Elyscia de Fairford's Blog

German Brick Stitch

elysciadefairford — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 04:58:24 +0000

Another event and another class! This time the class was on the German Brick Stitch. This particular style appeals to me because the patterns can be drawn out very geometrically. For someone, like myself, who lacks the ability to sketch much of anything freehand, this is ideal.

In class, we started a small pouch project:

I’m still working away at this one, in between all of my other projects and will update this again when I’ve finished it.

Opus Anglicanum

elysciadefairford — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 03:44:25 +0000

The Oxford Dictionary defines this as a term used on the Continent in the late 13th and 14th centuries to describe the sumptuous English embroidery of that period and all other embroidery in similar style.

Here’s a more visual explanation:

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a class on this technique that was offered at one of The Shire of River’s Bends Autumn Gatherings.

For this project, we used split stitch, stem stich and couching. When finished, you are left with a beautiful piece of needle-art.

The Green Dress Project

elysciadefairford — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 01:38:02 +0000

This past November, I began working on a new gown. Originally it was planned to be my new gown for Twelfth Night. Unfortunately, finances were against me and I was unable to attend. The dress ended up on the back burner for a couple of months. It came back to the front of the project list in time to be worn at a Demo Feast hosted by the Shire of River’s Bend.

And, here I am at Glymm Mere’s Mayfair a few weeks ago:

It was certainly an experience assembling all of the components of this gown, but I think I’m just as glad that this is not my ‘usual’ time-period!

Tablet Weaving

elysciadefairford — Mon, 30 May 2011 22:30:19 +0000

I took my first tablet weaving class at Kingdom A&S 2010. And I was hooked. Unfortunately, I did not have the appropriate loom for this type of weaving and it was another year before I did. I dug deep to remember how to warp my loom and I had soon finished just over 3 yards of practice band. This first one was done using 10 cards and a single color yarn (an acrylic blend of some kind). It may have a future as garters…

This past weekend at Grand Thing VI, I took two more weaving classes: Warp Weighted Weaving and Advanced Tablet Weaving. Both classes (and the instructors) were amazing and very inspiring.

Below are some examples of the patterns that I’ve been trying my hand at from the Advanced Tablet Weaving class. These were done using mercerized pearl cotton 5/2.

Weaving Projects

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

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There is one more pattern in the packet – my ‘homework’. It’s a very complex looking pattern that I plan to tackle later this week.

New Projects

elysciadefairford — Wed, 19 May 2010 04:14:22 +0000

The past couple of weeks (and upcoming week and a half) have been spent busily working on a new outfit. A Norse outfit – a little more time travel for me. This one is for the upcoming Grand Thing V – a predominantly Norse event, so of course, one must look the part!

Naturally, nothing is finished at this point… Here are a couple of pictures to get you started:

and, my favorite part:

In addition to the Garb projects, I’m working on some new bedding for the tent. It’s much closer to completion. Below is the fabrics for the duvet cover. There is also a pillowcase in the gold fabric.

More to come!

The Twelfth Night Gown

elysciadefairford — Fri, 14 May 2010 05:00:46 +0000

After much frantic sewing between mid-December and January 8th, the gown was complete! There was, of course, the requisite drama along the way. There are some things that I’m hoping to go back and re-do/fix (sleeves!!) at some point. All this aside, it turned out great and I absolutely love this dress.

Gown, Inherited – Update!

elysciadefairford — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:01:50 +0000

I’ve previously written about a lovely green gown that I had inherited. Recently I began altering and re-vamping it. The first step was to remove the beaded ribbon adorning the neckline. Then I closed the back seam – the gown now goes on over the head rather than being laced up. I also had to alter the front seam to bring the dress down to my size.

After trying it to check the adjustments, I decided that the enormous bell sleeves were too much for my liking. Those seams were moved several inches in. I also considered removing the train from the gown, but decided to leave it as is for now. After I wear it for an evening, I may come back and, at the least, shorten it up some.

I’d picked up some beautiful cording woven with green velvet ribbon that I used to embellish the neck line and the hemlines on the sleeves.

And, here is it’s debut at Twelfth Night this year:

The train was a challenge, especially while dancing! But, I think I’ll leave it as is for now!

Embellishing, etc

elysciadefairford — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:14:44 +0000

With Autumn Gathering approaching, the black dress project has been set aside for other – more pressing things.

The first of these things was to go back to the original dresses (white chemise and brown over gown) I’d made and tack down the facing at the neckline. Two evenings of stitching and movies and these were crossed off my list.

Next up was the embellishing of my blue wool sideless. After much thought and research of my stitch dictionary, I decided to ‘borrow’ the chain stitch technique from Cristiana de Huntington and trim out the neckline and armholes with white thread and some lovely blue glass beads I’d picked up.

The neckline and one armhole were finished when I realized that I wasn’t going to have enough of the beads to finish it out. *sigh* No worries, I’ll just pop back over to the craft store and pick up another tube of them. Excellent theory, unfortunately, their entire bead stock has been wiped out. Two weeks later and they still have not re-stocked their shelves. Headed over to the local fabric store to check their stock… They had the right color but in the wrong size. They had some others that might be a possibility if I wanted to re-do all of my work so I picked up some of those. Just in case.

Headed to the Shire Sewing Gathering with nothing to work on since no one had my beads in stock. I ended up having the opportunity to make a run to Vancouver to check a couple of places this afternoon so on the road we went.

Three craft/fabric shops later, still no matching blue beads. I did pick up some lovely pink cube beads and frosted clear glass ones as well…but that’s another project for another day. The last store we went to had some lovely blue beads that don’t quite match what I’ve been using. I picked up a few tubes of these as well, just in case.

…the beadwork/embroidery is finished on the sideless. Finally! And it ended up not needing all of the beads from one tube. The result there is – I’ve got a lot of blue beads left over for a future project.

Gown, Inherited

elysciadefairford — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 04:16:12 +0000

Through the course of an average conversation…okay, maybe not average. How many people in the world can say, in ‘casual conversation’ – I dress up in medieval gowns and reenact history? Suffice it to say, I am one of those people. Yes, ‘those’ people. Well, on occasion, this has paid off in unexpected ways. Most recently, I inherited a bridesmaids gown that someone wore in a medieval themed wedding. It’s a beautiful gown, though not exactly historically accurate.

Actually, what I inherited was the chemise, the gown and a lovely organza wrap that matches the color of the dress.

The dress:

Once I had the dresses home, I was able to more closely examine them. The chemise will need some downsizing as well as seam repair and having the gussets in the sleeves re-stitched. The eye’s (from hook and eye’s) that were stitched on for the purposes of lacing will also need to be replaced…as will the lacing cord.

The dress will need downsizing, having the eye’s for lacing and the cording replaced. It has a lovely train on the back of the gown, but I don’t know if it will remain…I see ‘trip hazard’ in my future if I don’t remove it. The beading along the neckline remains a maybe…

The wrap is perfect as is. No alterations or repairs needed.

Coming soon, the other inherited dress that was the result of another casual conversation. Also, a new project has begun that will make it’s way here – the black dress.

The Finishing of the Cloak pt. 2

elysciadefairford — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 03:35:37 +0000

Now it is time to add the fur trim to the cloak. I found a fabulous fake fur that is super soft and has a ‘real’ look to it in Portland last month. The first thing I learned was that it is better to make a small cut at the edge of the fabric and then tear it across rather than cutting it. It tears very straight and you get minimal shedding afterwards.

I tore off three 4-inch wide strips, each 60 inches long and sewed them together end to end, giving me a strip long enough to trim the full hem-line of the cloak.

Next was the caplet of fur at the shoulders. This was a bit more of a challenge. After sewing down the bottom hem of it, it took me two days of pinning, adjusting and staring at it before I decided it would work. I wanted to be sure because the plan was to cut out two large pie shaped pieces, one at each shoulder. Once they were cut out, there was no turning back. Finally, I took a deep breath, sewed the new seams and cut away the excess fabric. The results :

Two more pieces of fur trim and the clasp = project finished!

I will be so warm now!

There are, as usual, several things I’d do different, if I had it to do again, but all in all, it turned out pretty cool. And very close to what I had pictured in my mind!