Green Linen Dresses

For one of our upcoming SCA events, I made Kaelyn and myself matching dresses in green linen. Between the two of them, there are thirty-four hand-sewn eyelets. Kaelyn's, of course, is the cutest.

Most of the resources I used in creating my patterns are readily available online. The exception is most of Kaelyn's garb, as I made it up on the fly.

First of all, there is my leine (underdress), featuring ridiculously large bag sleeves. I relied heavily on this article when I made it two years ago. Since then, it has served me well. The first year, it was comfortable maternity garb, the second year, I cut nursing slits in the pleats, and this year, I finally made the dress to go over it.

The bodice I drafted using this method, but I found the pattern to be extremely loose around the waist, and much too short. As a result, I had to alter my pattern significantly to get the desired result before I started the dress itself.

The coifs I made under the inspiration of this article. Long had I wanted to make one, but I couldn't quite figure out how to pattern it and get a good fit. It never occurred to me to drape the brim, as she does... so she made that happen. I made the brim of both coifs on the fold, since I think this creates a neater front edge. I used the same size circle for the back part of both coifs, so Kaelyn's looks much poofier.

Kaelyn's chemise I made with raglan sleeves and elastic at the neck and wrists, for ease of dressing a squirmy toddler.

I also made removable sleeves for Kaelyn, since there's no way of accurately predicting how the weather will be. I patterned them based off of sleeves of a jacket she has, and sewed a ribbon directly to the top of each sleeve, so that I don't have to worry about her losing them, or sewing four more eyelets.

Now all that really needs to be made is a pair of shoes for Kaelyn, but as it is, she just may end up wearing sparkly sneakers or going barefoot, depending on the weather.

Sock cats

Today I made three sock cats out of three pairs of ladies knee high socks.

I spent some time looking for a tutorial on pinterest, and when I was unable to find one, I made it up. Here's the result.

I made one for Kaelyn first, and it's a little rougher than the others, but I learned a lot from it.

After this one, I made two more for my nieces. They were a bit more polished.

I guess they look pretty good, because Kaelyn started meowing at the picture while I posted it.
I'll be trying to find time to put together a tutorial soon.

Kaelyn's new garb

Last month we had our Shire's feast/get together, and Kaelyn needed some new garb. The old tunics were just getting too short. I decided to make something a little less unisex for her, though I was hesitant to make her long skirts, since she loves to climb and tends to trip on her hem. What I settled on instead was a pair of generously cut salwar, that from a distance, certainly passed for a skirt, with all the benefits of a pair of trousers. Everyone was happy. I also made her a new shirt and a bodice. I'm not thrilled about how the bodice fit, but I made it so last minute, I didn't have time to make another. Anyway, here's the picture.




I cut the salwar using this as a reference, as I had never  made salwar before. I used elastic in the waist and at the ankle.

Here's another photo (photoshopped to add a more suitable background) from that day, 'cuz why not.

Stock photograph courtesy of GothicBohemianStock on deviantart.

Toddler cloak

 Well, Kaelyn toppled over my sewing machine stand and sent my sewing machine careening to the ground yesterday. Yay. The housing on one side had to be taken off and adjusted. Now it's acting up, and I didn't feel like trouble shooting. I was working on this toddler cloak, made from the pieces of other projects. I always intended the cloak to be a full half circle and to have red gores as the end pieces, but I lost a red gore, so I had to improvise.

I had all the gores sewn together before the machine-toppling incident, so all that remained to be done was to press out the seams and finish the neck. I finished it with bias tape and a covered hood and eye. I'm terrible at hand sewing, by the way, but it was kind of fun, especially since it was such a short distance. This cloak will go over the new dress I'm working on for her, once I make that. Considering the hap-hazard nature of its construction, I'm pleased with the way it came out, and I hope that it will serve her well (and not seem too obnoxiously short) for at least a year. 

Bottle net

 I made this bottle net in April as a prize for an arts and sciences competition at Ceilidh. I made it using linen carpet yarn found at the yarn barn in Lawrence.

 It uses running turk's heads, overhand knots, ocean plaits, and carrick bends in the design. All the knots are coated with Mod Podge to keep them stable and pretty. I coated the knots inside and out before slipping the whole thing off the bottle, cleaning it thoroughly to remove the excess glue, and fixing it on more permanently with the crown sennit around the neck of the bottle. The strap is a four-strand round braid. I love that braid,  and use it frequently.

 I'll be teaching a class this weekend on how to tie most of the knots used to make this bottle net. Very exciting. Anyway, I thought I'd post pictures.

I'm trying to make some knotty jewelry to show off at the class on Sunday, but Kaelyn being awake makes fancy knotwork difficult. She likes to grab things she shouldn't and pull. Trying to finish complicated knots in her presence is frustrating beyond belief.

Kaelyn's current garb

When Kaelyn started crawling really well, and stopped being a babe-in-arms, it became readily apparent that she needed something shorter to play in. This is what I came up with.  The fun thing about this one is that all the fabrics are recycled.






The white shirt was previously a pillowcase, which was nice, because I was able to use the pillowcase's hem.

The stripey fabric came from a flat sheet. The reverse facing is from a gentleman's shirt. 

 Looks pretty good on, I think, though it is getting a little short for her. It's the perfect length to let her climb around and get into trouble.

 She wears it over a pair of leggings I found at goodwill. Lazy, I know, but it was easier than making pants for her.

 The pouch and the belt were given to me by a friend of ours while I was pregnant with Kaelyn. They're pretty awesome. She often wears the belt without the pouch, since she really doesn't carry anything, but the pouch does look pretty cool, it just kind of gets in the way. I'm sure she'll use it lots when she's a little older.

The amber necklace has kind of become part of her garb. We got it as a teething necklace, and it came from Inspired by Finn.

I was recently given some fabric perfect for more toddler garb, so expect more soon!

Kaelyn's first garb

I thought I'd post pictures of the first set of garb I made for Kaelyn. It got us through the rapidly expanding tiny baby stage, and right on to crawling. Unfortunately, I can't find many pictures of her actually wearing her garb. The chemise was simplicity itself to make, and has elastic at the neck and wrists for safety and convenience. The bodice took a fair bit longer with all those eyelets. I used the bonnet pattern from Prudentbaby.com, but she never wore the bonnet for long. I apologize for the terrible quality of the photos with Kaelyn actually in her garb, they were taken immediately after I completed it, and I still had her on the changing table with the horrible light of her room.

Soon I will post pictures of Kaelyn's current garb, as this was made over a year ago.