Judge Declan 11

 Greetings

More tribulations for our young Albion City Judge...

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 7

 Greetings

I had finished sewing the lines of gold lace and Russia braid on to the bow section.

Now I tidied up the lace and braid ends and sewed the section into a bow loop.

Next, I had to make a piece to close the centre of the bow. As the examples I had found used a narrower piece for this, I decided to use a different width of gold lace for the decoration.

I also decided to make use of the pieces of red wool I had left from shortening the sleeves of the tunic.

I did not have to decorate the concealed rear part of the closer loop, so I cut a shorter piece of the gold lace and attached the red wool as piping.

I then cut some canvas to length and some black wool to cover it,

hand sewed the wool to the canvas

before hand sewing the piped gold lace to the piece.

I then sewed piece into a loop and slid it on to complete the bow section.

I will post more on this project later.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 10

 Greetings

Judge Declan's encounter with Judge Leather is heating up...

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 6

 Greetings

Having finished the cuffs and the epaulettes, I turned my attention to the officer's waist sash.

I had previously acquired an antique waist sash, which was, sadly, missing the cover piece  which normally hides the adjustable leather strap.

I , therefore decided to make my own cover piece and (after some research) determined that this should be shaped like a bow.

I adjusted the sash to fit and measured the gap.

Luckily I had some belt strapping that I previously bought that was the same width as the sash.

I cut this into a piece for the bow and a piece to make two tails.

I then flat covered both pieces in black wool closing with herring bone stitch.

I had several different widths of the same gold lace pattern as the original , but not the right one.

I managed to find it on line and ordered two metres- which I was sure would be enough for the project.

I added three line of gold lace to the bow section...

and found this alone was only just shy of two metres. I hastily order four more metres.

The original sash showed a thin piping of red wool on the edges of the gold lace, but I opted to edge it with red Russia braid, which I initially tried to machine sew.

Unfortunately, this proved very difficult to do accurately and the Russia braid did not take well to unpicking. Thus I ended up hand sewing it on, which required patience- and a thimble.

I will post more anon.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 9

 Greetings

The judge is down to his undies...

-But he has more trials to come...

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 5

 Greetings

I have continued to work on the epaulettes of the steampunked Irish Guards uniform.

I completed sewing on the gold lace, but left the outer edge of the curve unsewn.

Next, I used my brass spike to make holes for the rank badges, which are held on with split pins.

You will note that I opted for the rank of Captain.

Then I carefully doubled over lengths of bullion fringing and hand sewed the two layers together, before hand sewing them onto the epaulettes.

I then tried them out on the tunic to see how they sat.

Next , I sewed down the last of the gold lace and sewed a flexible gold braid over the curve.

Finally, I cut pieces of black felt and , removing the rank badges,glued them to the underside of the epaulettes.

I whip stitched round the edges then pierced the holes for the rank badges with my spike and replaced them.

The epaulettes are now complete.

I still have some work to do on the uniform and will post more later.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 8

 Greetings

Here is another version of this computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 4

 Greetings

Having finished the cuffs, I now moved on to the epaulettes.

I decided that I would not reproduce the wing epaulettes of the original uniform.

I measured the epaulettes of my Scots Guards tunic and the epaulettes I bought for my Napoleonic Line Officer tunic.

I decided that I did not want the epaulettes to be as rigid as the Napoleonic ones, so opted to only stiffen them with one layer of canvas.

Once I had sewn the wool to the canvas, I measured the position and length of the button hole, cut it and button-hole stitched the raw edges.

I then hand sewed the  wool tape round the button hole.

Next  I hand sewed the edging of gold lace. This required me to hand pleat the lace round the end curve of the epaulette.

I will post more later.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 7

 Greetings

Here is another version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 3

 Greetings

I have finished working on the cuffs of my Irish Guards tunic.

First , I ladder stitched the button flap onto the cuff and sleeve outer layer .

This also involved ladder stitching a section of the outer sleeve seam.

I them turned the sleeve through and hand closed the lining.

Finally, I used my brass point to open holes within the false buttonholes and sewed on the small buttons that came with the tunic. I had to replace one that had got lost, but found a small Irish Guards button of the same size. As this was a 'gold' stay-bright, I opted to group three and one.

Now the cuffs are complete, I will move on to working on the epaulettes.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 6

 Greetings

This is another version of this computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 2

 Greetings

I have been working on the new cuff button flaps for my Irish Guards tunic.

I took the size from my Scots Guards tunic and bias-bound the edges of a single layer of wool.

I then added an edging of gold lace.

Next, after a lot of measuring and calculating, I hand sewed false buttonholes in cream wool tape.

The Irish Guards are the fourth regiment in the Household Division and have their buttons grouped in fours. Thus they have four buttons on each tail flap and four on each cuff. I decided to stick with this on my version.

I will, however, be re-using the small buttons that came with the tunic, as sourcing replacement Irish Guards button turns out to be expensive and ( it transpires) the existing buttons are a 'brass'-type stay bright, rather than the usual silver...

I will post more later.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 5

 Greetings

Here's another version of my latest computer art

Until next time

Adieu

Guards Steampunk 1

 Greetings

A while ago, I was lucky enough to find an Irish Guards musician's dress tunic in a charity shop.

It was missing the cuffs ( and cuff buttons), one shoulder button, the wing epaulettes and the previous owner had attached some random small British military buttons to the raw sleeve ends by making holes and backing them with rings.

However, it fit me with the raw sleeve ends being only a little too long, so I bought it.

Originally, I planned to make replica cuffs , using my Scots Guard tunic as a pattern, but I have now decided to gently Steampunk it.

First, I trimmed an inch or so from the sleeve ends and added new cuffs, edged with a turn of tape.

 

The tap is very narrow, so I sewed it on by hand.

So far, the new cuff mimics the original uniform, however...

I am currently working on the button flaps and will post more later.

Until next time

Adieu

Judge Declan 4

 Greetings

Here is another version of my new computer art.

Until next time

Adieu

Regency Ball 3

 Greetings

Here are some more pictures from the Regency Ball Teddy and I attended at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.

Here are some of the other attendees

We danced in the music room.

and Teddy and I dined in the Great Kitchen

Finally, it was all organised by Zack Pinsent, who attended in his splendid Windsor Uniform( complete with small sword, Garter and Garter Star)

It was an excellent event and we both really enjoyed it.

The only fly in the ointment, was our accommodation, which had purported to be a small hotel on line.

It, unfortunately, turned out to be a run-down dosshouse with an all-night  Burger King next door. This was used as a taxi pick-up point for the noisy beach-side nightclub just over the road- into the small hours.

This-and several other massive failings- earned the place a very negative review...

However, to end on a more positive note, Teddy and I had gone to a couple of Regency Dance practices to prepare for the event and, as we have discovered these take place fortnightly in Surbtion ( at a easy walk from the station) we have decided to continue to go and hope to attend  further balls.

Now, I've just got to make some more breeches...and another shirt...and maybe a coat...and I should look out for new bicorn...

Until next time

Adieu