Greenwork Shirt Hits the Halfway Point!

With the stitching you see on this page the Greenwork shirt hits the halfway point.  Based on my estimates I believe the shirt will take about 345 hours to complete.  The completion of this section below was done as I hit 178 hours.  I have completed the greenwork on the collar, both cuffs and both sleeves.  This is the beginning of the design on the back of the shirt.  The repeating pattern continued on the sleeves for 28 inches.  The front and back of the shirt only require about 18 inches of stitching.  The remaining portion of the estimated time will be allowed for completion of the edgework and assembly.

Here is the back of the design.  I have to say that my overall quality of work appears to have improved a great deal in the last 175 hours or so.  From the front you cannot really tell, but from the back you can.  I don't really care what the back looks like, but I imagine that some judges will want to look at the inside of the garment anyway.

I have formally announced today that I intend to enter this as one of my 5 entries in the Middle Kingdom Pentathalon A&S competition in 2015.  Now to begin planning on the next 4 entries.

Some close ups of the images on the back of the shirt.  I like to make subtle differances between the bees.  Some have differant eyes and a couple even have a little smirk on their faces.  Mostly I did that for my daughers.  They really got a kick out of the bees.

Shavehorse

Well, this project was completed without a camera in hand.  I normally take tons of photos along the wy, but this project was differant.  I wanted to get it done so that I could move on to using it.  In fact, I even cheated and used a power drill and a power saw a few times.  About 1/2 the work was done with hand tools, but like I said I wanted it done.  I plan on making another version which is more period looking but this one was created out of need.

I acquired the wood from an old deck that we had in the back of the house when we moved it.  I tore down the deck but kept some of the larger boards for future use.  These have been in the garage for about 5 years now.  As I worked on the project one of my daughters came out and said "Is this a project, or is this the project that you need to complete so that you can make another project?"  That made me laugh quite a bit because she had me pegged.  I needed this project to help finish some other woodworking projects I had in mind.

I wanted a simple period looking bench that would not only serve it's purpose but would also break down quickly and easily and fit in the back of my car.  The bench is a bit shorter than I would have liked, but I was limited to the space in the back of my car.

Here you see all the pieces broken down and spread out.

The wide boards are treated lumber from the deck.  The 2X2 which I used for the front legs were left over from another project and are simple construction grade pine.  The 2X4 is untreaded construction grade pine.  The pins which hold the head and foot on are the only portions of the project made of "decent" wood.  They are made of oak.

Stacks very small and easy to carry.  I may end up making some sort of canvas bag, but for now I can toss the whole pile in a small trunk easily.

Set up and ready to use.  The surface of the boards are stained with paint and old stain from the prior owners.  I will likely sand the entire thing to clean it up a bit, but wanted to make sure that it would work first.

Sorry, but I don't really have a plan and didn't really measure anything out as I worked on it.  I had seen some in the past and found some images of period benches but didn't bother to draw up a measured diagram.  The only dimension which was critical was the overall length.  The rest of the pieces I simply held in place and eyeballed it.