Been too Long...so I made more garb.

Wow, Its been FAR too long since I updated. My excuse is the hubby and I have been busy moving into a house for the last..oh...3 months it seems. We bought a nice fixer upper so a good chunk of my sewing time was taken up with painting and installing floors. But now things have finally settled and I managed to get myself back on the sewing train! The best part is now I have a studio space to work in instead of sewing in the bedroom!

So I've been wanting to work on a viking apron for a long time now. I was a bit reluctant at first mostly because I'm a big busted gal and I was afraid the whole thing would make me look pregnant. Then I realized that most women I know who wear this style ARE big busted gals and I was being stupid.
My LJ friend sabre0link sent me some excellent links on viking garb for both men and women (if you're interested in seeing them, let me know! I'll post them up here!). They were a HUGE help and I found any different ways to put an apron together.

Click to Enlarge these pics.

In the end, I went with the very simple two rectangles and two gores on the side look. Above is the finished product. I originally had the gores too high, where my bust line ended, and the apron looked really sloppy, not to mention it looked more like a MuMu than anything else. So I hacked it apart and lowered the gores. I think the result is much nicer. The wool came from a thrift store buy years and years ago. The brooches I bought...what can I say, I love the shiny. The festoons I made myself from some lamp beads and other finds I had in my stash. I think I'll have to strengthen my knots on the festoons though. I don't really trust my knot tying skills...hence why I married an ex sailor.
Overall, I'm really happy with it. I will be wearing my orange kirtle I bought a few wars back under the apron. Its not not pictured since I was being ADD and working on two garments at once on my dress form.

And yes, I am working on yet ANOTHER italian Ren!

Click to Enlarge.

Once again, I'm feeling the need to experiment. I ended up losing my pattern from my first Italian Ren during the move. So I've had to start from scratch. So far its not too bad. I've been wanting to make an Italian Ren out of washable material. Both the lining and the outter fabric is cotton. The pearls are only on there because I was futzing around. I'm not completely sold on them yet. I still need to buy buttons or something to use for the side closures. Then the skirt will go on. For this one I'm hoping to make some detachable sleeves that actually WORK. I'm considering a contrasting color but I'm not sure if I want to go blue. I've been going a little crazy in the orange and blue department.

ALSO, I went fabric shopping with some gal pals un in the LA fashion district recently and picked up some shinies!

Fabric Goodness!
Okay, that first red fabric was from a few trips back. That will be turning into a doublet for the hubby. The teal silk is for me. I want to make another Italian Ren out of it but something a bit more ornate than I usually do. Currently reseaching that. The black was bought for a good friend who has been working hard helping us get the house in order. So he'll be getting a doublet as well.

And now that I'm more or less unpacked I finally found my period hat making book. So hopefully I can make a few coifs and perhaps a french hood. I've been really eager to try my hand at a french hood.

I'm really happy to get back to sewing again, I missed it! Hopefully I'll have some more pictures of new experiments as they come.