radishes and not the 30 day radishes I'd presumed them to be. I'm guessing because of the wet, grey weather, some snow, they never seemed to really start to grow. I did finally get to harvest these few after only 2.5 months in the ground. They tasted fine, but were more than a tad woody in texture. Not really worth eating.
The kirtle is done! Totally finished, except that I can't find a lace to match the dress. Right now I've a dark blue one in there, taken from another dress. I think I might have a yellow lace someplace as well. Any opinions as to which one would look better? The apron took much longer to make than I'd anticipated. That was mainly because there was a lot of handsewing on it. The hemming and the sewing together of the straps, since I really didn't feel like trying to turn a tube on each end of the middle bit. Of course I ended up doing teeny stitches as they looked "right". Do you know that teeny, tiny stitches take forever to do?
I also finished a n
ew coif and flat cap. I looked everywhere and couldn't figure out where I'd packed the old ones. I chose to do a different style this time and it seems to look fine, fitting into the Henrican 1530-40's time period. Hubby thinks it looks funny to put the flat cap on top of the coif, but all the illustrations I could find suggest that they were worn that way. Thankfully though, I did also find the two partlets my girlfriend gave me for a gift
a couple of Christmas' ago. They are awesome and so pretty . I get my choice of colours depending on my whim in the morning. I also found my old ratty sleeves. If I have time I'll make a new set, but I'm not counting on it. Right now I'm trying to finish up a new chemise, which I think is more important. I'm pretty happy that I'm back being excited about late period costuming. It's been a while with projects and materials languishing in boxes and bins. Luckily I seem to be on a roll now. Next stop - the gold and yellow brocade for a new court gown. Even better is the fact that the brocade was $3 a metre and the lining - a light blue taffeta was only $1 a metre. Score on both accounts! I finished spinning up some dark brown Coopworth for the embroidery wool project. The obligatory coin for size reference. These are two plies. The yellow skeins are dry and look fine. I do wond
er what was going through my itty bitty brain that day when I tossed the skeins into the pot. I need 4 skeins of yellow - two for yellow and two for green. I not only left no white un-mordanted but I tossed in the skeins to be dyed blue in the yellow pot as well. Now I need to spin up 4 more skeins and of course I'm out of that particular wool roving. Some days...I am finding that it takes much longer to spin a tightly twisted fine yarn that something even just a little fatter and fluffier. This will be good yarn though. Somedays though you just feel a bit daunted by the fact that you've been spinning wool for an hour and you have to really check the bobbin carefully to see what sort of progress you've made. On the other hand, I don't need to actually fill a bobbin to get the amount of yardage that I need.
I think your kirtle? would look good with the dark blue lace :)
ReplyDeletePlease give those radishes to the little critters outside if you were going to get rid of them.
Kirtle.. in this case a 16th century dress worn either on it's own or under one of the fancy gowns.
ReplyDeleteI put the radishes in the compost. I really don't want to feed the wandering critters. We have the neighbours' two dogs that visit regularly. There is a cat as well who stalks the house and garden area. There are racoons, skunks(I've smelled them) and that dark canine like creature. Hubby has seen him as well in the wee hours and we think it's probably a coyote. I've seen one chipmunk and that was in the compost pile, so he can feed himself there. The only thing not likely to be in my yard, only due to the location, are bunnies and fencing, are deer. The others I really don't want close to my house.
Compost I need though.
Gosh, you've been busy.
ReplyDeleteInteresting about the radishes, I'm having trouble with mine too; small, hot, and woody. I think you're right about the weather.
For the kirtle, could you dye some lace to get the color you want? I love these old designs and wish I could dress like that all the time. I still lug around my colonial outfit for historical spinning demonstrations, even though I haven't demonstrated for years.