gardners_7ginzo

Gardiner’s Company Fall Muster

September 18, 2013 / By

 October 25 – 27, 2013

As Fall descends upon the countryside, the lands around the Cat’s Perch Inn have been plagued by rumors of an evil entity. To make matters worse, Captain Gardiner has ordered a muster of the Company. Skirmishing and drill is the order of the day. Drunken exorcisms are possible in the evening.

 Master Bedingfield has arranged accommodations for the Company at the Cat’s Perch and there will be games, dancing, singing, and any other merriment as can be contrived. Present will be Bandsmen, their friends and families, potential recruits, locals dropping by for entertainment, and such others as have a taste for drill or disport.

 RSVP Required. Cost is $15 (still!) for the event. Send payment to:

Sandy Toscano- treasurer AT gardinerscompany.org

Questions or other information needed, contact:

Bob Mellin- president AT gardinerscompany.org

 Contact us if you want to bring friends, so we can plan food and lodgings.

 

SCHEDULE

Friday

General site set up and an informal play day for those that arrive early and help set up the site (i.e., if you arrive while we’re playing, we’ll see you at dinner!)

Saturday

8:00 am WAKE UP (if you’re not already). Breakfast (Oatmeal, bread, fruit, and cheese) will be provided. Get a good breakfast; it will be a while ’til lunch.

9:30 ORIENTATION

Everyone fighting in the skirmishes must attend. Introductions will be made for those new to the muster.

10-noon COMPANY DRILL. Coordinated and supervised manly displays. A chance to brush up on your pike and shot movements in a pacific environment and pose for inspiring photos.

CIVILIAN ACTIVITIES (non-combatants) Handcrafting, socializing; cavorting and frolicking; playing lawn games, etc.

noon-1:30 LUNCH, ACTIVITIES, and PAY.

Members of the Band will be paid what they are worth for drill. Lunch will be the major meal of the day. (provided).

1:30-6:30 SKIRMISHES (See Rules)

Uncoordinated and unsupervised manly displays.

ACTIVITIES. Such as target shooting with musket and bow, individual fencing with baited rapier, pike fencing, sports to include, football, goff, shuttlecock, and lawn games.

6:30-on FESTIVITIES and FEASTING to celebrate the date.

Dinner is bread, fruit and cheese and leftovers from lunch (provided). If you would like to bring a favorite food or drink to share, please do so. Festivities will include dancing, cards, dice, bowls, and singing.

Sunday Meeting and plans for the rest of the year, clean up and go home.

 SITE RULES

You are responsible for your own safety.

Fire safety is a primary consideration. All fires/flames must be attended at all times.

 Absolutely no cars in the re-creation area on Saturday.

Gardiner’s Fourth

July 6, 2013 / By

Several Gardiner’s folks and FOG (Friends of Gardiner’s) gathered at the Toscano’s for festivities on the Fourth of July. Despite the heat, there was a crew of fighters in the backyard fencing and doing cut and thrust. They took breaks in the shade of the tree and had plenty of water to quench their thirst. They also received periodic hound visits as the beagles and visiting foxhound ran amok in the yard.

Inside there was some handwork being done, while Robert brought out a CD with an interactive map of Elizabethan Southwark, dated to 1598.  It was cool to zoom in and see the different streets and see where everyone’s personas reside on the 42” flat screen.   The idea is to eventually make this interactive on the website, once members have determined their residence. Online versions of the maps can be viewed from John Strype’s Survey of London, but not with the same zoomable features as the CD: St. Olave and St. Mary Magdalen Parishes, Southwark and St. Saviours and St. George’s Parishes, Southwark.

We had a wonderful new scadian visit to fight and get some tips on clothing. She was able to go home with a shirt, pants, stockings, and a bodies pattern, thanks to Sandy’s patient drafting skills. While the computer was still hooked up to the TV we showed our new recruit pictures of Elizabethan dress, both men and women as she’s going to fight Rapier in a man’s persona and also maintain a women’s persona when not fighting.  It was cool to look through some of the on-line images, and go through Isobel’s website and it’s treasure trove of information.

Craig brought over the DVD “Tales from the Green Valley” which was really, re-enactor porn.  This is a show, viewable online, about re-creating a 1620 farm in Wales over a period of a year.  Great stuff presented, really, but there were a few things we just had to comment on.  Because, you know, we’ve all worked on a 1620’s farm in Wales.  😉

Jimmy grilled up lots of chicken and burgers, Carla gathered the rest of the meal together, and a feast was had while standing around chatting, sitting around socializing, discussing classes for Atlantian Academy of the Rapier and Costume Symposium, and watching re-enactor porn. A good time was had by all. Everyone dispersed as it came time for fireworks to be lobbed into the air, and enjoyed from our vehicles as we made our ways home through the various cities and towns with fireworks displays.

Jamestown Shirt Addendum

September 26, 2023 / By

A few more shots of the shirt closeup. Also a total on the number of hours: 74 over 3 months.

This is how the open work seam looks and another of the reinforcing stitch on the neck slit.

Open Work Seam


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Jamestown Shirt Done!

September 26, 2023 / By

So Wednesday after 3 months of hand-sewing and embroidery, one of the Jamestown shirts is done!

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Each piece was hemmed by hand with white linen hiding each raw edge. The pieces were then assembled using open work seams. This seam consists of a blanket stitch on the edge of each piece, buttonhole stitch just wider. Then the pieces are joined by stitching around the black silk on the blanket stitch with a white silk to join the pieces and create a decorative spiral look. This was based on examples from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 4.

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The neck was reinforced with a spider type stitched, based on examples from Janet Arnold.

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The embroidery was stitched with a simple back-stitch and a reverse chain for the stems. A french knot was used for flower centers.

 

 

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Finally the ties were finger woven using 5 loops into a square cord using white silk.

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Materials used: Soie Perlee black silk and Gemstone white silk. The Au ver a Soie line is colorfast with washing while Gemstone silks will fade with time and washing in my experience. White linen thread and white linen fabric. I will post close up shots of the open work seams and embroidery later.

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Pictures

September 26, 2023 / By

We’re so busy, we haven’t had time to really sit down and write up much.  I have been taking pictures of construction and all, I just haven’t organized them into anything remotely coherent.  So, what you are getting is a picture update.

The burgundy suit is proceeding well, and we’re at the button holes and buttons phase with the doublet.  It took awhile to work out the best way to do the buttonholes on that shreddy fabric, but we’ve got it.  The pants are very close to the same state (whee!!!)  We’ll get pictures soon.

Carla has been busy working up a mock up of the pants for the green suit.  She’s made a pair of red linen pants that we’ll put in the shop to sell.  It’s turning out well, there are some tweaks that need to be made to the pattern.  The original was for a rather large man (50″ waist) so there’s some adjustments to be made.

This is Carla showing off the pants.  They are a bit big on her.

Neat pocket detail

Funky fly flap

Someone more appropriately sized for this mock up, showing off how poofy they are.  I think they look fab!

The green doublet is proceeding along well.

Not the most flattering picture, but you can see the finger woven trim and the tangerine lining at the sleeves :).

 

 

 

 

Gardiner’s at Ruby Joust

September 26, 2023 / By

Gardiner’s Company made an excellent showing at Ruby Joust over Memorial Day Weekend. Hospitality was provided for Bandesmen, guests, and many rapier fighters. Eleanore and Olivia were even kind enough to provide the recently requested Beet Pie and Spinach Tart. I know I ate more than my fair share of both. Bandesmen visited with guests, showed off the sewing in progress for the Governor’s new clothes, and even had a bit of a pike drill.

Esther kindly took pictures of the set-up, that you can view in her Flickr set.

Some more on that shirt…

September 25, 2023 / By

Hey, boys and girls, it’s been an intense time here at Casa Mellin, as I’ve been logging 11-hour workdays to get the ruffs done by our due date.

Wanted to show some more pics of the gathered shirt:

These pictures show the way the ruffles are gathered into the cuffs and collar.  On the original I’m working from (a Swedish shirt from the 1570s or so), the gathering is done with three lines of 1/8″ stitches that are then pulled tight.  Since the linen I’m working with is thicker than the original linen (I can’t find anything that fine that we can afford), I switched to 1/4″ gathers for the neck ruffle.  When the three lines are pulled tight, you see what happens above; the gathers are much firmer and hold their shape much better.  These gathers are then stitched (with one stitch to each pleat) into the cuffs and collar, working first on one side, then the other.  The end result is a fine ruffle that would have been set into shape with starch, but looks pretty nice even without it:

I’ll post pics of the finished shirt once I’ve taken photos.

All the Trimmings

September 25, 2023 / By

 A week ago Carla and Sandy started putting the hand braided trim on the tabs for the green Wool-silk suit.

The trim is created using a technique called fingerloop braiding, using five bowes, or loops of silk thread, to create a flat braid. A length of trim is then applied to each individual skirting tab for the doublet prior to assembly and lining.

Speaking of lining, Sandy and Carla also had a heck of a time finding the right lining material in the right color. So after several tests and several dye baths later, they have hand dyed the silk that will be used to line the green wool-silk doublet. The tangerine makes a great contrast and will be well suited for the Governor of Jamestown.

 

Silk lining with trimmed tab, and lengths of braided trim.

Quick look at buttons

September 25, 2023 / By

 

The buttons we are using for the burgundy silk suit. Pay no attention to the buttonhole, as it was done by machine. We’ll be doing the buttonholes by hand on the suit. Buttons were cast by Richard Lanni (Bucklecastings.com) and gilding was done by Lesley Wilson at Darkwood Armory.