Saccoccia Test

I made a saccoccia! This was basically a test, to figure out the best size, shape, etc for me, and to figure out a sewing method that would work for me.

I had a scrap of this modern dragonfly fabric, and decided that it would make a fun lining for a saccoccia... but he gold satin that was going to be the outer layer decided to be a total cow, and got demoted to lining. This dragonfly fabric was a birthday gift from Grifon's sister exactly six years ago. How fun is that?

The most amusing part? It matches my corset! Hah!

I used Serafina's construction techniques, and created a bias strip from my lining fabric to seal the top and then folded it over and sewed it down to create a casing in which to use for an apron string or a simple cord to tie around my waist under my skirts.

Next time I make one, I'll do a couple of things differently (aside from using better fabrics). I will decrease the slit by about an inch. I have small hands and this will still allow me easy access, while giving me a bit more cargo space, as it were. I would also like to try one of the more square-bottomed ones, just for fun.

ACC - Camicia

For my Camicia pattern, I used the pattern outlined in Dorothy Burnham's Cut My Cote, which had further research and extrapolation as shown at Realm of Venus.

This camicia is made from a lightweight white linen from my stash.  It is not as light or high-quality of linen as I would have preferred, but given cost constraints, I went with it.  I was able to use a finer quality linen for the embroidery, from a small piece in my stash - there was simply not enough for the entire garment.

Completed Camicia (excuse the poor photo)

I initially was going to sew the camicia by machine. In fact, the sleeve seams were done by machine, but when I got to the point in which I would need to set in the gusset in the underarm, I switched gears and completed the rest of the camicia by hand. This was done to test my own hand-sewing skills, and to see how much control I could have.  I historically make a mess of gussets, and I had read how much easier it is by hand.

Hand-set Gusset

Using Laura Mellin's documented method of Elizabethan hand-sewing, I finished all seams first, and then connected the pieces with a tight whip stitch. The close-up photographs in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 4 clearly indicate this was a commonly practiced method of sewing in period. I was thrilled with how much control I had, particularly when setting the gussets, and it was nothing but a success.

Close-up of hand finished and whip-stitched seams

I gathered the camicia into a neckband, using a piece of blackwork as the front center part of the band which I completed. I did the blackwork in silk directly onto the linen by counting threads, in a pattern based on one from the 16th Century Italian Blackwork Sampler from the Victoria and Albert Museum. It's the blue one directly under the large red central voidwork pattern. (Bonus points for the embroidery matching my nails!)

Blackworked neckband

 After hand stitching the neckband into place and finishing the hem, I hand stitched lace at the sleeve cuff, rather than gathering the cuff into a band. This sleeve finish is shown in quite a few period portraits, such as Leandro Bassano's Portrait, Lucretia, c. 1570-80's.  I chose this sleeve finish simply because I have a camicia with a gathered sleeve already.  The lace was from my stash, and turned out to be almost exactly the right amount for this project - I only have about three inches left over!

Hand-Sewn inside seams

Lucretia by Bassano

 Bibliography:

Burnham, Dorothy K. "Cut My Cote." Royal Ontario Museum; Illustrated edition (1973)

Janet Arnold, "Patterns of Fashion 4." Macmillan, London, 2008.

Landini, Roberta Orsi and Bruna Niccoli (2005) "Moda a Firenze 1540-1580. Lo stile di Eleonora di Toledo a la sua influenza", Edizioni Polistampa, Florence

Realm of Venus. 2005-2011. Extant Shifts/Camicie.

Realm of Venus. 2005-2011. How to sew a Venetian Camicia.

Katerina.Purplefiles.net. 2011. Kat's Handsewn Linen Camicia.

Aneafiles.webs.com. 2011. The Italian Camicia.

The Birth of Awards

I had a bit of a funny realization this afternoon.

When a new Barony is created in the SCA, awards are thusly created by the Baronage to recognize their populace in various ways. I have had my hand in a good number of the premier scrolls (i.e. the very first recipient) for these new awards. Being the premier of an order is a pretty nifty thing, and I'm honored that I was able to be a part of that experience for the very deserving recipients of these awards.

Cero e Luce/Sero Luce, now called Gryphon and Candle, the Gryphon's Lair Arts and Sciences award:
Bethany of Windermere, Premier

Flame of Pharos, the Gryphon's Lair Service award:
Meraud des Belles Feuilles, Premier
(I did the calligraphy only. Illumination is by Grifon de Radonvilliers.)

Vesica Presul, Gryphon's Lair Rapier award:
Vilhelm Silberhammer, Premier
(Calligraphy only, Illumination by Bethany of Windermere.)

ACC - Camicia

There will be much more on this later, but right now I'm testing my ability to post via my phone.

I've been working on a linen camicia, which will end up being 99% hand sewn. I started the sleeves by machine then switched gears when I became determined to have beautiful hand set gussets.

While the photos aren't the best quality, I'm thrilled with my first hand set/ hand sewn gussets, and have decided to finish the rest of the camicia by hand.

Period Clockwork Androids

I don't have much to report yet on the status of my ACC project, so I thought I'd share this crazy thing that I'm surprised I hadn't seen before.

The Blackbird Archive shared the rumors that this monk automaton, which is a very rare and very early example of European clock technology has a very interesting past:

"Tradition attributes his manufacture to one Juanelo Turriano, mechanician to Emperor Charles V. The story is told that the emperor's son King Philip II, praying at the bedside of a dying son of his own, promised a miracle for a miracle, if his child be spared. And when the child did indeed recover, Philip kept his bargain by having Turriano construct a miniature penitent homunculus."

The little clockwork monk c. 1560-1562 now resides in the Smithsonian (although no longer on display), and you can view him in action here:


Elizabeth King's fascinating Clockwork Prayer article delves into the history of the monk, the story about Emperor Charles V, the attribution of the automaton, and the historians involved, and unearths interesting things about the past and the validity of the story itself. (Go read it. It's long but well worth it.)

Whether Juanelo Turriano aka Gianello Torriano was actually the monk's maker or not (which seems to still be somewhat speculative as there are no recorded monk automatons in a royal inventory), he was known to be a brilliant clock maker and engineer in Charles V's employ. According to King,

"Today we know of the existence, around the world, of two other monk-like automata, and four lady musicians, all sharing the same basic chassis design and body mechanism, and all dated to the second half of the sixteenth century."

While I'm certainly not the person to do it, I think it would be amazing if someone took this concept and turned it in to an Arts and Sciences project in the SCA.

For those of you interested in post-SCA things, like you amazing 18th Century costumers out there, here's a gem for you: an android made for Marie Antoinette:


Creepy or awesome?

Muff - Complete

Completed Muff

This muff was made completely by hand with the exception of piecing some of the fur together by machine. This seam is virtually undetectable and is only there because of the nature of the fur I used, being re-purposed from an old coat and thus the shape was awkward to use.

Back side of Muff

Trims used were an elaborate goldwork vine on black velvet, layered with yellow braid, all used from my stash.

Close-Up of closures.  Black enamel and gold buttons from my stash

What the muff looks like when there's something in it

Close-Up of loops

Loops were made from cotton embroidery floss with a lucet. While lucet weaving is speculative during this period, it was almost certainly used in the Viking age based on archeological finds of bone and bronze lucet tools. No extant lucet cords exist. Other cording techniques were commonly used such as fingerloop braiding, plaiting, etc, with similar looking results, so I feel confident that the overall look and feel of my loops are accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucet
http://cunnan.sca.org.au/wiki/Lucet

Fully lined in faux fur

I used faux fur simply because of how cost prohibitive real fur can be, particularly since my modern beliefs lean toward only using vintage fur rather than something new. I would have had to use different needles should it have been real, but otherwise the sewing techniques remained accurate to sewing real fur.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how this turned out, though if I were to do it again, I would have used an interlining out of canvas or trigger to give the tufted brocade a stiffer hand. This is purely because the goldwork trim makes the edges have a very stiff hand and so the non-trimmed areas contrast more than I'd prefer.

Productivity vs. Couch Lounging...

I have intellectually wanted to be productive on my projects, but physically felt "meh" when faced with the prospect of actually making progress. This doesn't bode well for the overall outcome. Hah!

For my muff, I did finish sewing down the trims and prepared the fur for lining by piecing together scraps of fur salvaged from the sleeve linings of an old coat, and stitching down strips of hem tape on the edges. I also created some cording for button loops with a lucet. I must say that I am quite happy with how rich in textures this is coming to be. I think it more than makes up for the simplicity of the fabric.

My boss insisted that I take tomorrow off (oh darn, twist my arm!), so I should be able to be more productive this weekend than I've been in a while.

Organization

My progress on the ACC has been very slow to start. Thus, to get myself on track with the long list of things I wanted to accomplish with it, I set up a task list and aligned them with my calendar for due dates. Then, I discovered the awesomosity that is Astrid.com. It's an easy to use task list, which has a free Android app for my phone that also syncs google tasks. You can use Astrid to assign other people tasks, or follow other people's tasks like a stalker. And who doesn't want to be a stalker?

You can also set Astrid up to be a widget on your android phone so you can see today's tasks at a glance. Word to the wise though - Google tasks are weak - sync once to import your tasks, and then use Astrid exclusively. I had a background sync activated and Google over-rode the due dates I'd plugged in through Astrid. This is turned off now.

I'm super excited and on track now, as I now know how little time I actually have to accomplish my goals. Yikes! Time to get cracking!

ACC - Muff Progress

I have finally put needle to fabric in the ACC. Finally. Between scroll work, Sven's tunic (of which I still owe you pictures), and my exchequer duties, I feel like I'm very behind.

This image is reflecting the fierce yellow of my living room walls (I usually photograph things down in my studio with my special art lamps), so while the color is off, it's proof I've done something.

Due to the delicacy of the gold worked trim, I have to hand sew everything for maximum control. I have sewn down the two border strips and have begun sewing down the edging braid to "hide the ugly." So far, so good. I'm not really looking forward to hand sewing the fur though...

I have selected some buttons from my stash that have a bit of a gold filigree/black enamel look. I think they will work well. They're extras from my black/red corduroy "doublet" circa 2002. I remember being so proud of that thing, and now I look at it hanging sadly in my closet and wonder what I was thinking at the time.

Library

These are the latest additions to my library. I was stoked to find a copy of the New Carolingian Modelbook (at long last). I have been an avid follower of Kim Brody Salazar for some time. When I saw a copy for sale that was within my budget, I snatched it up. Woohoo!