Category Archives: General


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The Final Design

This is the dress I’ve decided to go with. A nice red dress which dates to 1520-1530. It has the same basic design of the GPM so I can use my existing pattern for it which will take considerably less time than coming up with a new pattern.


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Hand Sewing

I am currently in the middle of three hand-sewing projects:

  • Adding pearls to the hairnet I completed two months ago. It’s not going too bad but it seems like I can only add about 8-10 pearls at a sitting. At this rate it will get finished in a few years.
  • Smocking for the front of a tunic – I was looking for German construction instructions and found this lattice smocking. When I read the directions it occurred to me that I own a plastic stencil that looked very similar to the grid design and I had to know if it would work. So I traced the stencil and, sure enough, I got the desired result – not nearly as clean and nice looking but pretty close. It should take a few more hours of sewing and that will be complete.
  • Finally the German skirt.

The German skirt is coming along nicely.

First I cut out three panels of 60inch wide fabric and sewed those together (I had cut out four but only used three) and then I added pleater tape and pulled it to size and am now finished hand sewing it to a canvas band which will then get sewn to a belt so that the weight of the dress sits on the hips rather than my shoulders. If the smocking has taught me anything it’s that I really don’t have the time or patience for pleating without the use of tape. However – I should have stuck with the original plan to pleat the linen in with the skirt – in the end I decided that I was afraid that if they were pleated together then they would not flow as nicely and it would be a pain in the butt to try to clean. It is a very lightweight linen though so I will put it on a standard waistband which shouldn’t be too difficult.

Once the skirt is stitched up (which should be in the next day or two) then it can be hung so I can hem it next week. In the mean time I can get started on the top of the dress and hopefully my fabric purchase should be here by then. I’m excited to see if this gold fabric I ordered will work!


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Clothes

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Anna of Rožmitál by Jacob Seisenegger,1529

I decided I need some clothes because nothing fits right now. I found this dress which really appears to be two versions of the same basic dress so this is the one I’m going to go with. I’d like to be able to just throw it over my head and go so it won’t be very tight. Now to figure out those sleeves.


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The Pretty Version

In an attempt to pretty-up the dining room I went to work on the chandelier. First I ordered it new crystals because there were a few missing and I wasn’t all that fond of the smoky topaz color.

And then I started making beaded flowers for it. It’s been a couple of months and I like how it’s looking so far but I think I’m going to stop at this point. I’m thinking that the fixture needs to be painted white or cream with green accents so that it better matches the other fixtures we installed. Yes, that’s right, we also managed to install two of the other fixtures we had brought with us – one in the kitchen and the other in the entry hall. The remaining two will go in the studio and possibly the two we took out of the house. The new light fixtures make the place seem more light and airy.


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And Then I Moved

Several months ago I moved. I did bring most of my stuff with me because it’s easier to get rid of things after the move when I’m assured that I won’t be needing it at the new house. This line of thought is assisted by the fact that the new house is larger than the old one and we are building a studio/workshop that will also need to be furnished. In that regard I probably won’t be getting rid of much until that is finished.

I don’t think there was much that we changed at the new house either. We built some storage shelves and he’s mapping out all the wiring but we haven’t really changed anything. I did remove all the curtains and wash them and then hang them up in different locations – I don’t think any of them ended where they started! And almost all of the curtains I brought with me have found homes in front of windows.

I had already known we were moving when we remodeled the kitchen two years ago. Because I knew we weren’t staying, I made a conscious decision not to install some light fixtures I had purchased with specific places in mind and instead brought them along with the hope that I could incorporate them here at the new house. I have about four of them – all of the chandelier style. I had thought one would go in the new dining room but now I’m not so sure. I’ve decided to ‘pretty up’ the one that is already there.

And I’m doing that by coving it in beaded flowers!


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The Status of Things

Five weeks ago we moved from the safety and peacefulness we have always known to the new and unknown, adventure-filled Here. Here is located in NW Arkansas and I am currently calling it Enddleton.

Enddleton is a wonderfully large estate compared to most of the other estates I have knowledge of – the house is 3k square feet and the land is 5.56 acres. We currently have two horses, a pony, a baby donkey, and nine chickens living on the estate with us although none of them actually belong to us. We have a large number of trees, a real pasture, a spring fed pond, and lots of flat green grassland that will be gardens in the future. This is a lovely estate just on the very edge of the city proper with all the amenities of city living and all the joys of country living rolled into one beautiful property. I love Enddleton.

Enddleton is a five bedroom, two and a half bath house with two living and two dining areas. There is plenty of room for all our various hobbies and we plan on building a workshop onto the horse barn so we will have greenhouse and woodworking space. The pasture will eventually become an orchard.

Of our five bedrooms, one is for us, two are for guests, one is for yoga, and one is designated sewing. Sewing is code for “all the craft stuff.” The sewing room is packed full and unpacking it has been my latest project. I had 15 medium size boxes with nothing but cashmere in them and those now live on wire shelving in one of the closets. There is an additional wire rack on wheels that doesn’t fit in the closet so I really have an abundance of sewing to do so it all fits in there like it’s supposed to fit!

The other closet is filled with garb and not much else. I then found another box of garb and have not yet integrated that into the rest of the collection but it occurred to me that I need to find someone who fits in the smaller ones and make their day!

There is the sewing table and the sewing machine table and a sofa and a workbench. There are also a small dresser and at least ten storage bins with fabric. The bead cabinet rounds out the furniture in the room. And one very large wool rug covers the floor. Overall it sounds cramped but I would describe it as cozy and comfortable with enough space to get some actual work done once everything is put away as it should be.

Hopefully it won’t take me too much longer to get the sewing room into working condition! Then I can focus on the rest of the spaces!


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Another New Hobby

In the middle of November two things happened – I taught a class at Fiber Arts and sat in on a class on hairnetting, which I didn’t stay for because it was a bit crowded, and got a bit warm. Being that I couldn’t then concentrate, I left. But then at Boar’s Head the class was offered again and this time I sat through the whole thing. I’m a lefty so I had to get a bit of personal attention but by the end of class I was just flying through it. I came home and made a hairnet. Most of a hairnet because I wasn’t sure how big to make it or how to attach it to the band.

Then in the beginning of January, at 12th Night, an advanced netting class was offered and I sat through that one as well. I learned how to do netting in the round and how to do a more period type increase. The resulting hairnet is in the picture – this one is black silk and probably near completion. I still have to figure out how to get them attached to the band but that should be the end of it.

Hubby is going to retrieve my pearl collection and then I will be able to sew on lots of little pearls so the resulting hairnet will look just like the painting that The German Dress is modelled after. I think that will then make The German Dress totally and completely complete.

Always nice to learn new skills!

Not Much of a Vacation

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So – back in July we bought a new house. This week we took some excess stuff to the new house so that it wasn’t taking up space when we try to sell our current house in the spring. Because we are only going to be at the new house for a week or two we decided not to have internet installed and I had to take the two weeks off work  as a result.

I packed a billion boxes in recent months – this week I unpacked a lot of boxes – except books because I don’t have bookshelves here yet. I cleaned almost everything, I cut my finger on the food-processor blade, and now I’m trying to relax. Eventually I will get working on the class stuff.