Saint Wenceslas' Tunic

One of our people will act as St. Wenceslas at a festival in Prague this week. Who will make the costume? :-)
I prepared a pattern from another piece of fight clothes. I usually take only the pattern for the neckline, armholes and the upper part of the sleeve.

I sewed an oval to where the slit would be.

I cut it in the middle, turned the bands in and basted, leaving a mm or two from the bands visible. This will cause that the slit won't have the usual compulsory distance between the right and left half. Unfortunately, it should have been facing the right side out, but I didn't manage to:-/

Before I sewed it on machine, I basted the end of the slit so that it wouldn't open. Then I secured this with a line of stitches near the edge.

I made this costume according to a picture of St. Wenceslas, he had a wavy lower hem. I let the seam allowance as small as possible so that I could easily iron it before sewing. When ironing, I was using a paper pattern of a wave, around which I was folding the hem.

Wing Flag Poi - Done

To the part that holds the loops.
I cut the piece, ironed the edges in and then folded it in half and ironed again.

I ironed a vlieselin on the place for the grommet and prepared a rectangle of a tough canvas. I turned the upper part right sides together and sewed the tip horizontally. I cut the allowance at the corners, inserted the rectangle (to toughten the place for grommet even more) and turned over.

Finishing was as usually - sewing the black piece to the poi and making the loops and the case. This time, I made a long big sack for the sand so that the sand could move in it and I could easily squeeze it in by the narrow hole.

In motion they look beautiful:-)

Leather Thimble

Well, I learned to sew with a thimble (it was quite hard to :-D) and was sad that I can't use it at events for what it looks like.
I took two needles and thread and let's go!

You can see my original pattern. I sewed the sides laid flat as long as possible. The stitch is noticeable only at the wrong side. How did I do that?

As the leather doesn't fray, you can sew very close to the edge. The trick is that the needle goes in the leather through the side and comes out at the top (and vice versa). It took me quite a lot of time since I've seen this stitch to believe it really works and is safe:-D

When I could no longer sew it flat, I finished one seam and than the other. I secured the ends with about three stitches at the same place.

Unfortunately, I managed to lose my new thimble before I could took the final photo. I looks somewhat like Ronald Rich's one, who was my original inspiration :-)
But I loved how it fitted and if I don't find it, I'll be sure to make a new one.

Wing Flag Poi - Wings

These flags were of my design.
I made a paper pattern of the flag and cut it in three pieces. I laid each piece on a colour and added a seam allowance.
To put these together I just laid them right sides together and sewed in the original seam allowance.

Then I ironed the seam flat and cut one of the allowances to half a centimeter.

I sewed over it with a decorative stitch. Then I cut the other and did the same. This way I got a seam that was nice from both sides.

This was probably the worst at all the flags:-) I don't know why exactly the design reminds me of wings. Fairy's or bat's or a basilisk's..

Brown Jagged Hood - Finished

I took the basted piece, I let the pins in, they can keep the fabric in place bettern than a thread. Sewed in the drawn line.

How did it end up? It didn't work very much. Even the basted and pinned pieces slided on each other and in the end were different for at least half a centimeter. I really don't know how to sew velvet inteligently :'-(

I cut the seam allowances to half a centimeter.

I made these small cuts in the corners to turn the jags easily. You must always be careful no to cut a stitch. I also adapted the allowances at the tips.

Before turning it over, I took the liripipes and attached their seam allowances together with a few stitches.

Turned over, but I still didn't like the appearance of the jags. I handsewed the facial parts together.

I basted them roughly and sewed along the edge. It flattened them nice. I also did this at the face.

I'm quite curious what it will look like with the gardecorps:-)
Done.

Brown Jagged Hood - Pattern

This piece should match my boyfriend's gardecorps. When I was sewing it, I didn't have enough time to make a hood attached to it as in the original picture. Now, I want to make him a standalone hood he could take off or wear with other garments.
I took a basic pattern from the hood number two. I just drew a shorter liripipe and hagged hem. The jags were drawn only on the lighter part of the hood. As I have learnt, I cut two layers of velvet at a time.

I sewed the back and the front chest, the top of head is in the fold. I made the same with dark velvet.
I didn't forget to put small cut in the curved seams.

I took these two pieces, put them right sides together and with the lower edges arranged equally. I pinned them under jags and basted them.
We'll see, whether it will help for the seams not to slide of their way or not.