Kings College went well.

The Rom clothing was a success! While it wasn't exactly visually stunning, it was comfortable, light weight, and easy to get into and out of in the back seat of a car. Those of you with access to fancy dressing rooms may sniff but I've gotten used to speed dressing at events in the weirdest places.

The outfit was visually period which was very important to me. The next version of it will be even better. I have some coral colored linen for the drape and enough black linen for the re-enforcing stripe. I think I may be able to make some nice ribbon ties out of the scraps as well.

For this drape I scavenged an old poly-cotton striped skirt from an unwanted dress. The stripe of black cotton sheeting was sewn down on the top, then I ran out of thread and time. Also, I couldn't figure out why the pattern I was using wanted the stripe 18 inches from the edge. That would have put my little bit of material almost in half making it very bulky, so I only put it 6 inches in. After everything was put together did the penny drop. That extra fold of material becomes a pocket! I was able to carry a small bag with my notes, phone, and wallet in the little pocket I had made. Next time I think I'll make it a 12 inch fold since I rarely need to carry much more then that. The drape itself didn't come down past my knee which is a little bit short looking at the pictures. The next one will be wider. I also am very tempted to start carrying documentation for the outfit in the pocket as well. A few people did ask about it and were totally shocked that it was a "Gypsy" outfit.

The white linen chemise held up fine and the silk turban worked well, particularly since I made my hair into a bun before putting the turban on. That's not normally how I do it, but it kept the thing balanced better. I'm really looking at all the bizarre and interesting hats that keep showing up in these pictures and thinking I'm going to need to sit down and play with some lengths of fabric for awhile. There's this huge almost Chinese coolie looking hat that's seen fairly often. I usually see it more on males then females, but I've got a Bruegel painting that *may* have a female telling fortunes wearing one of these whoppers.

Bruegel was known for putting daily details, common things that his audience would have already known, into his paintings to add verisimilitude. His painting of The Sermon of St. John is dated roughly 1566 which is about 66 years later then I wanted, but includes lots of costumy goodness. Many costumers of my acquaintance use Bruegel as a reliable source so I hope I can do the same.

I'll keep looking around to see what I can find and build. While the outfits themselves seem pretty straight forward, the hats are going to be a little more complicated if I do them right.