Only a few days left until my 12th Night deadline to get all these commissions done! Eeep. Christmas tried to interfere, but at least I had finished my family’s handmade holiday gifts back during my Thanksgiving break. But still, I have SO much to do, no matter how well I schedule, plan, and to-do list
For a change, I’m not making anything for myself, and instead, I’m sewing a bunch of stuff for other people. In time for the SCA’s 12th Night, I took on a bunch of commissions to sock away a little money. It’s both stressful because I’m doing this after I work 40+ hours at my office
Here is my 1590s gown made of white silk, inspired by various portraits of Queen Elizabeth I’s maids of honor. I wore it at 12th Night 2014.
Research and Theories: Linen caps and coifs are a well-known part of the Elizabethan wardrobe for women and even men. In their simplest form, plain linen caps were worn at all levels of society, often as a protective layer between the hair and a hat or even as a nightcap. Many women’s embroidered coifs survive
Or as I tend to think of it: Fancy Man Bags! Because the discerning Elizabethan gent needed a sassy little purse to carry his hankie or a few coins in. Women seemed to hide pockets & such in their voluminous skirts, while the men showed off their goods, ehem, with highly decorated purses that were
One of my favorite styles of 16th-century headgear is the tall crowned hat. It was first worn by men starting around the 1570s mostly in England, the Low Countries, & Spain. Women soon adopted the style, particularly when worn with high-necked doublet-style bodices. This fashion was hugely popular, which lead to criticism by the early
12th Night inches closer, & so do my various projects. I think my crazy wheel farthingale gown will be a go. I got the bodice & skirt attached, so it’s a real dress now. Still needs that weird tuck at the farthingale edge, plus hemming, & all the multitudes of accessories (ruff! wig! shoe rosettes!
You’d think I would have made one of these by now, given that “Elizabethan” is my One True Costuming Love & late 16th-century lowland Scots is my SCA persona. But no, I’ve yet to make the ever-practical English fitted gown. So it’s about time. You’ve seen all the period images before, but I’ve added a
So I made a new shift (for the better neckline), a wheel farthingale, a giant bum pad to bolster it up, and a corded petticoat to go over the whole thing & smooth out the lines on top plus give a nice little kick to the hem. I guess I’m committed to making the gown
Making lemonade out of lemons — since my hair fell out from chemo, this seems like a good time to go for one of those freaky-cool shaved-forehead styles that has popped up in various points of history. Go big or go home! At first, I though of Burgundian 1470s. It’s a period I don’t know
At Purgatorio 2013, we premiered Gianetta’s new outfit, a Venetian 1580s gown, to complete the obligation of my Queen’s Artisan duties. However, the outfit isn’t entirely done — I still have accessories to make (such as the partlet with ruff, camicia with Liz’s embroidery, & a jeweled cap), & I intend to pearl & bead
Breaking into the Accessory Challenge to catch up on my Queen’s Artisan project — because it’s due on August 24 at Purgatorio! While I was assigned this project at the start of May, I got a late start because I was out of town due to the France trip until early June. And right after
I’ve delivered the last largess parcels for this reign (basically, through Pennsic), and I made a bunch of little things to fill out the boxes. See, Their Royal Majesties commissioned a series of beautiful, historically accurate, hinged wood boxes to fill with gifts and give to the royalty they would be visiting or who would
Recently, I entered an Arts and Sciences competition at an SCA event. The category was Performing Arts, Original Composition. So I wrote a sonnet in the Elizabethan form circa 1590s-1600 (commonly called the Shakespearean sonnet style, although as I showed in my documentation, he did not create this form, he simply popularized it). While I
In May, I was honored to be chosen as one of Queen Etaine’s artisans. In the SCA’s West Kingdom, the Queen’s Artisans are people (non-Laurels) recognized for their artistic ability and usually given some creative goal to work on during the reign. Since Etaine is a costuming Laurel, she had a very specific and exciting