Lorien is not too bright...

I had a break down over this sleeve because I couldn't figure out how to make the shorter side of the sleeve long enough to match up without distorting the lower portion of the sleeve.  Then I realized that part of the triangular gusset was to accommodate the missing 2".  Here is a poorly made paint image to let you know of my dumb.

A&S Update...

So I've mostly settled on my A&S entries for Adiantum's competition in January.  I'm torn between doing a reconstruction of Livia's hairstyle, and doing a research paper on the position of Ornatrices in Roman households.  The former would be easier, because I've worked out how to accomplish the hairstyle already, my trouble would be how to flesh out the documentation to make it feel like it was worthwhile.  On the other hand, I have very little actual research on the position of Ornatrices within a household, though I have done a little preliminary book searching.  I mostly like the first option because of the visual aspect of doing the hairstyle is a little flashier, and I'm known in the area for hairstyling.

The other entry I'm intending is my soon to be made Housebook dress.  I decided to make this dress because my family has graciously given me tickets to go back to Texas for a visit at the beginning of December.  I'll get to be home for Stargate's Yule, and was pondering whether or not to make something new, and was talking it over with my best friend.  We both mentioned that the only dress we were interested in making at the time was the two different styles of dress that we would be wearing with the cute red fringed hats I made months ago.  Since the styles were different, and the colors were different enough, I felt we wouldn't be too terribly twinkie, and we could go ahead with the plan.  We've now challenged each other to make a fancy new dress, though The Boy thinks there should be a prize for the "winner." Her boy has promised to take us out for a drink.

I've been working on it slowly, and most of the info is posted over at our shared blog.  I've got the underdress, the hemd, done enough to wear, though I would like to hand finish all the seams before entering it in at Midwinter.  I've included the inspiration image, which of course I can't find the actual citation at this moment, but came originally from Eme's Compendium.  You also get a couple photos of me in my hemd and cute red fringed hat, and a lovely Paint sketch of my pattern for my hemd.  It came out of about 4 and 1/3 yards of 3.5 oz linen from Fabric-Store.com, which I had originally bought back in February to make a smocked hemd for my Trossfrau.  I've gotten the bodice patterned, but now need to figure out the sleeve pattern.  I also got to use a fantastic local resource, the Eugene Textile Center, to dye the wool coating I was given as a thank you to a gorgeous teal color.  The whole thing is coming along, but I have about a week and a half left to sew the whole thing together, if I allow time out because of travel to Seattle for Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping it will all come together, but I think it will be okay.

Made something new for Etsy...

One of my friends back in Texas started a group on Facebook designed to give artists motivation to complete new works.  Hearkening back to the days of high school art classes, she gives us a topic and two weeks to create a new piece of work in any medium we like to represent that subject.  This week's topic was your favorite color.  I decided that whenever I made something for these challenges, I'd try to sell them on Etsy, and see if it won't motivate me to keep putting items up for sale.

Here's a few bathroom mirror photos of the newest fascinator.

The "feathers" are made from millinery wire covered with blue silk dupioni and silk charmeuse.  The blue wire wraps around the base and helps anchor the feathers onto the comb.  I put it together in about two or three hours, once I was inspired.

So I'm trying out a new website...

I am a rather busty woman.  I've always been a busty woman, much to my dismay when it comes to shopping.  I haven't been able to purchase bras from a department store since I started high school.  I was buying from Lane Bryant throughout high school, and now I'm too busty for them.  So I am trying out a website geared towards busty ladies, Big Girl Bras.  They are currently running a sale on a few things and have a fairly generous return policy, so I thought I'd give them a shot.


So far I'm impressed.  They have a large variety, let you know what is and isn't in stock right up front, and give the shopper a sizing chart to show how the different brands line up with a standard U.S. sizing.


I wandered through their "Everyday Bras" page, uninspired to really purchase anything, as my main motivation when purchasing a new bra, regardless of fit or comfort, is that I want a bra my grandmother wouldn't approve of.  After that I want fit and comfort, but if I think my grandmother would approve I don't want to wear it.  When I purchase a bra, it must be attractive.  Besides having a man in my life that will see it, if my bra isn't pretty, I won't feel pretty.  And being a larger woman means I don't always feel pretty, so I don't see a reason to start off a step behind.


So I popped over to the "T-Shirt Bras" page and decided to purchase the Le Mystere Bra 9955.  It had good ratings for the five reviews given it, and was currently on sale(ish), marked down from $69 to $62.10.   I have enough money to try it, and can always return it if it doesn't fit correctly and try again with a different size or different style.  When I got to the check out page, they gave me the coupon code "dancing" as an extra 10% off the purchase.  Which brought my purchase to just under $61 with the generic shipping that is non refundable if the bra doesn't fit.


I've since noticed that they have this code on their webpage and it's good through Nov. 10 for purchases over $35.  They also have a coupon code for free shipping on purchases over $75.  Considering that just one bra could be over $75, that's a pretty easy way to free shipping.


I'll let the internet know when it arrives and if it fits.  I can't decide if I want it to fit or not, so I can test the return policy...

So I've thought up a way to scale back my idea...

I was thinking about the sheer scope of doing woodcuts to illustrate the first part of the story of Saint Ursul, and from the beginning, I knew it was a bit ridiculous.  I don't have the skills, the time or really the patience to do such a large scale project.  But I've come up with a moderately sized project that could be interesting.  In the random internet searching I've done recently on woodcuts and saints, I ran across the theory that in period small woodcut prints of saints were sold as tokens for a pilgrimage, as good luck charms, and were then pasted into books of hours, sewn into garments, or pasted into various boxes to bring safety and good luck via the particular saint to the person or item.  I kind of like the idea of doing a couple different sized icons of "Saint Ursul" and trying to sell them along with documenting the process.  I think it would be something different even if it wasn't a prize winner, and would bring a little more medieval feel to the event.

The trouble being, I'm not the greatest artist when it comes to drawing, and the subject is a made up character so I don't know all the details such as his heraldry, or hairstyle or if he had facial hair.  I'll try to ask someone responsible for the competition if they know what the heraldry is supposed to look like, and I can pick a culture to imitate for the woodcut style, and mimic their hair.

I've got some ideas, it's probably time to start sketching.  Or maybe bed.

Or maybe sketching?

So I'm inspired for a new A&S project...

I was looking into future events for the area, and there's a huge event that's well known around An Tir that the boy and I are interested in attending, called Ursulmas up near Seattle.  There's an A&S competition based around the fictional patron Saint of Aquaterera and I was reading the legends about St. Ursul, and thought that woodcuts depicting Part I would be a really cool idea.

Of course all the knowledge I have about woodcuts I learned in a single class taught by a friend at an event years ago.  And I haven't really tried carving anything, aside from a couple things on a lathe, since that class.  And I don't own any of the materials or supplies necessary to undertake such a project.

But boy, do I want to try it.

Aside from the lack of materials, tools and knowledge, the event is in January.  At the same time I'm supposed to be competing in the local A&S championship for Adiantum.  To compete in this championship, I'll need two entries, one of which I've decided to base around the iconic hairstyle of Empress Livia and an article written by hairstyle archaeologist Janet Stephens .  I'm not sure what I want to do for the second entry, but it's supposed to be on something completely different, and if possible, one art and one science, if the entrant can differentiate the two.

I'm tempted to visit the local Michael's tomorrow and see what it would cost to start off with basic woodcut supplies.

But for tonight, I should get off the computer and let The Boy get some sleep.

Been a heck of a while...

The new job has taken a lot out of me.  Long, ridiculous hours meant most of August and September I was either working or sleeping.  There was a little time spent eating and eventing, but very little in comparison.

I know I promised a tutorial on Livia's hairstyle, but there are computery issues preventing that for right now.  But it is not forgotten, that particular hairstyle has been on my mind for quite a while.  The Boy and I entered the Summits' Coronet Lysts last month, and I wore that particular hairstyle to show off.  I looked fantastically Roman, enough that the Prince (a Roman Persona himself) gave The Boy approval for having a Roman lady on his arm.

I'm also turning that recreation into a full on A&S entry for the Baronial Championship in January.  I'm going to try to keep the cloak in the family so to speak.  I'm getting started on documentation now, partially because I want to do it right, and mostly because I'm currently motivated.

Also in the time that I've failed to post I was given two awards at the Barony's fall event.  The Baronial Brownie, Adiantum's first tier service award, a recognition of attendance, support, and promotion of the Barony.  Kind of like a Baronial AoA.  I was also given the Fern and Quill, the Barony's arts award, specifically for skill and generosity with hairdressing.  The current B&B will be stepping down in a few months, and I believe that Morrghan, the Baroness, wanted to be the one who gave me this award.  There was mention of how recently we'd moved into the barony, and if we were to move she'd steal the alternator from the car.  It's wonderful to be recognized for the hair styling up here.  I hadn't done much research into authentic styles back in Ansteorra, but was mostly a "get it off my neck" hairdresser.

We (The Boy, a few friends and I) went up to Honor Feast last weekend, hosted by the Portland group.  The event was fun, if a bit common as far as events go.  The "ball" was more of a class, but fun despite it's short time frame. The Boy and I made contacts with the Dance Master/Mistresses from up northerly way, and got to help with their issues with Parson's Farewell.  They were trying to reconstruct it and were getting caught in a couple sections, so we taught it the way we'd learned it in Ansteorra.  They seemed giddy to discover we knew the dance, and we kind of blew apart the ball right there in order to teach it to them.  We're now plotting to start up a dance night in the Salem group, so that the dancers from Eugene and Portland can descend upon a central area and take over.  I also got my hairdressing name out there further, hopefully people will recognize me in the future.  I chose to wear the 1515 Florentine for the day, not something I usually wear, but I looked damn good that day.

Hope to have more to say in the coming months, and more time to say it.

An attempt at a Roman hairstyle is forthcoming...

So I'm planning an A&S project for February-ish, which is recreating a Roman hairstyle without Janet Stephens having done it first!  I'm working on my recreation right now, and photographing the steps in perhaps more detail than is really necessary.  I'm hoping to get a basic write up done either tonight (yeah right!) or in the next couple days.  It's not exactly easy, because it is hard to juggle the hair and the camera in the tiny overheated bathroom, but I'm trying.  I can see why Janet Stephens uses a cosmetology head and video camera for her demos, once it's set up on the stand and tripod, you don't have to move them so much.

I wish I could just ask The Boy, but he found out earlier that the paper he thought was due on Monday, is in fact due tomorrow morning.  But this is my last guaranteed free night for a while, so I thought'd I'd get some use out of it.  Tomorrow, I go sign the paperwork for my NEW JOB!

That's right, new job.  It's not an amazing job, in fact I wouldn't have considered it back in January, but being without work for seven months has done a number on my self worth, and having any job has made me feel validated.  The hours aren't great, lots of extremely early mornings, late nights and weekends, but the paycheck will help us out so much.  And that's really all I feel I can say.  There's some strict policies about mentioning the company online, and I don't want a stray post to come back to bite me.

A little more water and back to the heat of the bathroom.

In Service to the Hair,

P

Works in Progress...

In the last couple days, I've been sort of motivated to sew.  Of course, not on any projects that are already in progress.

Yesterday I started the fuzzy hat that I promised The Boy long ago when we first started dating.  Once upon a time, I purchased an electric blue silk dupioni pencil skirt that would in no way ever fit me.  I had always intended for it to be made into a hat for The Boy.  I have a Tried and True (TnT) six panel hat pattern that I love.  I cut out the silk, and flat lined them in some thick brown wool for extra warmth.  After assembling the panels, I dithered a bit about whether to embroider along the seams or to do something more complicated like a Norse animal or something.  I realized that the largest part of the panel would be folded up behind the fur band, and went ahead with a seam embellishment.  I used the last of my card of yellow silk from The Overly Ambitious Embroidery of Doom! to do a closed feather stitch.  It kind of looks like steel girders over each seam.

This afternoon I put together the lining.  I always line my hats in silver silk, because I like the little bit of amusement I get from having a silver lining.  The TnT pattern has a fold line on it where I trace out the lining that accommodates the band of fur.  I'm so proud of this fur.  I was determined to make a hat a few years ago, and to save myself some cash, I decided to purchase a fur coat at the thrift store.  I wanted black fur, but couldn't find anything I liked that didn't look cheap.  So I switched my desire to white fur.  I found a gorgeous coat for $25 that fit my needs.  It turned out to be more than I'd asked for.  The coat was Blue Fox fur, cut into thin strips, about a 1/4 inch wide.  These were separated by strips of soft leather about an inch wide.  I allow three strips of fur, and cut down the center of the leather strip to give myself a nice fur band.  The bands of fur around the head fold down for extra warmth.  This means that I'm making headway on Cold Weather gear for The Boy.

Eventually I'll get the lining attached to the shell, and I need to purchase more thread to make a tassel for the top.

Today, The Boy was working really late, so I decided to try out draping hose.  I love the way sewn hose look, and believe that I should have them, but I've never had much luck with the ankle part of the hose.  I've decided to just suck it up and try them in some crappy cotton broadcloth scraps I've had for years.  I pinned the seam, the pulled it off and did a quick running stitch down the seam to keep from stabbing myself with the pins.  I then futzed with the foot slit on either side.  I finally had to draw it on and hope.  I've got the patterns drawn out now on paper, and perhaps some day I'll actually make up the next mock up.

New Office...

I was voted in as the Baronial Chamberlain last night.  I get to be the keeper of the stuff!  I even have a fancy keyring with keys and everything!  Owning keys is how you know that you're a real adult, because real adults have responsibilities that come with keys.

When The Boy and I were moving up to Oregon, I had to turn over the key to my apartment, and the key to my car, and for a week, I had no keys to anything.  I felt extremely displaced then, and not tied to anything, but certainly not in a good way.  I found myself not attached to things, sort of drifting, and I found I didn't have a place to call mine.  Once we moved, I had the key to The Boy's van, and now have the key to the apartment, the garage and the mailbox.  I've come to belong someplace again.

And back to the Chamberlain.  I now have keys to the storage unit.  My first goal is to take an inventory of all the items owned by the Barony, and check it against the items on the previous inventory.  I'd like to be able to weigh the items we own, since the weight our trailer can hold is rather small, I'd like to know whether or not we can pack things in the trailer.

I'm looking forward to serving our group, and becoming more involved with the running of things locally.

Dance Practice!

I get to lead tomorrow night's Dance Practice, so I thought I'd squee a little over how much I enjoy dance practice, and post the list of dances that we'll be working on.

Nika Nika Bransle
Half Hannikin
Petit Riens
Black Nag
Heart's Ease
Rufty Tufty
Parson's Farewell

This is pretty much just what we did last month, but some of it is new to this group, so we should go through it again, especially since we only met once a month.

I'm willing to take requests, should they arise, and I've promised Idonia, that should we have an inordinately large number of people, we will do Trenchmore.

I have a new present!

I got a "new" iron today!  The Boy and I were putzing around in the Goodwills, looking for a large glass pitcher for iced tea or lemonade, and I found a really nice Shark, with auto turn off and vertical steam for $5!  I'm so thrilled.  Shark is a brand I love, and it has all the features I want in an iron, but I don't have to pay $30-50 for a new one!

So I have even less of an excuse to not accomplish things now....  oops.

Pondering Future Projects...

So I now have five yards of a lovely cream colored wool coating.  I'd like to make it into a 15th Cent German dress to match my lovely fringe-y hat which is full of awesome because I don't think I've seen anyone else with one.  Have I ever posted a picture of my hat?  I don't think I did.  Let me do that now, because the hat is so cute!  Anyway, back to the dress.

My primary inspiration
for both hat and dress

I obviously want to dye the fabric because a cream colored dress is really just asking for something to happen to it.  I'm thinking either a blue or green color, though I haven't really decided, since the fabric was sprung on me so wonderfully by surprise.  I also have an interesting piece of textured cotton/rayon/linen/? that I'd like to dye to an olive green for The Boy, to make a Persian or Turkish Coat for Habib, Himself's middle eastern persona.  Lately Habib has been getting some very nice clothes.

But in the meantime, I was a moron who left her giant dye pot in Houston, thinking that it for some reason wasn't a good idea to bring it.  Alas.  My father is contemplating a road trip to visit sometime next month, maybe I can get him to bring it then.  Otherwise, I've been told that there is a place in town that will let you rent the space to dye fabric, so I looked into it today. The Eugene Textile Center rents out the dye kitchen for $10 a half day.  I think that should be long enough to dye the two large pieces of fabric I have.  I'm not usually concerned with achieving a specific color, so long as the color is relatively uniform and in the range of what I wanted.

So I'm thinking of finding out if there are any equipment fees I'm missing, and if not, I might go over and dye some fabric.  Anyone wanna go with me?

I survived An Tir/West War (and long post is long)...

It is of course a couple days after returning home, but the photos are still popping up on Facebook.

The site for war is gorgeous and awful at the same time.  Vast fields that usually support hay and animals, the grounds were covered with hay that had been mown only a few days prior to the event.  The soil was incredibly uneven, making it hard to walk without twisting ankles.  I'm surprised no one broke an ankle, though I guess that's only because people were walking more carefully than they would normally.

It was hot and sunny, with deliciously cool breezes, and everyone in our camp got a little sunburned.

Our friend Aoife had been put in charge of Waterbearing at the last minute (well technically two weeks before the event, but in planning that's totally last minute) so The Boy and I brought the coolers and bottles down to the event Thursday night.  We arrived around 10:30/11 and drove around site trying to understand the map at gate when we found Chris and Andrew who we were camping with.  They guided us to the roads we should have been on (Chris by hopping in my lap in the front seat of our packed minivan), and we set up the pavillion by the headlights of the car.  We collapsed into bed, and didn't know anything till morning.

Friday was pretty much a bachelor's camp for the four of us.  Andrew made eggs and bacon and eventually The Boy and I tried to figure out where to deliver the waterbearing equipment.  Wow was that painful.  This was the first time at this war for the two of us, and we didn't even know where the battle field was.  There wasn't a large fake castle or anything obvious.  We made our way to parking, asked the sweet young lady working the gate where the field was, which was right next to us.  We then went in search of the tent that had been promised us, and more specific directions on where to set up waterbearing point.  It was at this moment that I became more annoyed with the people that were supposedly in charge.  I ask a simple question, "where should we set things up?" and they dither on and on about not being the person in charge, and not knowing where we should put things until I wanted to shake them.  A simple I don't know, this is whom you should talk to would have sufficed.  I asked Lucius if the tent we were borrowing from the Prinicpality was available, and I got a more direct answer of "the person with the trailer isn't on site yet, we'll set it up when she gets here."  Thank goodness for frank gentlemen.

We left the table and coolers on the point above the field that we finally deduced as right from talking to the autocrat (after driving around looking lost by the field again) and I went to water the Rapier fighters that had a list field set up in the middle of the merchants.  After the short "early bird" tourney was over The Boy came to collect me and we went to find someone that The Boy could borrow a gauntlet from for the Unbelted Tourney, since he doesn't own one, and his shield is still busted.  Chris, Aoife's Boy, lugged water for me in five gallon coolers from the pump that was a long way away.  A trip took at least ten minutes, and he brought me twenty gallons easily.  Between his trips to the hose, he helped  me to distribute water to the field of 60 some odd fighters for the tournament, which lasted three and a half hours in the baking sun.  We ended up gaining a couple more volunteers during, but it wasn't easy.

Not a whole lot happened that evening, the rest of our crew arrived, we talked for a bit and The Boy and I headed to bed early.

We got up on Saturday and after breakfast and a bit of early morning hair braiding, we lugged all the stuff back to the overlook where Waterbearing was set up, and there was an Easy-Up set up for us to start. After Aoife got things in hand, I wandered back to camp to get dressed, (I'd been wandering around in my "big brother's tunic" and plaid jammie pants) and the Baroness wandered into camp for a visit.  I finished braiding my hair, and braided hers, then took myself back down to the warfield for more waterbearing in my new tunica.  We were adaptive and made use of the volunteers we got by sending one of the water coolers to the opposite side of the field as our "mobile watering unit".  We were given the use of a period wheelbarrow and two smaller 5 gallon jugs by one of our lovely waterbearing volunteers, and a dolley from our camp neighbors so that we didn't completely wear out the boys in our camp from hauling water.  It was a lot of up the hill, down the hill, water the fighters, get halfway across the field and run out of water, go back up the hill to refill and run out again halfway across.  Trying to carry my parasol at the same time was ridiculous.  I eventually went to refill one of the jugs with the use of the wheelbarrow, and as I was returning the iron tire on the wooden wheel fell off.

That's right, I got a flat on an iron tire.  Or I suppose I should say I got an oblong?  Anyway the tire wasn't going to be shoved back onto the wheel.  Someone from our camp happened along on another water refilling mission, carried the water back to the point and helped me carry the wheelbarrow to the camp next to ours, Rampant Squirrels, where Brezio helped to repair a wheelbarrow for someone he'd never met before using his own supplies.  He punched holes in the iron tire, banged it a little more into shape so it would fit again, and pounded nails through the holes to hold it all together.  I returned it to the field, and carried more water.  Eventually the battles ended, and we returned everything to camp.  The "fee" for the use of the wheelbarrow and extra jugs was that I would fill both jugs and return them to the camp they belonged to.  I was exhausted, but must have whined a little too much, because The Boy forcefully took the wheelbarrow from my hands and we walked together to the camp where they belonged.  The lady that owned them had just stepped out of her camp to look for her things when we arrived.  As we were walking away we heard her loudly exclaim "You fixed my wheelbarrow!"  Evidently the tire had been falling off for quite some time.

We went to court, watched a local be Knighted, came back to camp and ate dinner, and sat around talking for a bit.  The Boy and I were exhausted once again, so we went to sleep Saturday night and knew nothing again till the next morning.

Sunday I was forbidden to go down to waterbear.  Probably because I was complaining about how tired I was, how much my feet hurt and were swollen, and a goodly portion because The Boy loves me.  So I spent the morning helping the ladies of my camp get all Roman-ified, since they'd all decided to make a roman dress of some kind before war.  I promise it was only at gentle urging on my part.  We got all decked out, played with the various jewelry collections to see who's what went with which outfit.  Everyone got their hair braided and sewn up for the day save myself, since I couldn't seem to find the time to do anything but pin up my braids.  Aoife went to waterbearing, Rose went off to A&S for something and Idonia, Kelly and I wandered through merchants.  Kelly is not a full time SCAdian, so she borrowed an old wool tunica that Idonia had made years back so she could play along with our Roman silliness.  I braided her hair in a completely made up roman-esque fashion, since she didn't believe I could braid hair as short as hers.  Idonia and I joked with her that because she was blonde and less elaborately dressed, she must have been our serving girl.

After lunch I mostly hung around camp while Aoife and The Boy worked on their Seige Cooking Competition entry.  I putzed around a bit went to find something down at waterbearing, couldn't find it, came back, it had already been brought back.  Idonia came back to camp a bit before court that evening, and since she'd have to go up for a presentation, I decided to do her hair in a much fancier and more Roman style than it had been.

Sewing the braids together

The finished front

The finished back

We were only a little late to court, where Idonia got to hand out prizes for Sock Wars, and evidently her hair impressed the Royals.  Aoife got her AoA, which is well deserved though a little surprising, since none of us had put in our recommendations yet!  She was told that it was an onsite rec, and the Princess of the Summits was a little sad, because she had wanted to be the one to give Aoife her award.  After court we took some pictures of our Roman Day outfits, which were colorful and looked really great together.

l-r: Idonia, Rose, Aoife, Petra

After court I went down the road a bit to visit with Egan and Matea, when The Boy came to fetch me for dinner.  We made plans to do a bit of wandering that evening with them, since we were all a teensy bit less exhausted than we'd been the previous days.  We met up at the West encampment, drank some lovely raspberry mead, and then they had something that needed attending to, so we went to see if we couldn't find our other camp mates for some wanderings.  When Matea returned to the West camp later, we found out that her wedding band had disappeared.  That mostly called a halt to the evenings festivities as The Boy went with Egan to see if there was anything to be seen where the dishwater had been dumped in camp, and I stayed to comfort Matea.  After a long walk back to her camp, we waited for the boys who we'd probably missed in passing, and chatted and joked a bit to try to cheer her.  Egan returned without her band, but oh-so-sweetly handed his to her, with all the attendant gallantry and love.  It was disgustingly sweet, and made me happy to be friends with such a loving couple.  I suggested that they could have a party when she got a new ring, which means that The Boy and I can celebrate with them, since we didn't know them when they got married.

Eventually we wandered back to our own beds.

Monday we woke up, The Boy made omelettes for breakfast and we eventually packed up.  We left site around oneish, took the wrongish turn back to Eugene and I slept most of the way back.

Last night at A&S night, I let Idonia out of her braids, and she presented me with a lovely piece of wool as a thank you present for braiding hair all weekend!  It was startling, because I've never been thanked that way before.  Braiding is fun, and being the "authority" on hair is a good stroke to my ego.  But now I have some lovely wool to work on a 15th century german dress to go with my fringey hat!  I just have to find a time and place to dye it.

And I know I left out a good bit of the enjoyable conversations that were had, the laughter, and the merkin game!  Alas, there is always too much to tell.

Pompeian Dress...

Wall Painting: Figure of a girl

So I've been wanting an aqua Roman dress thanks to the lovely ladies depicted in various wall paintings of Pompeii in the book my lovely Wifey sent me about a month ago.  The book is titled Pompeii AD 79 Pompeii and the Exhibition: Volume I.  It's copyright 1978 by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and was, obviously, intended to accompany an exhibit of Pompeian artifacts in the 70's.  The book includes a large variety of wall paintings, discusses the different styles of wall painting, architecture, history, entertainment and various aspects of Roman life that I haven't really read much of.

I'm interested in the pretty pictures.

That's what I look for in any book on history, the pretty pictures.  I minored in Art History, but that's really just so I could look at the pictures and create costumes.  I noticed aqua was a rather common color in the wall paintings for women's dresses.  And as I mentioned before I just happened to have a large piece of pretty textured aqua cotton.  So now I have to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to be making.

Wall Painting: Theseus, slayer of the Minotaur

The dresses are obviously pretty simple.  The common belief is that all these garments are constructed from simple rectangles, front and back.  I dislike the way two rectangles of the same size drape in the back, because it allows the back neckline to be as deep as the front.  Such a large neckline can cause the shoulders to slip off, like the woman in aqua in the painting of Theseus.

If they are both rather shallow, like the above figure of a girl or the woman in aqua in the painting of Europa, you don't have to worry about slippage, but I like having a deeper neckline, as I have a weird twitchiness about things touching my neck.  I don't think it's completely inappropriate, though I do like them deeper than most period imagery.  (thus the Creative part of my hobby)

Wall Painting: Europa riding the Bull

So I'm trying to decide what I want the dress to look like.  The figure of a girl is a high necked, sleeveless dress.  Due to the damage of image, it's hard to tell if the dress is belted or not.  She's thought to be engaged in some kind of religious ceremony, but it's unclear what her marital status would be.

The woman in aqua in the Theseus painting has a deep necked, sleeved dress. Her sleeves appear to have been made from a separate rectangle sewn into her garment. The little boy in front of her certainly has separate sleeves.  The alternative to separate sleeves is to make the shoulder seam extend down the arm to the elbow and create a draped sleeve by belting the garment at the waist. Her arm obscures any belt she might be wearing.  It's interesting to note that the women on the right are supposed to be future victims of the Minotaur, and would all be virgins, and thus unmarried women.

The woman in aqua in the Europa painting (not Europa, I'm not that daring!) wears a high necked dress, unbelted, that drapes into sleeves.  She also has a teal colored wrap over her right arm.  The three ladies are handmaidens to Europa, daughter of the King of Phoenicia.  (also, how luscious is that purple color on the handmaid fondling the bull?)

Wall Painting: Pan and the Nymphs

The women in the painting of Pan are supposed to represent  nymphs.  The aqua garment of the woman on the right isn't a dress, but a wrap called a palla.  I love the darker colored borders on the palla, which reminds me of the borders on a sari.  It's an excellent excuse for me to keep wearing saris as a palla!

So what do I want out of this dress?  I think I'd like to do a simple one layer dress that I don't have to wear a tunica under.  A single layer is supposed to indicate that I'm not married, which I'm not, but my persona is, but I want the comfort and ease of a single layer for the summer.  That means I don't want to put in separate sleeves, because I would reduce my layering abilities.   The draped sleeve dress in Greece is called an Ionic chiton.  I can layer the Ionic over a tunica, or I can layer a stola over the Ionic in the future.

I think I want to do a single width of the fabric in the back and add more than one panel to the front in order to get the draped cowl style neck.  I'll make it longer than my shoulder to floor, so that when I belt it, it'll blouse a bit.  It should end up with elbow length "sleeves" and I can wrap a sari around it for a palla.

I should get to work then, now that I've worked out what I want it to look like!

Påsbyxor Progress...

Well, I still can't pronounce the proper Swedish name of this style of pants, but they're close enough to done that  Himself should be able to wear them without too much trouble.  The only thing I haven't done is the belt loops, but when he tried them on yesterday, it seemed like they fit without a belt.  Of course he doesn't have much in the way of hips or a butt, so we'll see.

I tried searching for info on the proper pronunciation, and found interesting info on a forum.  Apparently this style is Viking Rus, and is mostly only Swedish, not Norse or Danish, which is either very different or only a little different, depending on who's talking.  The flaws in my pants according to this forum: I made them out of linen/rayon, I did the calf piece, and possibly the way I did the waistband.  According to the guys on the forum, these would be knee length wool pants worn over straighter leg pants to keep snow off when wading through the snows of Russia.  They would be taken off when the man wearing them would go indoors...

I didn't have wool.

I had enough linen/rayon to make them.  I have enough wool to make leg wraps, though not really nice ones.  I don't really like the feeling of wool against my skin, so I'm not likely to put it against The Boy's skin either.  So I put in the calf pieces.

Somewhere, I found some description of the knee band having metal rings in them for the hook on the leg wraps to attach to.  It's an interesting theory, and if Himself likes the style, I might consider making some that would be more accurate.

For the Future, dependent on Himself's opinions:  Slim leg trousers made of linen following the same style of these minus the major width.  Woven leg wrappings in wool.  Someone on the forum called them wiklbander.  I might be able to get someone else to make them, since we don't have any kind of loom, and I don't know how to weave right now.  Of course some people might think of that as an excuse to learn.  Påsbyxor made of a thin wool with banded knees and a better researched waistband.  I'm still unlikely to sew things by hand, simple as these pants are, though I should get over that one day.

But for today, I call these pants done, and can take them off the To-Do List!

Prep for An Tir/West War...

So next weekend is An Tir West War, or A&W War, which has led me to the nickname Root-beer War.  It totally makes me want root beer floats.

Anyway, I'm working on a couple new items for The Boy and myself for next weekend. It's only a four day event, so I don't have the same dread/motivation/inspiration that I used to before Gulf Wars. The weather is a little more predictable here, and it's supposed to be gorgeous, warm during the day and chilly at night. (Of course now I've jinxed it!) I'm packing all the good things in my wardrobe, as usual, but there are a couple new things that I do have the fabric for, (curses on my continued unemployment).

New for this event are a pair of Viking Baggy Trousers properly known as Påsbyxor (don't ask me to pronounce that one!) The inspiration for these was the blog, Eva's Thoughts, where she made a gorgeous set for her hubby in a thin wool based on the pattern from  Historiska Världar. The Boy had a large chunk of dark navy linen/rayon which was supposed to be black, (there's a story there) which I happily cut up into the pattern yesterday. Her blog and linked photos on Picasa were immensely helpful in figuring out how to construct the pants, and why the parts went where they do. I threw them together ridiculously fast, the pleating of nearly three yards per leg taking more time than the actual sewing. The pattern is a little different than what I've made in the past, in that they don't have a drawstring, nor do they have a fly of any kind. They're designed to have belt loops and be just large enough to slip on, then belt in the last bit of the fullness of the waist. The only trouble I've run into is that I estimated the draped length of the leg while Himself was napping, and I overestimated by at least 6 inches, which was extremely frustrating last night as I didn't realize it until after I'd sewn it all together. So the pleating around the knees, about 85-90 inches down to 17" that took two hours to get done, all had to be ripped out. As soon as I get off my butt, I'll repleat them and sew them back into the calf pieces.  

I'll need to figure out some kind of winnegas, the woolen leg wraps, to cover the calf piece. I think I've got some pretty brown wool scraps that'll do for now, but I'd really love something

patterned in the future. I mean, even if it isn't Himself's period, I should at least make the outfit awesome anyway, right? Eventually I'll scan my doodle plans, or perhaps sketch out a new, clean version, and post the "pattern" for the pants, with the measurements that I used, since Eva's are in centimeters and don't include the measurements for every dimension, which forced me to be resourceful and figure stuff out for myself.

I'm working on a new Roman dress, though I haven't decided on a style yet. The Wifey sent me a lovely book about Pompeii a little while back when she sent me the fabric for the hat she commissioned. I noticed a trend among the ladies of Pompeian murals for aqua dresses, and promptly decided I must have one! While sifting through the fabric for a friend a while back I found a lovely aqua cotton shirting that has an interesting texture from Jo-Ann's that was originally purchased for a friend. I need to go back through the book to see if that helps me decide what style I want to make it in, though I'm thinking gathered shoulders is probably the easiest.  I eventually want a banded style, but I think I need a thinner fabric for it.  A voile perhaps.


I'm also assisting our friend Elena with a set of Romans for the war, and since she's been roped into being Waterbearer-in-charge I'll probably be spending a decent amount of time carrying water for fighters. Ah well, it'll keep me busy.


I'm planning a new internet project that'll need to take photos of at war.  I want to create a couple pages of Medieval hairstyle tutorials, with step by step photos on how to accomplish simple styles that are appropriate to various periods.  I've been really interested in the various Roman and Greek hairstyle archaeology that I've been coming across lately, and would like to educate more people in how easy it is to do some medieval hairstyles, and I think this might help.  I know I haven't found anything worth looking at when I Google "Medieval hairstyle" and it gives me a little thrill to think that something I'm doing might pop up on a search.  Of course I don't know anything about websites, but I'll get to that once I've got the tutorial figured out.


I've rambled long enough, time to post this silly thing.

Thinking of future Hair things...

I'm tossing around the idea of doing a Long Hair Roundtable for an indoor event sometime in the future.  Kind of like a cross between a class and social, more like a panel, I want to see if I can't get several people committed to helping me with it, as far as conversation goes.  I'm currently thinking of it being open to everyone, with those that have longer hair being of higher authority.  It would hopefully be a question and answer session, with people learning about modern hair care, methods for styling and arranging that are good for hair, and tips on how to grow out one's hair.

I hope to do some research on period hair care and products, because I'm thinking hair may have to be my "thing" up here.  I'd like to turn that research into an A&S project for future events.  And at some point in the future I probably ought to teach a french braiding class, regardless of whether or not it's period.  So many people want to know how, and it does look nicer than throwing it into a ponytail at events.

I'm not sure why I keep coming up with ideas for classes and teaching.  I'm not a good public speaker and don't really like to be the center of attention, but I want my words to carry some authority, and evidently teaching gives one automatic authority.  I've come out of my shell enough to want to be "Someone Important," and now I have to find a way of making myself thus.

I'm finding more people's pictures of Roman busts, and some of them are smart enough to get photos of the backside of the head too.  So I'm adding to my list of hairstyles that I can do at events, if only I can find enough Roman women to braid.  I've decided to pimp out Roman as often as I can, cause it is so totally more awesome than other periods.  Aw yeah.

Ancestors weren't dumb instance #347...

I haven't really been keeping track, but it's fun to randomly number things...

So I taught my class on basic braided styles for SCA periods, and I mentioned that hairpins aren't period, the proper method would be to sew the hair, either to tie off the braid or to arrange it in the various styles.  This was suggested to me through a Youtube video by Janet Stephens for a specific Roman Hairstyle, which then suggested for further reading an article of hers called "On (hair)Pins and Needles," which gave further information about Roman hairstyling.  This idea should be obvious, but requires a little mental rebooting to wrap your mind around it.  Hair taping is something I've done before, completely without pins, but sewing with a thread that matches the hair hadn't occurred to me as an alternative to pins.  Last weekend I got to try sewing hair for several styles, and of course I didn't get any pictures, but I can at least describe the styles and why the sewing worked so well.

Bust of Marie de France (1327–41)

First style I sewed that day was a 14th century Templers style, also known as the puppy dog ears.  It's the one that has the two braids on either side of the face,  that are folded up once they get to chin length.  Idonia was the recipient of this style, and her hair is no longer than waist length.  I believe that this is long enough if you can get the braids started in the correct place on the head.  If the hair was longer, thigh or longer, the braids could be crossed behind and then brought up to the temples.  As it was I eventually got the braids started in the right place, braided down as far as I could and ended up with tails about 5-6" long.  I folded the braid about in half, which made it fall from temple to chin.  I took the sewing thread and sewed the braid in half, tucking the tails against the face, which I believe to be an appropriate recreation of this image. The original bust most likely had an elaborate crown that would attach to it.  The tails ended up tickling her and getting in the way, so Idonia tucked them back, and the sewn braids stayed put longer than she really wanted, so she had to have a friend pick out the threads.  The braids ended up being piled on her head, but the style lasted for at least a day.

The second head I sewed last weekend was for Aoife.  Her hair is much shorter, just past shoulder, and a bit finer.  She only wanted the front part pulled back in regular braids, not french, and then pinned in a bun.  The pins just weren't working, partially from the short hair, and partially from the style of braid.  I got fed up with the pins not cooperating and sewed her bun in place.  It stayed through Saturday, and she had me take it down on Sunday.


The last, and most squee worthy, was Isadora.  She doesn't play very often, but she's working on a Greek persona.  I'm going to try to get her to come over to the Roman side.  Since I had a braiding booth set up for merchanting on Saturday, and no one was coming by, she decided to try to drum me up a little business.  And for that kindness, she got a gorgeous Roman style based on these images.  Her hair was shortish for these styles, past the shoulder but not past the shoulder blade.  She got cornrows, though fewer than these images.  She had six across the front of her head, and six across the bottom.  The dozen little braids were then sewn together however I could get them arranged neatly with the tails tucked in to create the open centered, voluminous buns like the Roman busts.  I couldn't get all the braids to twist the same directions, but they all curled nicely in the end.  I last saw her on Monday, and the style was still secure, if a bit fuzzy.  I'm looking forward to the day I convert more people to Roman garb, and can do these styles on more people, though they do take a good long amount of time to arrange.

Mildly Meta Moment...

So I read TrulyHatBlog, because I've got a serious costuming crush on Truly, and I was amused to find a couple pictures from her recent trip back to Houston.  Specifically the photos from High Fashion.  My first inclination was to check out the mannequins to see how they were looking.  My first reaction to said mannequins, "Dayum, the quality has gone way down since I left." I kind of wanted to comment, but I don't really know Truly, I just worship her from afar. Well, less afar than before, since she's in Seattle...


It was just a little odd to see pics of the store, not a whole lot's changed, got a few new fabrics in, changed a sign or two... Just the quality of the draping.

New Project...

So I've been "commissioned" to start a new project, which is always exciting, though the reason for this specific commission is a sad one.  My wifey has asked me to make her a black pillbox hat to wear for her grandmother's funeral.  Her grandmother hasn't passed yet, but has been given only a few weeks.  So tonight I'm making the buckram frame, and she'll have to send me the silk velvet she wants to cover it.

After I get the frame done, then I get to work on drafting sleeve patterns for The Boy's gambeson.  He's specifically requested that I complete all the mock ups before moving onto the real fabrics because of how important fit is in this project.  I can handle the request I suppose.  So I'll have to pull out the drafting skillz.

My friend and her boy are hanging out with me and The Boy today, so she and I are working on sewing while The Boy is making lasagna.

Off to work...

Personal Progress...

I finally got off my duff enough to mock up The Boy's Gambeson, in hideous floral print, and have made progress on the seams, though I haven't drafted any sleeve patterns yet.  The new waist seam has been included and the skirt flaps have been draped.  The next step, hopefully I'll get to it soon, is to trace the pieces and make the changes to the body pattern and make the new skirt pattern pieces.  Then I can either go along the sleeve route or build the body route.  Sleeves will mean taking measurements and drafting a pattern before mocking it up, building the body means I get to cut into the pretty blue linen and start on the quilting!  The sleeves are going to be the more complex thought process, the body is going to be the more time consuming, but since both need to be done we'll see which I'm in the mood for when next I sew.

I've decided to test the merchanting waters at events with a rather new idea.  I braid hair.  I braid lots of hair.  I sometimes then arrange the braids into fancy (or not so fancy) hairstyles.  I've decided I'd like to get paid for this.  Thus I've decided to try merchanting at Egils in May to see if this might be a viable way to earn a little extra cash here and there.  I don't have any more set up than a chair and a small table for my stuff, and I don't really want to have to stay with my chair for all the hours merchants are scheduled for, so we'll see how scheduling works.

Below are a few photos of braiding I've done on different occasions, just cause I can...

Trossfrau standstill, and 15th cent german

So I'm getting no where on my Trossfrau.  I can't afford to buy the trim I need for the tross, and that prevents me from really getting started on my dress, which is silly, but not completely unreasonable.  I should do a mock up of the bodice based on the pattern, and work on the hemd for underneath.  That would at least get me some progress.  Who doesn't like new undies?


So 15th cent german clothes are slowly edging into my desires.  I have so much free time right now since I'm unemployed, which causes me to daydream about what I'd make with money if I had it, which is silly because if I had a job, then I would have the money, but wouldn't have all this free time.  I'd probably get more done than I do now, because I suck at time management when I have lots of time.


The main wishful thinking project is a 15th cent german dress, maybe like the ones from the Housebook Master, though I'm really in love with Hans Part (Babenberger Stammbaum).  I haven't decided on linen or wool, color or details really, but I want one of them.  The 3/4 sleeves and variety of bodice details make me more excited for this style than I've ever been for any gothic fitted dress.  I've seen GFDs, I've made GFDs, I'm no longer interested because everyone seems to have one.  The quest to be slightly more unique strikes again.


In other "news" I've recently become a convert to joined together braided pigtails.  I know it sounds weird, but those german ladies knew what they were doing.  I've never believed that anyone went around with loose hair, maiden or otherwise.  My hair tangles at the thought of being loose, braids are the only way to keep my hair from rats nests.  Especially now that it's just past my waist, longest it's ever been!  A pair of pigtails are more functional than loose hair, and cuter too.  But I've found that they still slip over my shoulders at inconvenient times and get into whatever I happen to be bent over working on (frequently the dishes).  So for the most recent workday at the Egils site, I tied the two braids together.  Though they slipped sideways, they never got far over my shoulder and didn't get in the way of my work.  Crazy eh?  And after the work day, when we're headed home soaked from the rain, I twisted the loop around my head and ended up with a relatively secure, if goofy, hairstyle; exactly like the hairstyle from the Unicorn Tapestries too.


Speaking of hair, we're heading out the door to go see Tangled, again for The Boy, first time for me!

I miss being employed...

I haven't bought fabric in what feels like ages. (It was like last month really)  I want to buy some linen or wool to work on a 15th c german dress to go with my cute red fringe hat.  Not a huge number of people do 15th c german, though you can find it on several peoples websites.  And yes, I do realize that I'm not capitalizing german, it's conscious.  Germany didn't exist as a country until well after SCA's period, but germanic groups existed then.  So I'm trying to be more accurate.

And more unique.  I like the idea of doing something different from most people.  The group I've moved into already has someone who is "The Roman Lady,"  and although I do it better, (full of modesty I am, or full of something) it's not going to get me the little bit of notoriety that I want.  For some reason, I want to be known for something.  I'm usually a pretty quiet person, rather self-conscious for the most part, but I want to have a little local famous.  Or maybe a little internet famous.

But I don't have any fabric to do a new dress out of.  I also need to buy the fabric to do the guards and lining for my trossfrau.  I could just use something cheap from Jo-ann, but I don't have the money for that right now either.  I'd like a good wool flannel for the guards in a rusty/dusty orange and a blueish red.  They'll be fantastic with the greyed blue wool of the dress.  I've had this color combination in my head for years.  While my wifey and I were shopping at High Fashion Home in Houston, I came across a piece of trim that had those colors in it.  The trim wasn't really anything worth buying, a brocaded something that didn't really look like anything period, but it was a gorgeous color combo and it has stuck with me for years.

I'd like a blue linen for my bodice lining.  I could use the leftovers from The Boy's gambeson, if I ever get my ass in gear on that project.  I can't decide if I'm going to line the sleeves or not.  I don't think so, mostly because of the slashes in the sleeves.  I'm hoping that I'll have a job soon so I can buy some fabric when the opportunity arises.  If I can't find the time in April, I think I'll see about shopping in Portland when we go up to pick up Himself's parents when they come for a visit.  That means I have plenty of time to research where to go buy what I'm looking for.

The gambeson needs another mock up, since I didn't draft in a waist seam before.  I should really work on that sometime this week and get the patterns finished so I can move on.  The thing I never noticed before about dress diaries is the long amount of time it takes to finish something.  It's not really taking me any longer to do these projects than anything else, but because I'm trying to keep track of it, it feels like I'm taking FOREVER between steps.  Must chill.  It will be done when it will be done.

Job Interview on Friday...

Part Time Teller at Chase.  It's no where near what I want to do for a living, but it's so much better to look for a job while employed.  And I'm fine with my work being completely separate from my life, so work is at work and fun is at home.

I so want to be employed.

Please can I have this job?

Job hunting makes me cry...

That is all

I swear...

Trying to find a new job is the most ridiculously convoluted rabbit hole I've ever been down!


I find an interesting job posting on one page, that I'm already registered for.  It takes me to another job site I have to register with to read the whole description.  I have to go to the actual company's page and register with them to actually apply for the bloody thing, and I'm pretty damn certain that my five years at a fabric store don't convey anything to me about healthcare or dental insurance.

So I go to the second webpage to see what they have that the first page didn't.  And now I'm registering for yet another bloody fucking page because no one posts a job on every page, they post one job on one page, and that page posts the job on another page and so on and so forth until I want to scream and cry and run back to Houston where I know I can get my old job back even if it wasn't that good to begin with because at least then I'd be fucking employed.  And that was a drastically run on sentence.

fuck.

Life is good...

Return of the Jedi is on TV and The Boy is cooking curry in the kitchen.  Life is good...

I found the Hat...

I found a website where someone has done TONS of research on 15th century german clothing and they had a huge collection of images from the Housebook Master, who has bunches of the fringed german hats I love!  And because I love it so, here's a few new images of it.  I love the image of the two lovers, the woman carries the hat in her hand.  The four images at the bottom require a little more searching for the hat, there's usually only one or so.

Things to do this week...

Work on a resume... Really, really need to find a new job.  The Boy's work is supporting us, but there isn't any fun money.  Plus we owe friends a good load of money for helping us with the move, so I need to get my butt in gear and earn some cash.  I'm going to try applying with a temp agency in town.  I'm a little scared and worried. I've never had trouble getting work before.  I've never really needed to work before, but now I need to and can't seem to find it.

But the reward is The Boy and I are going to a Punch Brothers concert on Wednesday.  Whoo-hoo Bluegrass music!  This is supposed to be our 3rd anniversary treat.  It's a little hard to say when our anniversary is, because he asked me out at Gulf Wars, and that's a whole week of romance, without an actual date in there.

We need to go grocery shopping for Coronet's lunch food, probably Thursday.  And Friday we'll be making pasties, prepping other stuff and packing the van for the trip.  I'm excited about this trip.  We'll have a large van-load of people headed down to Elena's Parents' house, and that makes for an awesome trip.  Most of my rides to an SCA event had two, three people at most, so this sounds like the stories older scadians tell of the early days...

And added to the To-Do List is a plain white linen undertunic for Himself.  He needs another layer under his fancy clothes, and there's some light-weight white fabric lying around, I think is either linen or a linen-cotton blend.  (Belongs to The Boy and who knows what it might be.)

Should get started on something...

Things that got accomplished today...

Banana Bread, though it might be a little gooey inside
The Boy did a loaf of regular bread for sammaches
and the beginnings of the lemon syrup that I've been meaning to do for quite some time.  (Long enough ago that that most of the lemons I'd gotten had gone moldy)

Going to the grocery store for more lemons.

This weekend is Summits Coronet Tourney.  I'm still new enough that I'm probably calling it by the wrong name, but alas, I'll fix it when I learn the proper name for it.  The Boy is in charge of putting together the lunch for some of our friends, and the current plan is for a beef and mushroom pastie, and lemonade from the syrup I'm making, and probably some other food too.

Off to the grocery store, more later.

Possible A&S entry...

I'm trying to decide if I want to do an A&S entry on hairstyling.  I'm thinking of doing something for Adiantum's upcoming Birthday Bash, more of an informal revel if I understand correctly.  The entry I'm toying about with is asking Idonia if she'd let me do her hair to match her outfit, and then enter that into the contest.

Whoops, just checked the facebook page for the event, and it appears to be an A&S championship.  Maybe I'll put off entering until something else...