tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75655419592163588342024-03-12T02:41:46.684-07:00Medieval ThreadsAn exploration of textile arts in the Middle AgesHeidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.comBlogger193125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-20718837936706117552017-08-12T13:31:00.001-07:002017-08-12T13:31:42.646-07:00Period spinning methodsI have been trying to learn how to spin in a more period way off and on for ages. Today as I was researching something else entirely, I came across a fantastic video showing one approach in slow motion! Yay! You can see it <a href="https://15thcenturyspinning.wordpress.com/2013/11/03/new-spinning-video-slow-motion/">here</a> at the 15thcenturyspinning blog. She demonstrates a method of in-hand spinning that looks like the artwork and make a very <a href="https://15thcenturyspinning.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/research-and-documenting-how-they-spun/">good and well reasoned argument</a> against modern drop spinning being using in period (in this case 15th century Europe). <br />
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I'm pretty excited about trying this out. I think her method will work well with the reproduction spindle whorls and sticks that I have, which don't tend to spin as long and also don't (usually) have hooks or notches. This makes using modern methods difficult, and once I add in a distaff I'm pretty much a mess.<br />
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So in addition to never-ending hemming (see my last post), mundane job hunting, and a new project for an upcoming class (more on this later) I'm pretty excited. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-6302576517224399332017-07-27T09:29:00.000-07:002017-07-27T09:29:41.184-07:00New Frilled VeilGood grief I have not posted in a long time! Suffice it to say, Life Happened. I've moved 3 times since I wrote last, first to California, then again in California, and most recently to Oregon where I will hopefully be staying for a good long time. In the midst of all that, I have not been working on very many projects.
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I did decided that I needed to make a new frilled veil. The first one that I did had a small frill which held up well without starch but it went all limp and sad after I washed it. I think it really does need to be starched after I wash it, so once I get some earplugs or something to put in the pleats I will give this a shot.<br />
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In the mean time I need a new one that will not need starching and hopefully hold up better to washing. I also harbor a deep and not-so-secret desires for a ridiculous fluffy veil, but again being able to wash the thing once in awhile would be nice. Cathrin at <a href="https://katafalk.wordpress.com/2012/11/06/frilled-veil/">Katafalk</a> made a lovely non-starched frilled veil a couple of years ago, which I am excited about as it is 1 - not starched and 2 - detachable! Making the frill removable will help a lot with my washing issue, as I've found that the frill itself is not what gets dirty fastest, but the flat veil section. Elina at <a href="http://www.neulakko.net/?p=1333">Neulakko's version</a> has somewhat deeper/larger frills (I have a big frill/buns problem as well) and it looks wonderful.<br />
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I have managed to cut out my frills and have been hemming and hemming and hemming. I'm going for a four-layer look which seems to have been popular and should work well with my no-starch plan as the extra fabric will, hopefully, help to support itself. It does seem that having frills front and back is a bit more common so that's what I'm planning to do. (check out my <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/heidihaywood/frilled-veils/">pintrest board</a> for a collection of relevant images and links) This thing is going to be substantial!<br />
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For those of you new the whole frilled veil phenomenon, Isis Sturtewagen did a<a href="http://lib.ugent.be/en/catalog?q=rug01:001396515"> master's thesis</a> on these as well as a number of <a href="http://www.medievalsilkwork.com/p/publications.html">other articles</a>. Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-47138835668286044922015-10-31T16:20:00.000-07:002015-10-31T16:20:06.699-07:00Something New<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Eight months ago I was elevated to the Order of the Laurel (if you are not involved in or interested in the SCA, this post might be very dull and possibly a little confusing). This is the highest form of recognition one can get for artistic work within the SCA. In my case, I was "laureled" for my textile work, weaving, spinning, needle arts, pretty much anything to do with thread. There are a lot of things I can do very well, but having received my laurel does not mean I can do ALL things very well.<br />
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And thus my current point. I am good at weaving and spinning and embroidery. I know about these things, can do them with some level of proficiency (though I am always trying to get better at it), and can talk about them in an intelligent sort of way. However, I do not excel at many other things and there are lots of things I don't know the first thing about (metalsmithing for example). I do like to try these things out, I like to learn and expand my knowledge. Trying new things is fun.<br />
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Trying new things when people think you are an "expert" at "stuff" is intimidating and sharing the results of those early attempts is, frankly, terrifying.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDma9deGD8a5mYryXoD0IKYNROHsIXROz4QHaYHRYNBNRQvMfQWUxIJ-2f5lA8F2ZZqmiBasEs4t18_a04oOicnsC8lIXiWtpmBX4wIPFEQNP05SzWtr7pslxVkyK1caCYMujl-tXOIzk/s1600/DSC05767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDma9deGD8a5mYryXoD0IKYNROHsIXROz4QHaYHRYNBNRQvMfQWUxIJ-2f5lA8F2ZZqmiBasEs4t18_a04oOicnsC8lIXiWtpmBX4wIPFEQNP05SzWtr7pslxVkyK1caCYMujl-tXOIzk/s320/DSC05767.JPG" width="240" /></a>Just like anyone else, I and every Laurel out there, have a learning curve. Just because I am a type A, overachieving sort of person, like any other Laurel (or Knight or Pelican for that matter) that I know does not mean I do not have to go through the same beginner struggles that everyone else has. I am just a little more reticent to share them, after all don't people think I should be doing "Laurel quality" work? Or at least Pearl/whatever your local GOA level A&S award is work? No one can start in the middle, however hard we may try. <br />
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There is always a first step and it's usually a pretty darn shaky one. There are those prodigies in any art that seem never to struggle with the basics, but even they had to start at the beginning. However hard I have always tried to run before I could even stand, I've always had to learn to stand and then walk first. <br />
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And so the idea of sharing the first steps (or ever the first 10 or 12 of them) of any new endeavor becomes that much more terrifying. I know that I expect too much of myself, I always have, but do others expect me to produce work in other arts at the same level as my Peers in those arts? Does the world think my starting point has shifted up a rung or three? Do I? Will Everyone Else think that I'm a fraud or my peerage is a joke? Will I? <br />
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No, they won't and I won't because we all have to start someplace and none of us can be a expert at All The Things.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJqbAy4W83UhMUAm23L1LKqT_qUQXaNAu3-dHV4LRkbYp8Neilj5MOD2qMakD4cspPJyfCbGnj9OPrAe4Wd6klE2GwxipggYaZ2ZSO9uxjf4XhspGIYXGvuvIqdDg7e43N9H1hWto87I/s1600/DSC05768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTJqbAy4W83UhMUAm23L1LKqT_qUQXaNAu3-dHV4LRkbYp8Neilj5MOD2qMakD4cspPJyfCbGnj9OPrAe4Wd6klE2GwxipggYaZ2ZSO9uxjf4XhspGIYXGvuvIqdDg7e43N9H1hWto87I/s320/DSC05768.JPG" width="240" /></a>So I will share with you my first efforts at illumination. This is most certainly NOT a thing I have been nor do I ever expect to be recognized for. It's a thing I learned to do first because there is always a need for it within in the SCA, particularly at the local level, and second because it challenges and fascinates me. I am not naturally good at drawing, I never have been. But I love art and creating things of beauty so I've picked up a brush and some paints (and god help us all a calligraphy pen) and I will learn. These are my first steps. This is not "Laurel quality" work. But I am learning and improving at my own pace, just like everyone else. And darn it I'm pretty pleased with how these have turned out.<br />
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We all of judge ourselves more harshly than others judge us, and more harshly than we deserve. We all of us have to begin at the beginning. I think it is important for those who have been recognized in one field to remind themselves of that and let others know that we too are human and we too were beginners once. If we, as peers, are doing our jobs right we will always be beginners at something.<br />
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<br />Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-53686256954108289282015-10-14T11:44:00.000-07:002015-10-14T11:44:00.162-07:00Haithabu Towel and the joys of cold mangling<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Over the summer I was asked to weave a towel for a peerage elevation for a woman I have a tremendous amount of respect for. She has an iron age Danish persona (i.e. Viking, but I sort of hate that term as most people in the SCA use it) and has taught several classes on the garments of the Haithabu (Hedeby) finds, so I did the towel using a 2/2 twill check based on a wool fragment from the dig. There were in fact linen checked fragments from the same find, however the rep weave (plain tabby) seemed very dull so I went with the wool example.<br />
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The towel was woven with 20/2 linen for both warp and weft, with the contrasting colors done in 8/2 Cottolin. From the pictures I have been able to find of the original fragment, it seems that the chevrons in the twill are somewhat irregular, so I replicated by changing my threading direction at random.<br />
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Where I really stretched myself with this project was in the finishing. The towels/napkins were cut off the loom and hemmed as usual, but I got out my lovely glass smoothing stone and decided to see how it worked on handwoven fabric.<br />
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Smoothing stones, often made of glass like mine, have been found all over iron age Europe. The smoother would have been used in conjunction with a wooden smoothing board and operates in much the same way as a modern cold mangle*. It's just much, much, much slower. The smoother is rubbed firmly over the cloth, compressing the linen fibers and polishing them. This takes a fair bit of time and upper body strength. If nothing else, mangling fabric this way will give you nice upper arms.<br />
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The difference in the hand and texture of the cloth was truly amazing! It's not that easy to see in the pictures, but the mangled fabric is smooth, lustrous, and almost liquid in it's drape while the unmangled cloth is rough and rather sad by comparison. No amount of steam ironing will produce the same smooth, slick appearance. <br />
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*Cold mangles operate by rolling fabric between heavy,smooth rollers, usually stone. You can still find these in homes in parts of northern Europe, but the practice seems to have totally died out in the United States. Linen sheets and table cloths (by which I mean all textiles used on the table, not just the largest one) were finished this way after laundering to give them that characteristic cool, smooth linen feel. I have also found reference to mangle boards and rollers, which accomplish the same thing only with more upper body strength and less equipment. The cloth is rolled onto a hard wood dowel, much like a giant rolling pin, and then pressed and rolled back and forth with a smooth wooden board. So far I have not been able to show that mangle boards were in use during the SCA period, though they certainly were by the end of the 17th century. It stands to reason these, like three-legged stools and spindle sticks, might not survive in the archaeological record due to their highly utilitarian function. Linen presses, which again accomplish the same thing only by means of plates and a large screw mechanism, date back to Roman times.</div>
Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-80353657001165727862015-10-12T11:41:00.001-07:002015-10-12T11:44:12.373-07:00Another Queen's Shawl<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWeJ0IU3G5I_CJVURzD8pRQp03f-15wZ9NuEBcOCLYL7sZXmCRFjnjYPnClD07Sk_KrPMp1mfqdls2AoeQ2rYELzUFkyW_wgU05D062NMR4QpLtAZr36OAr8AZ5aR04rKy3l8Q9b_ko3g/s1600/2015-09-06+15.00.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWeJ0IU3G5I_CJVURzD8pRQp03f-15wZ9NuEBcOCLYL7sZXmCRFjnjYPnClD07Sk_KrPMp1mfqdls2AoeQ2rYELzUFkyW_wgU05D062NMR4QpLtAZr36OAr8AZ5aR04rKy3l8Q9b_ko3g/s320/2015-09-06+15.00.14.jpg" width="240" /></a>My latest large weaving project was another spinner's guild queen's shawl. I've posted about this in the past but for those of you new to the program, I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, a medieval recreation group. In my kingdom, Atlantia, we have a spinners guild (the Company of the Silver Spindle) of which I am a part. Every time we have a new, first-time queen, the guild spins wool to weave a shawl for that queen. This is the third such shawl project for which I have done the weaving.<br />
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I have done a shocking lack of research for this particular shawl (I got a bad case of I'm-a-peer-now-I don't-have-to), rather I chose a structure that looked pretty and interesting (M's and W's). As it turns out, M's and W's is a period threading, but the reason I don't have sources is that most of them are in German or Danish or some other language I do not speak. Also I only have a 4-shaft loom and many of the extant textiles are done on 8 or more shafts. There is a good article on one such pattern in <a href="https://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/webdocs/mnm_mt35.pdf">this issue</a> of Medieval Textiles.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Molly the Wonder Pup "helping" me warp the loom<br />She "helps" with the weaving and spinning<br />as well.</td></tr>
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The most interesting thing (to me anyway) about the M's and W's threading is the huge range of complex looking patterns you can get from just one threading. I chose a fairly simple treadling pattern for the shawl, but one which I think turned out well.<br />
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The warp is two-ply handspun superwash wool and the weft is a light grey Jaggerspun Heather. The current queen's colors are blue and white. In heraldry, white is technically silver so I elected to use the grey which I think provides lovely contract but also more depth than a flat white would have done. The warp was set at 16 EPI.<br />
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The finished piece has very nice drape and an amazing sheen. Overall I am pleased though I am still hoping to do at least one shawl project that is closer in structure to a period textile (singles throughout, documentable two-color wool weave). It would be really amazing to do one on the warp weighted loom with appropriate headers and everything. I'm not quite there yet with the WW loom but it's good to have goals.<br />
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<br />Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-91304775197689770922015-10-12T06:26:00.000-07:002015-10-12T11:44:28.635-07:00Tips for Spinning for Weaving:This little guide is intended to provide some basic information for members of the SCA’s Kingdom of Atlantia spinning guild, who handspin and weave a shawl for each new queen. Group projects like this can be intimidating, but a bit of information and some practice anyone who has successfully met the requirements for the Guild’s apprentice level (even if they have not submitted their packet yet) should be able to participate.<br />
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Spinning for weaving need not be frightening or complicated. By and large, weavers want many of the same things from their yarns as do knitters, just on a slightly smaller scale. A nice, lofty worsted weight knitting yarn may produce a lovely sweater but will make a very thick, stiff and dense fabric when woven. Conversely, high twist singles produce knitting with a sharp bias and unpleasant hand, but work beautifully on a loom.<br />
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First a few terms.<br />
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<b>Grist </b>- usually stated as yards per pound, refers to the relationship between weight and length. The higher the grist, the finer the yarn. This NOT exactly the same thing as yarn numbers (8/2, 20/1, etc)<br />
<b>Twist per inch or twist rate</b> - how many turns are put into the yarn over a given length or period of time? Twist rate will influence grist as well as the relative hardness of the yarn. The main thing that makes a yarn strong is the amount of twist. High-twist yarns will be firmer and stronger than low-twist.<br />
<b>Wraps Per Inch (WPI)</b> - measures yarn diameter. Usually used by knitters to determine the the gauge of the yarn, can also be used to determine grist.<br />
<b>Warp </b>- The lengthwise lengths of thread or yarn attached to the loom. Warp threads are manipulated using heddles (usually metal) to create woven patterns. Warp threads tend to be under significant tension and can be abraded by the workings of the loom.<br />
<b>Weft </b>- Width-wise threads used to produce cloth. Weft threads are wound around a bobbin or a shuttle stick and pass back and forth between the warp threads. Very little tension is placed on these threads.<br />
<b>Yarn Numbers</b> - You will often see weaving yarns labeled with odd little fractions or ratios, like 8/2 or 20/1. These numbers contain two different pieces of information. The larger number refers to the number of hanks of a pre-set length that make up a pound. This standard hank size varies a bit based on the fiber but the number always refers to singles. The smaller number refers to the number of plies. So a 20/2 yarn and an 10/1 yarn would be about the same length. These numbers can be useful but are generally not helpful to the beginning weaver. What matters is yard per pound (the actual grist of the completed yarn) and the number of plies. In general, the higher the number, the finer the yarn.
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<u><b>Singles: </b></u><br />
Singles are wonderful for period weaving! In our period, nearly all woven fabrics were made with singles for both warp and weft (there are a few exceptions, but the general practice seems to have been to weave with singles in nearly all cases). Here are just a few reasons (other than historical accuracy) why working with singles on a loom can work better than plied yarns:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Time - you spend less than half as much time spinning. With no need to create a second ply then ply your singles together, you will get much more bang for your spinning buck </li>
<li>Grist - You do not have to spin frog-hair singles to stack together into the right weight of yarn, just spin to the target grist and you are done </li>
<li>Balance - when weaving, we do not need to worry about perfectly balanced yarns (i.e. those that will not bias when knitting). Extra twist will even out in the weaving process and be locked into place by the interaction of warp and weft. Extra twist can even make the finished cloth smoother as there tend to be fewer loose ends of fibers in higher twist yarns. High-energy yarns can also be used to create interesting textural patterns. </li>
<li>A little more room for variation - because you are not stacking multiple strands of yarn together, there is a little more room for variation in your singles yarn in a weaving project. Any thick or thin sections in the single are wrapped around equally variable singles in the plying process, sometimes balancing them out but also often compounding the variation. When weaving, these large swings in grist can become very problematic and are nearly impossible to correct for. With the smaller, smoother singles it is easier to spread out the variation and still produce a consistent, unified looking cloth. </li>
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<b><u>Slow Down! </u></b><br />
When trying to match a yarn, be it someone else's handspun or a commercial yarn, do not let yourself fly on autopilot. Slow down, take time to breath, and let yourself pay attention to the small nuances of what you are doing. Yes, this will be a challenge at first, but you will find a rhythm and the process will smooth out and speed up as you continue to work. This is especially critical with group projects, as great swings in variation can be detrimental to the finished project.<br />
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<b><u>Keep Samples Close: </u></b><br />
If you are trying to spin a nice consistent yarn, keep samples of the target yarn close to hand when spinning. I like to keep an index card with small lengths of both the component singles AND the plied yarn next to my wheel when working on large projects so that I remain consistent. It takes very little effort or thought to compare what is going into the wheel orifice and what is on my sample card if the two things are close together.<br />
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<b><u>Twist Direction:</u></b><br />
This is really important! Pay attention to twist direction (usually you will see this described or Z or S spun). If you have a sample you are trying to match, make sure you are spinning in the same direction. Variations in direction can make some interesting patterns when used with deliberation but can look a hot mess if not intended.<br />
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In many period wool textiles, you will see different twist direction used for warp and weft, which produces a firmer and stronger fabric than one in which all threads have the same twist direction. Where all threads have the same direction of twist, the cloth will be more lustrous and softer. It seems like a small thing but it can impact how well the finished cloth holds together and the overall appearance of the project. Modern spinner/weavers often play with twist direction when designing textiles but this is done with a high degree of intentionality to produce a pleasing cloth.<br />
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<b><u>“Aging” your singles</u></b><br />
Like wine, singles benefit from a bit of aging. This means leaving the finished singles on the bobbin for a day or more before winding it off into skeins or onto weaving bobbins. You will notice that fresh singles tend to have a more uneven distribution of twist than those that are allowed to age a bit
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<b><u>Twists Per Inch:</u></b><br />
I usually don’t think about this much at all except when choosing the right ratio setting on my spinning wheel. My fingers monitor this almost automatically. However, if you are consistently producing yarns that are too hard or too soft, or singles that fall apart, you may want to give TPI some thought. Switching your wheel to a lower drive ratio will usually solve the problem of over-hard yarns, likewise a higher ratio will help with soft, weak yarns. Sometimes you may need to adjust your rate of treadling.<br />
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Remember that a smooth, strong worsted yarn will have more TPI than a soft, loftly woolen yarn.
Note that if you are spinning yarns for warp (the lengthwise yarns on a loom, which are under a great deal of tension) you will need to spin higher twist yarns. Twist is what determines yarn strength, and warp needs to be fairly strong. It also needs to be fairly smooth, which you can control with twist.
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<b><u>Angle of Twist</u></b><br />
In looking at extant textile fragments, you will often see the yarns described as having a given angle of twist. By and large, this works out to telling you something about the twists per inch. A yarn with a 45 degree angle of twist is more tightly spun than one with a 30 degree angle of twist. This can be hard to measure, but it’s not impossible. There are twist gauges out there and Knitty has put together a good guide <a href="http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/KSwin06GS.html">here </a> that will suffice for most projects. (if you like math, <a href="http://textilelearner.blogspot.com/2013/03/yarn-twist-relationship-between-yarn.html">this is a great post </a>explaining all about twist in yarn)<br />
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Much like twists per inch, angle of twist comes down to wheel ratios and speed. If your twist angle is too shallow, speed up your treadling or switch to a higher drive ratio. If it’s too steep, go lower. You will eventually train your fingers to feel when you have achieved the right angle of twist in your spinning.<br />
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<b><u>Use a Yarn Balance</u></b><br />
A yarn balance, usually called a McMorran Balance, is used to measure grist (yards per pound). The balance is a small plastic scale that will help you determine how much yardage you have in a skein of yarn and also if you have achieved the target balance of twist and diameter. The tool is not expensive (less than $30) and will help you become a more proficient technical spinner. You really should have one of these in your kit even if you never spin for a weaving project.<br />
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<b><u>Expand your Drafting Repertoire</u></b><br />
Most of us have a drafting technique that we are more comfortable with and can do almost without thinking. Take the time to practice both long and short draw drafting. A short draw, typically used for worsted yarns, will generally work better for weaving yarns as the yarn is smoother and firmer than that produced by long draw. A nice smooth yarn will produce a nice smooth fabric. Lofty yarns are going to produce loftier fabrics which may be more prone to pilling and excessive fulling but are great for knitted garments.<br />
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<b><u>Fibers </u></b><br />
In period, woven textiles were made out of all kinds of fibers, wool and linen being the most common in Northern Europe. Typically, for a group project you will be given prepared fiber to spin. If you need to select fiber to spin for weaving, here a few things to keep in mind:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Long staple lengths work best for spinning warp. This is not to say they cannot be used for weft, but if you are trying to spin warp specifically you want a longer fiber. In wool fabrics, you will typically see the long fibers from dual coated sheep (tog) used for warp, while the short downy thel is used for the weft. Linen should all be from long strick, rather than small short cuts. </li>
<li>Preparation matters. You should be familiar with this idea from learning about woolen vs. worsted spinning. By and large, worsted will make a nicer finish cloth. Worsted yarns are made from combed fibers and then spun short draw. Woolen yarns are made from carded batts and spun long draw. For weaving, combed fibers will usually produce a better result regardless of spinning technique. </li>
<li>Predrafting is your friend. When working with commercial prepared top or sliver, I often find it easier to spin a consistent yarn if I break the length of wool into smaller section then split them lengthwise to create something like pencil roving. Drafting is easier as the fibers are loosened up a bit, and you have less bulk to manage in the drafting zone. </li>
<li>Superwash should be avoided. Because superwash wool it treated so that it does not full, it can be difficult to finish the cloth once it comes off the loom. The warp and weft will not lock together properly, resulting in a cloth prone to fraying. It can work out ok for a shawl type project, but ONLY if the warp is regular wool and the handspun superwash is left soft enough to have some grab. A better option if you wish to avoid excessive fulling is to use a wool blended with silk or some other non-felting fiber. </li>
</ol>
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In short, take some time to practice and gain control of your spinning tools. This will help you become a better spinner and produce exactly the yarn you want for whatever project you are working on. This is a process and you should be getting better and more controlled over time, but also keep in mind that the beauty of the shawl projects is that you can see the work of many hands. Each skein is a little bit unique and that adds to the beauty of the project. Our goal is make it easier for you to participate in these projects and produce something that will add to the beauty of the whole.</div>
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<b><u>Recommended Reading:</u></b><br />
I have found these books to be invaluable in learning to spin. There are also a number of resources on YouTube if you are a more visual learner or want tips on specific techniques.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1883010888/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1883010888&linkCode=as2&tag=mediethrea-20&linkId=JNKASQETOON7YGVN">The Alden Amos Big Book of Handspinning: Being A Compendium of Information, Advice, and Opinions On the Noble Art & Craft</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=mediethrea-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1883010888" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
by Alden Amos. Interweave Press, 2001<br />
Probably the most complete book out there on handspinning. Includes all you need to know about working with any fiber as well as wheel maintenance and fiber preparation. It’s the spinning Bible.<br />
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1LqDo4r">The Spinners Companion</a> by Bobbie Irwin. Interweave Press, 2001<br />
Handy small reference. Lots of good tips, not as complete as Alden Amos but a good quick reference. Currently available in a Kindle edition as well, which is free is you have KindleUnlimited.<br />
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1R6XYXw">The Ashford Book of Spinning</a> by Anne Field, SHoal Bay Press, 1986<br />
Concise and clear instructions for all the basics of spinning and fiber preparation. Very beginner friendly.<br />
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<a href="http://amzn.to/1LqDtox">Hand Woolcombing and Spinning: A Guide to Worsteds from the Spinning Wheel</a> by Peter Teal. Robin and Russ Handweavers, 1993.<br />
Every last thing you might ever want to know about spinning perfect worsted yarns. The author is very passionate about his subject and provides a lot of really great information that will improve the quality of your spinning. Probably don’t need this unless you want to comb fibers as well, but if that’s the case this is a great book. There is now a Kindle edition of this which should be very handy.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-30814131938007511702015-05-17T06:33:00.001-07:002015-05-17T06:34:47.158-07:00Silk Banners! Or, this Oda Cannot Draw a Straight Line<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yesterday I spend the afternoon with a couple of SCA friends (my former peer and her husband) working on a new silk banner. To be strictly correct, it's currently my ONLY silk banner, they were working on replacing/augmenting their current silk banners. Always nice to have someone who knows what they are doing when you doing something like this for the first time!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZ_n5uyAPezhqB9083ZbQZz9rrurT809yXP8azLSTP1vY5t8vljj0PiZT_hjbDIlrLsFdxokfU9RjmTI-J3ocw01TNQ9evYBdqRjIuxCJk6BHqGwJbITfrD4jAdZ8igZQiKEndCVOMg4/s1600/2015-05-16+17.30.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMZ_n5uyAPezhqB9083ZbQZz9rrurT809yXP8azLSTP1vY5t8vljj0PiZT_hjbDIlrLsFdxokfU9RjmTI-J3ocw01TNQ9evYBdqRjIuxCJk6BHqGwJbITfrD4jAdZ8igZQiKEndCVOMg4/s320/2015-05-16+17.30.43.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The motto translates as Shadows Pass, Light Remains.<br />
A good reminder for me right now, and it reminds me a little<br />
of the Litany Against Fear from Dune</td></tr>
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We made large silk pennons which we will probably fly from our pavilions or from poles next to them. I'm not 100% sure that silk painting in this manner is strictly period, but from what I've been able to fine the style of banner is and the idea of painting fabric to make a banner of some sort is, and this being the SCA no one seems much to care beyond that. The silk looks lovely fluttering in the breeze and is actually very easy to paint with modern silk painting materials.<br />
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There are a number of good websites on how to do these types of banners. It's a lot of fun and quite easy to do. The most difficult part is stretching the silk. We have two styles of frame to start with, one of wood and another of PVC with integrated legs. Even with the legs, the PVC was much less expensive to construct, easier to build and move around, more adjustable, and easier to store. The silk was cut to something close to size, attached with rubber bands and large safety pins (though you could also sew it on to the frame the way you attach fabric to an embroidery frame) and you are ready to go!<br />
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We also found it helpful to have several yard sticks (and a couple of old leese sticks, we're all weavers so these are plentiful) to support the paper we had drawn our designs on while tracing with the resist and to rest our hands on while painting. Unfortunately I didn't take in-progress photos but again, there is a lot of good information out there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IFP3XcIli1t1S79tQoSMZkeFfrd1XIGD1md3U49DBSVOhY9wWOQ9iT16ZZDICp3TAX_4rXX_QVbTey5xlWouZ7t75X7ampnpgnB_3rb_32m5CTzjit4FoayM7DGrE_5681PxpnddOvo/s1600/2015-05-16+17.30.02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-IFP3XcIli1t1S79tQoSMZkeFfrd1XIGD1md3U49DBSVOhY9wWOQ9iT16ZZDICp3TAX_4rXX_QVbTey5xlWouZ7t75X7ampnpgnB_3rb_32m5CTzjit4FoayM7DGrE_5681PxpnddOvo/s1600/2015-05-16+17.30.02.jpg" width="300" /></a>Overall I am really happy with how this turned out. The wool combs from my arms could stand to be a little larger, and there isn't a straight line to be found, but once flying in the wind no one will notice. There are also a couple of small drip spots and bleed overs, but again you can't see them from a distance. We found that the darker colors covered up the light color drips/bleeds very well, and that once one color dried it created a bit of a dam for the adjacent colors. Not as good a break as the resist, but it worked pretty well.<br />
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I'll be doing wool applique for my next banner project. I know that both methodology and application are correct for my time period in this case, and it will create a heavier piece suitable for hanging on the wall of my tent or displaying as an actual banner with all the necessary hoists and supports.<br />
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Some resources:<br />
<a href="http://www.midrealm.org/mktag/projects/banners/content.html">Midrelm article on Banners, Standards and Pennons</a><br />
<a href="http://gutenbergscribes.chivalrysports.com/Heraldic-silkpainting.pdf">How to Paint Silk Banners</a> (PDF file, very good instructions!)<br />
<a href="http://borealarmy.sccspirit.com/pennant.pdf">Flags and Banners in the SCA</a> (another PDF, great overview of various shapes)<br />
<a href="http://www.dharmatrading.com/">Dharma Trading Co.</a> (for all the supplies! Great place to get Dynaflow paints, gutta resist, and even silk to make your banner, plus lots of instructions on how to use whatever products you choose. We used these paints - http://www.dharmatrading.com/paints/dye-na-flow-fabric-paint.html)Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-64074831577670305882015-05-07T06:54:00.000-07:002015-05-07T06:54:24.974-07:00Breast Bag thoughtsMuch and more has been written already about the Lengberg Castle "bras." I'm not going to rehash any of that except to say it seems fairly certain that by at least the 15th century wearing some sort of supportive undergarment *other than* a fitted gown was not unknown. I've been playing around with making one of these for the better part of a year now and here are some thoughts. I've set up a pintrest board on <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/heidihaywood/medieval-undies/">period undies</a> and another on <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/heidihaywood/undies-patterns/">modern undies</a> to collect images and helpful links, rather than overburdening this page.<br />
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1. It appears that "lifted and separated" was the the ideal boob shape for most of the period I am interested in. This really cannot be accomplished with a fitted gown*, which gives you more of a mono-boob shape. Furthermore there is plenty of <a href="http://www.medievalsilkwork.com/2012/08/bra-shirts-in-written-sources.html">textual evidence</a> for breast-shaping garments (and surgery!! WTF??) in the later middle ages which suggests to me that a breast-bag garment is more likely to have been employed than a super tight gown.<br />
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2. There is more than one way to bag a breast. The "long line bra" option is but one of four breast-bag garments that were found. It seems to have gotten the most press as it looks the most like a modern bra, but looking at visual sources as well as what is available on the find themselves suggests that many means of lifting and separating were possible. Just like we have lots of bra styles today, both for fashions sake and to accommodate different anatomy, they did the same thing back then (and why ever not? People in any given period of time face the same basic challenges and needs).<br />
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3. This one is my favorite - modern bras and bra making can teach us a whole heck of a lot about how to actually construct a plausible period breast bag. Again, the basic facts of anatomy have not changed. Breasts are what they are and there are some basic rules about constructing supportive and shaping garments that do not change regardless of time period or shape being sought. This is not to say a corset-is-a-corset or that a bra-is-a-bra, but in either case the garment is being supported at the waist line in the case of a corset or at the underbust line in the case of something bra-like. <br />
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Understanding the importance of the bra band and how to get the center point of a bra to tack (that is, sit flush against the rib cage) makes fitting a period style breast bag MUCH easier. Keeping in mind that my breasts are on the heavy side (another thing I would not have known without a foray into modern bra making), the bust band must 1 - exist and 2 - be snug/tight. This makes fitting the cups or bags much easier and proper support possible. It's also what does the lifting. The separating comes from how the cups/bags are arranged and fit on the body.<br />
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Once you figure out the band, you need to take a good hard look at your breasts and figure out where the root of the breast is (towards the center? under your arm? someplace in between?) and how much space you are working with at the center front. The first version of the Lengberg bra I made had way too much space between the cups, which prevented the band from tacking and allowed my breasts to creep out from under the cups. The current version has less space, but the band is still too loose so I am not taking but I am not falling out the bottom either. Figuring out where to make adjustments to get better fit is not as obvious (or at least wasn't to me) but there is a certain logic to bra fitting and it's easier to see after playing around with actual bra patterns. There are fitting instructions for these things after all, why not apply that accumulated knowledge?<br />
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4 - Tacking. As I mentioned above, the idea of tacking is that the center portion of a bra (where the two underwires come together on a modern bar) should lay flat against the sternum. This happens when the band is snug enough and the cups are sitting on the actual breast rather than starting too far to one side or the other of the breast root. A properly fit bra that tacks is a marvel and if you have never had this happen I highly encourage you to put down the computer, go find a specialty bra shop, and get fitted. With soft cup bras, this is not as likely to happen as there is nothing rigid for the band to pull against the body, but you should still not have inches of space between the band and your chest between the cups. Some things that seem to work to get this to happen on a breast bag type garment are 1 - making sure the band is snug 2 - getting the center height and width right and 3 - making sure you are working with the right shape garment for your particular breasts. <br />
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It's all about understanding your breast shape really. Just like with outer garments, you've got to work with the body you have. The first step in a well fit garment will always be understanding the shape of the body that will occupy it.<br />
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*assuming you have sufficient breast-mass to need help in this areaHeidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-79875540919614413742015-04-29T04:27:00.000-07:002015-04-29T04:27:24.044-07:00Chicken Pie<div class="tr_bq">
One of the things I never post about but love to do, especially at events where I have a fire pit, is cook. Not feast cooking, but camp and hearth cooking. It's fun and I think gives me that much more of a connection to how tings were done in the past (for example, managing period skirts while standing in a fire pit required a bit of a thinking. I know why many women died of lung problems are horrible burns).</div>
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Working from period recipes is also a lot of fun and gives me another venue for creative outlet. Some of them are terribly, wonderfully vague. I think I have read and cooked enough of certain types of dishes at this point to be comfortable "going off book" and yet still producing something within a period aesthetic. That's my ambition for any craft really but feeling like I can make something right using whatever I have on hand is a nice feeling.<br />
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We had a local event a couple of weeks ago at which my household decided to make a nice period lunch. My contribution was a chicken pie, based on what I had (chicken, bacon and leeks) and several recipes I found at <a href="http://www.medievalcookery.com/">Medieval Cookery</a>. In true period style, I utterly failed to keep track of measurements but here is a pithy recipe for what I came up with. It was really tasty, even cold, and rather like a quiche.<br />
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<u>Chicken and Leek Pie, more or less 15th century </u><br />
<blockquote>
Chicken (I used breasts as that's what I had), boned and skinned<br />Bacon<br />leeks<br />Eggs<br />Sharp cheddar cheese<br />Saffron<br />Cubebs<br />Pie crust</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Grind the meats together or chop them up very finely. I used the meat grinder on my kitchen aid because chopping meat grosses me out. Shred the cheese and finely cut up the leeks. Mix all this together with a pinch of saffron and a healthy dose of ground cubebs. Add in eggs to bind it all together and spread in your pie crust. I used a deep dish, period pie dish for this so there was a high filling-to-crust ratio. Bake at something close to 375 for about an hour, and serve. Also good cold.</blockquote>
Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-426505085462020312015-03-18T06:11:00.000-07:002015-03-18T06:11:29.492-07:00Perugia Style TurbanLast year at Ymir (a Viking themed SCA event held in North Carolina every February) I displayed my Perugia style towel for the first time. One of my fellow spinners was so excited about it that she commissioned me to weave her a similar turban for her Italian kit. What with one thing and another, it took a full year to get the sucker done but I did and was able to deliver it to her at Ymir.<br />
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The basic idea was to produce something along the lines of the turban shown in <a href="http://www.wga.hu/html/g/gentile/adormagi/adormag.html">The Adoration of the Magi</a> by Gentile da Fabriano, 1423. There are a couple of other similar paintings with simpler color work on the cloth but this one looks the most like a typical "Perugia" design to me. As I found when weaving the original towel, the complex pickup pattern is a bit beyond my looms capabilities, especially when working with 40/2 linen at a fine set, so I opted to create a simplified pattern based on Rose Path twill.<br />
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The finished turban is 22 inches wide and about 80 inches long. I've found that for me and other anatomically large-headed folks this works well for a nice turban wrap. If you want to do something similar for yourself, I would suggest starting with the circumference of your head as the width and experimenting with the length you will need for the wrap style you want in purchased linen before you commit to a warp width and length. Linen ain't cheep and everything about warping with fine linen is a huge pain.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcG0MRZWsPYUkOlQVCKA40fyMFoBIQnQoQcGaK0XPxDLSMnK5WiXtoCKSziVtum2oSIXT7slspkMShFhyphenhyphen3-3mBorpCBuQ4JT_KqJZysNXt30mV-js9OwB_QinnveqZOlalxNmjqFTzlYg/s1600/2015-02-25+21.20.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcG0MRZWsPYUkOlQVCKA40fyMFoBIQnQoQcGaK0XPxDLSMnK5WiXtoCKSziVtum2oSIXT7slspkMShFhyphenhyphen3-3mBorpCBuQ4JT_KqJZysNXt30mV-js9OwB_QinnveqZOlalxNmjqFTzlYg/s1600/2015-02-25+21.20.16.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Aside from measuring the warp, which was doubly miserable as I warped two projects at once (more on that later, I wove two head wraps on the same warp so make the best use of my time dressing the loom) the weaving was not too bad. I need a warping mill. 6 1/2 yard lengths on a warping board suck and most of what I want to work on right now are long lengths of cloth for clothing. I used boiled flax seed dressing, diluted and sprayed on with a spray bottle, and tried to keep the level of humidity around the loom as high as I could. This helped with getting a clean shed and maintaining even tension, though was difficult as I did the bulk of the weaving in the dead of winter when the highest temperature we had was in the low 20s. A humidifier might have helped.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQVkq8F9pAAvr1Uy8EwTJrU_Im9_iWFiMUlXDfkB3NloJmMPy6FaUxS4sUFmPSDoODikXQZo5sKwR2URvk4MPpzkosqVSF_OE6RXtKT8fSdlQ3DPrMLacPbxh7IcXL1ZatO_tnwbqxGk/s1600/2015-02-26+14.43.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQVkq8F9pAAvr1Uy8EwTJrU_Im9_iWFiMUlXDfkB3NloJmMPy6FaUxS4sUFmPSDoODikXQZo5sKwR2URvk4MPpzkosqVSF_OE6RXtKT8fSdlQ3DPrMLacPbxh7IcXL1ZatO_tnwbqxGk/s1600/2015-02-26+14.43.11.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxYT_1e-ZZTijKcn6VBN3MgvxnsS6zVUi5dQDxfMUdy6BjXL1OGsDfGbMVDIGdJh9hD1SN-pJoK4Ryb63FasBG-mOnOhb83J2VB_m0dGkgcSU__rAelIQLrq89mGeyVzBE5IBEiYWFMg/s1600/2015-02-26+14.42.48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDxYT_1e-ZZTijKcn6VBN3MgvxnsS6zVUi5dQDxfMUdy6BjXL1OGsDfGbMVDIGdJh9hD1SN-pJoK4Ryb63FasBG-mOnOhb83J2VB_m0dGkgcSU__rAelIQLrq89mGeyVzBE5IBEiYWFMg/s1600/2015-02-26+14.42.48.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>I also started out the project with fishing line running along with my floating warp. This made adding a bit of tension to those threads to keep them from getting lost in the selvages much easier and prevented them from abrading too much and breaking. I still quite a few extra weights attached to the back of my loom (it looked like a Christmas tree back there) but overall it worked out very nicely.<br />
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<a href="http://www.purringtonlooms.com/accessories.htm">Angel wings</a> (brackets that hold the lease sticks in place and at a fixed width) were a HUGE help. It was much easier to find broken ends and I was able to warp by myself with very little trouble. Not only was I able to maintain the cross in the warp, but it helped to even out tension and spread the warp out properly behind the lease sticks. <br />
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The only major problems I still need to work out are some weird tension issues that developed when I got to the second project on the warp. I started having a lot of breakage and tangling that I didn't run into on the turban. I suspect I need to wind onto the back beam with help when working with linen. Some of the problems might have been fixed had I used a warping mill. I don't have any plans to weave linen in the near future, by the time I get around to it again I will hopefully have a mill. <br />
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The turban came out beautifully in the end and my client was very happy with it. I was a little sad to see it go, but I know it's gone to a good home and will be worn with pride and love.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-86667410440410998202015-03-14T07:01:00.000-07:002015-03-14T07:01:00.327-07:00Kira's Shawl and some leg wraps<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKx_5uh6ouSZDzp8jkdrJNg8pBfTpKVLl6t72ytpXHPy28mVNU9_UQI7PdquADqka-pqrSGeuolEBdvld0wmKvjiWNkRmUYhpUylaL_53mitpfCTvfDZEJwQXw0U8jJDynDIh6QhKEhAo/s1600/2014-07-23+14.08.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKx_5uh6ouSZDzp8jkdrJNg8pBfTpKVLl6t72ytpXHPy28mVNU9_UQI7PdquADqka-pqrSGeuolEBdvld0wmKvjiWNkRmUYhpUylaL_53mitpfCTvfDZEJwQXw0U8jJDynDIh6QhKEhAo/s1600/2014-07-23+14.08.09.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
My second Queens Shawl weaving project was to be presented to HRM Kira at Pennsic last year. The weft was hand spun by members of the spinning guild, and I wove the finished piece in a herringbone variant using Brown Sheep's Nature Spun sport at the warp. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-cMZI1XrpDepTpYYnuTJ4dyKqxns8vygauqaza4d-x-D0aaHNvp5vKaCqlfHG3EObvGZ7TAIgb_3iwOehRdptiql0TaMukWRqxC9Lp5n8QyhD95bxQ1X86rdOB_85N6SPX1HwK7IeLg/s1600/2014-07-23+14.09.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht-cMZI1XrpDepTpYYnuTJ4dyKqxns8vygauqaza4d-x-D0aaHNvp5vKaCqlfHG3EObvGZ7TAIgb_3iwOehRdptiql0TaMukWRqxC9Lp5n8QyhD95bxQ1X86rdOB_85N6SPX1HwK7IeLg/s1600/2014-07-23+14.09.10.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a>Overall I am very pleased with how the finished shawl turned out. It could have been a little longer and maybe a touch wider, but that's pretty knit-picky. There were some interesting variations in the hand spun weft skeins that I tried to spread out through the shawl to create subtle textural stripes. I think this worked out pretty well, there are no wide runs of any one skein so the finished cloth is fairly consistent and even. It's also quite soft and warm. Working with the thicker yarn this time around did produce a heavier shawl but it still has a nice drape. <br />
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I love the way the white and purple combined together. By itself the purple was really bright. When woven together with the white. it toned down quite a bit, resulting in some nice depth of color and just enough shimmer to stand out when HRM wears it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTHDBBmFZctlQbnEV5JH0YqMYRq410HLuhF8BhaeWIe2HKc0VYr1xVyRPnU4zHMjfFt9kM_rkTscwqwj4Q7kwlb9t9eD86qgoPMmXB_c5qt0KSCm1TEtiDL2At3WV4o-q_0XHO1fYIXA/s1600/2015-02-01+10.34.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVTHDBBmFZctlQbnEV5JH0YqMYRq410HLuhF8BhaeWIe2HKc0VYr1xVyRPnU4zHMjfFt9kM_rkTscwqwj4Q7kwlb9t9eD86qgoPMmXB_c5qt0KSCm1TEtiDL2At3WV4o-q_0XHO1fYIXA/s1600/2015-02-01+10.34.38.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
I also wove some leg wraps for my early period/iron age kit. The original plan had been to do this on my warp weighted loom, however I discovered that the alpaca/wool blend I was using as warp was far to stretchy to stand up to this week. Also the very narrow strips were difficult to stabilize on the loom so I moved the project over to my table loom.<br />
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Just for future reference, I do NOT recommend moving warp from one loom to another mid-project. I got it to work out but it was sloppiest warping job I have ever seen. I think I set this as something around 36 EPI, maybe a little looser, but I was working with a lace weight warp so it's fairly tight. The west is Nature Spun fingering, which I love and gives a very nice pack at a surprising rage of sets.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVThADA4jBL99z74_10WTJ1nQ_XnS-hVBo4CbrYS4DkTspYtDhOqH9wGJWzGYAoGXvpcZqG8Q_u5XAVMUMHRyOaV0aP-Tauf0alZ4-5lIwmJORSmyf9hlI65WWEAnCvF_DLNnk4CPCN18/s1600/2015-02-01+10.34.51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVThADA4jBL99z74_10WTJ1nQ_XnS-hVBo4CbrYS4DkTspYtDhOqH9wGJWzGYAoGXvpcZqG8Q_u5XAVMUMHRyOaV0aP-Tauf0alZ4-5lIwmJORSmyf9hlI65WWEAnCvF_DLNnk4CPCN18/s1600/2015-02-01+10.34.51.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>The finished wraps feel amazing! They are soft, light, warm, and the cloth has a beautiful hand. It would make a lovely garment. They took forever to weave, each wrap is 15 feet long, but the end result was worth the effort. I'm looking forward to doing more cloth in fine wools, it's such a joy to work with and the results are worth the extra effort to warp up all of the threads.<br />
<br />Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-79530224775534773502015-03-13T06:38:00.000-07:002015-03-13T06:38:06.685-07:00So many changes!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWtjp0_80xSML5CALh38A8tZCPJYiG175YIyl6yszMrpxyw74-Mc69om4Xo9yB6PZe0WPCPjKfpa5FACs-ptfSaywL7hrcmB9p2y5IBOSQdMJxJQXKDSaEOHq00oYlqcLcLe45Qska8U/s1600/2015-03-11+09.58.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWtjp0_80xSML5CALh38A8tZCPJYiG175YIyl6yszMrpxyw74-Mc69om4Xo9yB6PZe0WPCPjKfpa5FACs-ptfSaywL7hrcmB9p2y5IBOSQdMJxJQXKDSaEOHq00oYlqcLcLe45Qska8U/s1600/2015-03-11+09.58.44.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oz, the newest rescue. He like to "help"<br /> with the handsewing.</td></tr>
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The last year has been a <a href="http://dissipatedmind.blogspot.com/2015/03/carnival-rides.html">wild ride,</a> and I'm happy to say it's finally settling down. I've moved into a new place that is mostly wonderful, I have a new little doggie, and I'm doing ok by myself for the most part.<br />
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Somehow in the midst of the chaos that was 2014 I managed to finish some projects, go to Pennsic, and two weeks ago was elevated to the Order of the Laurel at Ymir. For those not in the SCA, this is a Big Deal. It's the highest form of recognition an artisan can get in the Society. I'm still kind of stunned that this happened, but it's slowly settling in and I'm getting really excited about working on my next projects without quite so much worry about documentation, display, and competing with them. For me, it's a license to go deep into a thing without having to worry about tying it back to whatever my main art is and to explore new things.<br />
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<br />Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-59848336757168072212014-02-10T06:11:00.000-08:002014-02-10T06:11:15.609-08:00Finished Queen's Shawl<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tr_yOhXHQwxtt_9IzB8hjcovrYLGGdJeNtca-tvvhchVA1XBctuVV7BFBxseqlRjpjY7U9IAfLXLapS5LeY58Li9oXvJzVngrysUD0Ua23xVPdd7TYwWbEq2pMyehBVnKbPDZ-8QhhE/s1600/2014-02-10+08.41.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tr_yOhXHQwxtt_9IzB8hjcovrYLGGdJeNtca-tvvhchVA1XBctuVV7BFBxseqlRjpjY7U9IAfLXLapS5LeY58Li9oXvJzVngrysUD0Ua23xVPdd7TYwWbEq2pMyehBVnKbPDZ-8QhhE/s1600/2014-02-10+08.41.35.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
Hurray for a finished project! I've been running through my list of Things To Do and getting a bit freaked out this week or so (ok, more than a bit freaked out, more like I look at the list and run away and hide) so it's super nice to have a Very Big Thing Indeed crossed off. And with time to spare even! I decided to buckle down this weekend and marathon watched Season 3 of Downton Abbey and the Olympics while I got it done.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWn-TQ8y_bLZB-mOj8OCV5fqbGnMuzUpxl_DXaGIY-DaP3RDPkwbEZ4vl70fEUUrP9O6T4iXOT50mzBQJ6B7GGmn_UrnaKdtOWcvRbuHLLAtjI9Q78tJWB4fgDu_d8v2KQjhzrBn12XQ/s1600/2014-02-10+08.45.08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWn-TQ8y_bLZB-mOj8OCV5fqbGnMuzUpxl_DXaGIY-DaP3RDPkwbEZ4vl70fEUUrP9O6T4iXOT50mzBQJ6B7GGmn_UrnaKdtOWcvRbuHLLAtjI9Q78tJWB4fgDu_d8v2KQjhzrBn12XQ/s1600/2014-02-10+08.45.08.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>I think warping the shawl took longer than actually weaving. The weave is the same diamond twill used for the Preugia towel, set at 16 EPI. There are a total of 524 warp ends. This seemed like a paltry number of warps after the 1200+ I had to deal with for the linen towel, but still it took more than half the season of DA to thread them all. Once that was done the weaving went very smoothly. It was a lot of fun to see how the colors in the hand spun changed, and how the different skeins of hand spun varied since each spinner dealt with the color variation a little bit differently. I am mostly pleased with my selvages, there are some places that are better than others but I think I have an idea of how to improve that next time. I just need to figure out where to get fishing line. Twisting the fringe took awhile but it's nice and mindless and I got a nifty little fringe twister from an<a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/theknitstore"> etsy seller</a> that made the processes a bit easier. It's not hard to do this by hand but after awhile it's murder on the fingers and the tool helps with that. Plus the twists are much more even where I used the tool.<br />
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The fabric was finished with a cold water and Eucalan soak to preserve the sheen of the hand spun wool. HRM will need to hand wash or dryclean this going forward but I think she can manage that. The sample I wove was lightly fulled and it looked ok but lost a lot of the beautiful shine that the mohair in the hand spun gave the piece, so I went with a simpler finishing. If she does accidentally full it a bit it won't damage it any, the thing is pretty big and she's not a tall woman so it will still look nice on her.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzwsRzFWqYUdbH4HfRmSNFBzcdur2vDnRBSvsWA4EtOzhrSWgfwXoTAmuNN_rNXORbdixfbEbZxRSciL9Nn7O0Hi0CHRABrylf2qZcr1UJFsVvbpFLtIOsBFJYaOtQZIfKiyjw_mflag/s1600/2014-02-10+08.41.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWzwsRzFWqYUdbH4HfRmSNFBzcdur2vDnRBSvsWA4EtOzhrSWgfwXoTAmuNN_rNXORbdixfbEbZxRSciL9Nn7O0Hi0CHRABrylf2qZcr1UJFsVvbpFLtIOsBFJYaOtQZIfKiyjw_mflag/s1600/2014-02-10+08.41.20.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
Overall this was a really fun project. Not being 100% sure what sort of yarn I was going to get from the spinners was both fun and stressful, but I really enjoyed the collaborative aspect of the project. Now that I have a better idea of what to expect and how to plan, I am looking forward to doing this again in the future. I've already got some ideas for future project percolating away in the back of my head!Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-43190227395417934792014-02-07T08:34:00.002-08:002014-02-07T08:34:45.733-08:00Queens Shawl, full sized!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVHwhpisq9bJiRtk5ypoyC9OWngsoxE6i2fTWXN7k_UULfyvsab-968GVCH2YYpJCRBjwzrowDe7Bk1n0-HxOqimHhedxKSY8zeBp0XMktqoVgDpAT8eC3snWeqEcJYLuydDfVn4IkKw/s1600/2014-02-07+11.04.09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVHwhpisq9bJiRtk5ypoyC9OWngsoxE6i2fTWXN7k_UULfyvsab-968GVCH2YYpJCRBjwzrowDe7Bk1n0-HxOqimHhedxKSY8zeBp0XMktqoVgDpAT8eC3snWeqEcJYLuydDfVn4IkKw/s1600/2014-02-07+11.04.09.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
As much as I loathed worked on the linen for the faux-rugia towel, I think it improved my weaving by leaps and bounds. Nightmare projects tend to do that, which always makes me grateful for them after the fact. In looking at how my first Queens Shawl project is coming along, things are going much more smoothly, my selvages are looking much better (not perfect, but better), they are more symmetrical, and I am finding it easier to following the treadling order and see where I am when I walk away from the loom. Plus I'm not finding as many funky floats. So yay for getting better! I'm not mistake-free yet, but I will not be in any way ashamed to present this to Important People.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hMWpWTOhJMS_UKjfBDT2prD7vZSzrGn5PhLmcgNTdpk2ZIG1AwtIHUKS1zPeuOa5w3b-msthA6ACMpaoi7PwG3G4uPXYZ7pOA15oqnRqs_92o3Fu8YfZQFchlRUE1ONoTc-PsOCn4sg/s1600/2014-02-07+11.05.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hMWpWTOhJMS_UKjfBDT2prD7vZSzrGn5PhLmcgNTdpk2ZIG1AwtIHUKS1zPeuOa5w3b-msthA6ACMpaoi7PwG3G4uPXYZ7pOA15oqnRqs_92o3Fu8YfZQFchlRUE1ONoTc-PsOCn4sg/s1600/2014-02-07+11.05.00.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>The hand spun yarn is subtly variegated with purples and blues and a tiny bit of teal blue, all peacock colors to pull in the personal heraldry of our queen. That color variation didn't show up well in the photos, but in person it adds a very pretty shimmer to the shot fabric. Not a period shimmer, but a pretty one. It will look really pretty out in the sun when we present the finished shawl (assuming of course that we have sun on the day, one can only hope!)<br />
<br />Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-58196411346223239672014-02-06T07:07:00.002-08:002014-02-06T07:07:53.897-08:00Pounce win!Just a note to declare victory over the pounce! After much gnashing of teeth and tearing of hair (and paper) I have won! I can't post pictures yet, but I was able to transfer the Pelican design for the morse onto velvet beautifully with pounce and then paint over it perfectly. Yay! <br />
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It turns out that my problem all along has been the paper I was using to make the transfer. Silly me, I was using regular printer paper. Somewhere (and I can't remember where) I read that I should be using vellum. I don't have any vellum so I printed the design onto card stock, and what do you know the whole thing magically worked! Happy day! My paint is now drying and I will able to frame up the cloth this afternoon and finally get started on this thing. I am very excited.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-58617793249474473812014-02-03T07:30:00.000-08:002014-02-03T07:30:00.472-08:00First attempt at overshotHow I am loving my little table loom! Warping still takes forever, but it's so much easier to set up a short (ish) length of something to play around with for napkins of towels to try something out.<br />
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I've decided to finally give overshot a try as the technique is similar to what I suspect was used to weave Perugia towels, the main difference being that overshot is done on a ground of tabby whereas Perugia towels are done on ground of some sort of diamond twill. To weave the Perugia designs (or at least the geometric ones) efficiently, you can set up a series of secondary heddles using what's called ophamta weaving. I wasn't able to do this when I did my towel as I have small eyes on my heddles, and the secondary tie ups need extended eye heddles on the main shafts to work. What we see in the Perugia towels are bands of patterns woven over a tabby ground separated by diamond twills. Overshot basically works the same way, but with fewer shafts. The pattern weave is threaded into usually 4 shafts and woven on a tabby ground. Working with 2 shuttles, you then weave the pattern using a contrasting color that floats over the tabby. The patterns used are different, as are the fibers, but the basic principals are not at all dissimilar.<br />
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Anyway, overshot is far easier than I thought it would be! And fun! I'm not 100% happy with how this first pattern section turned out, I think a heaver pattern thread would look better, but for a first attempt it's much better than I thought it would be. The ground is 10/2 pearl cotton set at 24 epi. Nothing fancy but it will make a nice, functional towel that people will be will to use. The blue is cottolin. I have enough warp to do 3 good sized towels, and I plan to do all 3 with different fibers for the bands. One will be a heaver linen, and one will be cotton. I can do at least 2 different patterns with the threading I have as well, so that should add some additional interest to the weaving.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-43435381838434953362014-02-02T04:43:00.001-08:002014-02-02T04:43:59.839-08:00Another elevation cloakI've been asked to do the embroidery for another elevation cloak, this time for someone I know well. It's a secret so no further details than that until after the fact, but I am planning on doing the order insignia on a morse rather than on the cloak itself, as this is more appropriate for the persona in question and will look less like a football jersey than a lot of the cloaks that are out there. Plus I think the person will actually wear the blasted thing if we do it this way.<br />
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Anyway, the cloak will be wool. I was thinking I would do the morse in velvet, partly so I can incorporate more of the personal heraldry and also it won't stretch as much. Plus I won't need to do tons of underside couching to cover something ugly (yay for that!) The thing I am wondering is how best to transfer a fairly intricate design onto the velvet? The best suggestion (ok the only reasonable one really) is over at <a href="http://www.needlenthread.com/2011/08/goldwork-on-velvet-transferring-embroidery-design.html">Needle'n'Thread</a> and suggests using a combination prick-n-pounce and paint. This seems like it would work but also sounds like a huge PITA. Is there as easier way? If not, that's what I'll do, it just seems like we would have come up with a magic pen or other transfer device that was simpler than this by now.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-87272834121748647122014-01-19T12:59:00.000-08:002014-01-19T12:59:42.531-08:00Shawl for a QueenMy kingdom's spinning guild makes a hand spun shawl for each new queen as a group project. Sometime this means we do nothing for several reigns, but usually we end up making a shawl at least once a year. The women who had been doing the weaving got her Laurel last year just before Pennsic when the last shawl was presented, and decided that she didn't feel it was right to continue doing the weaving, and as her first act as a Peer, volun-told me to weave the next one. Eeep. This will be presented at an event in February.<br />
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Things have been a little nuts for me the last couple of months. In addition to the usual holiday madness of my little business and going home to visit, I've had the flu since New Years eve and have been dealing with some ongoing health issues that have been making getting anything done increasingly difficult. My focus is not as good as it once was, I get confused easily, and I am in a lot of pain a lot of the time. In the last week my neurologist diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. Not great news, but at least we now have an idea of what the problem is (or really in this case isn't) and how to proceed with managing the symptoms. Knowing you need to slow down and adjust your expectations from yourself and understanding why are two totally different things and for me at least the why turns out to be a key piece for my coping abilities and peace of mind.<br />
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Anyway, the upshot of all of this is it's taken me longer to get started on the shawl project than I had planned. But I finally got the <a href="http://medievalthreads.blogspot.com/2014/01/finished-faux-rugia-towel-finally.html">Perugia towel</a> off my loom, and have started doing the sampling for the shawl on my new table loom! Yay for awesome Christmas presents that make sampling possible! It's a 4-shaft 18 inch wide Dundas loom, which they do not make anymore, that we were able to pick up used, even though it had never been used by the previous owner. The heddles were still tied together. Warping it was so much easier than warping the floor loom, and weaving on it is fun though it's a bit of an adjustment going from tie-ups to manually controlling each shaft. I'm using the same diamond twill pattern I used for the towel for the shawl, set at 16 EPI with a commercial warp and the hand spun weft. We decided to use a high contrast for the warp to give the cloth a shot effect, which I think will look well when it's finished and should have a nice bit of shimmer. So far I am happy with how the sample is working up. I plan to weave a bit more and wash it before I warp the big loom, but I should have that done by the end of the weekend and be able to get the warping done this week. The actual weaving won't take all that long. With the larger yarns the whole project will go much more quickly than the linen did.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-13157598495906391062014-01-19T06:36:00.000-08:002014-01-19T06:36:29.160-08:00Finished Faux-rugia towel, finally<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The faux-Perugia towel is finally, after long last and much swearing, gnashing of teeth, moving of the loom, and tearing of hair, done! It's off the loom, washed, and I am actually pretty happy with how it turned out. Yay! This has been by far the most difficult and possibly overly ambitious weaving project I have done so far, but I have learned a lot. I can't honestly say the result were quite worth all the agony, but adding in the educational piece and the fact that it's off the loom and I can now get on with my life it's all good.<br />
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The original plan had been to weave a length of plain <br />
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weave to do some embroidery with on the same warp, but somehow I ended up not having quite enough warp to do it or enough patience, so I have what you see. The towel was 53 inches long and 29 inches wide before washing, and 50 inches long and 23 inches wide after washing. This is right in the low to middling range of extant Perugia towels, and in looking at it a very useful size. I will be able to use this as a small table covering, a large lap napkin (large napkins are really good for covering garments made of expensive, hard to wash fabrics), or for using while serving at table. It also works nicely as a head covering. The 40/2 linen was a huge PITA to work with (mostly warping), but the end result is a lovely fabric with a nice hand that drapes well and is thick enough to make a good napkin but still fine enough to look like real fabric and not a rug. I'm a little sad about not being able to do proper pick-ups but the end result looks more like what you see in the art work actually being used by servants and more middle class people than what has survived in museums, most of which seem to be have been used as part of church vestments.<br />
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A couple of critical things I have learned about weaving with linen for next time -<br />
1 - wet/damp linen is much easier to work with.<br />
2 - sizing is your friend! I used boiled flax seeds. It's much easier to apply this diluted in a spay bottle than attempting to brush it onto the warp.<br />
3 - For whatever reason my floating warps kept snapping. I was able to fix this by soaking the warp thread in the sizing then reinforcing it with a thread of fine beading wire. Fishing line would probably work better but I didn't have any on hand. Next time I am working with a fine, inflexible warp, I will get some fishing line.<br />
4 - I need a better cushion on my weaving bench. Ouch.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-48584007313231301402013-11-28T06:02:00.003-08:002013-11-28T06:02:47.261-08:00Warp weighted weaving<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Following up on my last post, I've finished setting up the warp weighted loom that has now taken over a not insignificant portion of my living room and have actually successfully woven a whole inch of leg wrap!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTXtZZXwRUo7UreisUty0K0PgvHxhX5XuK4pOiFyFaVLnw1RU-wp5tXPaBplRZfz0zInBoOYxbAEUIrHhwG3qmrbQ4t42EcGsaBKVGcAlmbjjTawaTSeZmqjlBcthZjUX2CZaeBTYlqU/s1600/2013-11-28+08.03.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTXtZZXwRUo7UreisUty0K0PgvHxhX5XuK4pOiFyFaVLnw1RU-wp5tXPaBplRZfz0zInBoOYxbAEUIrHhwG3qmrbQ4t42EcGsaBKVGcAlmbjjTawaTSeZmqjlBcthZjUX2CZaeBTYlqU/s320/2013-11-28+08.03.28.jpg" width="240" /></a>Knitting the heddles was by far the trickiest part of the whole business. Finding clear instructions on how to do this was not so easy, but I managed to work it out for myself after much google searching and watching YouTube videos on knitting heddles for barn looms (not the same sort of heddle at all but it managed to explain the idea). I think the biggest thing left out of the instructions (if you can call them that) that I was able to find is that you really need to work with a small shuttle or netting shuttle, not the ball of yarn. Once I figured this out and got out one of my small table weaving shuttles life was much easier. Also, it was a lot easier (and I do mean A LOT easier, like I might actually do this again easier) to manage everything once I had the idea to pick up the shed I was trying to tie up with a pick up stick and hold it in the forward position with an extra leese stick I tied to my shed stick. This arrangement might not be that clear in the picture, but the idea is to hold the threads in front of the stationary warps so you are not trying to knit the heddles through another set of warp threads. The only problem with this plan is that you have to be extra careful not to twist your warps if you chained them together at the bottom. I twisted a few of them the first time I knit the heddles and ended up having to un-do the heddles AND un-chain the back warp threads to fix the mess. Not a big deal as this is a narrow warp but something to keep in mind time. Knit first, chain second.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0WRbwSCiEq1j_xiNRx7s3jP4TAQHG6lh9lDZDMm-fXsfJbQ7xPxoTeanlsDOrTWzyYuSdtpAqi1t07EQaZ4SOEAEEi8k81tbyAR1aYluYCAJZAs3CHvUVlNu_DJUhsVdsMDblL2OMVw/s1600/2013-11-28+08.03.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw0WRbwSCiEq1j_xiNRx7s3jP4TAQHG6lh9lDZDMm-fXsfJbQ7xPxoTeanlsDOrTWzyYuSdtpAqi1t07EQaZ4SOEAEEi8k81tbyAR1aYluYCAJZAs3CHvUVlNu_DJUhsVdsMDblL2OMVw/s320/2013-11-28+08.03.52.jpg" width="240" /></a>Anyway, once that was done (and it went much faster the second time around), the actual weaving has been pretty straight forward. Beating upwards is a little awkward, but I'm actually having a harder time managing the shuttle stick and the sword beater all at the same time. I feel like I need an extra hand. Luckily with this particular yarn I can do most of my beating with the shuttle stick so I'm not having to use the sword much but it's a bit of a juggling act. Overall the process is not any slower than weaving on a rigged heddle loom. You can see we had some trouble with the table woven header on this piece, which has created a little unevenness in the warp spacing, but I think that will work itself out as I go and when I wash the finish piece. Thinking on it, I think I didn't choose a very good yarn to use for the header, it's not quite the right thickness for such a fine warp.<br />
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I still can't quite get my head around tying the heddles for complex twills. I know this can be done, all sort of patterned twills were woven on this type of loom, but with one set of warp threads being stationary I'm not quite sure how you would make something like a diamond twill happen. This might be another example of walk-before-you-run, which I have never been very good at. I'll figure it out.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-8936467358974840532013-11-25T12:33:00.000-08:002013-11-25T12:33:29.356-08:00Warping the Warp Weighted LoomI got a warp weighted loom for my birthday (yay!) and what with it taking longer than expected to get here, fiber show season, crazy event season, and general life stuff it's taken until today to get started warping it. Very shameful but at least it's getting done. For now I'm just planning to weave some simple tabby legwraps for myself, as this will be relatively easy and I need some legwraps. I'm using an alpaca blend laceweight yarn that was on sale at my local yarn shop. The warp is a honey color and the weft will be a wine red. They should be rather pretty when done.<br />
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I've got as far as tying the weights to the warp bundles and chaining the warps together. I was not planning on doing the chaining, but because I ended up sing fewer weights than I had planned the chains are really helping to keep the warp spread evenly. Plus I can anchor the bottom of the work to the sides to the loom which will help prevent draw in. I still need to knit my heddles, once I get that done I can start weaving!
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I do have to say, the 5 inch wide warp looks pretty silly on the 4 foot wide loom, but what are you gonna do? Once I get the hang of this I plan to do a large piece of fabric, perhaps for a hood, and that should not look quite so silly.<br />
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Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-38144981056275642372013-10-23T06:50:00.000-07:002013-10-23T06:50:23.417-07:00Finished Mammen Coat<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am very pleased with how this coat turned out! The embroidery was fun to do, and not that difficult. It's all stem stitch, just like the original, done in silk. I used a combination of filament and spun silks as that's what I had on hand, sticking fairly close to the original colors. This is the second project where I've been able to use mainly filament and I must say I really do like it. The difference in sheen is remarkable. I did find that I needed to keep my nails in better order when working with the threads and that thread conditioner of some sort helped (no idea if they used this in period on silk or not).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHOqutTS9hE1n4M1QoJjvOsPFacgGTIV13bIpxPovKpx9AkDQZxQz0oe1nrEerWqaD-Erkz-1KU_6so2PXRTQOH5sZkURk3lSgb7KxYwdHXyH7VAC_UHkvNvorQ8CSfUsP2VlA6ULNVU/s1600/2013-10-23+08.55.43.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHOqutTS9hE1n4M1QoJjvOsPFacgGTIV13bIpxPovKpx9AkDQZxQz0oe1nrEerWqaD-Erkz-1KU_6so2PXRTQOH5sZkURk3lSgb7KxYwdHXyH7VAC_UHkvNvorQ8CSfUsP2VlA6ULNVU/s320/2013-10-23+08.55.43.jpg" width="301" /></a>The pattern for the coat is loosely based on the Eura gown. It's sort of a mash-up of the standard Turkish coat and the Eura gown really. I can't say how accurate this is, but it's a plausible way to cut this style of kaftan for a woman, as it would continue to fit as the body changed shape during pregnancy and it fits much better over layers of clothing than the loose standard t-tunic style method of cutting I had used for my last coat. Both of those garments are men's shirts anyway, which I am beginning to think would not have been used for cutting women's garments but more on that latter. The pattern is comfortable, has a nice drape to it, and uses only 2 and a half yards of fabric with no waste (I can get a full length gown out of just over 3 yards of fabric with no waste at all as well). <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoV-IQoTwM44NOZb2Tj8Uw4VKSa8X736zAXdRsch2XOctKdxlVxMvcX3du5ZnwoxnNVwyssym0Qgw0Jw8F8l12ncaxg7-m82RkgpTSEPc3NTJbNZOjq2N9ZjcLJD6COqTkk7rcOiHQJ5A/s1600/2013-10-23+08.56.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoV-IQoTwM44NOZb2Tj8Uw4VKSa8X736zAXdRsch2XOctKdxlVxMvcX3du5ZnwoxnNVwyssym0Qgw0Jw8F8l12ncaxg7-m82RkgpTSEPc3NTJbNZOjq2N9ZjcLJD6COqTkk7rcOiHQJ5A/s320/2013-10-23+08.56.23.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I fully lined the coat with a silk and linen blend herringbone twill, sewing the lining in as I made the coat itself, the same way many 18th century garments are made. This made it a lot easier to ensure that the lining and the exterior fabric matched up and draped the same way and will keep everything in order as I wear the coat. It also meant I only had to sew any given seam once rather than twice, making the sewing much faster. The neck and cuff edges were then stab stitched closed and the hem will be turned and stitched.<br />
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The only tiny issue with how this project turned out is that the sleeves are perhaps an inch or so too long. Really this isn't so bad, since I will be wearing the coat over other clothing and as a warm layer the extra length is probably a good thing, it just makes the thing looks like a monkey coat on the dress form. I need to remember to make this adjustment next time I make a coat though, once I do the cuff embroidery it's very difficult to adjust the sleeve length.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJ5wnGrXXDLwEFPxpj9CDsLjLjw2Kv03dcYx0xFX3UP-stc-ezIYjnIbdsk3JcKQaJJVCCR2FOfIih_IgSVHceR1mv9KkduKMXzLRujs39c_0C2j3cFd30E7p0IB360ofgPr22BQmspQ/s1600/2013-10-23+08.57.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbJ5wnGrXXDLwEFPxpj9CDsLjLjw2Kv03dcYx0xFX3UP-stc-ezIYjnIbdsk3JcKQaJJVCCR2FOfIih_IgSVHceR1mv9KkduKMXzLRujs39c_0C2j3cFd30E7p0IB360ofgPr22BQmspQ/s320/2013-10-23+08.57.24.jpg" width="320" /></a>This coat is part of my effort to re-do my Viking kit, since I have shrunk out of my old kit and it wasn't up to my current standards anyway. I've now got two linen Eura gowns to wear under the coat, and will be cutting out a new apron gown based on the <a href="http://urd.priv.no/viking/kostrup.html">Kostrup </a>find. I got a warp-weighted loom for my birthday last month and will be weaving some leg wraps for myself on it as soon as I can get it warped. I have lots of veils and headwraps, and got proper shoes at Pennsic this year, and will be done with my naalbound mittens shortly, so I should be in good shape by the end of the year, barring any major disasters or huge new distractions. At some point I will need to make a new wool overgown as my old one, which I loved, had a laundry disaster and went to live with a teeny tiny friend who fits into it. I have something that will serve in the meantime but it's a blend and if I am working over the fire it gets a bit uncomfortable.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-59170848109302198572013-10-17T06:30:00.004-07:002013-10-17T06:30:57.742-07:00War of Wings Feast<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSg4ODnPjVD7c_dUuU9p7-w_Z7aIppgWb7f1Od-40fEYtr_FBxrDi_ANWg0wwX9smCpV9KeyL7MxFCk_xyJlDexrqWhkHCyH4O054DmMw9Zepj49x7eo_EJ9nibBbJNYl50tqfV_E-5U/s1600/DSC04337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPSg4ODnPjVD7c_dUuU9p7-w_Z7aIppgWb7f1Od-40fEYtr_FBxrDi_ANWg0wwX9smCpV9KeyL7MxFCk_xyJlDexrqWhkHCyH4O054DmMw9Zepj49x7eo_EJ9nibBbJNYl50tqfV_E-5U/s320/DSC04337.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
This year at War of the Wings (a kingdom war here in Atlantia that takes place every October) I decided to spend Friday cooking a period feast over the firepit using as many period cooking techniques as I could. I only used one modern sauce pan and a single dutch oven (which isn't the worst concession to modernity as they had similar things, I just don't happen to own the period equivalent as of yet).<br />
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The meal turned out really well. The biggest disaster turned out to be the guest list, we had some missing people and ended up with a lot more leftover than planned but that's not so bad. People wandering by were pretty impressed that we had a high table set up in camp in such a primitive camp site. The food turned out well, everyone enjoyed it, and no one got sick, so I count that as a win! Here's what we ate -<br />
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Bread - I made a honey wheat bread in the dutch oven. While not necessarily a period bread recipe, baking in the coals is a period method and it was a lot of fun. The first loaf turned out beautifully except that it got charred on the crusts. I ended up giving it to the rest of camp and they made quick work of the inside of the loaf, leaving a scary carbonized crust. The second loaf sort of collapsed a bit in the middle but baked perfectly and was still tasty. I think the over wasn't quite hot enough but as this was the first time I had baked in the dutch over on my own I think it went pretty well.<br />
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Birds on the Spit - I spit roasted 3 chickens on the spit my cousin made me for Christmas. These turned out quite nicely and the spit worked great, though they didn't cook as evenly as I would have liked. I think the spit was overloaded. Next time I'll limit myself to 2 birds at a time.<br />
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<a href="http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/pumpes.html">Pumps</a> - Medieval meatballs. These are really tasty and were a big hit. I've made these twice before and decided to double up the recipe this time, which turned out ok but if I do this again I will need a bigger pot as they didn't cook as evenly as I would like. The balls need more room to float around in the broth.<br />
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<a href="http://greneboke.com/recipes/wortes.shtml">Buttered Worts</a> - I used spinach this time, though you can use a range of leafy greens for this dish. Last time I did this I had spinach and mustard greens which was quite nice. This time I simplified the cooking, sauteing the leeks in a large pan over the fire in butter, then adding the greens then a bit of the stock from the pumpes. When the greens were done I dumped everything over the sopes. Very good and much easier than all the boiling, though I suppose the boiling may be necessary for some greens.<br />
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<a href="http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/rturnips.html">Roasted Turnips</a> - again simplified the preparation by turning this into a single-step baking process, baking it in the dutch oven. Worked fine and was very tasty.<br />
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<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~mathilde/recipes/lumdardy.htm">Lumdardy Tart</a> (beet pie) - Yum! People had no idea this was beets until I told them. To be fair, there is some debate about whether the recipe refers to beet root or beet greens. I used beet root, and more than called for than the redaction linked, and it was good. I've seen other people use Swiss chard, which might be interesting to try some time, but this is a tasty version that people like.<br />
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<a href="http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/applemuse.html">Apple Muse</a> - Basically applesauce, with a twist. If you can't get saunders, I would suggest cutting back on the honey and being careful with the saffron, perhaps adding a bit more salt. Do NOT use food coloring, the saunders is doing more than adding color (I found this out the hard way the last time I made it). It was a very nice dish a good way to end the meal, and is REALLY nice with a bit of heavy cream and powder blanch on top. Be sure to use the best apples you can get.<br />
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<a href="http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/peeres.html">Pears in Syrup</a> - I like to add cinnamon, galangal, mace and a bit of nutmeg to the spice mix and try to always use turbinado or demara sugar for the extra flavor. The leftover are killer on french vanilla ice cream. This makes for a nice, light-ish dessert and is very easy to cool over the fire, you can set it in the cooling coals and pretty well forget about it until you are ready to plate it.Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-41304602084289577852013-10-15T10:04:00.001-07:002013-10-15T10:04:51.385-07:00Mammen coat progressThe embroidery for my Mammen coat is coming along very nicely. I am looking forward to being able to wear this and show it off. The colors look a bit Crayola-like, but that seems to be the aesthetic, and it is rather striking. Much more so than a modern palate of colors would be. Perhaps this means I'm developing a more refined period color sensibility.<br />
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Anyway, the neck is done and I am very pleased. I had to improvise a bit with the back of the neck and the end of the face section and leaving them both plain didn't look quite right. Keeping things simple seemed like the best plan. I think it turned out well. The sleeves are coming along really well. I ended up changing the colors a little bit. Both pieces are very close to the colors used in the original fragments, with a few variations to accommodate the silks I had available.<br />
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Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7565541959216358834.post-31120925496441905252013-09-22T16:38:00.001-07:002013-09-22T16:38:50.435-07:00Mammen Masks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Od8iJO17L2Rm-HrORcPfXEsPffgX62CmRHBq2UtBAgifaU-uZQZOkohcRqCnso7vW2xr2G1U97JLpojY-DoiP9U-KDE0SUFmGADIvgMYeWIo8EApUTZh6PdDlM75lpWHkHE3H48xOHg/s1600/2013-09-19+17.19.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0Od8iJO17L2Rm-HrORcPfXEsPffgX62CmRHBq2UtBAgifaU-uZQZOkohcRqCnso7vW2xr2G1U97JLpojY-DoiP9U-KDE0SUFmGADIvgMYeWIo8EApUTZh6PdDlM75lpWHkHE3H48xOHg/s320/2013-09-19+17.19.28.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
I had so much fun making the elevation coat/caftan that I decided to make one for me. This time I am using motifs from the Mammen embroidery to decorate the neck and cuffs. The small masks will go on the neck edges down to where the brooch will sit, I could (and probably should) go all the way down the front but (a) I find that rather heavy looking on the lighter colored wool and (b) I am lazy. I'll be using the acanthus vine motif on the cuffs, changing the color scheme just a little bit to correspond with the silks I have available. <br />
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The threads are a combination of filament silk and spun silk. The filament looks much nicer and seems to wear better, you really can barely tell the difference between the spun and regular DMC cotton, which is deeply annoying to me but this is all left overs from other projects so it's not so bad. I'm really happy with how this is looking so far. The stitching is also going fairly quickly which is a nice change from some of my recent projects.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs1tUQ40kbBJ9Qs92MVnRJoLf_oIiOHBs-Y-IkjTMkRUDVZIBwjqIRoWV4aqLBz4t4ZD7FN5FwWzOUzWr_Tw463C206SJregh1VgLRzub4FCwT58kmUCvj3K8bARvBknwfOMnKh51bvbk/s1600/2013-08-25+10.49.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgs1tUQ40kbBJ9Qs92MVnRJoLf_oIiOHBs-Y-IkjTMkRUDVZIBwjqIRoWV4aqLBz4t4ZD7FN5FwWzOUzWr_Tw463C206SJregh1VgLRzub4FCwT58kmUCvj3K8bARvBknwfOMnKh51bvbk/s320/2013-08-25+10.49.05.jpg" width="320" /></a>Sadly I don't have a picture of the totally done elevation coat, but you can get a general idea of what I did from the pictures. I'm very pleased with the design I came up with for the cuffs. My original plan for the neck was more elaborate and I think would have been more effective but the lady who received the coat was thrilled with it as is, so it all worked out. Trying to sew a garment without measurements is bad enough, but when it's for something like a Laurel elevation, when it's going to be seen by literally EVERYONE and you really do want the person to be happy with it, it's a little scary. I'm very glad she was so happy and that it fit so well.<br />
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<br />Heidihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07276734851732074959noreply@blogger.com2