Mouse Pouch

In my SCA Kingdom, admission to the Mouse Guard is given by the Crown in recognition of the contribution to our Kingdom by children between the ages of four and thirteen years old. Recipients are traditionally presented with a red pouch known as a 'mouse pouch'.

I found this unfinished mouse pouch in my Unfinished Object (UFO) pile, just lacking eyelets and ties. So I finished it off, and presented it to His Majesty to be presented to a new member of the Guard sometime in the future.

I'm pleased to have another UFO completed, and relatively happy with how the pouch turned out (although I would thread the ties differently next time).

Khaki Tie-On Sleeves in the Italian Style

 Another pair of sleeves finished!

These are made out of a cotton fabric remnant that I found in an op (thrift) shop.

They are constructed in the same way as all the others; the lining and fashion fabrics were cut out using my favourite sleeve pattern and edged with zigzag stitch. The seams were sewn on machine with straight stitch and opened out and stitched down. Then the fashion fabric and lining were sewn together at the sleeve head (wrong sides out), curves clipped and then turned right way out. The top of the sleeve was top stitched by hand to stop the lining rolling out. The wrist hem was sewn by hand and the lining whipped into place. Eyelets were worked by hand at the top of the sleeve and an 'L' was sewn into the left sleeve to make lacing the sleeves on in a hurry easier.

Red Tie-On Sleeves in the Italian Style

I finished another pair of sleeves this week. The majority of the sewing had been completed and it was just -you guessed it - eyelets needing to be done. On a positive note; I am getting faster at eyelets now, and hating them slightly less. (Good thing too, as no doubt have hundreds in my future!)

These sleeves were constructed in the same way as the others listed previously. I'm not sure what the fabric content is but they certainly have some metallic threads in them. They have a bit of a shine as the light moves over them. They are not a bright red, but are brighter in real life than the brown-red shade that they look like in the final pictures.

Whip stitching the lining wrist hem into place.

My trusty 'helper'

Mending and Adjustments

 Hello friends! I hope this new year is finding you safe and well. 

I haven't posted in a while because my illness(es) flared up over Christmas and I have had a hard time getting back to normal. I have not been doing much of craft-related interest except for mending and alterations, and working on the Perpetual Pile of Sleeves. 

As you would probably know by know, I loathe a sewing do-over, and that is exactly what mending (and associated activities) feels like, so it is very easy to put the chore off and do more exciting projects. So I have been working to whittle down the list of things waiting to be fixed or adjusted - with varying degrees of success. It does seem like a Magic Pudding type situation, but I am plodding along.

Adjusting a slip

(For those of you who are not familiar, The Magic Pudding is an Australian children's book about - you guessed it - a magic pudding that you cut a piece from and it magically restores itself. Apparently much like my sewing to-do pile.)

The characters from The Magic Pudding. (Image from: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/magic-pudding-celebrating-100-years)

The Perpetual Pile of Sleeves is starting to look more manageable, as I have just kept at it; a little bit every day. 

Predictably, I have left all the eyelets til the end.

 

Tie-On Sleeves of Red and Gold WIP

I am still trying to work through my UnFinished Object pile. I pulled these sleeves out this week; they have been unfinished since 2019 and I had completely forgotten about them! What a nice surprise to find them when I was looking for interfacing for a  mundane sewing project. The fabric is lovely and vibrant (the photo doesn't really do them justice).

The sleeves have been cut out and edged and have the cotton lining with them. They just need to be hand finished, hemmed and have eyelets put in to be wearable, so that is my next project to work on.

Plodding along with UnFinished Objects

Lately, I have challenged myself to not forget the UnFinished Objects pile. Most of the UFOs are there because they involve tasks that I don't like (such as eyelets,) or because I am not excited or enthusiastic about them. So it is actually more of a challenge than it sounds. (Let's face it, many of us would rather tap into the excitement of new research and a new project than tackle the old, boring tasks.)

This week I have been working through internal sleeve treatments on this pile of sleeves. Some need to be felled, some just tacked open and flat. Nothing  too stressful, and easily done in front of the telly.

UFOs - Sleeve Pile

One of my current challenges is to go through my UnFinished Object pile and prioritise everything,  and to start working through tasks. I still have a large pile of sleeves cut out and waiting to be sewn, so this is something I will be working on over the next several months.

Plans for a Quest

I found the Noble Pilgrimage to be so helpful, so beneficial, that I have decided to set myself a personal Quest. I think that I will set the time frame at three or six months, and then review my goals and change focus to keep things fresh and interesting.


Image from: https://medievalchristianityd.wikispaces.com/Roderick+Hulin+-+Pilgrimage

One aspect that I would like to include in the new Quest is learning new skills. There are many things that I have wanted to learn for a very long time, and they always seem to fall by the wayside as more pressing projects come up. Time to change this!

Another thing that I noticed when I was trying to make my recent garb from stash was that I have a terrible habit of starting projects (especially embroidery) and putting them aside and never finishing them. One way to help stay on track with these sort of projects might be to keep lists/notes of what needs to be done and mark down starting dates and progress.

I would also like to highlight a specific area that needs to be focused on. For instance, I need new body linens as mine are all wearing out. Prior to next winter, warmer layers might need to be a focus area. I would also like to have a couple more tourney dresses.

These focus points are in addition to the things that I learned that I need to spend more time on: grace, posture, cutting out mundane and slang speech, using titles, trying harder to talk to people I don't know very well/pointy hats. These tasks will be ongoing, I think.


So, on top of all the other things that need to be done, my Quest goals will be:
* Developing New Habits
* A New Skill
* Unfinished Projects
* Focus Area  - at this time it will be "body linens"
I might add in
* Projects for Others too, because I didn't realise how much time I spend on this until I did the Pilgrimage.

I will initially set the review point at three months, although I think that will probably be too short a time to achieve what I would like to (especially given that I am sick so much in winter and that my hands don't work very well. We'll see!)