George and Roscoe Puppets

(Topic: Sewing, crafts, puppets, shakespeare)

Hi Friends!

Some years ago now, in 2015, I saw hubby play with a puppet sea turtle, and realized that I absolutely needed to make him some puppets of his own! I'd never made puppets before, but I figured I could give it a shot. In the meantime, a friend decided that there would be a "Shakespeare Puppetry" contest at a medieval event. In fact, I'm pretty sure she came up with the idea because she also saw hubby playing with that puppet...

I went ahead with just building as my heart led me, without a particular style or play in mind. I just had fun building. I also worked at an industrial supply company at the time, and had access to materials to help me get from idea to reality.

This is George. He is made out of red fleece and fiberfill for the soft parts; his skull is half of a polypropylene ball, the interior of his mouth is a felt disc. Some parts are glued, most are hand stitched. (Note that you can see a cat puppet I already owned beside him. She has a lock washer crown on her head.)

Here you can see how his eyes fit in their sockets. In fact, this was before I put the upper lids on! The eyes are small plastic balls like the skull. The shading on his tongue and the pupils and irises of his eyes are just drawn on with sharpie, but the whites of his eyes actually glow in the dark! As I was constructing him, initially planning to have his eyes fastened on firmly, they kept slipping out of my fingers! This reminded hubby of a scene in King Lear where someone's eye gets put out. Hm....

Once we decided on King Lear, I sewed up some decently Shakespearean clothing for him. We cut down the scene and eliminated a few characters to make it doable for 2 people (3 puppets total). George played The Duke of Glouchester - whose eye gets put out by sword, I believe (though it was a bit more haphazard than that in our version!). The cat (named Mies) played one of King Lear's daughters. We added the conceit that she meowed like Henrietta Pussycat from Mr. Rogers.

This crotchety old fellow is named Roscoe. He played Albany, who did the dirty deed. Thus, Roscoe's eyes needed to stay in place! Between bigger lids and a lot of glue, his eyes stay firmly in his head. They are made the same way as George's but don't glow. His hair is actual wool, and he's bald on top! He also has a dowel from his head downwards, which is used as a grip by reaching in through his back.

Full cast photo :)
P.S. I did make legs for Roscoe. However, I ran out of time to attach them before the puppetry contest, so his legs still lie in the box with them, separately!

 We ended up putting on the funniest tragedy! Our comedy of errors - since George's eye fell out early! - had our audience rolling. Best of all, I had a blast putting this crew together!




Yours,

Sarah

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County Fair

Dear Readers,

This year, for the first time, I entered some items in the fair!

SPOILER ALERT:

I didn't win.


That's ok, though! Most of the pieces I submitted, I could tell you exactly what's wrong with it. The frustration is that the judging criteria are not publicized, so there is no way of knowing for sure why your piece placed or didn't.

I only was disappointed about one of my pieces - as I said, the rest were more of a lark.

For your perusal, the pieces in situ:

Robbie's doll. Actually, I don't know if the doll's been named! I should ask the little boy I gave it to.

A close-up. I embroidered the stars and moon on the belly and on the hood before I sewed the guy together. Entirely hand-sewn. He was made from a kit, but the pieces were not pre-cut and there was no pattern for the embroidery. The face is also hand embroidered.

The purple one in the middle!

A close-up. This is a pillowcase (with ties on the bottom using standard 1/4" white twill tape). The white diamond is stitched onto the front side. The back is a green leafy print. The embroidery is done on white muslin using DMC embroidery floss. The top and L/R corners each contain three small hand-done eyelets. The embroidery is done using satin, stem, and running stitches, while the blackberries themselves are done using french knots. No pattern was used, this was my own design based on a photograph.

This is a jacket and hat combo I made for my littlest sister several years back.

Up close again! These are both made of what I believe would be called a brocade - they are upholstery fabrics and thus nothing special (probably all sorts of gross modern fibers). The hat is lined with a light blue/white striped cotton. The pattern for the hat consists of four quadrants plus a brim/band. The jacket is all one piece, with the only seams being the underside of the arm leading across the front of the chest. The rest of it just folds together! This is based on an early medieval pattern I was shown in my history of fashion class. The coat is lined with a slightly coarse green fabric, and "piped" with red bias tape sewn with a fancy machine stitch in green thread (maybe it was just a zigzag? I can't remember, and I don't have the garment in front of me right now). The jacket is actually also entirely reversible. It fits a four- or five-year-old.

Child's nightgown (age 10?) and my housecoat (house dress? coat dress?).

Made of wool or a wool blend. Buttons down the front. Cuffs, collar, and accents are all crocheted. The collar and cuffs (but especially the collar!) are actually a physical representation of a mathematical hyperbolic plane. The yarn is acrylic, fall-tone variegated.

The nightgown. Based on another nightgown my sister used to have but had outgrown. Made of pink striped cotton flannel. Has small lace around the yoke. Sleeves gathered onto elastic just up from the edge to create a ruffle. Buttons down the back of the yoke.

1820's inspired dress. Made of a non-natural crushed velvet with gold sparkles. High waist. Sleeves are small tubes, so they fall similarly to cap sleeves. Zipper down the back.

And my standby medieval gown! This is a particolored cotehardie with undergown. Buttons down the front, tippets on the sleeves, buttons up to the elbow on the undergown. Both undergown and gown made of a linen & rayon blend (bleaugh).

I had a great time at the fair, too! I danced with my clogging group, and really enjoyed the Ferris Wheel!

Most sincerely yours,
~ Sarah

Parti-Colored Cotehardie

Posting some older items, to catch up with what I'm working on now!

Garment Data:
- Type: Cotehardie
- Date made: ?
- Pattern: Self-drafted, based on a "block" (personal pattern) that I drafted based on the directions in The Medieval Tailor's Assistant
- Fabric: Unfortunately, this was a poor choice: A Linen/Rayon blend. Rayon doesn't breathe, and is thus quite hot to wear in the summer, and not as comfortable as pure linen would have been (but it was cheaper, which is why I made the choice).
- Trim: Covered metal buttons, using the two-piece kits from generic fabric stores. White tippets made of the same type of fabric.
- Time to finish: don't recall
- Notes: These pictures are from August 2012 at the Great Lakes Medieval Faire near Cleveland, Ohio. See also Age of Poetry. Note that in all pictures I have my dress kilted up over the belt. Easier to walk, plus cooler in the summer. The headdress is a Fillet and Barbette.

Also, just for fun: same dress, in an earlier year, with Sir Shanton (sp?) who is a jouster at the Ohio Renaissance Festival.

Most sincerely yours,
~ Sarah

Mathematical Crocheting

Hello again!
It's been a while, but I finally have gathered together a few more pictures. So over the next few days, you can expect to see some more examples of things I've made.
Enjoy!


Here is a coat/dress that I made last year. The dress shape is the the same pattern as you have seen in the post of my cotehardie. I simply made this one out of a fawn colored wool and left the front open to the floor:

Garment Data:
- Type: Dress
- Date made: ?
- Pattern: Cotehardie (my own design, based on basic body block)
- Fabric: Fawn-colored wool blend
- Trim: Acrylic fall-colors variegated yarn, acrylic brown yarn, salvaged wedding dress buttons EDIT: New buttons! Now they are brown wooden beads
- Time to finish: ?
- Notes: The collar and cuffs are approximated hyperbolic planes




And here it is from the back:



Before I show you the detail shots, let me explain the mathematical concept behind the collar.
It is a hyperbolic plane, which means that it is somewhat like a rectangle that got really, really stretched out on one side and is so big that it can't lie flat (that's why it wrinkles up into those great waves!).
The cuffs on the sleeves are also hyperbolic. I then took the same variegated autumn colored yarn, as well as some coordinating brown yarn, to crochet all the other accents. The buttons I salvaged from a vintage wedding dress that no longer held together.
The detail pictures, as promised:

From the front, the button plaque:



The button plaque, again:



One of the sleeves, with cuff:



The bottom hem:



The collar, in all its glory (six inches at the beginning of the rectangle, probably several feet on the outside edge):



Up close and personal: I believe I did this completely in Double Stitches:



The top edge of the collar. You can see here that I affixed it by hand after crocheting it. The width you see the stitching at is the original width of the "rectangle":



Well, I hope you enjoyed looking at it as much as I enjoyed making and enjoy wearing it!!!

Most sincerely yours,

~ Sarah

New Shoes

The following picture depicts a pair of shoes I hand-stitched. Unfortunately, the leather I chose was too lightweight, so the shoes are more of a slipper, and are too large for me. I need to alter them!

Garment Data:
- Type: Shoes, "medieval"
- Date made: ?
- Pattern: Self-designed, based on the one used here: Medieval Craftsman Shoes
- Fabric: thin black leather (originally a garment that I cut apart)
- Trim: n/a
- Time to finish: ?
- Notes: none




Most sincerely yours,

~ Anne

15th Century

Truly, the age of Geoffrey Chaucer was one of Poetry.

Most sincerely yours,

~Sarah