kareina

Last night I tried sewing a single garnet bead in the center of a square on the beautiful 3-in-1 wool twill fabric. Today I decided that I hadn't managed to get it perfectly centered, and that the only way to do that would be to baste diagonal lines from point to point on all the squares, and while I was at it, around the outline of the neck facing.

Luckily for me, today at work my Master's student wanted to try driving the laser for this, her final lab session of her project, so I got to spend several hours basting lines while she did all the data collecting, and I only needed to remind her which task needed to happen when, and how.





Now the neckline is ready for beads (which will be *much* easier to center in those squares now that there is an X to mark the spot), and, while I am at it, some red embroidery around the beads, since I have remembered some lovely wool yarn that is the same colour as the garnets. I have also done the math and worked out that I have exactly enough of the white to edge the sleeves, hem and neck of the tunic I want to do. Looking forward to making progress on this project while on the Norway trip this weekend. There is enough embroidery and beading to do that I need bring only the white fabric, yarn, and beads. The blue can stay home and wait till the trim is ready to attach.

Now to finish packing, do my yoga, get a shower, and then leave for the bus in 7.5 hours. Plenty of time...

Around a decade ago now learnteach gifted me with some of the most amazing fabric I had ever touched--a lovely blue herringbone wool twill that is so soft and snugly that I am willing to wear it against my skin for those middle of the night privy runs at a camping event. Sadly, when I cut the fabric to make a tunic from it I must have done something wrong when doing the math, because the gores wound up a fair bit too long for the length in which I cut the tunic. The tunic goes to around knee level, but the gores reached from hem past the waist and all the way to the bra-strap. Oops. I have no idea how it happened, but I have lived with it like that ever since. I did pleat together the top of the front center gore and stitched it down to belt level so that it didn't look quite so odd from the front, but other than that I just accepted it, because the fabric was so truly wonderful, and it was my favourite tunic for years.

However, after moving to Drachenwald, getting a "real job" and having access to other nice (but still not that nice) fabrics and some really nice tablet woven bands I wound up making myself a new wool tunic that has a much nicer cut, and, with the trim, is just enough fancier that I haven't been wearing my old favourite blue tunic as often.

Then, yesterday, my apprentice gifted me with a beautiful blue and white laurel-wreath inspired tablet woven band, and I wondered what to do with it. Then I thought of my old favourite tunic, and checked, and, yes, yes indeed, the trim does look lovely on that fabric.

So I put the tunic on, and looked closely at it, and decided how I can fix it. Tonight I accomplished the first couple of steps. I have taken out the front and back center gores, slit the front the last little bit to the neck line and then sewed the front shut back down to waist level. Next I need to also slit the back and sew it down to the waist level. Once that is done I can sew trim around the neck line. I am still not certain if I will sew it right to the edge of the neck, and then change the silk band on the inside of the neck to only be the same width as the trim (so that the seam where it attaches on the inside isn't visible from the outside), or if I will sew the trim down a bit back from the edge, so that it covers the other edge of the silk inner band. Though the more I think of it, the more I am leaning towards the latter. Since the body rectangle will now be slit fully to the waist front and back I am also planning on sewing down the neck trim in two segments such that the leaves are upright on both sides of my neck, which will help emphasize the "wreath" aspect of the trim.

Once all that is done I will need to take out the side gores, and also remove the little extra trianglar gore bits that I added on each side of the little square underarm gores, to make the tunic looser (because I was somewhat heavier a decade ago than I am now). Then I will be able to sew shut the armpits and sides to the waist. Then I can cut as strip off of one side of each of the front and back center gores to make them a bit smaller, use that strip to extend the hem of the body rectangle down about 8 to 10 cm, then sew all of the gores back in, this time with their top points at waist level. Then I can sew trim onto the cuffs of the sleeves and around the hem, possibly along the level of the seam attaching that extra length.

If all goes well it would be great to wear it to the Frostheim event next Friday. My apprentice really impressed me by taking the yarn I gave her at Norrskensfesten and turning it into trim so quickly, the least I can do is then turn the trim into a costume just as quickly. Wish me luck that the end result is as nice as I think it has the potential to be.