Alhandra's Journal

kaartje...

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 10:43:22 GMT

Nog thuis...

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:58:40 GMT

Vanochtend vol goede moed begonnen om mijn auto te ontdoen van zijn sneeuwjasje.
Hij staat op de hoek van de straat nog steeds onder een volle deken sneeuw.
De sneeuw van de weg is naar mijn wielen geschoven dus die zitten goed ingepakt en vanaf de stoepkant hebben de bewoners voor een zelfde wiel bedekking gezorgt.

Maar naar een tijdje ploeteren was ie sneeuwvrij, op de wielen na dan.
In die tussentijd heb ik verschillende mensen door de straten zien glijden in plaats van rijden.
toch maar even mijn projectmanager gebeld. Nee hij ging niet hij werkt maar 3 dagen per week op het project.
De andere collega is er alleen maandag en woensdag dus dat betekend dat ik er alleen zit... als ik er al kom.

ik heb maar afgesproken met de manager dat ik pas ga rijden als het licht is en er meer mensen over die weg zijn geweest.
Hij was zo vriendelijk om ook nog even te wijzen op het feit dat ik maar een oud autootje heb... maar wel eentje die trouwe dienst verleend.
nog twee weekjes en dan krijg ik die nieuwe maar dat is net te laat voor deze sneeuwbende op de weg.

Dus mocht het zo beter gaan, onderneem ik de tocht naar schiedam anders werk ik gewoon weer een dagje thuis.
Tot het moment dat het licht is werk ik thuis.

smart mailman

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:51:08 GMT

My mailman is a inventive guy. He left his bike at home and used a children' s sled instead.

New Species

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:56:28 GMT

A new species has arrived... They look friendly enough most of them are smiling in a way. They come in all shapes and sizes, some of them wear clothes others not. A family of them closed off my street for a while. the park is filled with them.

This morning I found a small one on the stairs to my appartment. it made me smile.

a big happy snowman in the park

the little one on my stairs :-)

I gave him an opinion...

Hopefully the winter stays for a while. I like the sound of the snow under my boots. Maybe more snowmen come to town.

Het sneeuwt nog steeds!

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:06:02 GMT

Geweldig!
Het sneeuwt en het sneeuwt! er ligt hier in de straat zo'n 30 cm en het wordt alleen maar meer.
De buurt komt helemaal tot leven. Iedereen loopt op straat en breken spontane sneeuwballen gevechten uit. superlevendig.
Ik zal het niet snel zeggen maar Den haag kan heel gezellig zijn.

Vanmorgen ben ik door de sneeuw lopend boodschappen wezen doen en overal wordt druk gewerkt aan de grootste sneeuwmannen. De turkse buurman die zijn auto sneeuwvrij probeerde te krijgen werd van de wal in de sloot geholpe door de jeugd die er weer sneeuwballen boven op gooide.
Hij vatte het positief op en trakteerde de tieners op een dik pak sneeuw in hun nek waar door er weer een nieuw sneeuwgevecht uitbrak.

In een van de bovenhuizen was een dame haar balkon sneeuwvrij aan het maken en zag kans om vanaf het balkon haar man en kind de volle laag te geven die beneden een pop aan het bouwen waren. waarna ze snel weer achter het balkonmuurtje dook. en hij maar afvragen waar de sneeuw vandaan kwam :-D

Toen ik terug kwam van de boodschappen had de buurtjeugd en enkele van de papa's de handen ineengeslagen om een enorme sneeuwman midden op de weg te bouwen. Intusen staan er vier van die mannen op de weg. Met gewoon sneeuw was het al lastig in de straat nu met die poppen kom je er niet meer in :-)

iedereen is buiten en je praat met mensen die je anders nooit ziet.
sneeuw is geweldig!!!

Alleen morgen naar mijn werk gaan zie ik nog niet helemaal zitten...
we zien het wel, eerst genieten!

SNEEUW!!!

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:09:56 GMT

er ligt sneeuw!
ondanks het feit dat ik toch echt in een kustprovincie en kustplaats woon ligt hier sneeuw!
jamer dat ik vandaag niet vrij heb, ik heb maandag gewisseld voor de after archeon dip.
ik wil de sneeuw in!
maar eerst de file in ;-)

Wat een week (nu al)

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:30:43 GMT

Deze week begint niet heel succesvol. Hij verloopt vooral chaotisch.

Gisteren vol goede moed naar mijn werk. De kick-off van mijn nieuwe project begint om 9.00 dus extra vroeg in de auto zodat ik ruim op tijd ben.
Om 7.40 zit ik in de auto, ik moet van Den Haag naar Schiedam, en anderhalf uur daarvoor uittrekken is ruim zelf met files.
Maar ik had pech, de afrit van de A4 naar de oprit van de A13 was stilstaand verkeer… Eenmaal op de A13 gaf het bord al 10km file aan…
Om 9.00 belde een collega. normaal bel ik niet in de auto maar aangezien ik de laatste 10 minuten alleen stil gestaan had, was het niet meer rijdend bellen in mijn optiek en nam ik op.
Zij vroeg waar ik was en ik kon haar vrolijk vertellen dat ik schuin voor me in de verte IKEA Delft kon zien. Dus om 9.00 was ik nog niet eens halverwege! Mijn collega vertelde dat zij nog verder naar achteren stond en dat ze de projectleider niet te pakken kreeg.
Net toen ik aan het bedenk was wie ik kon bellen om te laten weten dat we de kick-off niet gingen halen werd ik al gebeld. Het was de verantwoordelijke van het bedrijf voor ons project. Hij vertelde dat de projectleider van achteren was aangereden met een flink vaartje, zijn auto was zo goed als Total loss…
Om iets over 10.00 was ik dan toch op kantoor, even voor Rotterdam was de file spontaan weg! Waarom stond hij er dan om mee te beginnen!
Ik was al bekaf voordat ik goed en wel begonnen was die dag…

Vandaag besloot mijn wekker een dagje vrij te nemen en om 8.30 maakte de kat me wakker. Rond die tijd hoor ik wel op kantoor te zijn eigenlijk. Vervolgens moest ik natuurlijk nog tanken want na de files van gisteren had ik daar geen zin meer in gehad. En als extra vertragende factor was de brug bij Schiedam in de A20 open! Dus was ik weer heel laat vanmorgen.

Als dit de trend is voor de hele week dn kan het nog wel eens leuk worden.
Ik kan er niet boos om worden want je doet er toch niet heel veel aan. (behalve de wekker maken) ik heb me goed vermaakt in de auto, omdat je toch stil staat kan je nog eens de CD wisselen of een mandarijntje pellen.

Fur = Evil

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:15:57 GMT

The past week I did a lot of work on my Gown:

Monday I went to Janestarz and Nokey for a nice dinner. (little too much but very jummie) After that I worked on my gown with Jane’s Lockmachine. The insides look so good now! All nice seams and no fraying anymore! Hurah for the locker.

Tuesday I went to my parent’s place because my brother needed some computer assistance. After that was done I asked my mom if she could help me with the hem of the gown. She pinned it straight while I was standing on the table. I stand there for almost an hour because of the velvet, it slipped and because of me… I’m terrible at standing still.

Saturday It was Sinterklaas, at my parents place again. I brought the gown so I could do the hem by hand and the seams/hems of the sleeves. Sinterklaas in our house is just a lot of food, being together with some presents so I had a lot of time to do all the seams.

Sunday I visited Shurf and Anastaszia, with three sewing machines and a locker it was a busy atelier. :-) My main goal was to finish the hand sewing parts and to work on the fur collar.
The fur was a nightmare to get is right. Because the fur follows my neckline it needs darts in several places so it stays flat. At the end of the evening I had the fur attached but I still need to shape it nicely from fur strip to nice collar. It took all day just to attach the fur! Grrrr.
I’m not going to do fur cuffs: we tried it and decided all three that it looks to much like Santa Claus in green. It is too much. I have nice trims for it now.

My gown has seen some places :-)

I hope I finish in time for Archeon Midwinter Fair…
I still don’t have a tricorn pirate hat, I saw a nice one at piratecave but the cost to mail it is almost higher than the price of the hat. Oh well…
On the other hand, I don’t have a hennin either. But that one I could make myself more easily than a pirate hat.

So much to do, so little time…
No pictures yet, sorry!

Harrr! voor de vlag!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:54:11 GMT

we hebben een vlag voor de archeon midwinter fair!
wat verf en een oud stuk zwarte stof... zie hier een piraten vlag

DD: it's not a bag anymore!

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:32 GMT

Today I worked on my Burgundian Gown. The last time that I worked on it I got a bit demotivated from my machine not working as it should and the bagginess of the dress itself. It is almost cut to the same plan as the kirtle but velvet is not my type of fabric: a little harder to convince that it should go the way I want it to.

I did quite a bit today, the gown is not looking like a big bag anymore but it not too tight so it still fits over my undergown and kirtle. Every alteration I made I fitted over the undergown and kirtle so I wouldn't have any surprises after in the end. (I hope).

The seams are all done now, but the inside looks like a mess. But with the offered help of Janestarz and Shurf I can tidy it up later.

again I did a photo shoot with a tripod and timer and again the tripod was not completely straight so tilt your head a little and everything is just fine :-) excuse me for the bad hair day, after putting on and taking off the gown several times it was hopeless.

the dress with my headscarf as a waistband/belt and the fake fur draped in place. I can tell, activating the timer , running to my spot and keeping all the loose parts together was a challenge.

I lost the fur around the wrists,the white undergown is a little to high to my liking don't want to see it in the neckline. the red V is a piece of leftover linnen from my kirtle pinned to the front of the kirtle. The real placket from the same linnen is on the to do list.

Jeans and my red kirtle. I like the colors together but in the picture the dark green is more black.

Lost the fur collar too. The white waistbelt is going to be black in the finished Gown with red accents and if I have time embroidery.
I found some pictures of painting of the 15th century with white belts... I dont know what I like best yet.
I d o actually like the dress without the fur too...

on my to do list:
- hemming the Gown
- waistbelt
- partlet in red
- zigzagging the inside
- attach fur
- other things I forget now.

DD: green fluff in the house

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:02:17 GMT

I started on my Burgundian Gown yesterday.
The fabric for this dress is a dark green velvet and after cutting the pieces the living room was covered in a green fluff. Thanks to my lovely cat this soon spread out over the whole house! I even found some fluff in the shower, his favorite hang-out spot when it's not running.

I have no pictures yet because progress was very slow. My sewing machine is begging for his check-up: the normal straight stich is fine, no problems there but every stich that is not straight such as a zigzag is a pain!
After every 10 centimeters of stitching the upper thread breaks or it starts making huge loops. I tried everything I could think of, cleaning the bobbin area, loosing/fastening the thread tension, rethread the machine, another bobbin, another needle. In the end it worked a bit, sometimes skipping stitches alltogether. I use the zigzag to finish the seams to stop them from fraying. But since It doesn't work I skipped this fase, so I now I have extra fluff as a bonus. My patience was running out after a one meter long seam and the thread broke 9 times. I need to finish before Archeon midwiner fair!
Sometimes I wish I had a lock machine! But my sewing machine is great, it just needs service.
As for the dress, it resembles a very big bag of green velvet. It is not yet fitted at all.

Maerquin Aftermath

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:54:21 GMT

After I came home from Maerquin, a very happy cat was waiting for me. We cuddled and after that he never left my side, he stayed in a one meter radius of me meowing all the time. It made moving around a bit tricky and I tripped over him twice but he didn’t mind: bossy was home! He even found a way to stay close to me while I showered, he waited/slept in the bathroom sink which is in the one meter radius. I let him stay in the bedroom a while so he could lay very, very close. I was extremely tired but couldn’t sleep at the same time, too much impressions from the weekend. After a while I kicked him out and finally fell asleep.

I had a fun weekend, from my bar I could see all sorts of things happen, serious conversations, bragging soldiers, and operations with an extremely nervous doctor. The funniest part to watch was the lessons in decent – indecent proposals, and the other way around.

My Sunday was filled with being orc. I’ve been killed a lot that day and man, I can feel it. Some of my ribs are sore and I have bruises on my back and arms. In one encounter I hit my head and I still can feel where but I don’t have a headache. The faces of the people inside the bar when we entered from the fireplace where golden! After a good couple of seconds of “wtf just happened” we were beaten to dead (again).

I was happy that I took the Monday off, because even after my shower at Sunday night I still had that yellowish green glow. Now after the second and third shower I’m presentable for work again, still tired but it’ll have to do.

me being dead

and again...

oh... and alive! in a much better outfit!

Maerquin: just one day away

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:47:54 GMT

i'm counting down untill tomorrow 4 pm (maybe 5pm)...
then I can say goodbye to my collegues and say hello weekend!
more specific: hello maerquin weekend!!!!

can't wait! i'm so excited! i have my stuff packed and the only thing I have to do in the morning is to supply my cat with enough food for the weekend and load the car and go to work. After that it's playtime!!!!!
I'm so curious about the stupid things the players are going to do and the fun things the npc's have to do to work it all out.
as I said: can't wait!!!!

This why...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:13:16 GMT

... my cat is not allowed in the bedroom!

he sleeps with me on MY pillow and as close as possible...
and he purrrsss... wich sounds so loud in my head I can't sleep.
In this pictures he is not even that close, he tries to get closer everytime you move... then he creeps closer again.

I love him to pieces, don't get me wrong he's my little friend, butI wish he had a more normal sleeping habbit.
(oh... during the day and when I read he sleeps on the pillow next to me, but when I turn of the light and lay down he thinks: finally you go to sleep now I can crawl next to you)
he is cute!
(I made the pics last night myself with a phone camera so they are fuzzy!!!
)

DD: Kirtle is finished!

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:49:55 GMT

Introduction
part 1
part 2
detour
I finished the kirtle over the weekend and I am so happy with it! I looks really nice and is very comfortable to wear. The sleeves are done too and the dark blue is a nice contrast to the red of the dress. I love it so much I almost think it’s a shame to wear another gown over it. But at Archeon’s midwinter fair it is cold, so I really need the extra layer.

The only thing I need to change is the neckline of the white undergown. It is too high right now, the Burgundian gown has a very wide and low neck line and the undergown will show where the kirtle is almost invisible. In historic pictures the necklines of the undergowns are almost as low as the kirtle so maybe I change it or make an extra undergown all together (so I have a modest one and a less modest one). Since my ‘project’ is not historically accurate it is not that big a deal but I don’t like the fact that the undergown shows that much under the Burgundian gown.

I’m going to use the same pattern again for the Burgundian gown with some adaptions but I like the look of it so why change it. Because of the low neckline I’m planning to make some mockups for the bodice part of the dress. I still have some ‘lovely’ blue flower bedsheets that serve as my mockup fabric. (Think 50’s and grandparents).
But that is for another day!
So below is a picture of the finished kirtle and a look-alike that I found.

*
* part of ' massacre of the innocents' by Hugo van der Goes anno 1470
(in this picture you see that the lady has a low neckline for her white undergown...)

The disapearing chihuahua

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:27:03 GMT

I spending my time with writing 'sinterklaas' poems, and after today I really think it affects the mind.
I was staring outside for a while because I couldn't find a good word for a poem.
There was a white long-haired chihuahua walking around the block, nobody around just the little doggie.
It was wandering aimlessly around and hiding under cars. And since it is a busy road I thought it as sad/odd.

After a while I desided to go outside to see if somebody was around or else I would phone the animal shelter or anything to help the dog.
My collegues couldn't understand why I would do that, and watched amused outside to see if I got succesfull in my dog-rescue-mission
Outside the doggie was gone... couldn't find it... less then a minute ago it was there... I wasn't going to lay on the ground to watch under the cars with my collegues and boss watching from behind the windows. So I went inside again without doggie, so I hope it found it's way back.

I got lots of comments about ghost chihuahua's and about things I put in my tea and what not. Even I wondered if I halucinated ...
It feels a bit stupid. I am a softy, sorry, I would do it again for another animal.

DD: sewing machine or there and back again

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:19:44 GMT

Yesterday I wanted to work on my kirtle: I still need to make sleeves and hem the skirt. But I didn’t get really far, my sewing machine started to make funny noises and huge loops. I fiddled with the machine for over an hour to fix it away but nothing worked. I really want to finish the dress before Maerquin but with a stubborn machine it wasn’t going to happen. I admitted defeat and called Matson in Rotterdam, the shop where I bought the machine. The nice lady listened to my problem and asked some questions and in the end told me that since the machine is almost a year old and I use it a lot, it probably just needed a service check-up. She also told me that if I came right away that maybe they could fix it the same day, so I could finish my project in time.

It was 16.00 by then and that is not a good time to drive from The Hague to Rotterdam by car. But I did anyway and as soon as I hit the A13 I was in a huge traffic jam, 12 KM, supposedly 35 minutes to exit Rotterdam centre. I arrived at 17.17(!) at the shop and after 10 minutes I was outside again. Machine fixed. The way back was less hard and It only took 30 minutes. After that I didn’t feel like sewing anymore, so I only cut the sleeves and straightened the hem of the kirtle. I did test the machine and everything worked fine again, the shop did remove a piece of yarn twisted inside the bobbin compartment after they took the whole thing apart.

But the good thing is: I bought new bobbins: you can’t have enough of them!
And last, Hurrah! For great customer service and helpful people!!!

Rapalje!!!

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:18:18 GMT

Mannen in kilts, mooie muziek en gezellige sfeer, wat wil je nog meer?!?!

Gisteren dus heerlijk naar Rapalje geweest en het was echt super! Het is net weer even anders als ze zien op een fair, het grote nadeel: JE KUNT NIET DANSEN! Met als gevolg dat ik een overdosis energie aan het eind van de avond had. Maar afgezien van dat was de sfeer en de muziek echt goed! Na de show hebben ze nog een hele tijd doorgespeeld in de foyer van het theater, wat voor veel reguliere gasten toch wel heel ‘apart’ was. Daarna ben ik als echte groupie natuurlijk op handtekeningen jacht gegaan en ben ik nu trotse eigenaar van een gesigneerde live DVD van Rapalje.

Ik heb het echt zo naar mijn zin gehad, samen met Anita en Bigboss en in de pauze nog veel meer gezellige mensen tegenkomen. Sommige jaarkaarthouders zaten stil langs de kant de rare snuiters te opserveren die hun theater onveilig maakten. Aan de andere kant de dames naast me (1 mantelpakje en 1 nette trui plus parelketting) die heel rustig hadden zitten kijken voor de pauze gingen na de pauze echt helemaal los: Dat is het “Kilt-effect” :-)

Nadat de heren waren uitgespeeld in de foyer zijn we nog met Askie en Jinni terug naar huize van vliet terug gegaan. Mijn auto was daar nog en met dat ding kom je makkelijker thuis. En we hebben natuurlijk net zolang gewacht tot het middernacht was zodat we Anita konden feliciteren met haar verjaardag. En toen was helaas die mooie avond weer ten einde en zit ik weer op kantoor. Weer strak in de nette kleren maar wel MET Rapalje t-shirt (en de DVD als muziek op mijn koptelefoon)

Laat de Archeon Midwinter Fair maar komen dan kunnen we weer staren naar mannen in kilt…

DD: Kirtle almost done

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:15:24 GMT

Introduction
Part 1

This weekend I found some time to work on my kirtle, and progress is good. I had all Sunday to work on it so the kirtle is almost done now! Because I had to check the fit a lot I wore the undergown all day as my clothes (with a sweater for warmth) , just lucky that nobody came knocking at my door.
Following Janestarz’ advice, I redid the sleeves. I found the ‘dent’ in my arm and put in the sleeves from that point. After that I took the dress in at the sides and back for a better fit.

Now for the boring part of the project: Zigzagging all seams… I really really don’t like to do that. It is super boring. I know it is for a good cause, to stop my dress from fraying and falling apart, but still it is the task in costumemaking that I dread the most. Especially in dresses there are a lot of seams to zigzag. It’s done now! ( I’m dreaming of a lock machine)

After that I finished the sleeve hems, the neckline and the front opening. I did them by hand It was bulky at some points and yes, it looks right with the dress. It was not that much work and after that I sewed on the lacing rings at the inside of the kirtle. I first sewed them on with only a couple of stitches and now I’m happy that I did: I sewed them on too far to the inside/middle of the dress. If you lace it up the front of the dress stands open/away from the body. It was late by then so I left the redo for another day!
I still want to make a set of detachable sleeves in a contrasting color. That is also for another day…

Here are some pictures I took last night so they are a bit dark.

the pictures are taken with a tripod and it was leaning to the left... the fit is much better now.

Same dress with some accessories. almost missed the picture here...

the inside of the kirtle, the rings should be closer to the edge for a good closure.
with yellow lacing for a nice contrast.

Pumpkin Jack

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:23:12 GMT

My pumpkin Latern! just carved it. on to baking things
I decided on my costume for the Halloween party.... yes... SHE is coming to the party.

edit: no baking, lacking ingredients.

(userpic = hint)

DD: I'm too short for my Rosewood Kirtle!

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:39:43 GMT

Introduction

A new update in the dress diary for my new Burundian inspired gown. I keep forgetting to make detailed pictures as I go along but I have some other pictures from the last couple of weeks so this is going to be a bit of a photo blog.

*sorry for not cutting it down... somehow they won't work...*

The undergown
I draw a pattern based on the dress I made for another role play character: Alhandra. It is based on this pattern type.

I took my measurements and used that to draw it.
I only used gores at the sides of the dress and small under arm gores for more freedom of movement. Sewing these gores in proved to be tricky. It took me longer than expected but they are done now.
I finished the seams with improvised French seams. I used my own way to do it and it looks OK to me. (I’m going to wear this under other dresses so probably not in plain sight) I didn’t finish off the neckline, I wait with that until I finish the kirtle so I can do the necklines together. The hem of the skirt looks very crooked on the picture. I admit it IS crooked but not as much as the picture suggests. It is very comfortable and will probably use it to sleep at events.

find the cat! this is the almost finished undergown.
little bit crooked at the hem.

The kirtle
For the kirtle I bought a heavier white linen. I couldn’t find the color I wanted so I decided to dye it myself. I Used the ‘famous’ rosewood dye. from Dylon for this. And now I have a lovely red-brown linen.

my linen before dyeing

linen in washing machine with dye

finished linen

above are before and after pictures of the dye process. I like the in between picture the most. It looks like I have a couple of bloody sheets in the washing machine, very halloween. I’m really pleased with the color. I used one parcel of dye to 4 meters of linen.

Yesterday I finally found the courage to cut my fabric. (I have this panic thing going on when I have to cut new fabric… ‘did I measure right? Is the pattern ok? Are the pieces in the right direction? ‘ that sort of thoughts) The pattern I used is almost the same as the undergown. I liked the fit so I work from that to make the kirtle. The difference is that apart from side gores I also have front and back gores, short sleeves and a front opening. I already sewed most of the seams. This time the gores went in like a breeze. (Thank you Janestarz for your advice!!! *hug*) So the progress exceeds my expectations! Yihaa!!! Now I got that crazy idea that maybe I can get this finished before the next maerquin weekend.

Anyway… I did measure the length of the gores wrong… they are way too long! The dress itself is also a bit long too… I guess I’m not as tall as I imagined.
Now at this stage of the dress, I have space left in the chest area. It is something that happens a lot when I make costumes. Especially in commercial patterns I can fit myself twice in the chest area. Unfortunately I don’t have big boobs so I have to take that in/away. In this pattern I think it is because of the armpit gores. Maybe I can leave them out, but first I will put the other sleeve in with gore to see what happens next.

Last pictures:

Again photo's taken with a tripod and timer. press button run to spot in to long dress and... pose!
the front of the dres with all the gores of the skirt in place, it's very full,I like that!
I closed the front with pins and obviously one sleeve is missing.
it wrinckles in the chest area but I wasn't standing completely upright.

another run against with the timer!
here you can see that the skirt is very very long!

the back. you can see I have to take it in quite a bit around the chest and back.
the back gore is almost 15 to 20 cm to long.

Probably I don’t have time tonight to work on it. I have to prepare for the NPC meeting of Maerquin and of course Halloween!!!

Meet Little Sackboy

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:45:57 GMT

I knitted my little friend in about a week time. after work when it's was too dark to work on my embroidery project.
He is kinda famous in the games world. He is the big star of Little Big Planet and I like the game a lot. But since I didn't own the PS3 I can't play anymore. So as a consolation I knitted him to keep me company. I gave him a hat because it's quite cold and I think I will make more costumes for him and maybe later on another sackboy. He is not completely finished yet. There is still yarn hanging from his body and he's missing a zipper on his belly. maybe later this week.

he's quite a good in posing for the camera! he always smiles and doesn't move a muscle.

my cat gave him a warm welcome with a thorough inspection, including sniffing, washing and a some pushing with paws.
(just finished the washing part here) somewhere in the process he lost his hat but he was still smiling.

He is a good gamer himself.

The Pirates of Archeon

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:21:17 GMT

Two posts in one day! I completely forgot that Maerquin is going to the Archeon Midwinter Fair 2009.
After our succes of the gold-quest with a nutty wizard last Midzomer Fair we were asked to do something fun again for the kids.
I wanted to do something similar but not exactly the same, so I thougt up the pirates with some help of Bigboss.

So we'll be pirates that are wrecked or stranded in Archeon and looking for a treasure.
I saw in my mind, the weird group of pirates walking around Archeon including ogres, dwarfs, elves and the whole bunch.
Not terrible serious, just having fun with the kids.
I made a treasure map from the Archeon map so the kids can go on a search to solve the riddles. If the solve it they get some chocolate gold coins as reward.
When I brainstorming with the gang we thougt about putting a pirate flag on a pole in the middle of the small pont in Archeon. So we could tell that our boat... welll... kinda... well... sunk. There are so much thing you can think of with pirates! I really look forward to the fair!
Like always we are allowed to sleep in the medieval house of the fisherman! cold! but so much fun. I hope I can find a lot of good pirates for this event. It is a little different than the usual weekends Maerquin organise.

I desided to make the burgundian gown long before we thougt of doing pirates at the fair. So now I will be a burgundian-gown-wearing-pirate (kinda, sort of) maybe I'll think of something else, but I realy want to make the gown for midwinter fair... I probably make some costume critics shiver and think about blasphemy :-)

this is some pirate fun to enjoy for now:

Two Weeks to Halloween!

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:30:50 GMT

And I have a real halloween party to go to!
Can't wait! just another good reason for dressing up.
So the big question: what to wear?
I think I have an idea, an altered version of a costume of mine.
But I won't tell yet :-P

Yeah! new dress diary: burgundian gown + kirtle

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:24:00 GMT

After a very busy time getting my house clean and tidy I decided that I really needed to do something fun. I'm fed up with doing things in the house, so it's very less than perfect but It's fine by me. Let's do something fun!

I'm starting on a big costume project: a kirtle with underdress and a 'burgundian' gown to finish it off.
I allready bought the linnen on the 'lapjesmarkt' way back but now I can finally make something out of it.
It's not going to be historically correct or anything close, just historically inspired.
( o yeah, and in the DD is in english, I need some practise with that)

These are the pictures for inspiration among others:

for the kirtle and underdress, I have almost the same color linnen for the kirtle as in the picture. (the famous redwood dye)
I also use this webpage as a reverence : cadieux.mediumaevum.com/frontlaced-kirtles.html this lady did some research on kirtles and I like it a lot. It is going to be a kirtle without a waistseam with side and front/back gores. I'm planning on drafting the pattern myself, so I can adapt it to fit my figure because I like the kirtle to be fitted as in the picture.
The white linnen underdress will I cut to almost the same pattern without the front opening and not as fitted, a more loose pattern.

the burgundian gown... If found lots of different versions of it so on this one I will be improvising a lot. I like the top to be fitted with the wide skirt.

Probably I will use a waistseam to get this look. I have a very beautifull green cotton velvet for this gown and some fake fur for the collar and cuffs. I don't think I will make a hennin to go with it. I'm not sure yet.

Today I'm going to draft the patterns, for the underdress and kirtle and maybe make a start with the dress.