The Seashelly Tales

This weekend I decided to take a break from the #90daysofscrapping.   I have so many scraps of fabric and had so many projects in mind that I kind of "overloaded" myself.   When I get "overwhelmed" / "overloaded", I tend to shut down.    So, I tabled the scrapping projects and decided to work on my neglected Etsy shop. ( https://www.etsy.com/shop/SeashellysFiberArts ). I started friday with soaking 8 oz mulberry silk roving in vinegar water to get it ready for dyeing.   This will take a long long time.  By saturday morning it was ready to receive it's colors.   I added dye to my silk roving and proceeded to let that soak through.   With silk, you have to let the dye work it's way through the fibers before adding heat.   I couldn't help notice that the silk in the solution looked like pudding.... Meanwhile on saturday,  I dyed up some 12 oz of rommey wool trying to replicate a blended batt I created a couple years ago as part of my NEWT wit

Hello!       Just thought I would catch up with what's been going on during my Scrap Quest as I transition from Tax Season to Uber driving.    Craft time still remains a wee bit limited.   I do need to earn money to pay the bills and save up for my ultimate project - a tiny tudor house to go to wars and long weekend events. So, Let's get started! This: has grown into this: Hmmmm,  there may be a bag or two hiding underneath others. There isn't much left to that pile of squares/rectangles I had set aside to make drawstring bags out of.  Those that do are telling me to turn them into something else.  What?  At this time, I'm not sure.  But that pile has grown considerably smaller. Then there was this: That grew into these: The smaller ones are stuffed with barley I had saved from a leather bottle making project done as a Canton project.   The other large one used some leftover fiberfill I had found in my stash.    I still have barley for mo

Ok, let's sum up a wee bit.    Last time I showed you the large pile scraps: And the container of smaller scraps: Well, I went through the small scraps bucket and with some pattern pieces for making some small balls, weeded out suitable fabric, cut out pieces for the balls, and put the even smaller scraps into a bag.  I thought I would use those for stuffing the balls.   Thus I ended up with this: and these: Some of which became this: Which did use up every single scrap in the tiny scraps bag to stuff that with.  Which got me to thinking, woah, how am I going to stuff all the balls I have pieces cut out for?   Then I remembered the leather bottle I made (A Canton of the Towers project) and that I saved the barley that was used to stuff the leather bottle during the stretching stage, and I thought I may have some fiberfill leftover stashed in the craft room. So, I did a little digging and found the barley and the fiberfill: Whew!  At least a few

I tend to save my scrap pieces of fabric and after many projects, garb, etc.  I am seeing the scrap pile growing larger and taking over my condo.  Some are big - enough for a project.  Some are small - for piecing or just to use as stuffing.   It's about time I tamed the growing pile of scraps and the pile of remnants (1 yd or more) that are threatening to take over my life. For the next 90 days (or until I run out of scraps (yeah, right!)) I am hoping to make smallish projects to use up these scraps, remnents, trims, in an attempt to reduce the pile of useable fabric.   Smallish projects like draw string bags,  needle cases (with the wools), balls, pilgrim bags(with the larger pieces). I also have some clothes(mostly mundane) that need mending, recycling, upcycling, adjustments, which can use some of the larger pieces, remnants, trims, what not.  Whatever grabs my attention and inspires me to work on that item(s).   I am not proposing 90 items/projects in 90 days.  I don'

So, as a member of the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA), and living within the Kingdom of the East,  we have guilds.   There are a few regarding the Fiber Arts.   But, this post is about the guild, Keepers of Athena's Thimble.  The embroidery guild. I'm not so sure what pic's I have on hand immediately on my embroidery, but I'll post a few at the bottom of this post as I find them.   There are different categories of embroidery.  There are rankings.  You get a bead when you complete a rank of Competency in any one of the categories of embroidery.  You get a pearl to go with your bead when you complete the rank of Period Competency within a category.  Finally, you get a lapis lazuli bead when you achieve an Expert Rank within a category.  There is a lower rank - working knowledge - but you don't get anything for that.  When you have obtained ranking in at least four categories, you become a Journeyman.   Over the years of being in the SCA, I got involved

I live in the Canton of the Towers, within the borders of the Barony of Carolingia.    Within our group, we have a little Fiber Arts Enthusiasts group that meets one Thursday evening a month.  Led by our Lady Elena Hilton (Jeanne Clifton), who will soon be joining the Laurels this April! Starting back in May 2017, this group decided to run a series of classes on "Making a 1480's Florentine Outfit".   The first meeting was to work on the pattern for the undergown - the Gamurra.  It's a very fitted bodice, so we worked on mock pieces out of muslin, sewed them together, put in lacing strips to try them on, then made adjustments to the pattern for a  proper "fit".   The muslim didn't seem to work right for me, so I went home and remade another mock  using a stiffer fabric - coutil.  I have plenty of it around here. At another meeting, we had another fitting and I got my final adjustments for the gown.   Since I had tons of purple linen leftover from the

I didn't have time to make a fancy headpiece during the Golden Seamstress Challenge last April (4/08/2017). I originally planned to make a gabled hood, similar to this .   But, after getting a copy of "The Tudor Tailor" and "Patterns of Fashion 3",  I decided on the French Hood instead - similar to this. I had plenty of the Embroidered Italian Silk I used for the outer gown on my Tudor Outfit, so, doing some research on what materials were needed from "The Tudor Tailor", compared to what I had on hand, made some decisions, then off I started.  Before long I had something that looked like this: I had plenty of pearls leftover from the GS Challenge, and I had some smaller pearls as well in stock, and I also had some round amethyst beads from a watch band that broke ages ago. (I tend to save beads from things in case I need them for a project in the future.)    Since the undergown, or Kirtle, is purple, I had no qualms about usi

Herein I'm going to share what photos I have of this event.  Suffice to say, we only had 18 hours (from 10pm on Friday until 4pm Saturday) to complete an entire  outfit from the "skin out" - a chemise/smock, kirtle, overgown, and a "forepane" and there were only 3 people including myself on the team.  So, there wasn't much time to take photos during the event. My team consisted of:  Carrie Miduri, Rebecca Alty, and myself.  I did have some patterning sizing help from Carly Swarlemange Hjemdahl Monsen beforehand. Here we are, with all the fabrics set out ready to go before the starting time.  Just waiting for the rest of my team to show up.  The farthingdale was allowed to be made prior to the event, so that is why you see it on the dressmakers' dummy I had brought to help with some fitting since I can't always be available. You know,  I just realized this is the only photo I managed to take of my team members - and it's not the greatest