janestarz | Last Minute Larp Projects

Yesterday I decided to drop in on Maerquin after all. I had the chairman on the phone and he has this certain way of asking (yes, I'm blaming

nachtvisser!).

Because I'm in no way up to playing Marianne, especially not one week after Assen and after the year I've had, I decided to pick up my ~~Redneck~~ Roodlaars-wannabe and play Yfke.
Yfke is a hunter/archer and wears mostly black and red. I've got a Ragar/Dolle Griet made torso top in red and black, a long black coat, a pair of black wide-legged trousers that are a crossover between trousers and a skirt, and a black top with red piping down the neckline.

So...from bottom to top:

The trouser/skirt was far too wide. It would flop down to my hips and hang there, suspended by the friction on my underpants. Possible solutions: add an elastic waistband, take in side seams, or wear my Drachenfest trousers.
The Drachenfest trousers are made from stretch black jeans fabric and will do in a pinch, especially if I wear black boots over them, but they do need belt loops to stay up. I remember how these were after three days of wear, and I'm not the girl I was back in the summer (width-wise, that is).
The black top's sleeves are too short. I checked, I still have the fabric, so I can make myself a new pair of sleeves, 10 cm longer, with possibly the same thumb-hole in the seam, which I liked. I'm an expert at taking out serger seams by now, so this shouldn't take too long.
The leather top is almost, but not quite, too large for me. Considering the temperature is around freezing at night, I'll have to wear extra layers underneath, so I decided not to bother with it, except for lacing it tighter.
The long black coat with red piping is a disaster. It's lined with a sort of burgundy lining, while the piping is blood-red. The shoulders are sagging way down to the biceps, despite the shoulder pads. This makes the sleeves too long. The whole thing is an interfacing-less disaster which will probably end up in the monster's kit because undead make everything look good.
But now I needed a new coat. Or cloak. I could wear Marianne's black woolen cloak, but it has grey lining and a rather dinstinctive grey embroidery around the hemline.

Hey.
Wait a minute.
I've got maybe one or two nights to do all of the above. I'm pretty sure I could squeeze in making a new cloak for myself. Really? Yah, really. C'mon. I'm superJane!

And suddenly I had a great purpose for that one Red Wool that I bought off Bertie the Bolt a few Castlefests ago. After all, Yfke's colours are black, red, and a dash of white.
I folded the length of wool double, cut trapezoid shapes of 170 cm tall (because I wanted a long red cloak), sewed everything together and praised the Gods of Weave and Weft that the wool. Will. Not. Fray. Ever. Not Even When You Pick At It. OMG.
And because I'm me, I pressed the seams open, draped the four trapezoids over my mannequin, took a triangle out of the shoulder seam to make it fit better, sewed a facing to the neckhole, cut the whole thing to length, pressed a 6 cm hem and then proceeded to blind-hem it just because I could.
And it's prrrrrretty.

Ahem. My room looks like a tornado went through it, but I have a new cloak. Squeee!
Tomorrow night is dancing, so that leaves me with Friday morning before and evening after work to finish the shirt and the belt loops, which should not be a challenge. But now it's time for bed.
Me and my stupid last-minute larp projects. Sheesh.