How to Count Centuries

JMW Turner's "Stonehenge" was painted in the 19th c. (1828)

An important note on how to refer to the century you are talking about correctly:

Today's date is November 3, 2012. Which means we are in the 21st century.

If someone says "14th century" they are talking about the 1300's.
 
This is an easy concept once you understand how it works:
- The 1st century began in the year 1 AD (Anno Domini) /CE (common era). It ended in

the year 100 AD/CE.
- The 2nd century began in the year 101 AD/CE and ended in the year 200 AD/CE.
- The 3rd century began in the year 201 AD/CE and ended in the year 300 AD/CE

See how that works? You take the numerical date + 1 to get the century. 

Ex: "1776"  17 + 1 = 18... therefore "the year 1776 was in the 18th c."

 

 

Quick Reference for everyone:

1st century = 1-100 AD/CE

2nd c. = 101-200 AD/CE

3rd c. = 201-300 AD/CE

4th c. = 301-400 AD/CE

5th c. = 401-500 AD/CE

6th c. = 501-600 AD/CE

7th c. = 601-700 AD

8th c. = 701-800 AD

9th c. = 801-900 AD

10th c. = 901-1000 AD

11th c. = 1001-1100 AD

12th c. =  1101-1200 AD

13th c. = 1201-1300 AD

14th c. = 1301-1400 AD

15th c. = 1401-1500 AD

16th c. = 1501-1600 AD

17th c. = 1601-1700 AD

18th c. = 1701-1800 AD/CE

19th c. = 1801-1900 CE

20th c. = 1901-2000 CE

21st c. = 2001 - present... CE

Please, please, please... label your pictures correctly and when writing about and talking about a specific time frame, either "state the exact date" or "add one to the number." 
(If only to make my life easier when using Google Image Search.)

Making More Stuff

I wanted to do some lovely, witty blog post about all the stuff I've been making lately, but that's just not going to happen this morning.
So here are some pictures with short captions.  I may have posted some of these before, if so... sorry.

Roman Brachea (Breeches) for my friend Mr. Scott.

Super-simple Roman drawers.

Padded Gambeson for my husband (this is #2, which seems to be working as it should).

1-2-3 Fight!

Italian sleeves for Lisa (I didn't make the dress)

Sleevies!

18th c. stays from scrap fabric for Sam.

1715-60 Stays

1790-1820 outfits for the Delps

1790-1815 Waistcoat

1790-1810 Tailcoat

1805-1815 Dress

1805-1820 Pelisse

The dress & waistcoat were made this spring, the tailcoat & pelisse this fall.  Odd book-ends to my Medical Adventures, which are (hopefully) over.

There were a few other things that I can't seem to locate the jpg.s
I need to have a "finishing" day for a good number of garments that are >this< close to being done, but need accessories, buttons, hooks & eyes or hems. 

Purist

With a lot of care & work & changes
you might be able to make the McCall's into something worth the material going into it.
But probably not...

Yesterday at the Hartstone gathering (SCA) Vicki P. used a great word in reference to my "stickler for historic accuracy in all things clothing" - Purist.
I love it.
I admit, I'm not a Pure Purist.  I'm totally OK with machine sewing, modern interfacing for buttonholes, synthetic trim (when necessary) and even poly/cotton thread if Needs Must... Sometimes the design of the fabric is so very perfect, but the fiber content is a bit off, and that's OK as long as fire hazards aren't a concern.  Zip-ties for boning are A-OK with me, though I do prefer cane or reed or metal.

What I'm thinking about this morning is my personal approach when asked about historic clothes.  There, I'm a purist.
I will not give you an "incorrect" answer.  I will answer you to the best of my knowledge based on historic fact, my most current research & my best educated guess backed by that information.  I will also tell you which is guess & which is fact.
In form, function & outfit; the shape must be right, the layers must be correct and the fabric must have the proper weight & drape for the garment.

You must tell me specifics of where your persona is from.  I cannot help you if the answer is "in period" and "they traveled around."  It just doesn't work for me.  No offense to you, but you just fried my neural pathways & I have no direction to go in at all.  Tell me "French, merchant class, early 1600's" and I'm on it.  I'll give you the name of their tailor & let you know what kind of sheep they used to spin the cloth from, but don't try throwing Italy at me in the same breath.  If you want a versatile garment, tell me that.  Say "I want a generic Western European gown for the 1500's" and I can toss out a few that will work.

Patterns:
If the pattern is not available from a very reputable source,  backed up by historic information (archeology, museum pieces, literary sources, etc), it has to be a very educated guess, following the proper form, for me to say "yes, go for it."  Please, present your research to me.
I won't just say "yes."  I'm not a Yes Girl.
Please, do not hand me Simplicity or McCalls, though they can be decent when cross-referenced with real research. I know a lady who makes patterns for McCalls & she is Spot On... but she's one lady who occasionally makes patterns for that company, and they hire a lot of people who are not as careful.
When you ask me, you are going to get Janet Arnold, Norah Waugh, Linda Baumgartner, and a host of other serious scholars who have backed up their patterns/research with original garments & primary sources.  You'll also get Diderot, Gersault & Le Art du Tailor.
From there we can talk about adjusting to fit an individual portrayal; within your budget - but that's where I start.  Accurate.

Good questions to ask are:
- What garments do I need to make for this portrayal?
- Will I be comfortable in this outfit?
- What weather will this outfit/garment be suitable for?
- Can/must I combine it with other garments? (Is it versatile?  Is it a one-trick pony?)
- Would my persona have worn this or am I just making it because it's nifty?  (it is totally OK to build a persona off of a costume vs. making costumes to fit a persona; however you want to do it is fine).

Fibers & Materials:
I truly believe that using natural fibers - linen, wool, silk, cotton or a combination thereof - is the best course of action.  Care is straightforward, the garment will last for years, fire hazards are reduced to a minimum, natural fibers are more comfortable, and above all it's correct.  You can wear natural fibers to any event without worrying about looking out of place.  You don't have to gaze longingly at your pretty polyester petticoat & sigh because you can't wear it to this Uber-Accurate Event that it would otherwise be lovely for.  When it gets stained you can just throw it in the dye pot & it will take the dye evenly unlike synthetic or synthetic blends.  You can even dye it with natural dyes!
Using the appropriate weight fabric is also very important.  If you can watch t-v through it, chances are it won't make a good winter coat - but it might be perfect for a gauzy cuff or floaty dress.  Cheap cotton is just not going to cut it for a structured gown, where a nice linen, wool or silk would be perfect... even a heavier weight cotton can be lovely.

Good questions to ask & answer are:
- What fabric(s) was the original garment made from and why?
- Did it have structure built inside, or is it a soft garment?
- Was it made to go over a structured garment, or is it supposed to be worn on a natural form?
- What materials/accessories am I going to need to make this garment & how many yds. will it take?

Cost:
Yes, fabric costs money.  Period.
It will cost a lot more money if you just throw "whatever" together & have to do it again later if you decide that you really do care & want to stay in the hobby.
It will cost a lot more money if you try to make the wrong fabric work by plastering $200 in trim over it when you could have just spent $40 more on the right stuff.
It will cost a boatload more if you use a crappy synthetic that shreds & blows out the first time you wash it, or a $1/yd cotton for an outer garment that should be relegated to flat-lining for quilts or making muslin mock-ups.
Personally, I think it's best to care to begin with... that way even if you decide that you don't want to continue in the hobby, you can turn a few dollars on your old garb vs. having to toss it in the Halloween Donation bin at the local Good Will - though that's not a bad idea... better than handing it off to some poor newbie when you know for a fact it's totally incorrect.

Good questions to ask are:
What is my budget for this outfit?
Where can I obtain the correct fabrics for this outfit?
What can/can't I skimp on?
What is necessary & what can be left off until later?
How will this fabric preform? (Will it be hot/cold/damp/comfortable etc.?  Will it shrink in the wash?  Will the combination of fabrics play well together?)


So basically, when you ask a clothing history geek "What should I wear?" don't be surprised if we won't compromise on honesty.
When you ask a Purist "can I use this (ghastly) polyester (modern) print?" and we say "um, no." don't get upset.
By all means, make costumes.  Costumes are cool.
Us Stitch Counters/Purists understand that not everybody cares about what we care about.  But if you ask us for help, and then say "well, I wanna do this totally farby thing anyway" don't take the ))Face/Palm(( wrong - you just asked, we just told you... we can't make you be accurate... but if you weren't planning on it, why did you ask in the first place?  Though we do want you to ask... please ask!
Just like we are going to ask about those fantastic apple tarts...


We aren't Perfect Purists, we know that.  Research continues, improvement is the goal... And I can almost guarantee we've got Pop-Tarts in our food box...

Fruit of Many Colors: Sumac Berries

staghorn sumac

Sumac berries are pretty all year long.  I love them.  You can eat them,* birds eat them... they are pretty.  Did I mention how pretty they are?  They are also a horrible weed.  But like most weeds they are quite useful if you know how to use them.
*if you aren't allergic.

Last year I collected quite a few sumac berry torches (that's how I think of them, as these big, bright red torches shining on the trees).  I dried them; planned on using them over the winter... never got to it.  "Now" was a good time, so I soaked them in water overnight & let them sit out in the sun in a big old pot. About 1/2 a peck.



On Day 2 I steeped the pot in warm(ing) water for 30 minutes, boiled for 30 minutes, mashing the lovely things the whole time.... OK, once in a while... at least every 10 minutes or so... until they turned kinda brownish.

Boiling sumac berries smelled soooooo goood!

Because of the size of the pot, rather than pouring out the mash, I dipped out the liquid & strained the berries out of that.

2 paper towels as final strainer

The recipe I was reading (YES, a Recipe!!!) gave a few different options for these berries. 
http://vikland.tripod.com/sumac.html 

The first batches were alum mordant on finished yarn, with various soak times & after-mordants like vinegar & ammonia.  I think you can read what the tags say (sorry it's tipped - I have no idea how to fix that on this format).  They ranged from a very nice flax color to golden yellow.

Since I got so much of it, I figured I'd do a few different things.  I liked the idea of a heathered gray, and the best way to get that is to dye the fleece and spin after. 

To get gray from sumac berries, you need to soak the wool in an iron after-bath.  To get that, you can either add ferric to the water or keep a plastic canister of rusting nails & just pour out the water once in a while... since I had neither, but plenty of Stuff That's Rusty, I went out & found a bit of junk that would fit in the pot.  Joys of farm-life.

adding rusty iron to water

Once I got the liquid free of pretty berries, I wetted some clean fleece in a mesh bag and dunked it in the pot.  (Now a much smaller pot). 
Boiled for 30 40 minutes and then transferred to the Iron pot.

sumac berry & iron dyed fleece

I've carded up a bit of it, but haven't started spinning it yet.  I'd like to get the whole chunk in rolags before I spin it.  I am losing most of the light undercoat & very dark tips, which is fine.

Will This Thing Ever Dye? Comfrey

Well, yes, it will... but not "sage green" as the unfounded & lacking specific recipes chart said.
Actually, comfrey will make a lovely sage green, I just haven't figured out how.  I know this because I've seen it done many times on Google Image Search.  Just not by me.  By the time I find a real recipe the plants will be dead for the winter & I'll have to wait till next year.

Comfrey.  Useful. Horrible. Weed.

Anyway, Comfrey.  Multitude of uses, not least of which is Taking Over Your Flower Bed With Roots More Than Three Feet Deep.  No, really.  More than three feet.  I know this because that was the depth of the hole I dug 2 years ago trying to get rid of the nasty buggers.  Didn't work.  Filled the hole in.  Comfrey grew back.

Ooh, pretty green!  How promising...

So, in an attempt, perhaps a misguided one, to get rid of this horrid plant of many uses, I decided to chop some leaves off & cut them up into itty-bitty pieces courtesy of kitchen scissors & a blender; then toss all that green gook into a pot & boil me up some dye!  Surely this will produce a lovely soft sage green as all of the internet claims...

I can only tell you that I filled the pot, not how much things weighed.  Actually, I filled the pot twice, the second time after the first bit boiled down to an incredibly icky spinach looking thing that I don't want to contemplate eating.  So, two sauce pans of chopped green gloppy stuff to make a small dyebath.  (Surely I'll get a lovely sage green)... strained out several times through a paper towel & squeezed for any residual pigment...

Comfrey dye soup?  No thank you.

Into the pot goes the yarn!  (alum mordant)
After all that straining & draining we still have green stuff  "stuck in our teeth."  Yuck. (don't eat it).
Um... yarn's lookin' a bit yellow... OK, maybe it'll turn green later.
30 minute simmer as per (OMG there were directions!.. kinda)...
and...

Not-green comfrey dyed yarn

It's still yellow.  No, it's not green.  It's yellow.  Like a Bad Blonde Wig yellow.  OK, maybe it's not that bad.  Maybe I have to change the ph.  Maybe vinegar will work?  At least a dunk in something will help get all that horrid VM (vegetable matter) out of my nice clean wool!  Vinegar it is...

Not noodle soup, really.

Um... no green.  The green literally leached out into the vinegar leaving me with even MORE yellow.  Wasn't happy about that at the time. (Note to Self: vinegar makes things lighter - sometimes).

Best Pasta Impression of the Year

But after about 20 minutes of rinsing the stuff in cold water the comfrey bits finally let go of my poor yarn (mostly) and I got a nice pale yellow that seems rather stable.  Perhaps my dismay came from the pasta impression; "pasta = pain" for me.

Not-pasta yellow.

It's really not bad... it still looks a bit like spaghetti to me, but it is a nice pretty light yellow.  I'm not dissatisfied.  It just wasn't the sage green I was expecting.  I think next time I'll skip the mordant & see what happens.

Comfrey Yellow Dye Recipe:
1 saucepan of pureed comfrey (put it in a mesh bag, ok?) boiled/simmered for 1 hour.
Strain.  [Compost goop... or incinerate it in a Biohazard bag - that stuff will grow anywhere!]
1 skein of alum mordant wool yarn.
30 min. simmer.
Water/vinegar 4:1 rinse bath after-mordant
lots & lots of cold water to get the icky green bits out.
Spin wool out (Salad Spinner!), hang or lay to dry.

Dye! Dye! With Ragweed.

Ragweed yarn in ammonia.  Pretty.

Party Of One?  I had a good time anyway, and I didn't have to share my dyestuffs - which is both good and bad.  Good because I got to dye more of my stuff.  Bad because it's always fun to share with friends.  Ah well, "stuff" happens (like fall colds, getting called into work, and over-booking)... I really don't smell that bad... really.


I've been collecting dyestuffs all last year & this summer, and I've been spinning like mad to get enough yarn to dye up.  At 1/2 lb. I decided to cave in and mordant a bunch of yarn in alum, and cook up the weeds!
I use a "divide by 4" equation to figure out how much mordant to fiber I need. 

To make it easy:
1 lb. of wool = 16 oz.
16 divided by 4 = 4 oz. alum
2 tbsp = 1 oz. alum
4 x 2 = 8 tbsp alum into mordant water per lb. of fiber.
(or something like that)

In no particular order... 

In this case, it's literally a weed: Ragweed.

We cut the weeds in early summer (June), which was a little late to be doing that for a "young plant" but I swear they didn't grow until then!  Supposedly the color they give you is "olive green"... um, yeah... but with no info on what mordants, what fibers, hot/cold, how long, after-mordants, etc. it was impossible to tell how the claim of "olive green" came about.  Anyway, I didn't get olive green, I got golden yellow, which is quite lovely - as you can see.

Itch.  Itch.  Itch.

I ended up drying the ragweed in my solar dehydrator, because despite having 180 acres to roam about on, much of it farm fields; I couldn't for the life of me find more than a few plants of this over-abundant weed anywhere but right on the doorstep.  So it's dried, labeled & somehow got a lock of wool stuck in with it.

Itchy bag

It smelled soooooo good.

I was smart enough to wrap this batch of dyestuffs up in gauze (unlike the comfrey, which I'm still picking out of the yarn), so when I pulled the bag out of the "tea" there was very little straining that had to be done.  One paper towel in a colander took care of the escapees.
1 hr. of boiling extracted a good amount of dyestuffs, and I set the rest aside to see what I would get, (I later boiled it a 2nd time with fresh water for another hour & combined all that for another batch that is only a little weaker than the first - it's in a milk jug, carefully labeled, right now).  I can tell you that the kitchen smelled like the best tea you've ever tasted.  It was amazing.  No, I didn't taste it.

yarn simmering in ragweed dye

In went my trial hank of wool yarn, which I simmered for 1 hour then let it sit overnight because there wasn't much initial color change.  GOOD decision.

overnight color

When I pulled it out, it was a rather... eeh...ok-sorta-yellow-ish color.  Much better than it was the night before anyway.

stinky after-mordant

But it just smelled like it needed to go into ammonia, or something like that.  (I was still hoping for a cool green at this point).

Ragweed dyed yarn - wet.  It got more golden as it dried.

What I got was this totally awesome yellow-gold!  Spiffy. 
It's more gold/orange now as it dries.

So, in short, here's the Ragweed Recipe:
1 gal. bag dried ragweed in gauze bag, simmer/boil 1 hr.
Remove bag & strain.
Add hank of alum-mordant yarn.
Boil/simmer 1 hr.  Let cool & sit overnight.
Remove & drain yarn.
After-mordant in ammonia & cold water mixture.  Dunk a few times.
Rinse in cold water.
Spin out & hang or lay to dry.

1829-33 Dress

1829-33 Dress with Pink Ruffle of Awesomeness

 Post-surgery & post-mini-stroke, I decided to get back to "work" as soon as I could to troubleshoot the areas I'd have difficulty with.  Math was a big one.  Reading comprehension, balance, coordination & speech were all effected.  I've had to learn to slow down, in speech, typing, thought, action & self-expectations.  Full Steam Ahead isn't working because -- no steam.  Everything has gotten better, but a few areas still need a lot of work (reading comprehension - I can write, but reading directions is a real pain - literally.  Memory - I just plain forget to do things, or have obvious gaps that I know happened but can't recall at all.  Some physical things like precision hand work & turning around & stepping to the side, I lose my balance or get dizzy... and my emotions are about on par with a 4 yr. old, which is better than the 2 yr. old I was a few weeks ago... sometimes I still can't see things, or rather, my eyes work fine, but I don't understand what I'm looking at)...
But oh how far we've come!

Perhaps I should call this my Rehabilitation Dress as it presented me with numerous problem solving issues and a multitude of mistakes that required constant change of plans, rip-out, re-do, calm-down, it's OK.  The final price will never reflect the number of hours that went into this, and I'm a bit "eeh" on the finished product, but it was good for me.  It will fit a human being & she will look lovely in it - which is what matters.

This dress re-taught me my multiplication tables, addition & subtraction.  The day I was able to divide by 3 in my head was pure triumph.  Reminding myself how to do something as simple as gathering vs. pleating was a joy, because I'd forgotten how.  I wrote out directions for myself to follow.  I re-read them to see if I understood... I re-adjusted plans based on the yardage available & re-purposed several things to make the dress better than the original plan would have been.

There are some problems with it, for example: the neckline & sleeves do not fit in with the modes of the time.  While both are correct, I'm not sure a high neckline was ever paired with short sleeves.  I may cut it down at a later date if I can't find an example of this configuration.  The roller printed stripe/floral was almost always paired with long sleeves.  The fact that I was 2 yds short of the fabric I needed... well, sometimes these things happen & if I hadn't already cut it, trusting that the yardage on the tag was there, I'd have chosen different fabric.

Construction process:

Piped & pleated fronts

I'm going to skip over the front pleats & piping for now, only because explaining how I did it is making me dizzy.  I promise I'll fill in later... but I will say that if I ever do this again, I'll cut them individually & stitch them on that way - it's more fabric conservative & less likely to be the wrong direction.

Piping pinned on Back & Side Backs

Stitch the piping on the back seams (note: the CB seam should have been on the fold, not a seam - I got my wires crossed when cutting & didn't have enough fabric for a re-do).  This is not incorrect, it's just not the way I wanted this particular dress.

Bodice with way-small armholes

The bodice stitched together.  The center front bottom is raw here because that gets turned up & hand-stitched so that the pleats maintain their form.  In the future, I'd do this a bit differently, using the individual pleats, vs. a big piece of fabric.  One very tricky thing about this pattern is that the "normal" size of armholes doesn't apply.  The armhole is actually down on the arm, not at the shoulder, so it seems to be way too small, but is, in fact, the right size.  (This played with my head quite a bit trying to remember that)... but it DOES work.

Sleeve with piping & cuff

I changed my mind about the sleeves three times.  The first ones I cut were pink linen, full-length & mimicked the inspiration dress quite closely.  Once I decided to go with brown piping (I was out of pink), I switched over to this tan-ish linen that matches one of the tan bits on the bodice.  I'm not unhappy with it, but I'm not Super-Yay about the change in plans.  The piping & cuff match the dress.

Bias Strip for Hem Decoration

Due to a 2 yd. fabric shortage, I couldn't have the length of skirt I wanted with the bias ruffle out of the stripe/floral.  Alas.  Cry.  Weep.  Agony.  Creativity!  So I took the scraps & cut them into stripes & flowers, stitched them together with pink linen & did a bit of quilting magic for the hem.  By doing all this fiddly stuff I got the look of the diagonal & a fussy hem that pushes the date of the dress back just a bit in style... more in line with the late 20's than the early 30's, but then museums are full of transitional elements.
So, if you want something like this, sew strips of color together, press seams & cut on the bias.  Sew bias edges together to form a straight seam (you'll have to line it up on the straight & use a ruler to determine where to sew it - this was 1"-1.5" down the first strip depending on the width of the next one).  Try it, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Decorative Hem Construction

Next was assembling the hem on the base fabric (mint green cotton - yuck) to extend the hemline to an appropriate length (10" longer than my fabric).  I used a row of brown piping, the patchwork bias strip, several rows of piping between the brown & the green, and then a Pink Ruffle of Awesomeness.  There was much changing between the regular presser foot & the zipper foot to accomplish this.  It made me rather dizzy.  For the ruffle, I evenly pinned the fabric on & then hand-gathered it as I stitched vs. using thread to gather it in.  This is more efficient on very large pieces that don't require perfectly spaced & even gathers.

The World Needs More Pink Ruffles

The finished hem in all its Pink Ruffly Awesomeness... 
(I do wish I could learn how to make these pictures turn in the direction I want them).

It still needs a belt & a corded petticoat to go under it... maybe a pelerine just for fun.

_____________________________________________________
 
[In case you are wondering why I'm going on about personal medical stuff, well, I can't separate it out from my creative process.  It's now part of who I am, and it's a struggle to deal with it - I'm finding new mental land-mines every day, and working to overcome the things I've already found.  To get myself back to being ME, I can't deny or ignore it... so, Dear Readers, I'm afraid you'll have to read about my brain damage along with the Pink Ruffles of Awesome.]