The Armour Archive

Charlotte J

Fingerlooped cords are the best for this application, but if you don't want to learn or try it out, you can always do a regular three or four part braid for a very simple cord. The Museum of London textiles and clothing book has samples of plain plaited braids. If you want it thicker without more co...

Charlotte J

You should probably contact Kass. She has a customer service email and even a phone number on her website. Did you read the pattern *thoroughly*?

Charlotte J

The codpiece came out looking a bit large. I'm going to tack it down tighter so it will look smaller. Yeah, my first thought was definitely that of a mother of a son and had to do with not wanting my son to be quite so.... forthright. Heh, now the FATHER of the son, I'm guessing would have differen...

Charlotte J

I've managed to crank out three G63s, two Bocksten tunics, and two white linen shirts for the boys. I also completed a few UFOs (UnFinished Objects) to get them wearable for war - a lightweight wool G63 for Jeff, and finally added sleeves to my 15th century fitted dress. I made myself a lightweight ...

Charlotte J

Just to clarify fourther, on my comment "it is about as rough as paintball" - I have been shot repeatedly with a 65 lb draw-weight bow, with the sort of padded arrowhead I describe, at a *flat* trajectory, and as close as 30-10 yards distance. I have been hit on clothing with no padding o...

Charlotte J

:( I was so happy last night. I finished the eyelets on the first dress I've made myself since 2006 and tried it on. Somehow I screwed something up and it was too small. This is the first time it's ever happened where I lost something in the translation from my pattern to a full dress. The pattern ...

Charlotte J

I don't even know what happened. My sewing skills are pretty rudimentary. Luckily we have lots of cheap fabric and stubbornness. But it's been an interesting learning experience because neither of us has actually drafted a pattern before. I've been thinking about the twisting, and trying to come up...

Charlotte J

Yes but alas, we were defeated. I am either a mutant or we didn't do the measurements correctly. The first time we made a sleeve it didn't fit my arm, and the second one we tried making big then fitting like the other dress panels but the fabric sort of twisted when it was on. Hmm. Tough to say wit...

Charlotte J

Isabella E wrote:The only hangup we are having with those instructions is sleeve construction. The 4 panels though went together really nicely.

You read this?
http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/Docum ... eClass.pdf

What's not working? Maybe I can help.

Charlotte J

Thank you very much for the info Tasha and Charlotte. Both of your underdress ideas are very logical. Is there a particular weave of wool I should look for, or will it just be labled summer weight? I dont have any decent fabric stores around here, so I'll have to order online where names are import...

Charlotte J

p. 247 of the catalogue. Also, at: m It's The Justice of Cambyses by Gerard David, specifically the second panel, The Flaying of Sisamnes. You're going to want to find a picture more blown up, because it's extremely hard to see what I'm talking about. You can see the inside corner at the neck, and t...

Charlotte J

Oh, I forgot to address- I see the van der Weyden as being flatted, i.e. the lining sandwiched into the seam, the lining seam allowance trimmed back and the outer fabric whipped down onto the lining body. I've examined a lot of Victorian clothing made this way, but it being a popular technique in t...

Charlotte J

Jeff brought the exhibition catalog home with him- is the painting you're referring to in there? I think I know the type of construction you're referring to. It's pretty common amongst the RenFaire crowd, who swear it is the Way, the Truth and the Light of 16th C. garment construction. I've examine...

Charlotte J

Gwen and Jeff, indeed and an examination of a painting at the Charles the Bold exhibition showed a similar construction, ie panels of the lining rather than a bagged out whole one. Precisely the point! And I know exactly the painting you mean! I'll dig through my photos from the exhibition & se...

Charlotte J

I've made a ton of these. I don't have anything written up on them, but a friend of mine has made a PDF that covers the biggies: m The body portions are all just trapezoids. Just think of them that way, and it's cake. In fact, you can cut and sew all of the trapezoids, then go back afterwards and sl...

Charlotte J

alright... Tasha, I made it through your paper, and now understand that I know even less than i thought i did. Which in a way is good, because the first step to learning is realizing you know nothing. What is the difference between a 'tippet' and a 'flap'? In your opinion would a 'versitile layer 2...

Charlotte J

The vendors I have listed on here are generally reliable, and can be generally trusted for dating, etc. Ooh la la. RLY? (C'mon, I had to do it.) Hence my liberal use of the word "generally". It's not like I posted Museum Replicas... (In other words, you can find some shoes and belts but I...

Charlotte J

try these links both dress construction and really good sleeve construction m more dress construction www.cottesimple.com Maddalena Hey, thanks for the shout out! I also have some links to where one might find appropriate shoes and accessories for this kind of garment: m The vendors I have listed o...

Charlotte J

That sort of jupon (jupon it is), likely laced up the sides - I think there may be artistic evidence for this - it would possibly have a seperate peplum, and the cut of the front and back would be 'hour glassed', to ensuree the fashionable snug cover. There's at least one example of the side lacing...

Charlotte J

Both. And to extend on Tracy's comment about extra seams... When you start tightening the garment on the body, you'll start getting certain wrinkles. It's probably too late to repattern this one, but you'll probably get a wrinkle right above the butt. Believe it or not, fabric will *tell* you where ...

Charlotte J

Pardon typos - I've had two beera and I'm a lightweight. Gotta make it tigher. If you are hanging your armour from your shoulders, it's gonna hurt. You want this stuff as tight across the hips/waist area as you can make it. Think about it as a weight belt. Also think of it as a body shaping garment....

Charlotte J

One reason La Belle chose 1382 is that nothing was really going on. (Well, there was plenty, but it wasn't a big battle year.) When you have a group of 10-20 people, you're not going to be able to recreate Crecy, you are looking at more daily life stuff to represent. And naturally, *stuff* is a big ...

Charlotte J

The 6 board chest is a great storage/seating option: Colapsable plywood chairs are not period, but personally I think they are no worse than director's chairs and a damn site better than tube chairs: Agreed with the former. Beg to differ on the latter. To get a plywood chair like that, somebody has...

Charlotte J

Nah. Real men get a tonsure.

Charlotte J

Tasha McG wrote:I have a) an appointment to get a new fitting with a friend and b) some awesome new fabric. Inching closer to actually DOING something.

Good for you! Y'know, for all of the fittings I've done, I haven't actually BEEN fitted since 2003. That might be why my stuff fits weirdly...

Charlotte J

Yeah, baby steps! I cut out several G63s for the boys a week or so ago. Another evening I sewed the body pieces together. Then I bought loud obnoxious fabric and sewed up little sarongs for my son's upcoming fourth birthday luau party (he wanted a volcano cake). Oh, and I've been sewing sleeves for ...

Charlotte J

It's also a mainstream pop-media article, so the data in it is going to be really simplified. Not that I think the journalist knows anything on the topic, but even if she did, she'd have to tell the public a story in a way they can understand... True, 'dat. I guess what I'm wondering if it's the jo...

Charlotte J

Interesting. The book I'm having made has an excerpt from Chaucer, a home remedy for making more milk, a prayer, and a few other poems and such. Not nearly so big as that, but it sounds relatively similar. But a Wilfrid Laurier University professor has just discovered an English book from 1457 that ...

Charlotte J

They're lovely!

But it opens up the question of whether or not anybody would like a LiveJournal badge...

Charlotte J

White Wolf and Phoenix are local to me, and sell at Pennsic and local LH and SCA events. I recommend their wares, and use them in clothing that I use both for La Belle Compagnie and Lord Grey's Retinue. They do work in cotton, linen, wool, and silk, so you can get a cheap cotton band to put on figh...

Charlotte J

I'll have to play devil's advocate here... Women dressing as men in LH If you mean "living history" as the activity of interpreting history the public, I have to say that a woman dressing as a man is, quite frankly, dishonest. Living history folks have enough trouble trying to get people ...

Charlotte J

Vladimir wrote:Tune up?
Needle size?
Fabric weight?
Material type?
Thread type?
Loose bobbins?
$75 bucks to have someone look at my machine?

AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!

My friends wonder why I HATE sewing.

All good suggestions. Or, take it to a local sewing circle, and have somebody else try it out?

Charlotte J

Alternative question - do you really *need* trim? Probably not, but I taught myself to sew in January and my skills aren't great, so trim allows me to hide my current shortcomings. I sew it along the edge of where my facing is, so as to clean the edge and prevent visible fraying. I've tried just fo...

Charlotte J

Alternative question - do you really *need* trim?

Charlotte J

I usually end up with stitches that looks great on one side and looks like an orgy of octopi on the other side. Tension all the way up, same thing, all the way down, same thing, in the middle, same thing. So, there's this thing called a presser foot... Really though, whenever I get that problem, it...

Re: cotehardie

Re: cotehardie