An explosion of ecstasy.

A very happy birthday wish to kass_rants You totally rock!!!

The storm, which had nasty potential, has died a-borning. Thankfully.

Now I can get on with business. :)

And the hits just keep on coming.

Why is it that my KWebmin to do list keeps getting longer instead of shorter?

*sigh* Oh well... to the Grindstone, Robin!! ;)

Q. What's more difficult than herding cats?

A.
     1. herding ferrets
     2. getting all the webministers to send in the proper paperwork
     3. getting same webministers to file their reports

Ok, numbers 2 & 3 don't apply to *ALL* the webministers, but to a depressing majority of them. This office is no longer playing "fast and loose" with the rules or required forms and reports. Anyone who maintains an "officially recognized website" in this kingdom will have to follow all the same rules and regs as any other officer.

I'm so gonna be not popular. Oh well, it's a good thing that my sense of well-being doesn't depend on what other people think of me anymore. *big wolfish grin - showing lots of teeth*

Home now from our Barony's Baronial Championships where I became the new Arts & Sciences Champion and my lord husband, Eidiard became the new heavy weapons champion. Torquil, another member in our household, became the new Rapier Champion.

Tired. More later.

*chuckle* Guess I should make some time to actually read some of the books I have collected for my research. Now that I've gotten *most* of the sheep research done, I guess it's time to start focusing o some of the other aspects of my project. ;) :)

This actually started out as a comment on my own posting  "A comment got me to thinking..." when I decided it needed to be its own post.

Regarding the whole "shaped facing" issue, I starting thinking about how would I handle doing the neckline (of perhaps my next gown) in a more period manner. Regardless of whether or not I found evidence for a silk band used as a facing.

The shaped facing I used on the current dress/gown (I still don't know what to call it) is admittedly, a modern convenience. By having a pattern for the keyhole neckline, cutting it out and sewing it in place before cutting out the neck and keyhole, it makes it much easier for a modern sewer/seamstress to get a nice, neat looking neckline. I have to admit that I haven't read much in Hald's book - either for necklines or neckline facings, but I have to wonder if in the 4th-7th centuries whether they actually 'faced' the necklines or not. One would imagine they did, simply to help the garment retain its shape.

Supposing I did find evidence of actual neckline facings, how would I deal with it? I think, what I would have to do - which would most likely be non-period, would be to trace out the neckline (probably from the pattern I have created) then, take a strip of fabric (wool?, silk?) and then just start sewing it down along the lines, much like I did for the shaped facing. Mitering corners is easy enough, and if I didn't want a lot of bulk, I could cut the excess from the mitering and turn under the edges of that. Doubt it would be period, though. Hmmm, something to think about.

eithni ? Do you have any ideas on this? mightyjesse ?

One of my commenters asked to see the wrong side of my keyhole neckline. So, here it is.

One of the things you can't really see in the photos is that I cut the facing at cross-grain to the main body of the gown. I'm not sure I really had a reason for it, other than it seemed like a good idea at the time.

This second picture is a little bit blurry, and for that I apologize. Turns out, the one panel I didn't tack down is the one used for the close-up. Go figure. :/

Anyway, the fabric was washed and dried in a commercial laundromat the same way I wash and dry my dark clothing (cold water and low temp on dryer). This fulled the cloth just a bit. For tacking down parts of the facing, I used wool thread pulled from the body of the gown. This way, the tacks would be virtually invisible on the right side of the garment.

I used a backstitch for attaching the facing to the body of the gown. From Kass McGann's "Sewing Techniques of the Medieval Period" sewing guide. After looking through Hald's section on sewing in her "Ancient Danish Textiles" (page 280-ish), I realized that the backstitch may not be period correct for the 7th century. But I wanted something that would be able to take some of the stress I know I'll be putting this thing under (every time I put it on and take it off). Heck, using a lavender/purple linen thread is most likely not period, but I wanted to be able to see the stitches and it contrasts so nicely with the darker blue/green wool.

So there you have it. If I work on this diligently, I may have it done by our Baronial Championships at Border Quest 7 on 26 September. If not, I'll still probably enter it as a "work in progress" for the A&S Championship. *grin*