The Raven and the Writing Desk

Previously
Bought a bunch of fabric last weekend, some of which was even wool. Once washed, the navy blue wool had a very strong smell sort of like a newly sanitized outhouse. Better obviously than a very strong smell sort of like a used outhouse, but still not especially desirable. Wet wool should smell like, well, wet wool. On suggestion from Demetra ap Samarkand (and endorsed post facto by Missy M) soaked it in vinegar before drying. Seems to have had some positive effect.

Friday
Read through Patterns of Fashion 4. Had previously intended to make two new shirts for camping that did not have any embellishment, since am not especially enthusiastic about blackwork. This book did not help. Came up with a plan for a fairly simple embellished shirt using blue embroidery and another using inserted lace. However, all this is academic at this point, since still do not have white linen.

Saturday
Visited Three Star Fabrics and bought silk broadcloth in coral and light blue for lining of camping suits. Also bought gold trim for olive green camping suit and needle lace like stuff for chemise. Also visited Fabricland and bought navy blue and grey cording to make own trim for navy blue camping suit. This camping gear is going to end up involving way more handwork than I meant it to. Oh well.

Sunday
Spent most of afternoon cutting out pieces for trunk hose for green and navy suits. Of course, green and navy fabric are not the same width as each other, and neither is the same width as the interlining. Also, spilled the pin container - would not be a true sewing project if I had not. Blue wool is a little wider - each leg will have the inseam panel (half the width of the fabric) plus one full width panel, making a ratio of approximately three to one at the waist. Green brocade is not as wide - each leg will have the inseam panel (half the width of the fabric), one full width panel, and one half width panel, for a ratio of probably 3.5 to one.

Made a fair bit of progress on sewing in the evening, all by machine, which took a surprising amount of thread. Have constructed canions so they will lace up the back - this is not shown in any of the three examples in Janet Arnold, but it was an emergency fix I had to do on the blue and gold trunk hose and I ended up liking the fit. Am still debating whether I will have the trunk hose fasten with a button fly or with lacing points and a codpiece - my weight fluctuates a lot so the lacing points are probably a better bet if I want them to have an adjustable fit. Am planning to cartridge pleat the legs to the waistband, as I liked the result better than the pair that I pleated into the waistband.