Umbrella Cover

I have this sun umbrella that I have started to use at events.  See, I'm a vampire, I flame up in the sun.  I'm very sun sensitive and really hate sunburns.  Well, it's your typical sun umbrella, large and colorful.  This isn't really a problem, except at Renaissance Faires and SCA events.

Parasols are great, but I use a walker most of the time and this means I need both of my hands.  What I do is rope the umbrella base onto my walker and insert the umbrella.  I wanted to make a cover for it because it is a bit jarring to see the colorful, thoroughly modern umbrella at an SCA event.  I didn't, however, really want to spend a lot of time with it.

I took yellow twin sheet that I got at a thrift store and about five and a half yards of emerald green fringe and made it into a cover.  I cut a hole in the top to fit the top of the umbrella and overstitched around the hole.  I trimmed the sheet to a rough circle by draping it over the umbrella.    I had to fill a bit of it with a piece I trimmed off another place.  I hemmed the circle.

Then came adding the trim.  Four and a half hours of hand sewing  and I realized I'm short trim by about a yard.  Crap.  Well there is a part of the cover without fringe.  If I run into the same fringe again I'll get it and fill in.  It's annoying because I thought I had it measured much better than that.  Here it is:

Not my best work, but not bad.

Roman Garb - part 3

...and a correction on terms.  I goofed.  The over dress is called a Stola, the large cover-up is called the Palla.  I guess Stola just reminded me of stole which is another name for a fur wrap.

So, I finished the second Stola and made the Palla.  I was going to do it in the House Vaganza colors, but I didn't have enough purple wool (did have enough leopard print fake fur) so I went scrounging through my fabric bins and found a great length of orange knit that I'm not planning on using for anything else.

For the Stola today I used the dusty blue cotton lawn.  I made it the same way I made the other ones, except that I only had to sew one side up, as I had 62 inch material.  I just slit down the fold for the arm opening.  I could still make the arm holes larger.  Something to think about for the next one.

Here it is with the white on white gauze tunica.

For the Palla, I just used the length of fabric as is, with the minor hemming of the ends.  It will be warm enough for a summer evening wrap up and can double as a blanket if I need an extra one.

Here is the full regalia

Have to work on my wrapping technique.

So there you have it.  Three days of nice hot weather garb and a wrap if it gets colder.  I also have a big, floppy straw hat because, well, I flame up in the sun.

Tomorrow I'm making the cover for my sun umbrella.

Hot Weather Garb - Part 2

The second set of Hot Weather Garb is done.  It is an off white cotton lawn Tunica and a lavender cotton gauze Pella.  Here it is complete

Like the Bog Dress you are pretty much sewing two rectangles together.  The Tunica (under tunic) front rectangle is about four inches wider than the back, that is what gives you the drape in the front of the neck.  This one I made with openings along the upper arm.  I machine sewed the seams so I ended up hand sewing the openings.  Measure down enough for your arm openings then seam the two sides together.  Hem the bottom, sew up the neck line and arm openings and you are done.  A Tunica in just under an hour.

The Pella is basically the same.  I just made the neck opening much larger so it vee'd down more.  I also made the arm openings larger, but in the next one I will make them even larger.  The cotton gauze wasn't as wide as the cotton lawn, so it is a bit shorter.  Still not my favorite silhouette but it is extremely comfortable and very light weight.  A whole weekend's worth of clothing like this will pack down to less than an inch high.  I love complete sets of garb that take about an hour and a half from cut to trying on.

I did complete the second Tunica of the white on white check cotton gauze.  I just sewed up the top seam on this one.  I also cheated and used the selvage edge at the sides so I didn't have to stitch the arm openings to neaten them up.  Hemming was quick.  It took me about 45 minutes to sew this one up.

Tomorrow I will make the Pella of dusty blue cotton lawn and post pictures.  I also want to make a Stola (large shawl) out of some left over purple dyed wool and fake leopard print for a Vaganza Stola.  Oh and a sun umbrella cover from a yellow twin sheet with emerald green fringe.  Busy, Busy, Busy.

Hot Weather Garb

...or "I will not melt in the heat at GNEW this year"

Last year at GNEW, even though my Bliaunts are cotton/linen blend, I absolutely melted.  It was so hot that I finally ended up in just my chemise on Sunday.  So, and yes Jenn and Kate I can hear you snickering behind your hands, I decided this year that I was making some Hot Weather garb.  I'm making a Bog dress and two sets of Roman Matron garb, tunicas and pellas.  One tunica will be in cotton lawn, an off white, and the other is cotton gauze, white with a white on white box pattern.  One tunica will be a lavender cotton gauze and the other is a dusty blue cotton lawn.  The bog dress is also cotton lawn.  Here are the fabrics.

Bog dress fabric.  Isn't it great :)

This is the lavender gauze with cotton lawn

This is the dusty blue cotton lawn with the cotton gauze

  I started with the bog dress.  The fabric is about 54" wide.  Started with two large rectangles, on for the front and one for the back.  They were long enough for the dress to reach from the shoulder to the floor with an overhang on the top.  I put a rip stop line in the top of the fabric, some fraying is wanted but not more than about 1/2".  I hemmed the bottom, then put the two pieces together.  I measured up the length from my knee to the floor and marked the fabric from the hem up.  I then measured from my knee to my underarm and measured from the first mark to make another mark.  This was the side seam.  I sewed them up and neatened the edges of the un-seamed sides by folding them over and sewed them up. 

Now, traditionally, these dresses would be pinned at the shoulders with broaches.  I cheated and sewed them at the shoulders, about where my bra straps will show.  This way I don't have to worry about remembering broaches and I can "fake it" with pins if I want.

Two hours and 15 minutes from first cut to this.

It's not the most flattering line, but if it keeps me from falling over in the heat then it's worth it.  I can also put a chemise or shirt underneath and it will work if the weather is cooler.

Tomorrow we tackle the tunica.