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.