I’ve been really busy – but I don’t have any good new pictures to show for it.

• I’ve done more flax spinning.

• I’ve done more tabby linsey-woolsey weaving with Midnight’s alpaca.  The first piece is nearly ready to come off the loom.  I’m really curious to see how it stands up to washing – if the alpaca ‘woolsey’ warp blooms within the linen warp, as I’ve heard can happen with loosely woven fabrics.

• I’ve done a bunch of knitting – one French Market bag is in the wash, felting, and the other just needs handles.  (The purpose of these is to use up feltable bits, and to provide more containers.)

• The smocked shift blouse is nearly done – I’ve decided to do a second section of smocking on the sleeves, and I want to give it pockets, so there’s still at least four more mornings-worth of handwork there.

I bet I haven’t blogged this idea.  Lavena has been on me to make myself a new dress for RUM.  (Yes, my reservation is in!)  I do need one – my plaid cotton kirtle is too hot.  As the research and experimentation on the Hapsburg gown keeps giving me fits, I’ve decided to yield to necessity and cobble together something with proper details, handsewn, out of linen entirely – but Adapted for my life here at 30dN = Cairo.  I am using the Hapsburg materials – so making that gown is permanently put off.

So the new smocked shift blouse is bleached white linen, handkerchief-weight, constructed according to Reconstructing History’s 16c German Hemd pattern, with smocking according to Holbein, but with the pieced sleeves that I worked out on Spoon’s saffron shirt.  I pieced both the top seam and the underarm seam, for maximum ventilation.  I hemmed all the pieces before assembly – which has made changing my mind much easier.  All the seams and hems are sewn with linen thread pulled from the fabric, but the smocking and piecing embroidery are luxurious white cotton floss.  I’m happy with all of that – it’s consistent with both early 15thc and general Germanic* culture (I’m a little concerned that what I’ve made is a MAN’s hemd, but I do see a few women wearing necklines at the clavicle, rather than above or below.  I’m probably being too picky here.)

But, as a person who makes her own mundane clothes, I hate to put so much work into a garment that only gets a few wears a year.  And that’s not a very good experiment in the ‘wearability of linen’.  So I cut the shift above my knees, left out the skirt gores, and am adding pockets, so I can wear it as a blouse in mundane life.  To that end, because the sleeves are enormous, I’m adding an extra row of smocking around the arm, at the crossing of deltoid and bicep, to pull it in some, and make the whole thing more flattering.

Have I mentioned before how vain I am?  Sigh.  I’ll try to get some pictures soon, but it’s rainy today.

I plan to put slits in the new dress so I can get at the pockets.  I really don’t like wearing a heavy belt with heavy stuff on it.  I know pocket slits were period, and I’ll figure out some embroidery for them.

• The dress!  Time permitting (just wait) I’m going to make an attempt at the Furleger dress.  I’ll detach the sleeves for summer use, but if I have enough green linen, I want to make the pregnancy pleats.  There’s only four yards of green linen, so we’ll see if this works.  I want to try for diagonal back seams too – but I don’t know if I have time to make a separate muslin.

• Why is time so tight?  Well, considerable mundane demands aside, our local shire is having its first event in years, and I’ve volunteered for a lot of duty.  Most especially decorating twelve king-sized sheets.  My original idea was to paint them with stained glass images, which I have, but I am aware how much time it will take.  Any other ideas?

• *And I’m rethinking Greet’s persona.  The Hungarian aspect is proving to be very difficult to research, both with the lack of materials and the language barrier.  The obvious place to start with working class research is the Dutch/Flemish, and I was going to do that anyway.  There are some interesting Hungarian aspects that I want to go back to – the village house description in Realm of St. Stephen is one – but I can do that from the Lowlands perspective.

• Also a month has rolled around and I have weaver’s guild meeting this Saturday, on ‘off-loom weaving’, and we’re each bringing in research on a type.  I volunteered tablet weaving, which I have materials for, but hadn’t gotten to yet, because I needed a DEADLINE.  So since I’ve got one, I’ve accomplished about a foot of trim, but not yet quite figured out how to get a consistent pattern.  I think for Saturday I’m okay, though – just need to write up a take-home handout.

• And finally (mercy I really should have broken this post up!) I’m working on some regalia for Kingdom.  Apparently there’s a huge need, and I’ve got all this dark blue velvet that could be Owls…