Linen guards are so boring. Having fixated on the idea of using velvet guards I turned my house upside-down looking for the spools of black velvet ribbon I -know- I have. Sadly I couldn’t find it. After hemming and hawing about it I decided I really did want velvet.. so I went out and I bought more ribbon. Viola, instant…
Category: 16th Century
Red will be the color
I dug through my fabric stash and found that I had enough light blue (denim colored) or red linen available for the dress. Since I’ve been wearing the light blue as a tunic for the last year I’ve decided to make the linen kampfrau in red. I’m not 100% certain that ruby red is utterly appropriate.. but I think it…
Linen Kampfrau
Diary started June 1, 2010 Progress: June 2: Decided to go with Red Linen and fixated on using velvet ribbons for the guards. June 6: Turned house and garage upside-down looking for ribbon. Gave up and bought more 2″ wide velvet washable ribbons and put the bodice together. Bodice is done. June 9-12: Pleated skirt onto a band and attached…
Hemd
The hemd came out beautifully. Running it through the wash did rumple it a little but it was easily revived with a quick ironing. I did find that the collar may be a bit too tall for my neck. When I tie it closed it bends and folds oddly. I think if I’d made it 2″ tall instead of ~3.5″…
Pics or it never happened
Sunday was the first run with the new Kampfrau dress. Good: – Wulsthaube worked fantastically well. I will be publishing my “how to” as soon as I finish writing it (and include pictures).(Published here) – Dress and hemd were “done” – Vertical stripy socks are cool. I’ll need to buy more of these. Bad: – I’m still fat.. no dress…
Progress: Smocking done
At Mists Investiture this last weekend I finished the last of the smocking. I think it’s beau-ti-ful (click to embiggen). I’ve removed the pleating threads and stretched it out a little. After all the smocking the neck came out a little bit bigger than 50% of the original width. I’ve decided to line the collar both for comfort and to…
Down to the wire
I see the end. It’s over there. I’m supposed to wear the dress for the first time in 5 days. I think I’ll have it all done in time (I’m hopeful that I won’t be madly finishing hand stitches on Saturday morning). Still left to do: Required: – Finish Hemd(Plan to finish this tonight) Line the collar Add ties Add…
Hemd
Along with my Trossfrau/Swiss Dress I need an appropriate hemd(chemise). Inspirational Pictures Plan There are several acceptable styles(high neck, low neck, rounded neck, etc). I’ve decided I like a high-necked front-opening hemd with honey-comb smocking at the neck. When I made the shirt for Fearghus’ Waffenrock I used a pattern very similar to one suggested by Rainillt in the Pleatworks…
Sleeves (said with fear and horror)
I’ve only ever draped sleeves.. or left them for last and just kind of faked it. This time I want to draft a pattern so I have a sleeve pattern to use on my next dress. I’m planning to make a bunch of German dresses so it seems silly to have to fake the sleeves every time. So.. I grepped…
Skirt: The Fiddly Bits
The bottom of the bodice is smaller than my hips. In order to be able to get into/out of the dress I needed to leave a slightly longer opening. To hide this I want to slightly overlap the front skirt closure. The right-hand side of the skirt ends flush with the right hand side of the bodice. The left-hand side…