The weekend meeting was a big success. Sister has finished purchasing the necessary fabric for her first dress and I have fitted a few items for Lady Lisa. I know, I know, I promised pictures... Well, some of them are in the gallery as we speak (or rather, as you read). There are more and I will get the rest up as soon as I can, but my fingers hurt! See, it all started with this brilliant idea to make a corset for myself this year. All was going well till it came time to sew across the boning channels to secure them and then bind off the edge to finish. My sewing machine complained a lot as I was securing the boning channels so I decided if I have any prayer of making this cursed thing wearable I would have to sew the bias tape around the edges by *gasp* hand *followed by string of curses.* Now both thumbs and my right pointer finger are in agony!!! I did, however, finish the binding this eve! Huzzah!

Before my run in with the needle and thread, I did completely finish a few pieces. My lord husband's shirt was completed Friday night, Lady Lisa's chemise and skirt are trimmed and hemmed to completion, and my own chemise is done. All that is left to do on my corset are the grommets, but I've decided to let my fingers heal a few days before I go there. My dearest Lisa's strapless bodice follows the same pattern as my corset, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to back burner it fro a couple weeks as I expect there will be some hand sewing *gasp, followed by yet another expulsion of filthy language* involved in that one too.

Alright, I am too tired-and my fingers hurt (I only type with the first 3 fingers on each hand, you know, and so half of my typing fingers are injured at the moment...)- so I am off. I'll get more pictures up and some detail about what fabrics and patterns were used for what and so forth, you the point...

Well, the fabric I bought on ebay arrived this week. The beautiful blue for sister's dress turned out to be even grander than I had hoped! The price was fantastic and the shipping infinitely reasonable. The 'muted caramel gold' for mine turned out to be a taupe, but it is still very pretty... $15 for 14 yards of fabric, what else is there to say :)

The work week has been rather nightmarish, so not much sewing happened, but I'm not feeling real guilty about that because most of the items require the presence of their wearer in order to complete and I couldn't finish my corset till my ladies show up tomorrow, as one of them comes bearing the sandpaper to smooth the ends of the boning. See I wasn't lazy, I was at an impasse, not my fault *sheepish grin*. I did get up off my arse and cut the fabric for my lord's shirt last eve. The plan is to finish that tonight, then tomorrow... the shopping! The ladies and I plan to invade Fabric Warehouse in addition to the local JoAnn's and Home Depot. Yes, I said Home Depot, they carry lots of garb making essentials, they just don't know it... Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the shopping... Next up will be some fittings and related miscellany. There will be pictures taken, I swear! I have given my ladies assigned items to bring, hence the waiting for the sandpaper, one of which is a digital camera...

So, that is really all there is at this point. Over the weekend I will put up pics and describe materials/patterns/methods used in case it interests anyone besides myself... Happy Friday everyone!!!

So, here is a brief (or so it was supposed to be...) overview of items I have to make before MDRF gets underway in August. I have been granted the divine honor of clothing, not only myself, but my husband, best friend, and sister-in-law as well. And are we happy with 1 new outfit, heavens no! We must have at least 2, for us girls anyway... So 7 ensembles in the next 165 days. And are they 1 piece garments perchance? Goodness no, minimum of 3 at least... (Because the number of the counting shall be three - one, two, five, {three sir, three!} THREE!) Sorry, slipped into a little Python wormhole... But I digress. Where was I???

Oh yes the 7 medley of trappings I am to prepare for faire. For ease of remembering I have named the various sets of garb. You will notice the repeated use of 'Celtic Ensemble' because it is the outfit designed to wear on Celtic Weekend, it is really a Scottish ensemble but Celtic is shorter...

For myself I have my Celtic Ensemble (chemise, underskirt, front lacing overdress, and shoulder sash) and my 'Court' Gown- which is not really a court gown but sounded better to me than calling it 'really pretty dress' and it is by far the fanciest I will have thus far- (chemise, underskirt, overdress, full sleeves, and some form of head gear) and the underpinnings (corset and corded petticoat) That is 11 pieces for me... lets add more...

For my husband we have a Celtic Ensemble (great kilt and shirt) So 2 more pieces, 11+2=13.

For my best friend there is her Celtic Ensemble (chemise, skirt, and sleeveless bodice) and her 'Italian style' gown (underdress/smock, half bodice with attached overskirt) Ok, 6 more components (the half bodice and overskirt are really 2 separate pieces to make, I'm just joining them together) 13+6=19...

For sister we have an 'Italian style' gown of a different type (chemise and gown- the underskirt is built into the gown so it is technically one piece) and she has yet to decide on her second gown, I imagine it will be for Celtic Weekend so something like my own outfit for that, lets estimate 3 pieces) We have 5 pieces here, so 19+5=24.

Twenty-four pieces in 165 days. Two dozen in 5 months, 13 days! Ok, lets not panic... I have 2 chemises, 1 skirt and half my corset completed, that's not a bad start... I guess... Best friend, Lisa, and Sister, Steph, are coming over on Saturday to do some fittings and fabric shopping, Lisa is supposed to bring her camera so I can get some pictures up of the items I have thus far. Till then I'm off to sew... Huzzah!

I am new to this blog thing. Faire warning (*tee hee* get it FAIRE warning!), I can't spell worth a pox-marked fishwife so you'll have forgive any egregious spelling errors. I speak with the big words, just can't always spell them... So what am I doing here, oh right... I am hoping to attempt to display garb I am working on and the trials and tribulations therein. We'll see how it goes.