Burnout and Basics

 In the Great Before, I would regularly start going to SCA events on the first weekend of February and have something hopping every weekend until the end of March. This year I started the first weekend in February and have yet to stop. It looks like my schedule is booked through the last Saturday in April. While I have extroverted tendencies, I'm starting to feel exhausted just from ALL the people. This may not have been my best plan ever.

The reason I have been going to so many events is that I've started teaching my Absolute Basics classes. I noticed a little bit ago that we have lots of intermediate and advanced level classes for people who are interested in going deeper into topics, but we rarely offered the starting level stuff anymore.So far I've taught Basic Knitting, Basic Hand Sewing, and Basic Fingerloop Braiding at different events, including Gulf Wars.

In Basic Knitting I teach people how to cast-on, deal with adding or dropping stitches accidentally, and how to cast-off. I also chat about different kinds of knitting needles, how to read a ball band for gauge and weight, and how to burn test fibers when you don't know what they are. I've taught the class twice this year and both times had the total gamut of experiences, from students who were emotionally disturbed by the process, all the way through people who cornered me later and demanded to be taught lace knitting.

Basic Hand Sewing is a little less physically complex for new students. I teach running stitch, back stitch, and blind hem stitching. I have them make a small pouch during the class and we discuss the differences between embroidery and surface decoration vs. structural seams.Check out these videos  by the amazing Mary Corbet to see some stitching action.I also chat about the burn and bleach test and explain WHY natural fibers are worth the time and money. I've only taught this one once and all of the students were already moderately accomplished, but none of them had done a buttonhole before so that's how we finished things.

For Basic Fingerloop Braiding, I start with 3 loops or bows, each a different color. When I tried to teach it as the Basic 5 Bows, people really had trouble with tracking everything. I've also taught this class twice this year and it's been the most successful one so far. I teach a Flat, a Round, and what's called and Open lace. The Open lace is two smaller braids that run next to each other. You can attach or detach them at any point along the braid by switching from one style to another.

I want to develop my own lacing skills so I can show people how many more styles are out there. My next personal goal is the broad lace chevon of eight loops. I've been working on a Spanish Great Cloak set and feel that a trim will look better than my trying to embroider it. There are no pictures of the current state of the thing because it's really not pretty right now. I might give up and just use his idea of taking down cordage instead.

I have another Spanish Surprise in the works. If I get it finished, I'll update the blog next week when I have pictures.

See you on the Road!

A Hair-y Issue

 Let's talk about toppers! What should I wear on my head and/or how should I try to wear my hair for this upcoming event?

I'm aiming for a 10th century generic Scandinavian look, which ought to give me a number of options.   Bigger the place, the more stuff we have, right? Not exactly, no.

I decided to start my hair-dressing search with a dependable source, The Viking Answer Lady. The site creator, Gunnora, is a personal friend of mine and I've always admired her dedication to research. The page looks kind of dated, but she regularly updates the research and is absolutely willing to change her statements if she gets new information. The first thing I noticed is the collection of combs that she shows off in various museums. While many of the museum finds are ivory or bone, there is discussion of wooden combs in the same style. They looked really familiar and I knew I wanted one. I did a little poking around and discovered there are a number of shops on etsy that carry "beard combs". The same big tooth/ little tooth shape and small enough to fit in your hand but big enough to do the job. The prices range from about what I'd pay for a normal plastic comb all the way up to the super carved and personalized double digit ones. 

 

Yes, I know I'm not going to be wearing the comb, but it's a nice place to start ( oooh, new toy!). I could make one, thanks to this good 'ible over on Instructables. But I'm not very good at wood yet.  So I bought a nice hardwood comb and started using it as part of my nightly hair care routine. since it's not really safe to get a hair cut during the pandemic I've been growing my hair out for about 2 years. I had it trimmed in January of 2020, but it was roughly shoulder length at the time. Now it's gone to about the small of my back and I've been looking into ways to take care of it, so it will grow longer and so that I'm not being attacked by hair constantly and just wack it all off in a fit of pique. I found the Long Hair Community Forums and spent lots of time reading up. Wooden combs, braids, and head coverings are all hot topics of discussion there, as well as how and when to wash your hair and other useful topics.

 Previously I had made a "Dublin Cap"  using the information  and pattern direction provided by Jennifer Thies . While the cap came out ok, I didn't look very good in it. Turns out I have a very tiny head and a close fitting cap makes that look weird. I did use a fine linen instead of silk for the cap, but that didn't change the drape very much.

A little more searching brought me to Ciar's Stitch in Time blog post on Viking head coverings. I really appreciated how she listed the Who/What/When/Where of each one of her looks. Braids! Scarves! Pointy stick buns! All this plus an interesting and interactive comment section! I exclaimed a lot while I was reading. I really recommend it.

One of the commenters mentioned the Silkeborg Museum and added a link that at one point went to an article about the Elling woman. I poked around on that website but was unable to find the article in question. My Danish is non-existent, but Google was able to translate the page for me fairly well. Elling Woman was a bog body found in 1938 in Silkeborg, Denmark. Her estimated date of death was 280 B.C.E. which makes her far older than  the 10th century Norsewoman I'm trying to emulate. However, her hair was braided and twisted (and preserved) in a style that does look a bit like some of the Valkyrie figurines like that on the Osburg Cart.

So how to make the hair do that? I was very lucky to find a video by the talented Silvousplaits which has this exact hairstyle as the last one of three in a set.

She's an absolute gift to people like myself who literally can not understand written directions for hair. I need to see it happen, and then I need to see it again a few times just to make sure I can figure it out. I really enjoyed poking around on her other videos as well, since there are days I need a pinless bun or a four strand braid just for work.

It looks like I'll be trying out the Elling Woman braid, as modeled by Silvousplaits, and possibly covering it with one of Ciar's sexy scarf looks during the day. Thank you Internet for giving me some new things to do with my hair.

 

Not Exactly Norse

 I've been working on finishing things this week as I have an upcoming Norse themed event I want to attend. The more I research, the more I feel like there's no way to actually know for certain what a 9th or 10th century person might wear. It's easy to say "t-tunics and trews" but there's so many area and gender specific flourishes that I get bogged down. The fact that very little of the original items have survived is also majorly frustrating. My understanding is that many of the surviving pieces are wool, lined with linen or wool, trimmed with bands of silk. All of that is extremely warm in Texas.

In an effort to actually cover myself before the event, I threw research to the winds and decided to make an SCA standard apron dress. The place I'm going has a theme of blue and white, so I figured blue apron, white underdress, no problems.  Of course there were problems. I have no blue wool at all. I pulled every piece of blue linen I own off the shelves and none of them were large enough to make an apron dress, even when I decided to go for the knee-length version ( not historically supported). Eventually I rummaged the mending pile and pulled out a partially finished cotton/ linen skirt. If I seamed it carefully, it would work as a slightly odd apron dress. 

I did some figuring, and flipping, draping the fabric around me and pinning it into shape. Then I had my partner take some pictures of me from a distance so I could see how it would hang. Because of the strange patches in the skirt, I wound up having three triangular gores at the back of the apron dress, and two on each side. This put a seam directly down the middle of the front, unlike any apron dress I've ever seen, but it didn't look too bad.

Oh those old seams though! This poor old bit of fabric has been hard used. Back when I had been in the SCA for a handful of years I found a Wal-mart that was closing down it's fabric section, selling everything at a steep discount. I was super poor but they sold me a bolt of cotton/linen for about $2 a yard and I was so excited. My first period fabric! um...maybe. That fabric is probably more cotton then anything, the only linen quality it has is the ability to wrinkle if you look at it too hard and to fray in a gentle breeze. Over the years I've made tunics, over dresses, pants, and bags from that single bolt. At this point, all that's intact is this bit in the mending pile that had been on the way to becoming a skirt before I figured out there wasn't enough fabric left. The oldest seams were sewn by hand in black quilting thread, the newest ones sewn by machine in a sort of gray. I hand sewed the newest seams and flattened them, tucking the edges under and securing them with a whipstitch. I used a thread that matched the fabric pretty well, I couldn't see it on either side of the fabric.

Outside of apron dress

Inside of apron dress

Then, I added a strip of handwoven trim. This isn't a fancy trim, but it was also one of the first ones I ever made. It's been kicking around for over 10 years waiting on me to find a good project for it. This is a real historical piece, but only in my own history.

Finally, I added straps and put it up on my dress form, Janey, to see how it looked altogether.

I haven't had a chance to wear it, but I don't think it'll be too bad. I do have broaches and a really nice festoon to wear with it. I don't currently have a belt that will work, but I'm hoping to figure out the 12 strand flat braid belt before next week (HA!).

I still haven't finished the saffron color underdress, so I'll wear one of my older white ones. It's a heavier weight linen with a small amount of chain stitch embroidery around the collar and cuffs. If I get frustrated with the dress again, I might just lay out and frame up a fancy collar on an embroidery frame.

I did also finish up my very first pair of stranded colorwork mittens as well. These are in no way historical, but I liked them and thought they were cute. I did the first one very quickly, but the second one sat while I played with other projects. When I picked it back up, I wasn't exactly sure where I was in the pattern, which is why they aren't identical. They are fraternal twin mittens we'll say.

Pattern is Owl in Forest on Ravelry

Considering how random the weather is this year, I might be wearing them to the event anyway. 

I started knitting a new cardigan as well. This is Eirwen over on Knitty.com. I've never done a cardi before, but I feel a great need for this one. It's knit from the top down so hopefully I'll be able to see how it's going to fit as I'm working on it. I've already had to switch to a smaller needle size then what's recommended to get gauge, which seems rather odd to me. I want my gold star for swatching though! I did actually swatch, twice! Perhaps next week, I'll have enough to show you, right now I'm only on row 8.

Sew here we are again

Here we are, in the Year of Our Pandemic 2022, and things are a bit of a mess. Still, we're learning and sewing more all the time. 

So let's take a look at what projects are currently on the work bench. First there's the Subtle Dress. This is a very thin cotton in what I mentally have dubbed SCA Period-oid style, Ye Olde Faire Clothes if you will. The silhouette is sort of generally 15th century Florentine and I suspect that's what I'll accessorize it towards.

Clearly, the reason it's subtle is the delicate print. You'd hardly even notice the HUGE WHOPPING BIRD on it. I got the fabric from Cok Guzel over on etsy and it's totally worth it. 

 The gown itself is based loosely on Jen Thompson's 1480's Florentine Gown, but not closely enough you'd see the resemblance I think. Her write-up is great though.I really want to do more of these just for the experience, but the dress diaries do lure me down so many rabbit holes.

The next thing that's been taking up space in my brain is a piece I'd like to enter into a competition, assuming it ever gets finished. I'm making a 10th Century Norse linen underdress for a woman. It is saffron-colored ( modern dyes are MUCH cheaper thanks), and hand-sewn on all the seams. I'm using a very tiny running back stitch where I take about three stitches onto my needle at once, pull through, and then do a small back stitch to anchor it. Then, once the seams are done, I'll go back over them and finish them using a whipstitch on folded over seam allowances.

 I could opt to flatten the seams and use a thread of wool to whipstitch in a filler thread, but my test piece itched me pretty badly. I think that technique will need to wait for an over garment. Many of the techniques I'm trying are documented in Woven Into the Earth by Else Ostergaard and in Medieval Garments Reconstucted by Anna Norgard and Lilli Fransen, as mentioned by Morgan Donner in the Sexy Potato video. Both of these books are on my personal wish list and I've been reduced to borrowing them to read furiously before returning them to their owners. I've also used the website Needlework in the Viking Age for some good reminders.

 One of the items of frustration and then moments of inspiration that occurred during this build was based entirely on bad math. My brain had read (somewhere) that period looms tend to max out on weaving width about 22 inches (55cm) wide. So I cut my rectangles on that assumption and started stitching away. After I'd done one arm and a very nice neck hole all the way, I saw a video by the accomplished Opus Elenae that reminded me not to finish the seams totally until the garment is done. This helps keep the stress on the seams balanced, so they don't wind up pulling in odd directions. It's a good thing I didn't finish them all the way. Pulling the partially sewn garment on to make sure I had the side gores in the right spot showed me that there was no possible way this thing would fit me. There was a fair amount of swearing and some hasty re-mathing.

 After a sulk I had some time to think. IF a loom was 22 in wide, then there was no way I could cut a width wider then that and neither could anyone in period. I realized I've NEVER seen documentation on that loom width in a book, but if it occurred then piecing was the only reasonable option. So, the sleeves came off this morning and I'm going to add extra thin rectangles of material down the sides to extend it. The sleeves themselves fit just fine, but the tightness of the chest and back made the gown much too short. I'm hopeful that little quirk will be worked out when I get the extra piecing added.It occurs to me that will lengthen the arms a bit, so there will be nice deep cuffs to add weight. Perhaps they need some embroidery?

 The other thing that I've been working away on trying to work my way up to goldwork embroidery. I've done some goldwork and silverwork in the past ( the difference is the materials, not the techniques)and I know I want to practice before I spend so much money. One of my worst problems is I've never properly dressed a frame or hoop and my fabric tends to be horribly droopy and sloppy. I've also not had a lot of practice with laying tools ( I don't own any). Here's a guide to laying tools that I drool over sometimes. I don't want to buy a bunch of silks to work with and then find out I can't use them, so I'm started working my way through some tutorials. I downloaded a Tudor Rose Roundel pattern from NeedlenThread.com and I'm slowly filling it in with chain, stem, and satin stitch. It's been in progress for over 2 years now, but so has the rest of the world.

I hope the world is bright on your end and you always know where your seam ripper is currently.

San Japan 2018

I am utterly distracted. I forgot that I needed to do some work for the San Japan demo at the end of this week. I pulled my usual demo dress out and it has rust stains all over the white satin skirt. ARGH!!!
So, different dress, move on. Other dress will need a ruff made and I need to repair my horribly abused hoop skirt. If I CAN make a new one before the weekend, great. The odds aren't good though. I'll also need a mask for Friday night's masked ball.
The mask I made is a quicky version of Belphoeb's vizard. Instead of a backram base I just hot glued cotton velveteen to a plastic commercially available craft mask. I don't have the drying time right now to do it the way she did, but I'll give it a try later when I'm not on a time crunch.
I'm using Noel Gieleghem's document on how to produce a 1570's stand alone ruff for my directions on How-To. As I have already failed everyone by using the cotton muslin I have in my stash to make the thing, I doubt I'll show him any pictures. My supply of cotton lace has vanished on me and I'm just tossing bobbins and thread around like crazy.
Pictures will occur later if there's anything worth looking at.

Canaples progress- Kirtle Questions

It's been a busy week but I've got a bit of progress to report on the Madame Canaples dress.
First of all: Embroidery!

I did a line of overlapping scallops, inverted and drawn out so that the longer legs made a little diamond when they touched. To get the perfect half circle, I traced around a shotglass that has a picture on it. From one side of the picture to the other was exactly the right shape for the space. I used 3 strands of DMC black cotton embroidery floss and I worked it in backstitch without a hoop because it was faster. I really like how the pattern came out, it was easy to visualize and break down into working steps. I haven't added the leafy bits yet because I'm still debating how much of them I want to do.

In the picture it looks like three small projections from the top and bottom of each half circle. Is that center bit a triangle shape? Are those vines? The extra bits don't look like blackwork to me exactly, but I don't know if satin stitch was mixed with blackwork in 1525. I would err on the side of 'no', so it's going to be more time with a magnifying lens to figure those bits out. Also, I'm about to start couching the gold cord I have around the top edge of the smock today. I have a plastic gold filament thread to tack it down and I'll probably use a very tiny whip stitch to get it in place.

Secondly: Pattern drafting!
I have a friend, Simona della Luna, who has attended several of Matthew Gagny's bara workshops and she has walked me through the process a few times. I'm still not 100% sure I took down the information correctly because I feel like I get a different shape off the body block every time I do this. However! I do recommend it for getting a basic flat pattern that you can fiddle with very easily. I ALWAYS remeasure if it's been more than 3 months since I last built something. Don't know about you, but my body can move a lot of weight around in 3 months and with something close-fitting like a bodice, it's going to matter. That's why I put the date on all my pattern pieces every time as well as "front', 'back', 'left arm' or whatever. You THINK you'll remember, but I never do.
So, I grabbed an old mostly cotton sheet and cut out the first of a few drafts. It used to be that I would cut my pattern out of the lining right from the start, but I want to make SURE this one fits better before I take up the scissors against my linen. These are my striped baby steps from the front and from the back.

Thoughts so far:
For a draft that supposedly had no seam allowance, that's really big. It does fit over the smock, so yay. But...really big.
I need to make some temporary tack-in lacing strips so I can test how it will look when it's held on with lacing instead of pins. That's not a huge deal yet ( 1st draft!) but they'l come in handy shortly.
Dang, those are some slender sexy straps on that gorgeously wide neckline! I hope that high back will keep everything on the shoulders properly.

Last time I posted I had some questions about the kirtle opening. I asked my questions (poorly) in a wonderful Facebook group, The Elizabethan Costumers, and got some GREAT feedback. Those gentlebeings really know their stuff. What it boiled down to is there might be 3 layers ( smock, kirtle, gown) or there might be four layers ( smock, stomacher, kirtle, gown). There's a bunch of different ways to describe what we're looking at but until we find a picture of Madame with her top layer off we not going to know for sure. Because I'm trying several new-to-me techniques for this particular outfit, I'm going to go against the portrait slightly.
I'm going to make this kirtle with a fairly low neckline, bringing it down below the neck of the gown, but keep the lacing at the sideback( suggested by Kimiko Small, all praise her brain!). That will allow me to padstitch the front of the kirtle heavily because the support I'm going to need is no small thing. My upper deck requires extra mooring so I'm also going to make sure to lightly pad and bone the front of the gown as well. Simona is trying to talk me into using bonding straw/ canes for that top layer and the more I think about it the more I like the idea. *plot, plot, plot*
One of the biggest things I have to keep reminding myself about is that there is NO TIME LIMIT on this dress. It's not a sprint, no one is waiting on it. I can take my time and work out all the details so I'll be actually happy with it when I'm done. Settle down ADD brain, we've got plenty of tiny details to obsess over!

Which is why I'm in the middle of making a hat too. It just had to happen, no I don't think I can wear it with this dress because it's super Castilian. I'm doing it anyway because it makes me happy. I borrowed the idea from Stanzi in Lochac. She did one after staring at this picture for awhile and I agree with her.

I've been looking for hats with better sunblocking power since I got my first round of skin cancer. I think might do nicely.
ScatterBrain, AWAY!

Madame de Canaples- 1525

Things happened, Life occurred. We appear to have stabilized, although the current house has much less crafting space. Let's take on a big big project and find out how that's going to affect things.

This is Marie d'Assigny, Madame de Canaples painted by Jean Clouet in (roughly) 1525.

Every now and then one of those "Who were you in history?" quizzes crosses my media and I always get this picture. Admittedly, we share a similar number of chins and something around the cheekbones. I've been trying to stay in the 1490-1500 range for awhile, but that dress really does look sharp. So I lost my mind and started working out how to build it.
What I see in the portrait is three layers.

Layer One: I see a square necked smock/ camicia/ shirt thing with a blackwork band and a gold edging. I made a smock using the pattern for a 16th century Venetian camicia found here: Realm of Venus
It was fast! It required very little math! It was... gathered into a neckband that couldn't disguise it's lumpy, bumpy weirdness. This was NOT the fault of the pattern. I figured out I skipped a step in the gathering stage and didn't tack it down and sew it flat BEFORE I put the neckband on. Still not sure how I missed that step, but it had to change. I pulled the neckband off, smoothed my gathers into pleats, tacked them all down and reattached the neckband.
Currently I'm in the process of marking out the blackwork on the neckband. The embroidery doesn't look very hard to do. It appears to me to be a series of half circles, superimposed on one another, with leafy bits added. Like so...

Layer Two: This is the layer that is giving me stress. From what I have read, this should be a supporting layer, a boned and structured kirtle that will provide the support needed and smooth things out to create that conical shape so beloved of the period. In the English portraits of about that same time period, the kirtle clearly is either a side or back lacing gown with all the support built into the front.
See the yellow kirtle under Anne Cresacre's 1527 gown here:

However, Madame's kirtle is pretty clearly a front laced kirtle. Not only that, but the lacing is WIIIIIDDDDEEE apart in the front. I don't think it even comes over as far as her nipple-line in fact. It's possibly built like a German or Venetian gown of roughly the same period, but I just can't tell.
And then there's this 1490 Portuguese lady dressed in black with the super-wide lacing dress as well:

Layer Three: The outer layer of the dress is a dusty rose large patterned brocade. The dress looks like a version of the Queen Jane dress with it's structured, lightly-boned front-lacing bodice that has a pinned stomacher over it and the excessive two or three part sleeves.

I've already done a version of this dress years ago and with much less information on how it was supposed to go together so I'm not very worried about that top layer.

This is a picture from 2011 of the Six Queens event I co-hosted. I'm the one in all red. Yep, that dress is all kinds of wrong now that I look at it, but I was very proud of it then. I keep it to remind myself that I can be proud of older work too, even if I always try to do better the next time.

I haven't really gotten into the hoops/ no hoops issue on this dress yet. My research says HOOPS, my desire to have it all done and wearable says NO! Hoops will probably win, but I'll grump about it.
Let's see what happens!