Yes you read that right. 7 years. Not 7 minutes, or even 7 hours.
I started these looms when I first learnt how to tablet weave, which was in 2007. And yes its now 2014. But they are finished!
They are really basic. It was just one length of pine cut into 6 pieces. I didn't even cut it myself, got someone else to do it (this was my pre-power-tools-do-selfer days). I did varnish it myself way back when. My first (and quite possibly last) foray into oil based products. Clean up was a pain in the bum I tell you. And then thats where it got left. Random little varnished pieces of wood that moved house three times before being contructed.
The end bits are glued and screwed, and had a hole drilled in them for the threaded rod. The guy at bunnings (I love those guys) gave me a really nifty tip for how to screw it in. You put two nuts on the rod and tighten them against each other. Then you use a spanner on only the top nut and screw it in like a bolt with a spanner. So lets just pretend that was my brilliant idea :) I will be using the same technique for the tension peg on my inkle loom when I ever get around to it.
Carly's Tablet Weaving Loom
My tablet weaving loom, almost finished You can see the nuts on the right where I haven't taken them off after screwing in the rod
I broke the hacksaw blade on the last cut. So frustrating. And then when I tried to screw it in something bizarre happened and it just kept chewing up the timber and spinning around without going any deeper until the hole was too big. So I just drilled a new hole. Yes it's annoying and my OCD nature is screaming at me that the peg is not in the centre but not so much that I really cared about trying to fix it even if I was able.
Looms Finished
So the larger one with the dodgy extra hole is for me and the smaller one for my friend Carly (who better be reading this :P). It has been promised as her christmas and birthday present for the last seven years. I'll have to actually get her a present from now on.
Well after losing my phone last month my insurance replacement finally arrived. Which means now I can take photos again! I've still been working on various bits and pieces in the interim but it didn't seem worthwhile posting anything without accompanying pictures. So today I am hoping to catch you all up on what I have been working on.
My red kirtle bodice is basically complete (except for the bottom edge). I forced myself through the torture of the silk facings and to be honest once I set my mind to it I got into a bit of a rhythym. It still took a couple of days but boy was I happy when I finished!
Kirtle bodice finished
Next it was the eyelets (which were already done in the above photo). All 40 of them. For those who haven't sewn eyelets before there is a pretty good tutorial here. I did the buttonhole stitch eyelets that she describes, but I have the buttonhole stitch side on the inside (I don't think it's as pretty as the other side) so there is a lot of turning the fabric over when you pull each stitch tight to make sure it sits where you want it to. Next time I'm going to try the satin stitch ones and see if they are any easier.
Reverse view of eyelets showing buttonhole stitches (if you have really good eyes!)
Before that though, you need to work out where you are going to sew them. Spiral lacing seems to have been much more common in period than cross lacing, so now whenever I make garb I spiral lace. It really doesn't make a difference functionally but it feels more accurate and it uses less cord (which means less time luceting!). There is a really good article on the Festive Attyre site which explains all about how to space your holes to get the right look. I think my eyelets on this bodice are 3/4" apart (apart from the extra one at the top and bottom) and 1/2" away from the edge. To work this out I measure the total length of the edge where the eyelets will be and try dividing it by something to get an even-ish sort of number. Then I get some big berry pins and go along and mark the spots so I can see if they are too close/far away from each other, and even too close/far away from the edge of the fabric. I pin out a couple of different waysand then pick the one that looks best. It's often a different configuration on each piece of garb.
The Zen of Spiral Lacing Spacing from Festive Attyre
Now I have done plenty of hand sewn eyelets before but the last lot I did through a canvas interlining ended up so small I could barely get my teeny tiny (read thin) lacing cord through them. Luckily I was a bit wiser this time. The trick is to do as few stitches as will hold the hole open, and keep reopening the hole with the awl. My first few eyelets (way back when...) I went around three or four times to make sure I covered the ENTIRE edge because I thought that was what you were supposed to do. They ended up so tiny and I had no idea what I had done wrong. And over here at The Renaissance Tailor is where I learnt that the holes will close themselves up as you sew if you let them. I was not going to let that happen again. I stabbed those suckers about 5 times each! And now they can even fit my normal thickness of lacing through (luceted 8 ply crochet cotton) so I'm quite happy. (Note: use something solid as a base to rest your awl on and push your fabric down onto it. I had quite a sore knee, and then a dented wooden chair until I discovered the kitchen bench worked quite well.)
After that I finally got to cut the skirt pieces out. The back skirt piece is a plain rectangle while the front is shaped slightly as that was what was done in the time period I'm working in (according the the authors of The Tudor Tailor anyway, which is good enough for me).
Skirt pattern from The Tudor Tailor
The sides seams of the skirt have been sewn up by hand using back stitch, leaving about an 8 inch gap at the top where the bodice laces. I'm up to flat felling the seams which is a period technique to finish the edges of a seam so they don't fray. The wool I'm using has been felted so it probably wouldn't fray much anyway, but the skirt isn't lined and I'm a bit OCD about the details like that. I know they probably wouldn't have bothered in period but leave me alone! I hate raw edges! I've finished one side and started pinning the other one down to sew. After that I just need to cartridge pleat the skirt and attach it to the bodice. I haven't quite worked out whether I should finish the bottom edge of the bodice before I do this or not? Any suggestions?
And that's where my kirtle is at. Yay for progress!
I'm still plodding away at the blue and brown sleeves (one is finished).
One sleeve finished
After finishing the criss cross inkle leg wraps (which totally don't stay up by the way. I really need to do the proper thick spiral ones) I rewarped my inkle loom with some thin red and white crochet cotton so I could experiment with pick patterns. I pretty much just plodded along following the instructions here until I knew what I was doing. Then I wanted to steam ahead and do a stags head for my husband but I didn't make my band wide enough. Next time though!
I am also fairly determined to build this floor sized inkle loom so I can weave lots and lots of braid at a time and then sell it but I will dedicate another post to that.
I reorganised my sewing room and have plans to install some fabric storage drawers/shelves.
I started knitting some socks but I've only done a few rows because I started reading a book in bed instead. I've finished it now though so it will be back to sock knitting before sleep.
I'm also researching menus and other things for a weekend long camping event I hope to run in November. There will definitely be pancakes and waffles!
The Pancake Bakery by Pieter Aertsen 1560
I learnt how to make lace at the last A&S day which was pretty exciting. I came home so determined to try this amazing pattern and I just haven't had a chance to sit down and start it. But I couldn't believe how easy lace making is. It's really just made up of different combinations of crosses and twists! I will get around to trying that pattern but I need to finish up a few other things first.
So that's what I've been up to. Hope you guys didn't miss me too much. Actually that's a total lie. I really hope you were all devastated by my blogging absence and you kept refreshing the page to see if I had put up a post yet. I am that vain. But lets pretend I didn't admit that ;)
I mentioned previously that I'm not very good at sticking with one thing, and so I always have multiple projects going. What I mean by that is I actually have a giant tub in my sewing room (aka my son's bedroom, but what does a 10 month old need with a bedroom anyway?) full of half finished bits and pieces. Stuff that I started and got bored with, or didn't have the materials to finish, or didn't know how to finish, or just forgot about after starting ten new things. Some of it was begun YEARS ago (like the blue tablet woven belt I mentioned here among others), and some of it much more recently (like my french kirtle). So this week I've been trying to work on some of the things in my unfinished tub. Even though I really really want to start on Dan's viking kaftan!!!
So, first things first. At rowany festival 2011/2? I went to a knitted sock A&S class. Everything went along nicely. I've done heaps of knitting before. Just before the class ended the lady running it said "If you get stuck when you get to turning the heel come and see me in my campsite on Monday". Well we only went up for the day that year. And I got stuck turning the heel didn't I. Well not even the actual turning of the heel, but the section called "Divide for Heel".
Miniature sock pattern, based on Carmoyle stocking.
The picture has been blanked out at the request of the author.
I don't know about you but it just really confused me how it was written, and never having knitted a sock before I had no idea what I was doing. So it got abandoned for a few years. But this year before Panther Hunt I contacted one of the ladies that lives up in Dismal Fogs (Lithgow, NSW - Hi again Kylie!) who I know has knitted socks before if she could help me. It confused her a bit too (which made me feel better) but since she knew the anatomy of a sock she helped me out. We worked out that the stitches needed to be 8 on needle 1, 15 on needle 2 (or a stitch holder) for the instep, and the other 7 on needle three. Then you knit the 8 on needle 1, turn the work around and knit those 8 again, plue the 7 on needle three. So you have 15 stitches on the holder, and 15 on a single needle that you are working on back and forward.
From that point on I was pretty right. I had to use a few you tube videos for the bind off, and then again to pick up the stitches, but this was the result.
Mini sock of cuteness!!!
It's pretty small, but I was really hoping it would fit on Jonathon's foot.
It didn't
So now it's basically a toy sock for grace's dolls. The cream wool I bought on Tuesday is for a real sized pair for myself. If anyone wants the larger pattern contact me and I will email it to you. I need to knit a swatch first to gauge the tension so it ends up the right size. But that would come under "starting a new project" which is forbidden this week until lace-making on Sunday.
Another thing I've been working on is a pair of sleeves that I started with the intention of having something warm for festival (hah, yeah I know). A few years back I made a dress from a commercial pattern that had an under and an oversleeve and I accidently cut them from the same fabric. So I had these extra sleeve pieces in this blue material. I had about a metre of this brown wool blend that I had picked up from the salvos for cheap that probably wouldn't make more than sleeves anyway. So I cut them out of the wool in the same shape to make reversible sleeves. I am handsewing them so I used backstitch around the outside, leave a gap so I could turn them the right way out, then whipstitched the opening closed.
Whipstitched opening on the left, invisible backstitching on the right
Now I am using ladder stitch to sew up the seam like I would for a stuffed toy.
Close up of ladder stitch
You can see below its quite invisible from both sides as the stitches are hidden in the folds, and it also lies quite flat
They are still in progress, but what's that I spy underneath? Weaving? Yes it is.
Why oh why is my weave so open?
I've only done a bit. I'm not sure why, but the weaving is a lot more open than I was hoping for. I think I might need a different reed or thicker yarn. Hopefully it will shrink up in the wash? We'll see. And yes the pictures on top of it were painted by my daughter at preschool. I'm going to put them up in my sewing room because they are awesome :)
And that brings me to my kirtle. I picked it up yesterday and forced myself to continue with attaching the silk facing on the side seams. It's really depressing when I finish a row of stitching and realise I need to do it three more times, and then on the lining, and then on the other side seam. My finger is also quite sore from pushing the needle through the canvas. I need to dig out my little thimble because I really really want to finish this dress! It better turn out as amazing as I'm hoping it will.
Damn spotlight and it's 40% off sale. I am now broke. And I have a whole list of new projects, none of which are for me.
Navy blue cotton/linen - Daniel cloak lining Khaki cotton/linen - Dan viking tunic Blue cotton velveteen - Daniel doublet Green/white herringbone wool - Daniel kaftan Grey wool - Daniel cloak Same grey wool - Dad kaftan
The viking kaftan is probably first on the list for Daniel, and it will be made something like this. A lot of the kaftan recreations I found online referenced this picture and pattern, but it took a bit of searching to find the actual article because the link that kept coming up (http://users.bigpond.net.au/quarfwa/miklagard/Costume/Rus/Trader/Rus_description.htm) was broken. Luckily the viking answer lady had the name of the author (Peter Beatson), so I searched and found it here. I love how detailed and well documented it all is. Makes things easy for me :)
Peter Beatson's Rus Trader Outfit
Kaftan Pattern
I'm not sure I will get to the silk embroidery around the collar and cuffs. I would prefer to tablet weave something fancy, but I will have to search a bit more and see if I can find evidence of that.
My dad is going to make the other cross-over style of kaftan.
I must have stumbled across the best viking resource page here. It has patterns and reconstructions and stuff from everywhere on the net all in one place as clothing guides, sorted by region. I love it! So much reading to do now.
Oh and by the way, earlier when I said I didn't buy anything for myself... technically not true. I bought three balls of cotton and some pins for a lacemaking A&S class next Sunday which I am pretty excited about, and also a few balls of wool to make myself some socks. Stay tuned :)
Perle 8 cotton and berry pins for lace making 8 ply cream wool for knitting socks
I love it when I finish something. It makes me want to go and finish other somethings! And this week I finished two somethings - Dan's viking pants, and the inkle woven criss cross leg wrap thingy that I mentioned back here.
But before I get to that, when I left you here I had just finished inserting the crotch gusset using french seams and was sewing up the lower leg pieces. After that, I used the machine (on the widest stitch setting) to sew two straight rows of stitching 1/2 cm apart along the bottom of each upper leg section without reversing at each end. Then I held the bobbin threads (these were on the bottom when the fabric was on the machine) firmly in one hand, and used my other hand to squash the fabric up in the other direction. You have to do it a little bit at a time but you can gather up very large amounts of fabric into very gathered small lengths. Once it was gathered up to roughly the right size, I took the lower leg piece and slipped it over my gathered loop like so, with right sides together.
My god I can't draw
Here I adjusted the gathering threads for the last time to make sure the two pieces fit nicely together, then tied them together to secure. Pin the upper and lower leg sections together and sew. A free arm sewing machine makes this really easy, but it can be done on a regular machine too as long as you are always stitching the 'bottom' of the tube, with the 'top' above and to the left of the presser foot. You just have to keep adjusting your fabric.
This next step is totally optional, but it definitely makes the pants more comfortable around that gathered leg seam (and also stops fraying since I couldn't use a french seam here).
Top = Daniel's pants with biased seam.
Bottom = dads pants with raw edge
The bottom pants in this picture are my dads, and you can see how tight the gathers are. Its about 90 inches worth of fabric gathered up to 18 inches. When i put them on myself I was like "Ow! This is really scratchy". Dan's (top) were not so bad as he had less fullness and also a softer fabric, but still not super comfortable. So I bought some cream coloured bias binding and attached it over the raw edge. The first edge was pinned and sewn to the line of stitching that connects the two pieces of the leg (not the gathering threads). Then I stretched the lower leg fabric out and pinned the bias so that it made a slight bubble shape. Why do you ask? Because I have used this technique before and the bias has been pulled taught instead of the fabric and it looks good on the inside but doe this ugly wrinkle thing on the outside.
Using bias to enclose a seam. (why didn't I take a photo of this?!?!?!)
After that I hemmed the lower legs, and turned down the waistband and put a cheap cotton drawstring through (this will be replaced by an inkle woven one soon) and voila! Viking rus pants complete!
Pants complete!
And then I sat down for an hour after the kids were in bed and finished the other inkle woven leg wrap.
Pants with leg wraps
Close up of leg wraps
I do wish the leg wraps were longer. I think a third cross would look better, but they are the maximum length my inkle loom can handle. Just waiting on a friend to make me a bigger one :)
Hubby still thinks they are pretty spiffing. And he is rather excited to wear them this weekend. We are going up to an event in the Shire of Dismal Fogs (read - Lithgow, Blue Mountains) so I will make sure to take some more photos. Dad's pants should be finished by then too! I've also volunteered myself to teach a beginners tablet weaving class at the event so stay tuned for details on how that goes.
I'm not very good at sticking with one thing. I always seem to have a dozen different projects going at one time so I can always be in the mood to do this or that. And right now that's weaving.
I purchased a rigid heddle loom at festival a few years ago and got a very quick crash course in how to thread the reed, but not how to actually tie the warp onto the loom. It was also warped up with linen which I have since learnt is not the best fibre for a beginner to work with. And so it has sat on a shelf ever since with the vague promise of "I really should learn how to do that properly". That day is today!
(well actually it was last week, but i'm telling you about it today)
What my neglected loom looked like when I got it down
I went down to Nowra with my mum and stopped in at Glenora Weaving & Wool in Gerringong on the way and picked up some lovely yarn. I didn't really know what I was going to make but I had the vague notion of making a cushion (something small and easy) and I saw this lovely olivey coloured yarn which looked like it would match the artwork in my lounge room. So I got that and a few other skeins and a funky little hook thing to help me thread the reed (no doubt it has a name but I have no idea what it's called).
So I cut off all the weaving that was on the loom, salvaging the linen warp just in case I want to use it one day. There is a really cool way you can make a chain out of long warp threads which keeps it neat and tangle free which I saw here (it's part 5, about half way through).
Once that was done I sat down to try and work out a pattern. I wanted to use the whole width of the reed just to see how wide a piece I can weave on my loom and so I counted the holes and slots - 240 threads in total. Then I thought, you know what? I really don't want to have to count 240 holes every time I start a new piece of weaving, so I grabbed a sharpie and numbered every tenth slot. I felt pretty clever.
Slots numbered on the reed
I was so keen to get started at this point, but I had no idea what sort of pattern I wanted to make. I did a quick google search but didn't really come up with anything. So I just opened an excel spreadsheet and made the columns really narrow and selected big chunks and coloured them in the colours I had chosen. I ended up with this.
Cushion weft pattern
I still don't quite know what colour/pattern I'll do the weft it, but who cares at this point? START WEAVING!!!
I had already found a great youtube guide showing how to warp up a rigid heddle loom
It's done by Ashford which is a NZ company that actually makes looms. I feel like they should know what they're talking about. So I grabbed the first skein of yarn and off I went!
Now those of you who know what you're doing will probably read that and go "oh no, she didn't did she?" It seems a little foolish in retrospect I'll admit. I just assumed that a skein of yarn would work the same way as a ball. I even held it over my arm so it wouldn't get tangled! Yet this is the mess I ended up with (actually this is after about two hours of untangling, and just before I had enough and went to bed bitterly disappointed).
Tangles
To make matters worse, my cats found it during the night, so the next day when I continued untangling I ended up with 5 little balls of yarn and two medium balls of yarn *sigh* which I then had to wind into a ball by hand using this dummies guide.
Eventually I got it sorted and was able to finally start warping.
Half way through warping the green, using the knobs on the back of a dining room chair as a warping peg
Green warp complete
The gaps are where the grey threads are going to go. But the grey yarn is also a skein, not a ball. I'd like to think I am not foolish enough to make the same mistake twice. I posted on facebook about the *cough* incident... and a friend from the Blue Mountains (Hi Kylie!) told me that I need a 'swift' and a 'nostepinne'.
The Swift can be a lampshade (loosened, so that it spins) or a friendly pair of arms, or else google "makeshift swift" and see what you have that can stand in. A nostepinne is easier, it's really just a glorified stick. As long as it's smooth enough not to catch on the yarn. cardboard rolls from inside paper towels or similar work well, or a piece of dowel. Google/youtube for technique. Mine tend to turn out egg-shaped, it doesn't have to make a spherical ball or a cylindrical cake to work. Have fun, take your time, and don't pull on tangles
Hah! Too late about the tangles.
*Google google google*
Most makeshift swifts seem to use a lazy susan as the base. No good for me because I don't have one.
*Google google google*
Ah hah!
I must have stumbled upon the most ingenious idea here involving a wine bottle and some old wire coathangers!
A fellow blogger's ingenious makeshift swift
I was willing then and there to sacrifice a bottle of wine to the cause, but my husband reminded me that I probably want to be sober for ball winding. Slightly disappointed but acknowledging his wisdom, I found a glass water bottle in the kitchen. I also only had three wire coathangers in the whole house (all the rest are plastic or wooden) but I was getting desperate so I was determined to make it work anyway.
Makeshift yarn swift
It works pretty well. I imagine four would work much better as it would stretch the loop out tight rather than have it sagging between each hanger. I had to change the shape of mine too because it kept slipping off.***
And for a nostepinne I borrowed a utensil from my daughters wooden kitchen set
Makeshift nostepinne
I probably should have looked up a youtube video of how to wind a ball properly, but I didn't.
My first yarn ball!
I am however prodigiously proud of it! Next time I'll try and make it a bit neater though.
So then I was able to finish warping the grey sections. I bought some brown paper from officeworks to roll it on (apparently this is important to keep the tension right?), still following Kate from Ashfords instructions (see video above).
Warping complete (finally)
So now I am ready to go, except I need to wind my other two skeins of yarn into balls. And I want to do this about as much as I want to attach the silk facing on my kirtle :D
*** Afterwards, I found this picture which uses two dining chairs to hold the skein while you wind. Probably would have been easier in the end. And now I have this giant coathanger device hanging around my lounge room because I have nowhere to put it.
So when I last posted, I had almost finished the neckline of my kirtle. Well that's done now and it looks pretty awesome. I plodded away and got the facing sewn onto the lining the same way as I described here. Then I was finally able to invisible stitch the lining to the wool at the neckline. I used the same technique I would use to do a blind hem, and it was only afterwards that I though about using a ladder stitch (which I have only ever used to sew up stuffed toys). I guess it doesn't really make much difference as long as you can't see it after all.
Invisible stitch 1 - Blind Hem
Invisible stitch 2 - Ladder Stitch
I did have progress photos to post, but alas my phone updated over the weekend and decided it wanted to delete thousands of photos (including many of my kids *super upset face*) so I can only show you what it looks like now. Excuse the flash which is making it look pink on my screen.
Kirtle bodice with finished neckline
Close up of invisible stitching. Can you see it?
So I had that done by Saturday night and I was so keen to stitch up the sides so I can start on the skirt when I came to the realisation that I was going to have to do the exact same facing treatment on both sides (including the armhole), before I could sew the eyelets.
Suffice to say I REALLY wasn't looking forward to doing all that work again. I know it's got to be done but... OOH SHINY! Look over there at that linen for Dan's viking rus pants! You know he really does need pants more than I need a dress.
So I got started sewing the rus pants. And I decided I wanted to make them with french seams. I'm really not sure why since it will take twice as long. I guess I just really don't want to do that facing. I think it is also partly because I have never really mastered french seams. It's all well and good when its just a straight side seam, but I tried it once on a chemise and when I got to the underarm gussets or the gores it just became a mess. I was hoping that hand sewing rather than machine sewing might help too.
How to sew a french seam
And it did. Again no progress shots (damn you camera!!!) but here are the upper pants now with all the internal seams complete and the waistband turned down and stitched
Upper section of viking rus pants which will be gathered up and poofy
Inside view of crotch gusset
Detail view of french seams on a corner
I am so happy I finally got my head around the french seams on inserted gores/gussets. It's all about where you stitch to before you move the folded bit. If anyone wants a step by step explanation with pictures (I am sure I'm not the only one who has struggled with this) I can sit down and do it. Just let me know
So now I am doing the french seams on the lower leg section. Then all I need to do is gather up the bottom of each upper leg bit and attach it to the lower leg, and hem. Voila! Instant pants!
I have decided I'm going to inkle weave a drawstring. I found that idea somewhere else (can't recall where) and I will use the colours from this post although probably a more manly pattern like stripes :D
