Avoncroft museum of buildings

I took some wonderful photos at Avoncroft Museum of Buildings in Bromsgrove because the light was brilliant. It was possibly one of the hottest days of the year so far but with so many buildings and shady areas to shelter in it was not an issue at this beautiful open-air museum site.

 

After exploring the site I even cooled down in the café with a Septimus Spyder Anglo-Saxon ale, some strawberries and had a nice chat about re-enactment with the friendly café staff!

 

Woodshop where a Victorian Period Interpreter was chopping wood during the day. 

 

 The Tudor Merchant's House - The house of a Dyer where I chatted to the ladies about their Tudor linen shutters and dinner.

 

The Toll House - As a Period Interpreter on a busman's holiday, I obviously had a very long discussion with the Period Interpreters inside about bread ovens, Ruth Goodman, rice pudding and how they tend their garden. They were excited to show me their garden and the magical tin sprinklers, which were suspended from the tree, filled with water and left to sprinkle through the holes in the bottom of the tins.

 

   

The Tithe Barn was brilliant with the light shining through the woven frame. What a great effect, I felt a bit like I was in an alien movie! The amazing craftsmanship that goes into a beautiful thing like this makes me realise why conservation is so important - a bit of awe is good for the soul.

 

Avoncroft runs Blacksmithing courses from the Old Forge and Chain workshop. Forging iron with fire, what a wicked and enchanting skill to learn. Some of the bellows were even bigger than me!

 

I am not sure what they were doing with this recycled greenhouse as there wasn't anyone around to talk to. The site is so massive it must be tricky to populate, but I'm assuming it's a recycled greenhouse as it was in a garden full of strawberries: They sell jam and other products made at the museum, like pickles and Avoncroft-stamped bricks, which are so cool.

 

I spent three hours there without even watching the time and I only got to see half the site so it's definitely worth a revisit!

More Winter partlet-ing

Couple more pics. By the end of tonight I WILL have sewn the whole partlet together, except the bottom seam, and I will have finished these ties - of which I need 10. I've done 3 so far. Nearly nearly.

I took some pics to make me feel like I've actually done something. Sewing these ties together took forever last night. I went to bed at 2am: I was on a roll watching Kaamelott and doing sewing :)

I turned it inside out yesterday and now it's ... FINISHED!

Goring up the lining of my waistcoat

The Gores I had mainly been avoiding yesterday... are predominant today. You are getting sewn in and you're going to look sleek and elegant and THAT'S THAT! 

So I have tacked in my triangular gores to the slits in my Tudor waistcoat. I've fitted them so the seam is graduated so there's no bunching-up in the garment. 

I might need to put some overstitching or blanket stitching at the top which will look fine. Not sure how that'll look on the woolly exterior of my waistcoat but we'll see. At the moment the tacking looks fine - I'll go somewhere with better light to make sure I get a good, straight, hand-sewn seam so that the bottom of the waistcoat really sticks out (literally - Tudor gals need a good set of hips!).