Moved In!

I've archived about a year's worth of relevant LJ posts by month (that's the only way LJ does it, which is annoying) and other than an omnipresent issues with pictures, it seems to have worked fairly well.  There are a few LJ things I will miss (easy time stamping, f-locking posts) but I'll manage.  The community aspect of LJ is also something I'll miss, but it's still there (when/if LJ functions) so I'll probably continue puttering around there a bit.

That's it, LJ...

I'm done with your Russian spam and 4-day near nonexistence. I'm moving back to blogger.

Lots of stuff, but very little sewing

Over the last two weeks I've pretty successfully avoided sewing the binding on the bottom edge of my corset but still did enough that I feel like I had an acceptable amount of accomplishment.



I ran the white silk through an hour-long dyebath using a little more than the recommended amount of dry dyestuff (Dharma Sapphire Blue Acid dye).  Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough, and I didn't end up with the beautiful dark blue I fell in love with in Drew's samples.  However, I still find the color (a very clear sort of french blue) to be very striking and while I have enough dye that I could run it through again, I'm thinking that I might just leave it as-is.  The dark blue was a little iffy to document for the particular look of the 1560s, where gowns that aren't black seem to be pretty light colored.  I also found that iron-drying damp silk makes it *very* stiff, which is hopefully good news for all the couching I'm going to end up doing.

At FP last week Owen brought a bunch of costume jewelry pieces to sell on behalf of a local former scadian, and there were a few things I couldn't resist getting: 



The cross belt will work really nicely as is with my 15th century kirtle, and if I really wanted to, I could probably add spacers to it to make it a nice girdle belt.



And I found this awesome brooch!  The stone in the center (most likely glass) is a smokey blue color.



And in my neverending quest for cool time pieces, I found this great little watch face.  It'll make a great end for a girdle belt, but I'm still trying to figure out how to change the battery.  Hopefully I'll figure something out.



I'm working on some new SCA heraldry with a Magpie and three cinquefoils, so when I saw this piece I had. to. have. it.  It's a little more junky than the brooch and other pieces, but the design was inspired, so I went for it.



The seller also had a bunch of handmade bobbin lace, and I snatched about two and a half yards of this lovely stuff.  I'm thinking I might be able to work a simple cuff on my 1560s project.

Also, my zibillini came in from etsy!


It was originally a vintage 3-pelt mink stole, but I was able to pick apart the stitches without too much difficulty.  I love the silvery color they have going on.  I'm intending to give one to Aine to make a prize for the Insurrection A&S tournament, but that still gives me two to play with.  They aren't huge (maybe 16" long with the tails) so they should be pretty manageable on a belt chain.  PLUS, they were purchased before I heard about the ACC challenge, so they qualify as stash.

Of course, these were all *last* week's accomplishments.  The 4th of July weekend was spent visiting Drew's family in Rocklin, and while there was no sewing whatsoever, I had a lot of downtime and so avoided being completely useless:



Here is my first attempt at pearl knotting, using stash freshwater pearls.  Unfortunately, Hobby Lobby only sells silk beading cord in 2 meter cards, so the size of my piece is somewhat limited, especially since I made an unsuccessful buttonhole loop on one end (I ended up just tying the ends into 8-pearl loops).  I'm hoping to do knotted pearls for most of my jewelry for my project (in keeping with the Margot portrait), though I will need bigger ones for the necklace and belt (budget-wise, I might have to make do with what I have).  Some of the knots are kind of funky but I think the overall look will be nice with some practice.  I'm hoping this sample will work reasonably well for a hairpiece.public0