Most Awesome Book Ever.

It's been a while.

Ah, but how grand life has been. :)

Since I last posted, I left my job and returned to school--this time to finish my bachelor's in music education. After I graduate, I will pursue my masters in music history and my doctorate after that (most likely).

My ultimate goal is to pilot a music program in the Faroe Islands--I know there's quite a demand for music over there. :) I'm so excited!

So far, I'm trying to practice 15-20 hours per week on piano, and roughly five hours each week on euphonium. My faculty is coming back a lot quicker than I expected, and my instructor is amazing--through her guidance, playing my euphonium is starting to become an enjoyable experience again...finally. I haven't felt that in a really long time.

Piano is rocking as always, and I'm improving by leaps and bounds. Right now I'm working on Scarlatti's Sonata in D minor (517), Gottschalk's Bamboula, and Chopin's Nocturne in Eb major. I'm actually going to start posting the highlights of my practicing on YouTube so I can track my progression as the year unfolds.

I'm also working on learning Faroese. The pronunciation is actually going a lot quicker than I thought it would--there are lots of parallels with German, so that's great. Having experience with singing in choirs has also helped immensely--it's easier to hear how the vowels are shaped based on what I've leaarned singing in other languages. Faroese, for example, has darker vowels that are shaped near the back of the throat (sort of like Latin) rather than the front-of-mouth vowel shapings of English.

Um...what else? I'm playing a harpsichord on a regular basis, which is awesome.

I'm still spinning wool, still wanting to get my hands on some Faroese yarn...

Anyway. *grins* More later.

~Miriam

Big, big, project idea.

Ever-thinking, ever-dreaming, I have thought of a new project to work on. It's massive, it will likely take years to finish.

I want to make full outfits for Olaf and myself, from scratch.


So far, I'm working on obtaining the roving to spin. Next, I'll purchase the necessary supplies to make a warp-weighted loom, and start weaving the singles. Per period technique, I will use a drop spindle. Spinning wheels did not come around until the 1600s (roughly).


After the fabric has been woven, I will set it, wash it, and dye it to whatever colors we need. I figure that making everything out of grey lamb's wool will be the softest and most versatile solution. That way I can weave and weave and weave and not have to worry about how much of what color I need to make.


Once all that is complete, I'll draft new patterns based on our measurements, cut the fabric, and sew it all by hand. I'll finish all the seams as I go.


I'll save some of the spun roving and dye it for tablet weaving as well-- I want these outfits to be as authentic as possible. :) Last, but certainly not least, I'll obtain the jewelry needed for both of us. That I likely won't make, but hey.


I also intend to spin and weave the linen for our undertunics. I've got 16 oz. of flax roving coming in the mail as a starter; I've also got 5 oz Icelandic lambswool roving on its way here. For an unrelated project, I have a simply gorgeous merino on its way.

That merino will, more than likely, turn into this amazing cardigan from White Lies Designs:

Yes. It's that awesome, I had to give it space of its own. :)

I'm so excited! I know it'll take forever, but hey. Absolutely worth it.

These days, I have so many things to look forward to--school looming on the horizon, getting to do something I really want to do...

Anyway. Time to get back to work...

Shawl Patterns

If ever I got into wearing shawls, these would be awesome. I'm constantly thinking about how things would look in handspun yarn, and I'm super-excited to get my hands on some more roving. For example, this Icelandic roving would be awesome spun and then woven into cloth.

Meanwhile, lots of things are going on in my personal life, including a change in career direction. I'm in the thick of preparing, which likely means re-taking my ACT, preparing an audition [tape], helping Olaf with anything he needs, and the like. I've got another friend who, I suspect, is facing homelessness. He's a Vietnam veteran, holds two degrees, and can't land a job.

But who can in these times? Olaf's been searching and interviewing since January, to no avail.

I'll keep posting...

What a week.

RIP Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays.

Project Ideas Galore!

I saw this spinning wheel and decided immediately that I must have it...someday.

I have some grand ideas for projects, one of which is making an outfit completely from scratch, as would have been done long ago. This means:

• obtaining raw wool in bulk (I don't have room for a sheep of my own)
• separating/carding the wool
• spinning it as finely as I possibly can
• weaving it using a wall loom
• dye the wool using period techniques and colors
• drafting a pattern for whichever outfit I choose to make
• handsewing and binding the seams of the outfit
• dye remaining spun wool for tablet weaving
• weave trim for dress
• obtaining necessary accessories (jewellery, etc) to finish the outfit

Of course, I'll take what I have to as many A&S competitions as possible; it'll likely be a lot of "works in progress" competitions. I'll also have to find documentation and sources for all the papers I'll be writing over this... :)

I hope to finish that project in the next five years or so.

In the meantime, I plan on undertaking another project as I obtain the supplies for the one listed above. This one, I can do anytime and has no real deadline--I plan on creating sheetmusic for all the Calontir songs. This, of course, means that I'll have to obtain permission for everything I do, but the two major benefits of the project are:

1. I learn and memorize music
2. I help others learn and memorize music

I've started working on digitizing motet music from a book I got recently; L'Amorosa Ero. The sheetmusic is great, but I wanted to hear how all the voices sounded--I could hammer it out on piano, but MuseScore ended up being a quicker solution. I'd love to gather up a group of SCAdians to sing and then present a few songs to their Majesties someday...

Anyway, off to do some research and daydreaming. :)

Oh, the materialism.

While I'm waiting for Windows 7 RC to download (so I can rebuild my work laptop), I've done a little daydreaming regarding items I want for the SCA. Not so much items for the SCA alone, but goals to incorporate SCA life into the mundane life--furniture, textiles, etc--everything I can to maximize usability and space.

For example, I'd like to work with Olaf to build a little house on the flatbed, but in Faroese architecture and Norse furniture. I'd like a hodgepodge of medieval-looking furniture for our house, so that when we go camping, there's nothing to dig out of a garage--simply pack it all up and put it in the flatbed. No tents to set up, no rain to set us afloat at Lilies (ha!), and no mildew to start growing on canvas or nylon.
Of course, I'd paint the interior with Kilz just in case. ;)

I've actually started looking into the possibility of creating this flatbed "house"--legal height in MO is 14' on major highways, and 13' 6" on county/state roads. We figure that 13' should do the trick, though we'll lose some height due to trailer height from road to bed. Still, even if the trailer is 2' tall, that's 11' living space--perfect for a loft setting.

Inside, we'll have twin mattresses upstairs for his boys, a full-size Norse slat bed downstairs, and with the remaining living space we'll have a floor rug and either a trestle table and benches or chairs (no table).

The only other thing I need to find out is what restrictions exist for camping--state parks, SCA events, etc--do they allow "houses" on trailers as long as the trailer part is covered up (i.e., stone skirting)? If so, what are size restrictions on house length? We're currently planning for 14-16', but that's not to say that Lilies will let me have it there anyway. Or, if they do, they may want it somewhere else than across the archery range. We'll see.

Lilies War

Olaf and I are back from war and I'm already looking forward to next year. We have so many project ideas for what we want to create, it will take years to get it all done--but it will definitely be worth it.

Some of the spoils from war include:

• twenty yards of light blue linen
• three ounces of divers wool for spinning
• two drop spindles
• thirteen veil pins, seven in blue and six in jade with brass for the metal part
• one circlet with a knotwork charm
• one bardic CD, courtesy of Gwydion
• two clay whistles we made in a pottery class
• one stargazer chair for Olaf
• one drinking horn with belt strap for Olaf (easily the best purchase we made!)
• one goblet, courtesy of Baron Jon
• three books related to music history
• one glass necklace

There's probably another thing or two I'm missing, but hey. It's early in the morning, and that's my excuse. ;)

We got to see lots of people we haven't seen in a long time--Calanais being the first as we camped with them, thanks to the generosity of James and Aesa who had a tent we could borrow. We also saw a few people from Wyvern Cliffe, and I had the unique opportunity to play bass recorder with Mistress Conna (I believe that's the correct spelling) and digitize a song that Master Andrixos wrote. Jubilation!

It was so great to contribute to the music realm. It's something I've been wanting to do for ages, but just wasn't able to do until I was a better musician and the right opportunity opened up. I sang in a choir and ended up [accidentally] taking over rehearsal for one song--"Hymn to the Soup Kitchen"--and volunteering to digitize the one handwritten copy we had into a size/format that would be easier for everyone to read. I spent the next two days coding the piece (I use Lilypond, you should try it! It's awesome!) and troubleshooting bad syntax (my fault, I was learning as I went) until I got everything lined up just the way I wanted it. Andrixos took it to town and had it printed at Kinko's, and voila. :)

I made a few new friends as well, which is always grand-- I'm looking forward to keeping in touch with all these people.

We had a few elevations in our shire as well-- James got his Boga Fyrd, Rose got nominated by the children for her Pelican, and Thomas the Butcher got his Torse. Congratulations to all! Each award is well-deserved. :)

Last, I have some odds and ends photos of Lilies--truncated because of a video I took of Ostwald's knighting (which, by the way, was very moving). You can view them here.

Enjoy!

Finished Moy gown

In all its glory, here is the finished Moy Bog gown-- I love it!

This dress looks fantastic when it's pressed-- too bad at war it's going to be all wrinkled and such...alas.

Prep for Lilies has been insane! Olaf is working on creating a harlequin patchwork pant aside from other tasks and all I can say is that the pants are going to be amazing.

We thought it'd be a great idea to create patchwork pants, tunic, skirt, and quilt(s) out of all the little remnant scrap pieces that are otherwise unusable. What a way to conserve! For all you who sew, what do you do with all your scraps?

Red Cotehardie fix

Ever-thinking about my blog, I find myself wanting to write frequently of my latest sewing excursions. With Lilies War coming up, I'm chomping at the bit to get everything done.

As promised, though, the post about the red cotehardie:

I got this dress as a "thank you"-gift from a family for drafting patterns and helping construct garb in preparation for Gulf Wars. However, the person who wore the dress last (an ex of the young man) took in the back about four inches. This would be fine if she hadn't cut out the excess fabric.

When I tried it on, the buttons were threatening to pop off. Beautiful as it was, it just wasn't very practical to wear--my back and shoulders compressed toward my spine, causing great discomfort after just a little bit of wear.

I wish I'd gotten pictures of the before to compare with the after, but imagine being poured into an outfit and you'll have the general idea.

The idea behind fixing the cotehardie was a simple one: create a gore to restore the back to its original dimensions. The good news was that there was a train on the dress--unhemmed and about 12" in length (if not longer). I cut the train back to about four inches at its longest point, rotated the remaining material perpendicular to the rest of the fabric to obtain the length I needed, and cut it out based on where I thought the original line of the dress was.

After sewing in the gore, I tried it on-- success! The gore looks a little weird, but it is SO much more comfortable. Perhaps I'll make a mantle/hood out of linen to cover up the fix.

Productive Weekend.

This weekend has been the most productive one I've had in a while. Olaf and I worked on many projects together, primarily getting him outfitted for Lilies War. Last week sometime we ordered some bulk linen from fabrics-store.com (really, that place is amazing. Bulk linen = $5/yard, give or take). Combine twenty yards of linen and some fabric dye and the results are hours of fun sewing.

For example, this weekend we accomplished the following:

• Cut twenty yards of fabric in one evening
• Sewed two Viborg-style undertunics, one edged around the sleeves and neck edge with tablet weaving
• Made one t-tunic, dyed teal with yellow trim (my heraldic colors!)
• Constructed two and one-half pair of pants (teal/yellow, black/blue, and one black leg to fix his black/white harlequin pants)
• Added neck facing and topstitched the Moy gown
• Expanded and hemmed red cotehardie--I'll post a separate entry on that

The really cool thing is that Olaf's been helping out immensely during this weekend-- he made his own pants while I worked on the more intensive things (tunics, etc). I am so grateful!

There is still much to do, of course, in the coming weeks:

1. finish putting the buttons on the Moy gown (sleeves)
2. finish the eyelets on the blue cotehardie
3. fix the neckline and add cuffs to the Dürer Housebook dress
4. cut out grey twill linen/wool dress to make another Housebook dress (self-forming pleats)
5. draft braies pattern and construct at least one set
6. sew SkillsUSA blazer for student at LSTC (that'll be a post of its own, too)

Rather than post all of the images here, go to my online photo album to see all of today's accomplishments.

Apron - 1940s

I found this link at Two Sisters:
http://twosisters.lothruin.com/crochapron.html

It's a way-cute apron. I plan to get started on it after Lilies War. :)

Stuff I want to work on

My interests are really diverse-- I want to work on so many things! So far, the list includes:
- 1940s/1950s hairstyles and fashions
- Medieval reenactment
- Sewing
- Pattern drafting
- Winemaking
- Cheesemaking
- Cooking
- Crochet/Knitting
- Photography

Look for

Moy Bog Gown

I can't remember any more how I stumbled across the moy gown, but I immediately fell in love with the design and decided that I just -had- to make it.


I drafted a pattern, basing it off a standard t-tunic with a few shaping adjustments based off the extant example. Truth be told, there's one piece that is missing from the original--the gores at the front of the sleeve. If I really wanted to add that piece, I could shave down the width of the sleeve at the armhole and taper to about the elbow.


Being a novice seamstress (and an impatient one at that), I use modern construction techniques. Currently I use a Brother PE-400 machine and a Bernina serger.

I sewed the sides together and did the initial fit. Unfortunately, it hung off of me like a tent.

After a few fittings, it now looks like this:





























The sleeves aren't finished yet--I'm curious to see how they'll turn out. The buttons were made with a DIY metal kit; I cut out forty (give or take) one-inch circular pieces of fabric while Olaf assembled the buttons for me.

If I could change construction, I'd do a few things differently:

• First, as the fabric is pretty thin, I'd strengthen each piece of the neck, torso, and sleeve with black linen underneath. I may yet do this once I can dye some linen.
• Second, I would find a way to stabilize the neckline-- I staystitched the neckline and then topstitched over it, but the front is still a little too spacious and the back waffles somewhat. I've been able to get some of it out with a good steam iron, but it still feels pretty flimsy on the whole.
• Third, I would do the buttonholes differently. They're already beginning to fray a bit on the inside edge. I was thinking that after I attach the linen underneath, I could slit the buttonholes in said fabric, then create a fabric-bound buttonhole. That way, all the alignment work is already done, there's plenty of strength in the pre-existing modern buttonholes, and it'll look nicer than shiny cotton-coated polyester thread.
• Fourth, I would contour the front seam to match to my body better. I have a flat panel for the buttons and buttonholes, but I find that once I clear the widest point of my bustline, I have an increasing "gaposis" at the neckline. Because I've already put in the buttonholes and buttons, though, it looks like I'll have to add a couple darts to offset the extra room.
• Fifth, as a final stabilization factor, I would topstitch on one side of the seamlines.

If I were making this gown out of wool, things would be quite different (naturally). I love this fabric, though! It's a light/dark green herringbone in linen:

(picture pending)

It's really not that shiny--the smallness of the weave and the coloration almost give it an iridescent look with flash, though, as shown in the picture of the fitting.