Landsknecht Guild

Post edited 9:58 pm - August 10, 2009 by Gustav

A few important things to note before you start slashing that will greatly ease your aggravation (as learned through many, many hours of aggravation)

1. Make sure that you have the correct side of the fabric facing! This is especially important on the legs which may have a right and wrong side of the fabric (nap, etc)
2. Slashing patterns need not match. Men, the left leg of a Speisstrager (which, at this point, is everyone excet Gustav and der Kaplan) should have smaller slashes to avoid getting in the way of drawing your Katz. If you are going with a single short leg, this is the one to do it on!
3. When possible, slash on the bias. Fulled wool will likely be fine, but if you haven't fulled it enough you may get some fraying on the slashes if you cut with the grain. This roughly translates as horizontal and vertical slashes on the leg, diagonal ones on the arms and torso. This isn't hard and fast, though. Just test a scrap with the grain to see if you the fabric frays too much.
4. Cut your small slashes before your long ones. This will result in the fabric moving around less on you.
5. Crosses should always be cut as an X and not a +. Thus they appear more on bodies and sleeves than on legs. This is because as Germans we favor the saltire, or the Saint Andrew's Cross, as it is favored by our Emporer. The + is Swiss and obviously carries over to today
6. Draw your pattern out on your fabric before cutting. USE A FABRIC MARKER OR CHALK FOR THIS!!! Never write on fabric with a permanent marker unless you are sure it will not be seen (being cut off, hidden in a seam, etc)
7. Don't put slashing where your codpiece will go (leave an unslashed area around the crotch) and I recommend stopping slashes by mid-cheak over the butt. Essentially stop the width of the wierd tab that comes up the crotch BEFORE you get to that tab (IE, if it's 3 inches wide, stop slashes 3 inches from the other edge of the leg

So, how do you cut them anyway? Well, I use a rotary mat and rotary cutter. If you don't know what one is, google it. They are FANTASTIC if you plan to do more of this in the future, or cut out circles and odd shapes. However, they aren't the only option. I also use an eXacto knife to cut my smaller slashes. Place the fabric on a cutting mat, scrap linoleoum (not the kitchen floor!), or a piece of scrap plywood (standard wood will let the knife sink in too much). Use a straight edge if possible (a steel or tough platic ruler works well, or a quilter's rule is even better) Make clean, continuous cuts (stopping and starting causes ragged slashes)

On your first set of Landsknecht clothing, I think less lsashing is better than too much. It may cause sagging in places and ways you don't expect. If you have a specific wood cut you want to emulate and aren't sure how to slash it, let me know and I'll help. Remember, your leg tapers, so straight vertical lines will not be truly parrallel, but will be slightly closer at the bottom than the top.

I will ask Alena to bring my mat and cutter down on Sunday so that if you want to cut out something specific I can help.