Genevieve
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	The gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam...

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sigh of relief and crackhead moments
2002-10-24 - 2:16 p.m.

The media are using the phrase "Cautiously Optimistic." I think they pegged that to a T. Two were arrested in the sniper case around 3:20 AM outside of Frederick, MD. We can hope it is over, but nothing is until the fat lady is a-singing. I must say that the drive into work was a little more upbeat than it has been in the past few weeks.

Then again maybe it was the lack of sleep...

I got ahold of some very special crack last night. It was part Kymber crack mixed with a tinge of the Giuliana variety. I was focused! Oddly enough, I was up til 3ish AM. The last time I saw on the clock before sleep took me was 3:24 AM. interesting coincidence...

You see, I got mega focused last night. It kinda scared me a little, worked 7 hours in the sewing room with a break in the middle for dinner and ripping basted seams in front of the TV. This weekend is the Trayned Bandes October Muster which I am really looking forward to. But, see, even though my kind friends assured me that my kit is fine, I've been meaning to make some more accurate (and comfortable) middle class Elizabethan clothing for quite some time now. The problem is I didn't have a pattern, and while it was not a difficult pattern to draft, it still required that extra step. I've been meaning to make one of the Elizabethan loose kirtles and a surcoat in the spanish style. Read loose and comfy. Here's a picture of a surviving garment that was patterned in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion: c 1560 to 1620. You can see Janet Arnold's own reproduction of this gown here. You can also see an image of a lady dressed in this style from a series of maps dated to 1572. Anyway, you get the idea of what I was trying to accomplish.

Well, here is how far I got last night, er, this morning. I did stop right at 3am decided not to push my luck.

click on image to see larger version

The image you see here only has one side of the loose gown finished. I did the other shoulder this morning before I came into work. (I couldn't sleep an extra 15 minutes, can you believe that?!?) The first thing I decided to do was forgo the poofy sleeve caps. Really, while charming on women of smaller stature, it'd just look silly on me. The loose gown is in a teal/greenish-blue linen lined in pale blue linen. I have white frog closures for down the front. The kirtle that goes under the gown is of berry colored cotton linen. (The high necked smock is from a previous Elizabethan outfit.) The colors are truly vibrant and honestly just the best combo my brain could put together last night when I started. :)

And what else is left to do? On the loose gown: I have to sew the right side seam in both the outer fabric and the lining. Then all the machine sewing will be done. Then comes a serious ironing, pinning the hem for sewing in the car ride, and attaching the frogs on the front of the gown. Trimmings will have to come at a later date. On the kirtle: I have to machine stitch facings for the neck and arm holes, tack them down by hand, pin and sew the hem, and a few lacing holes at the back closure to hold it in place. If I get really ambitious? I'll make some matching sleeves to lace to the kirtle at the tops of the arms and a flat cap. Somehow my ambition is wanning at the moment with the list of stuff left to do.

All this machine sewing and most of the ironing and pinning I hope to do tonight before dinner with a certain Birthday Boy we all know...

wish me luck! :)

I'm a crackhead and I'm okay. I sew all night and I twitch all day...

more caffiene...

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