Day 6 - 100 Days of A&S - Cartridge Pleating a Renaissance Skirt

Today I spent my time setting cartridge pleats. I made bigger pleats than normal, setting them at about 1cm apart. (Sometimes I do 0.5cm.) I cheated and drew the pleats up with a single thread of crochet cotton because I wanted the job to go faster. The 'proper' way to do it is to use 2 parallel rows of very strong cord/thread, and draw your pleats up. The big risk with the single crochet cotton is that it will shred and break and you will have to start all over again. Luckily, that didn't happen to me today.

Chalking out the 1cm markings

Adding the crochet cotton 'draw thread' (the smaller white thread is a tacking stitch to secure the top hem of the skirt panel during pleating and not related to the cartridge pleating process.)

Pleats ready for adjustment

The skirt panel ready to sew to the bodice. I divide my skirt into quarters and divide my bodice into quarters. Then I tack the points together and adjust the pleats evenly in each quarter section. It makes the job much easier and results in nice even pleat adjustment.

A&S 100 Challenge - Day 5 - Eyelets

Today I am tackling eyelets on an unfinished front-lacing gown. I struggle with eyelets because I have a lot of pain in my hands and fingers. I tend to put buttonholes off because they hurt so much - so I always have plenty to do.

Why does only the last eyelet ever turn out the way you want it?!

A&S 100 Challenge - Day 3 (Flat felling seams on body linens)

Flat felling seams today. My hands are protesting yesterday's fingerloop braiding experiment, so I'm keeping it simple!

This is one out of a pile of chemises/smocks waiting to be hemmed and made up.

A&S 100 Challenge - Day 2 (Finger Loop Braiding)

Today's challenge was to attempt fingerloop braiding for the first time.
It was interesting; I understand the process and the terminology much better now. I don't think my stiff, sore fingers are dexterous enough to ever be comfortable doing fingerlooping, but I will keep practicing until I can get the tension right on a simple braid.

SCA A&S 100 Challenge - Day 1

Some SCA friends have proposed an A&S Challenge in the style of the armoured combatant Century Drill Challenge (100 blows for 100 days). The aim is to work on A&S projects for (at least ten minutes a day) for 100 days.

The point of the challenge is to build habit and consistency, reduce the number of Unfinished Objects (UFOs) we all have, and (hopefully,) generate enthusiasm.

I have such a large pile of ongoing projects at hand at any given time that it is unusual for me to go a day without doing ten minutes of A&S work. I am hoping that the Challenge will help me to keep better records of what I am doing and blog more often. I prefer to blog items when they are finally complete because it all seems a little disjointed - especially at the beginning of a project and because I jump from unfinished project to unfinished project. But maybe getting into the habit of blogging as an ongoing process will mean more things get blogged.

Today I worked on some split stitch Championship patches for friends in my SCA group. I got two washed and blocked. They just need backing. Another two are still in the hoop.