Riding Costume...Shirt

This is the first piece of the riding costume to be almost complete. Only thing left to do is add elastic at the wrists. I tried very hard to use the design of the vintage linen tablecloth to the best advantage, and to waste as little of the cloth as possible. I think I did a pretty good job. I still have two center medallions, and two small scrolls, left to play with or to add to something else.

In the photos, the shirt has been ironed, so looks all nice a smooth. Once worn and washed, it will be wrinkled...and will stay that way, as I have no intention of ironing it every time I wash it. Besides, it's meant to look a bit "rough."

This old linen feels lovely against my skin, and hangs beautifully. When you pick the garment up, it feels a bit heavy, but once on, you don't notice it at all. I am really sold on this whole recycling of old linen, so will be looking for more at the Goodwill and antique/thrift stores. I need another big one to make the skirt for the costume, so the hunt is on!


Here is the front of the shirt. The sleeves are waiting for the elastic at the wrist. Also, I positioned the pattern pieces so that the hand-crocheted edging of the cloth got used on the hem and sleeve edges. What I didn't use, I have kept for use on other garments. It's just too precious to toss away.

Front close up.

Back view.

Detail of back. I especially like the way I got the scroll to fit on the collar piece.

This is a detail of the sleeve. In order to get the design to work best, I had to cut the sleeves in two separate pieces, rather than place the pattern on the fold. In doing so, I ended up with a seam down the top of each sleeve, but that doesn't really bother me, since the design was too nice to lose. You can just see the casing for the elastic on the left side of the sleeve. That will give me a wrist ruffle of about two inches.

Next in line after the shirt will probably be the jacket, or the waist chincher. I'm really having a lot of fun putting this costume together.

The Riding Costume Project

A week ago, while trolling Pinterest looking at costume sites (a very dangerous pastime for a costume junkie), I came across an outfit that literally knocked my socks off — or would have, if I had been wearing socks. The original designer, Brielle's Costumes,  called it a pirate costume, but my first inner vision was of a Highwayman shouting "Stand and deliver!" I got really fired up, and wanted that vision to be me, on my horse. So, my brain went into hyper-drive. I wanted to make that outfit, and adapt it to riding. Minor setback? I had no sewing machine. My 30 yr old White had finally died about six months ago. So, there I was, raring to go...and basically dead in the water.

Flash forward a week. I bought a sewing machnie ( I really needed one anyway, even if this costume hadn't turned up to excite me), dug through my stash of fabric and discovered I had a lot of what I needed already, then headed to the fabric store to buy what I didn't have. Luck was still with me, as the linen I liked was on sale (as had been the sewing machine). Another minor set back? My iron had been packed away in storage, and only Robert knew where the box was, buried in our storage unit. He is on the road, which means I won't get my iron until Saturday. However, in the meantime, I can cut out the shirt pattern, and work on altering the jacket pattern I have into the jacket design I need.

I have no desire to copy this outfit exactly, which would be cheating and an insult to the original designer. I will use it as inspiration, changing things, and adapting it for use in riding. The only thing I wish I could have changed was the color, as I really wanted to do it in dark green. However, the choices of green linen at JoAnn's Fabrics were all pretty icky, so I went with brown.

The jacket in the picture is made of leather. I can't do that, nor did I want to. If I was going to be wearing it around horses, and during the summer, I wanted something that would breath, and that could be washed. Linen is perfect. I also had some dark green linen left over from the pirate frock coat I made about 5 yrs ago. I will use that for contrasting collar and cuffs on the jacket. I already had the mid-weight muslin for the shirt, and the vintage lace. I wanted to add a bit of pattern to the outfit, so the cincher will be made out of one of the brocades shown. They are fabric sample squares, of which I have four big bins full, since where I used to work they would throw them away when the pattern was discontinued. I had six stores sending them to me, until they wised up and started selling them for $2 a piece. Now I think they sell for almost $5 each. Did I mention I have four big Rubbermaid tubs full of these things? Yes, I think I did. SCORE!

So, that's the plan. I absolutely love this costume, and with a few alterations I can make it rider-friendly and totally washable, except for the cincher, which will be lightly boned and couldn't be washed anyway. I will also make a pair of pants to go with this, or wear my black riding pants, since riding in a skirt is a pain in the butt, but I really like the look of the skirt, so will have to have both.

 After all, this outfit is just too damned cool to only wear while on a horse.

Equine Madness II — Mind vs Body

Remember the days when your brain could tell your body to do something, and your body would snap to it, saying, “Right! Got it. No worries!” I do. Back when I was in my late thirties, riding usually four to five days a week, and working with a riding coach once a week, my body was constantly in a low-level state of soreness — in a good way. It told me I had worked, used muscles, and my body had done, or tried valiantly to do, anything my little brain had asked. That state of being, my body totally in tune with my brain, made it possible to be in tune with the mind and body of the animal under me. Well, okay, maybe not all the time. But those times when my gelding, Tristan, seemed to know what I wanted before I asked, and we seemed to be sharing one body, are the most sublime moments I’ve ever had on a horse. You can’t describe the feeling to anyone. Seriously, you could use a thousand words, and it wouldn’t come close to describing that measure of connectedness to another creature. It rocks your world.

Jump two decades, add a ten year hiatus from riding, a new horse, and you have a totally different story. And, lest you get the wrong impression, I’m still in pretty good shape for my age. I’m not overweight, have no health issues, and work outdoors in a large garden. But that’s not riding. Riding is balance, sensitivity, and the constant search for that illusive connectedness. When you haven’t done it for a long time, and you start again, things get frustrating. Your brain, reaching back to previous experiences, starts yelling at your body, “Do this...no, no, you idiot, this, this!” Your body, asked to use muscles it hasn’t twitched in years, whines back, “Huh?...Whah? Oh, move these legs where? Are you sure?” Body procrastination.

In the meantime, my poor horse, Delight, is wondering what the heck is going on up there. And I must admit, our first ride did not start off auspiciously. After a few turns around the round pen, me flopping like a beached flounder, my saddle went sideways and I ended up on the ground. Delight stood there looking at me like I was a total imbecile, falling (pun intended) for the old “bloating like the Goodyear blimp when she tightens the girth” trick. Okay, lesson learned.

We’ve had many rides since then, and I have started working with two different coaches when I can, but I’m still waiting for my body to catch up to my brain. May take a while. My brain remembers how things should feel, where legs, seat, hands should be. Body...not so much. It’s coming back, slowly, and when we’re out of the winter weather, which makes riding hard because the ground is so slippery, things will improve quicker as I put in more saddle time.

But even with the riding I have done so far, the change in my body is already clear. My upper body strength is improving (all that stall cleaning, wheelbarrow pushing, horse grooming), my leg strength is better, and answering “the call” a bit quicker (currently that may be wishful thinking on my brain's part), and I’m starting to feel the first inklings of that constant, low-level state of soreness, which tells me this old body is still willing to work.

Actually, this old body is pretty damned happy. I still have a LONG way to go. My balance is still precarious. I still get frustrated when I know where a leg, hand, or my balance should be, and I can’t quite get there. Or worse, get it there for a nanosecond, but can’t hold it. Delight is still waiting for me to catch up, and gets understandably annoyed when she tries to give me what she thinks I’m asking for, when I’m actually asking for something else but giving mixed signals. I admire that she tries.

Come summer things will improve faster. Better weather means more riding time at home, going to events, and getting out on the trail. Soon my brain will snap to my body, “Do this, this, and this, and then this!” And my body will answer, ‘Right! Brilliant. Great idea!”

Delight will be thinking, “Gawd, it’s about time. I was beginning to worry you’d never catch up.”

(Note on the picture. It's a sketch I did in a journal, and the red text is bleeding through from the back side of the page. But I thought the drawing fit the subject, so posted it anyway, faults and all. The handwritten title slightly cut off reads, "Self-Portrait With Manure Fork")