Silk Merino Dress

So I’ve decided that I need a new dress and so I ordered some fiber to dye, blend, spin, weave and sewing myself one! Makes sense right?

Let’s see how far I get.

So first I started with my project outline, because I think better with a list and this way I won’t forget any steps. Let’s see how close I stick to it.

Project Planning Merino Silk Dress and Jacket

Ingredients:
5lb Hat black merino 19.5 microns, 2”-3” staple length RH Lindsay $18/lb
5lb Bombyx silk top 13 microns, 2”-3” staple length RH Lindsay $25/lb
1lb Silk Hankies 1lb Paradise Fibers Paradise Fiber $4.94/ ounce with volume discount
3yards of silk habotai from World of Isabella

Greener Shades River Blue Dye
Citric Acid

Need approximately 5 yards of 25” wide fabric

Steps:

I. Dyeing

A. Goods to be dyed
i. 3lbs of silk top
ii. 1lb of silk hankies
iii. 3yards of silk habotai for lining

B. Prep
i. Tie up top in 1 yard long bundle
ii. Put silk hankies in a mesh bag
iii. Soak all silk overnight with dawn and a splash of vinegar.
iv. Remove from dawn solution and transfer to clear water.
v. Soak all silk in a 4.5 pH citric acid solution for 10-15minutes.

C. Calculate amount of dye to be used.

D. Prep dye baths

E. Immerse in hot baths. Check temperature and stir occasionally.

F. Check for color and exhaustion. May have to add more dye or more citric acid.

G. Remove from heat and add a more synthrapol and a piece of waste silk to the bath to absorb any excess dye.

H. Remove from bath and let dry.

II. Blending Merino and silk top

A. Sampling – to determine proportion of blend based on color and spun yarn weight.
i. Weigh out equal amounts of merino and silk
ii. Load hand cards and blend.
iii. Spin and ply worsted sample using drop spindle.
iv. Examine color, weight, and strength of yarn. Make sure to wash the sample and see if the merino bleeds!!!! This will change the amount of blue silk needed.
v. Adjust silk to merino ratio.
vi. Once proportion determined. (insert comparison chart here)
vii. Using the McMorran scale determine the grist.
viii. Calculate the amount of fiber > yarn > needed to complete project. (insert excel spreadsheets here.)

B. Using the proportion determined above weigh out silk and merino and run through drum carder.

III. Spinning

A. Spin the batts worsted. Keep the spindle spun sample handy as a template.

B. Spin for a balanced 2 ply. Can always re-spin 2 ply to add twist for cabling.

C. Spin silk hankies 2 ply.

IV. Weaving

A. Planning (insert excel spreadsheets)
i. Pick out weave structure
ii. Draft out pattern
iii. Determine yardage

B. Sampling
i. Weave a 1 yd sample on table loom. Make sure to wet finish fabric.
ii. Adjust set draft etc.

C. Warp loom

D. Weave

E. Repeat for jacket.

V. Sewing (go bug Jackie and Brekke!)

A. Dress
i. Materials needed
1. Silk/wool blend 2ply yarn => fabric
2. Silk lining
3. Silk hankies cord for trim (?)
4. thrums for sewing
ii. Design, Pattern, Muslin etc
1. Need to see what the final fabric looks and acts like before making any definite choices. (drape, color, weave structure)
2. Princess line, knee length or above the knee(?)
3. Sleeves, short cap sleeves or picking up and knitting lacy fluttery short sleeves using the silk hankies. (Won’t wear as well, but I can always pick out and reknit new ones).
iii. Fitting
iv. Sewing

B. Jacket
i. Materials needed
1. Silk/wool blend 4ply cabled yarn, 2ply spun silk hankies for “pin striping accents” => fabric
2. Silk lining
3. Silk hankies cord braid for trim
4. thrums for sewing from the dress.
ii. Design, Pattern, Muslin etc
1. Need to see what the final fabric looks and acts like before making any definite choices. (drape, color, weave structure)
2. Bolero style (?)
3. Braid around the edges.
iii. Fitting
iv. Sewing

Technorati Tags: spinning,weaving,sewing,dyeing,Greener Shades,silk,wool,project planning

Owl's Head Park Viking Festival Report

It's raining... it's pouring... Ok, so I'm exaggerating. But still!

Sunday dawns partly cloudy but the weather reports say it may rain. I've got my fingers crossed that the weather will hold until after the demo. I've been scrambling around since the previous Friday gathering up all my various and assorted pieces of fiber, books, hardware, and other pretties to bring to what is essentially a public show and tell. I've also been trying to figure out how to interpret the Mapquest driving directions since about that long as well. All that aside, I manage to make it to Owl's Head without having to call anyone for assistance, although it was a close thing!

I get there and find a parking spot once I located my fellow SCAdians gathered around on the grassy area. I wander over and check to make sure that I am allowed to park there and proceed to unload the STUFF. My, do I have a lot of stuff. There is a box full of fiber stuff, another box full of hardware and books, the backpack full of my garb, and of course the cooler full of food!

Once I haul my gear over, I dump it in a likely looking spot indicated by Chinua. Then we start hauling Brekke's stuff out of her minivan, and I thought I had a lot of stuff! It took 3 people about 3 trips to get all her stuff unloaded. Then up goes the pop-ups. It's hard to imagine that all these similar looking things with the same dimensions actually all open up DIFFERENTLY! How remarkable! And pop-ups are a total misnomer! They do NOT pop up. They require FOUR people one on each corner to put the thing up. Pop-up HA! And as if the varied configurations of the tents were not enough to boggle the mind, the diverse designs of the assorted camp furniture that people brought was staggering, and they ALL collapsed differently too!

Once the physical structure was erected it was time for us to dig out our STUFF and set up our displays. All the way on the end Mistress Countess Brekke had her weaving display, followed by Mistress Baroness Katherine's embroidery and sewing display, then came Lady Maria and my spinning and fiber display. Next, Devra the Baker and Lady Lily had set up their Old World/New World food quiz, with Master Richard squeezed in between us with his period Viking game. It was quite complicated, I couldn't seem to follow all the rules oh well... And finally on the other end was Lord Mongo Chinua's armour display with additions from Baron John and Wolfy.

Here is a shot of Master Richard and Lady Lily you can see how far the tents extend. You can just make out Countess Brekke in the distance, beyond her are the fighters. All of 2! Lord John the Bear and the man in the red armor whose name escapes me. They put on a great fight for the crowds. At some points, it appeared as if they would come crashing through the ropes set up to cordon off the fighting ring. But our Viceroy, Baron Alexandre and Lord Llywellan ap Rhys the marshalls were able to keep everything well in hand. And let's not forget Lord Mongo Chinua demonstration of combat archery and Lord Bear's good nature for allowing himself to be used as an armored target! Vivat!

Here is Lord Mongo Chinua sitting in front of his armor display. He was kind enough to let me play with his gauntlets! The mail coif is a work in progress by Baron Jan. The drop spindle and the fuzzy wool are mine. I had placed them down to snap the photograph. It makes a nice contrast to all the MANLY fighting equipment, doesn't it? Giggle! Snort! And in the background are Aisin Biya's two birds adding an interesting touch to the armor set up.

And this is Wolfy modelling both Baron Jan's mail coif as well as mine... Isn't he just so cute? Don't snarl Wolfy.

And here is Wolfy again surrounded by the fair Nicole and Baroness Johanne. Everyone is just having a great time enjoying themselves despite the threatening precipitation. Why is there a noose handing from that tree? Hmm... perhaps is leash? :) Wolfy is such a good sport.

In this corner, we have a close up of my drop spindle, as well as the mail coif, and the leather armor. The mail coif was constructed by joining each ring together one by one. And they say knitting is tedious! At least yarn is more PLIABLE than metal! It's really quite amazing.

Well that's it for the pictures. I was too busy bopping around spinning and chatting to everyone to take that many pictures! We didn't get as many spectators as we expected due to the inclement weather. However, two ladies from my spinning group NYC Spinners did make it to the event. And we had a great time chatting about the SCA in general and spinning and the fibers arts in particular. Lady Maria impressed them greatly with her combing demonstration and I caught them later chatting to Baroness Katherine and Countess Brekke. Fiber fans always stick together no matter how they meet! Kindred spirits one and all. Hurray.

I was able to demonstrate my drop spindle to some children passing through. Although none of them wanted to try out the CD spindles that Baron Jan was kind enough to put together for my the week before. I can't believe he SANDED them all, not just the ends but the sides too! That was certainly WAY beyond the call of duty!!! Thank you again! But the children did walk away with some custom spin and plied yarn bracelets. Silly but something to take home and remember!

And I met two really nice ladies from Historic Arms group, another reenactment group that had a set up next to ours. They had some spectacular pavilions! The two ladies were interested in spinning as well and we had a nice chat.

The Scandinavian children's dances were so adorable! And Siquella came all the way from An Dubhaigeainn (Suffolk county) to dance with some drummers at the park.

Afterwards a group of us went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and more hanging out. A great time was had by all. Especially me! People should never leave me with stray bits of paper... There was the dragon made out the dollar bill and giggle giggle giggle... A facsimile of Bear complete with a gigantic polearm! Eventually we all bid each other good night and departed for our respective dwelling replete with good cheer and good fellowship.