A Productive Saturday

I labored and labored yesterday and these are my fruits! Four new bow bags to gift to my Barony and also a padded liner for Boen's bow case. Better yet, I bought *nothing* new for these. Not even thread!

I recently decided we MUST reduce clutter in this apartment so I'm working my way toward throwing out stuff. Rather a lot of stuff, I hope! The nice thing about being ready to dispose of things is that I sometimes look at things--like a mattress pad with perfectly good padding that we never use because the sides which keep it on the mattress are shot--and see possibilities. Yesterday I saw that mattress pad as the solution to a problem we have at archery practice. We have several bows of various sizes which have been donated over the years, but only two bags! That means we jam several bows into a bag together where they promptly get all tangled up. Not good for them. Frustrating for us...the solution? More bow bags!

I cut the queen sized mattress pad crosswise into strips 13" wide (I got five strips) and my bengaline outer fabric into cross-wise stips 15" wide. I made them wider to allow some fabric for rounding around the liner, as well as turning at the seams and loss due to zig-zaging the long edges together. It turned out the cover fabric was about 2" wider than the liner so I had enough to make a drawstring casing to close the bag at the top. Order of sewing: turn and finish side edges for the casing openings, zig-zag long edges of liner and cover together, zig-zag lower edges of liner and cover together--stretching liner to fit,stitch casing to cover and finish top edge of liner(stretching to fit again), add pocket (oh yeah, I cut pockets from scrap fabric I made when I neatened the edge of my fabric before cutting. Pockets are always good!), stitch long edges together, set bottom of long seam so it falls at the center of the bottom of the bag and stitch bottom together with two rows of stitching, turn the finished bag, Add drawstring.

You can see some of the details in this closer shot.

The final touch was to thread the drawstring through the casing a take a few stitches at the center point. No pulling the cord out of the casing by accident!

Largesse Project #2a - Constellation Region Card Deck

A few years ago I read about an SCA member who was making a game using matching pairs of heraldry painted inside shells. Her project seized my imagination and it has been quietly stewing in my brain...and then, by lucky coincidence, or fate, or something, I recently became Herald for my Barony and also took the first steps towards making largesse. Those new commitments poked about in my brain, discovered the stewing pot of an heraldic matching game, and a deck of cards for an heraldic game of Pairs (aka Concentration) is the result!

I haven't yet discovered enough information about the devices of our local populace to put together a local deck (although that is a long term plan of mine) but I thought a 'get to know your neighbors' deck of the Middle Kingdom would be a great place to start. Upon discovering just how many groups there are in the Middle Kingdom, and that we are conveniently grouped into regions, I decided to break the final project up into smaller pieces. I started with the region I reside in--Constellation

I collected a list of the Baronies and shires of the region, as wells as a map and images of their heraldry and worked in 'Paint' and 'Publisher' to create my deck. I then printed it out on card stock and cut them apart. The finished deck was wrapped in some misprints I had made on plain paper and labled with a sticker which includes instructions for playing the game

To play you lay out all the cards face down and take turns flipping them over in pairs to try and find a set. If they match you keep the pair and play agin. If they don't match it is the next persons turn. The game can be played by any number of people.

I've made up the first batch of ten sets for my local Baron and Baroness to distribute but more will be made soon to send to the Crown. And then I'll get started on the next region!

Update: 4/21/2014

I just wanted to mention that since there has been such interest in these cards I will be posting the PDF on the site so you can print them too. I just want to color correct some of the images and get some of the rougher edges smoothed out a bit. Give me about a month or so to do that work and get some sets sent to the Midrealm Royals and then I will put it up!

Sorry for the radio silence!

This Saturday is our Barony's annual event and I have been madly busy on various projects. Today I managed to rework a too-ambitious project that was heading towards being an epic fail. I scaled back the size, finished the easier half, and now have a Win! I can finish the whole project at some later date. :)

Here is a sneak peek at the pretty!

Largesse project 1 - Feast basket is complete!

I have been scouring the town looking for juice glass that are not oppressively modern and will fit in my feast baskets and finally met with some success.

The finished baskets (I made six), Tahdah!

Largess 1b - Feasting Flyer

I also created an informational flyer to go into the feast baskets. Most of the information is adapted from several websites (listed on the flyer.) I'm putting it out on the web in case other people might like to use it too.

It's connected now, and it will download just fine but it's still not displaying correctly. I'll keep working at it.

Largesse project 1a - Flatware Holders

I recently decided I want to start making largess for my Baron and Baroness. :)

Since we have a large contingent of college students I decided to focus on useful things for those starting out in the SCA, particularly things that would help a person be able to participate in the social aspects while letting them save their money for whatever their particular interest are.

Naturally, I decided on starter feast baskets for my first largess project.

After some judicious shopping on e-bay I managed to acquire six place settings of passable flatware  and I've just completed linen storage cases to keep them from rattling around the basket. Here's how I did it, in photos:

Layer 5: Largesse?

I have been musing on the subject of actual physical prizes for IRCC winners, or all the participants. In earlier iterations of the challenge some individuals donated prizes to be given to the winners. Very cool.

I've been thinking it would be wonderful to make something small/easy/related-to-one-of-my-items to share. It wouldn't have to be fancy, but how wonderful to receive a token to remember the challenge by. Especially if it would add to your period authenticity or enable you to complete projects!

Even better, what if several of us did it and the overall winner, or the newbie winner, or all three of the winners, received a box of loot!

I'm thinking the item wouldn't necessisarily need to be worn. It could be an item for a renenactment kit, or a kit to make such an item or a part of a larger costume project.

Some of my ideas:
Pearl drop earrings on gold hoops
A set of handmade buttons (if I made 10 a month there would be 40!)
Embroidered cuffs, possibly with a matching collar
A length of bobbin lace
Tablet woven garters
A handkerchief
A pocket
An apron
A paper flag fan with a space to insert the recepient's device
Finger loop braided cord, possibly tipped with metal aiglets
A needle case
A waxed linen cover to keep bugs out of a container of food
A very plain partlet
Brass pins
A thread winder
The list goes on and on...

What do you think? Good idea?