Chaucer hath been synce September, the answer is: in a verray purgatorie of busynesse. It pleseth me litel to labour as clerk of the kinges werkes, and yet labor ich muste, for Philippa forever addeth to our hous yn Kent and litel Lowys is beginning to speke of applyinge to Universitee next yeere (the whiche surpriseth me gretely – paraventure it is the ale of Oxford that lureth hym, not the bookes). My lord Kyng Richard is a man of … Continue reading Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog

ResearchLeave a comment

14th century tents

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Because I’ve been sucked into A Large Gulf Wars Project involving the 14th century, and everything I’m planning for GW is somehow related, I started researching tent and pavilion construction in the 1300’s.  Here’s what I found. The Tents of History, Stephen Francis Wyley, ed.This is a list of links to a summarizing table, with references to published sources and sometimes linked pictures.  If I can figure out a more user-friendly way to compile this with embedded links and pictures I will.  Perhaps it can be a PowerPoint.  I should ask Wyley’s permission.  Many of his links have died – … Continue reading 14th century tents

Clothing and Equipment2 Comments

GFD – Fitted sleeve

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I’ve been plugging away on my Bathhouse Keeper Shift, which is acting as a toile for the bodice part of my Gothic Fitted Dress.  It’s going well.  However, because my instructor, the La Cotte Simple site, which does such a great step-by-step job of explaining how to fit the bodice, somehow doesn’t talk about how to generate the sleeve cap and armseye, I’ve been scared of the GFD’s sleeve.  (The shift doesn’t have a sleeve.) Tory set me onto this site, which helps to draft a pattern.  I made this up in my sloper fabric, and tried it on.  I … Continue reading GFD – Fitted sleeve