Project Elf Chain: Finished!
Mar. 18th, 2012 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzBeing felled with a cold that makes me sneeze until I'm tickled pink makes me not want to sit in a chilly room behind a sewing machine or bent over my homework until my brain drips out my nose. What with NoKey being injured and all, I was pretty much bound to the couch anyways, and I figured I might as well do something useful with my time.
I had counted the finished underarm 4-in-1 on Friday and continued to fix the other underarm in the same manner. 55 rings across running from scale to scale, extending somewhere between 11 and 13 rings into the armpit. It was in part a guesswork and in part "winging it". But now that it was finished (OMG! It is finished!) I still needed to do some work on the gambeson in order to make everything fit nicely. The stress creases from my last entry were most likely caused by the underarm gussets. They were in the wrong place and limiting my movement, so they had to go. Sadly, the finishing touches near the armscyes of the gambeson would take a lot of tearing things apart in order to get it all loose. The strips over the seams had to be taken apart gently, so I could re-use them.
Please excuse crappy phonecam pics. (I hope these work because Picasaweb is a pain in the tush!)
After tearing everything apart quite carefully, I started sewing everything back together. The sleeve had been taken loose for most of the armscye, and the gusset had been removed. The sleeve would only remain attached at the top of the shoulder, extending maybe 15 cm down on either side. The rest would be bound with a bit of straight-grain linen, both on the sleeve side of things as on the armscye part of things. I am so happy I saved those scraps!
After sewing down the strips with the sewing machine, I set to working the rest by hand. Granted, I could have done most of this, if not all of this, with the sewing machine. But where's the fun in that!? I'd be sitting in a cold atelier, bent over the sewing machine on a bad chair. No fun at all. Instead, I was working my needle on the couch, keeping NoKey company and watching oodles of StarGate SG-1. There's a lot of Camelot and Ori in this gambeson armpit, I can guarantuee that!
After lunchtime the thing was finished. Part of me was very afraid. What if this didn't solve the problem? I would probably have more room to move in, but what if the chainmail still didn't fit over the gambeson?
Only one way to find out! I pulled the gambeson on and allowed myself a moment to marvel at the extra room I had to move in. I could turn my arm any which way without pulling on the rest of the garment. Score! This would come in most handy in swordfighting training!
Then the chainmail. I've never had an easier time pulling it on, but I am unsure whether this was because I knew NoKey wouldn't be able to help me much or because of the better mobility.
The stress crease was almost completely gone now the gusset wasn't trying to go for the waistline anymore!
I snapped some quick pictures in the hallway mirror:
Even with my right arm going up, the hemline of the gambeson is straight across.
I'm not very good at taking pictures with my left hand, but here's the other armscye, all done and prettified.
Front view, showing the awesomeness of the scales and the length of the sleeves.
In principle, this is now finished project. The shirt is finished, although I could add gussets to the side slits at the hips. I could lengthen it with the remainder of the rings as well. I still have some of the "old" anodised aluminium rings. The gambeson is finished as well. I will need to add two rings towards the armscye to make sure it closes well enough. I might also have to replace the clasp at the neckline, which is suffering from metal fatigue.
The project was started on January 29th, 2010 and finished on March 17th 2012.
Or to recap: two years, one month and 18 days (with breaks in between). A helluvalot of money and rings too, come to think of it. But it's DONE!
...
...now what am I going to do in the evenings?
I had counted the finished underarm 4-in-1 on Friday and continued to fix the other underarm in the same manner. 55 rings across running from scale to scale, extending somewhere between 11 and 13 rings into the armpit. It was in part a guesswork and in part "winging it". But now that it was finished (OMG! It is finished!) I still needed to do some work on the gambeson in order to make everything fit nicely. The stress creases from my last entry were most likely caused by the underarm gussets. They were in the wrong place and limiting my movement, so they had to go. Sadly, the finishing touches near the armscyes of the gambeson would take a lot of tearing things apart in order to get it all loose. The strips over the seams had to be taken apart gently, so I could re-use them.
Please excuse crappy phonecam pics. (I hope these work because Picasaweb is a pain in the tush!)
After tearing everything apart quite carefully, I started sewing everything back together. The sleeve had been taken loose for most of the armscye, and the gusset had been removed. The sleeve would only remain attached at the top of the shoulder, extending maybe 15 cm down on either side. The rest would be bound with a bit of straight-grain linen, both on the sleeve side of things as on the armscye part of things. I am so happy I saved those scraps!
After sewing down the strips with the sewing machine, I set to working the rest by hand. Granted, I could have done most of this, if not all of this, with the sewing machine. But where's the fun in that!? I'd be sitting in a cold atelier, bent over the sewing machine on a bad chair. No fun at all. Instead, I was working my needle on the couch, keeping NoKey company and watching oodles of StarGate SG-1. There's a lot of Camelot and Ori in this gambeson armpit, I can guarantuee that!
After lunchtime the thing was finished. Part of me was very afraid. What if this didn't solve the problem? I would probably have more room to move in, but what if the chainmail still didn't fit over the gambeson?
Only one way to find out! I pulled the gambeson on and allowed myself a moment to marvel at the extra room I had to move in. I could turn my arm any which way without pulling on the rest of the garment. Score! This would come in most handy in swordfighting training!
Then the chainmail. I've never had an easier time pulling it on, but I am unsure whether this was because I knew NoKey wouldn't be able to help me much or because of the better mobility.
The stress crease was almost completely gone now the gusset wasn't trying to go for the waistline anymore!
I snapped some quick pictures in the hallway mirror:
Even with my right arm going up, the hemline of the gambeson is straight across.
I'm not very good at taking pictures with my left hand, but here's the other armscye, all done and prettified.
Front view, showing the awesomeness of the scales and the length of the sleeves.
In principle, this is now finished project. The shirt is finished, although I could add gussets to the side slits at the hips. I could lengthen it with the remainder of the rings as well. I still have some of the "old" anodised aluminium rings. The gambeson is finished as well. I will need to add two rings towards the armscye to make sure it closes well enough. I might also have to replace the clasp at the neckline, which is suffering from metal fatigue.
The project was started on January 29th, 2010 and finished on March 17th 2012.
Or to recap: two years, one month and 18 days (with breaks in between). A helluvalot of money and rings too, come to think of it. But it's DONE!
...
...now what am I going to do in the evenings?
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-18 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-18 09:14 pm (UTC)You have every right to be proud of what you have done.
no subject
Date: 2012-03-20 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-20 05:51 pm (UTC)