Still Working on Targets...Gah!

I'm still buried in the preparations for the mounted archery hunt coming up fast...Oct. 5-7. Probably won't get much posting done here again until after this event is over. But here are two of the targets painted, and ready to glue to the insulation foam. And yes, that is the rabbit you think it is.

The wolf didn't turn out looking quite as fierce as I wanted. Actually, he looks like he's falling asleep, but...oh well. The poor thing is just going to end up full of holes anyway.

So, between one thing and a zillion others, I will sign off for a bit, and be back after Oct. 8.

Making Targets

I've mentioned it briefly here a few times, but come Oct 5-7 our local SCA (Society For Creative Anachronism) group is holding an event, which this year includes a mounted archery hunt, target mounted archery, and a pumpkin shoot. Since I am the Equestrian Officer for said local group, I am in charge of the horsey stuff, and also since the hunt was my idea, I am responsible for making the targets for the hunt, which is a course of about a mile, with aprox 15-20 targets. A friend is handling the target archery part, and we will both run the pumpkin shoot. So, to get to the point of this entry, here is what I have been working on instead of jewelry or sewing projects. I've been drawing and making animal targets.

Here are about half of them, drawn on cardboard, cut out, and now positioned on insulation foam. I drew around each shape with a black marker, took the cardboard animals off, then cut the shapes out of the foam. The cardboard will then be glued to the foam shapes, and the animals painted a bit more life-like. Once in place, like theater standies, they will be taped to wooden stakes in the ground and ready for the hunters. Not all the targets will be made his way. Some drawing will be attached to large cardboard boxes painted to look like background. These will be in the forest part of the course, and will hopefully prevent arrows from becoming lost in the woods. Some will only be painted straw bales with cardboard faces (a boar) or draped with a hide (the bear). These and the standies will be for the open hay field part of the course, where the arrows will be easier to find if the target is missed.

It has been a challenge to figure out the best, and also the least expensive, way to make these targets, get them drawn, and now ready to paint. Once these are all finished, I can go back to my regular schedule...whatever that is.

BTW, the Bud Light empties belong to the husband. I never touch the stuff! LOL

Necklace and Earring Set

This necklace had been sitting around my studio for a few months. It was finished...sort of. I decided after completing it, that it needed teardrop pearls. I only had one. So it sat until I could find some, but apparently teardrop pearls are not big sellers, and I couldn't find any at either Michael's or Joann's. That's when I remembered I had a bracelet I had made a year ago, with quite a few vintage teardrop pearls. The bracelet had been up on my Etsy site several times, and never sold. So, I pulled it out, took it apart, and added the pearls to the necklace and earrings. Perfect.

Here is the result.

It's made with black wire, black wire-wrapped beads and hearts, small black beads, silver hearts, small crystals, large drop crystals, and vintage teardrop pearls. Voila!

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.

Red Bolero...Completed

I have decided that this is as far as I am going to go with this bolero. I added gold metallic thread around the binding, and down the stem of the stencil design, and I added red beads to the dots on the pattern. I was going to add more stencil to the back, but decided I'd rather move on. I have two ideas I want to try on the next bolero, or maybe, since it is already getting cooler here, a long-sleeved T-shirt. In the meantime, I have a riding costume to finish, and about fifteen archery targets to draw for a mounted archery competition coming up Oct. 5-7.

So, here are the last shots of The Red Bolero.

The red beads on the stencil dots are kinda hard to see, but show up okay outside in better light. These were just the color I happened to have on hand. You can also see the gold metallic thread, which shows up nicely, and really looks sharp outside. I love the way it looks, so will use more metallic thread in the future.

The back.

Me, posing out on the deck, the day I wore the bolero into town. Got many compliments, and when I told folks it was made out of recycled T-shirts, they were amazed. I love that.

 

The back view. And yeah, the design is a bit off center, but since it's on the back where I can't see it when I wear the bolero, I don't care. LOL Doncha just love my bright deck chairs?

Ta dahhh.... Now to move on to the next project.

Bolero...Continued

A week or so ago, I posted pictures of the first bolero I made using the Alabama Chanin pattern. At the time I started it, I didn't have any fabric paint to do the stencils with, nor did I have a stencil that I thought would work, so I went ahead and made the garment, figuring to stencil it later.

Found a stencil at Home Depot (a good source for so many things), and bought some inexpensive fabric paint at JoAnn's. I'm not spending big bucks on either stencils or paint while I'm still in this learning curve. However, I think the results came out rather nice. Only thing left to do is some beading, and accent stitching.

Here is the front, showing the stencil I used. The tuna can I used as a weight to hold down one end of the stencil sheet while I applied the paint. Very handy things, tuna cans. It also shows why I bought a rotary cutter, which will help clean up the edges of the binding strips.  Trying to cut them with regular scissors works, but not very well.

Closeup of the stencil pattern, and my not so great embroidery stitches.

Back of the bolero.

I really like this stencil design, and if I'd had it before I started the bolero, I probably would have made it an all-over pattern. So, that's something to play around with for next time.

Also, just for fun, I am going to start adding my own garment tags to the inside neckline. It will be the same cartouche design I use on my drawings and paintings.

These tank tops and boleros, made from freebie pet food promo T-shirts that my husband brings home, are really fun, easy to make, and great little canvasses for all kinds of embellishments.

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.