What am I doing?

[frualeydis]

 Well, since my last post I have been to Ireland. I have seen the hill of Tara, Newgrange, The Giants' Causeway, Dunluce castle, the charming summer town of Portrush, Rathcrogan where queen Maeve once ruled, Galway, the Cliffs of Moher, St Brighid's well, a hen party dressed as nuns, Carlow, Kildare and Dublin (where I noticed that the fabric store on Lower Liffey street has turned into a bar).

I have also tried to survive heat of around 30 degrees C in the shades and scorching sunlight. I am not made for this, and in Sweden we don't have AC in private homes, and our houses were built to retain heat, not to keep it out. Add menopausal heat flushes to that and you just want to die.

There has been quite a lot of swimming, though it takes energy to get to the lakes or sea by public transport.

 

I have visited a very old and big rural market (the real thing, not a hipster version), where I bought hippie trousers, a straw cap and a new backpack.

 

And I have made a 1790s open robe from printed cotton.

 

I like this photo despite the modern background and my unco-operative hair. At least there was some wind.

When taking these photos I noticed that my stays and my petticoat were rather tight in the bust and over the rib cage. I have gained back some of the weight that I lost, mostly muscle (which is what makes them tighter over the rib cage), but also some fat (which gives a larger bust). Luckily this was easily fixed by unpicking a makeshift taking in of the stays that I had done last year, and by unpicking a dart on the petticoat.

I will wear it all on Sunday and hopefully get some nice photos at Gunnebo house. I have made a cap and a trimmed a straw hat for the occasion. And a bag for a croquet set that I'm bringing to amuse us with.

 

I also have sewing plans (of course) and last night I ordered fabric for them.

 

This will be a sleveless working dress, based on this fresco by Giusto de Menabuoi, in the Baptistry to the Duomo in Padua, from 1376-7.

I need to make a short sleeved smock too, I bought some off white linen today for that. 

 

In October the barony of Gotvik hold one of our annual events: Festivalo de Caderas. The theme for said event is purple. Since I am cooking feast I will spend most of the time in the kitchen. Our baroness and baron have chosen the Quattrocento as their time period (though not keeping to it quite as much as Måns and I kept to our period) so I will wear my green working class outfit:

 

I will, however, attend court, so I have decided to make it easy for myself to change into court garb:

I will take off the apron and my linen cap, smooth my hair and put on some other headwear, and throw on a giornea from plum silk brocade.

 

I need to buy lining for that too, but that will have to wait a while, until next salary or so.

 

I have recently started working 75% instead of 50% and we will have to see how much sewing I will have the energy for now. I have a few other hobbies too as you know.

Comments

[sabine]

Oh, that brocade is delightful.

[frualeydis]

Oh yes. And I just got the notification that it is shipped.

/Eva

[noxcat]

Your heat wave even made the news here in TX, and I immediately thought of you and how horrible it must be since I suspected you didn't have AC! We regularly get temperatures around 40 degrees C, but down here it's heaters that people don't always have! I hope the heat breaks soon!

[frualeydis]

Me too. But most of all we need rain, lots of it, to stop the forest fires further north.

/Eva

[noxcat]

The local news announced today that we're back in drought, but that happens so frequently down here. As well as the almost yearly fire danger. It's so weird to think of people so close to the artic having the same problems. How often does this sort of thing happen?

[frualeydis]

It hasn't been this hot and dry since they started the sattistics, 260 years ago.
Havign said that the summer of 18994, when I was pregnant with the twins was nearly this hot for nearly as long time. It did rain some more then though.

it is really a disaster, those farmers with cattle will have to slaughter quite a lot of their livestock, since there is no hay (or similar) for them, thos wo grow cereals will maybe harvest 50% of what is normal. And the loss of forest is enourmous. This far no-one has died in the forest fires (unlike Greece, where there is also fires), but of course people's homes have burned down and medeival sculptures have been evacuated from churches.

It is cooler now, but it is still not raining.

/Eva

[clothsprogs]

I wish you handn't linked to that brocade....

Now I'm itching to go on a shopping spree....

Teddy

[frualeydis]

Well, it IS wonderful. And there are so many lovely green brocades too.

*evil grin*

/Eva

[clothsprogs]

What about the fibre contnet? Is it actually silk or do they just call it silk? I've been caught out by Indian fabrics before

Teddy

[frualeydis]

I'll do a burn test when it arrives. It might be viscose, which I don't really mind. Hopefully not polyester.

/Eva

[clothsprogs]

I'd certainly be interested in the results - the gold will be synthetic, of course, but if the fibre is actually silk that would be great.

Teddy

[frualeydis]

I'll let you know.

/Eva