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Recreating Vs. Re-Imagining

4/30/2013

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Galyana in one of my earlier attempts at simple garb.
I started out in the SCA around the end of 1992.  I was in Sylvan Glen briefly (as the group was starting up), and then moved to Atlantia.  When I arrived in that Kingdom, the first medieval reenactor I met was part of the Adrian Empire and I tested that out briefly before rejoining the SCA. 

The friend from Adria was more experienced at medieval sewing than I was at the time and I told her I was very excited about going to events and making costumes.  She looked appalled when I made that statement and told me in now uncertain terms that we wear "garb" and not "costumes".  Garb, she said, is clothes people wore; costumes are playing dress-up.

Given that I was still enamored at the time with buying yards and yards of tacky trim (and note that this friend was as well), the distinction between the two was not yet clear in my mind. 

It was a decade later, when my boyfriend ordered a giant quantity of linen, in many colors and several weights, that I finally started to understand what made some of the simplest garb stand out.  At his request, I made 8 tunics in mid-weight linen, 8 undertunics in light linen and 8 pairs of linen pants.  They were all cut using rectangular construction techniques and were completely unadorned.  We were walking about at Pennsic one day and came upon a group of his friends.  One of the guys commented that he liked his garb a lot, but that it did not look like garb, this friend joked, it looked like clothes.

Exactly.

Of course, this is the SCA, so costume garb is perfectly ok (and quite often, these items are also perfectly beautiful).   Many individuals are into research and who view this as an opportunity to recreate history often aim to produce garments that reflect what common individuals wore during these earlier times.  They recreate the day-to-day garments, clothes rather than costumes. These items stand out for their simplicity and functionality in a way that the most heavily beaded and trim laden gown cannot.  They look real.

In reality, getting to this point is often a mental process.  Early on, most of us are drawn to the miles and miles of colorful trim sold by SCA merchants.  We want to slap it on everything and "peacock" ourselves (thanks to folks from one of the Viking forums for the rather appropriate peacock term).  Eventually, those interested in really understanding the history behind clothes start to see past the glitter and look to recreating, rather than re-imagining, the past.

How do you start to make medieval clothes rather than costumes?  Research!  :-)   Look at paintings for later period items.  Look at sculptures.  Look at archeological finds to see how those items were actually put-together and decorated.

You can also carefully consider your choices in fabric - would linen or wool twill be better than a modernly patterned brocade?  Consider more realistic trimming options.  In period, the creation of decorative bands was very labor intensive.  Would one really have worn them to work in the market or even manage the home?  Perhaps there are other, simpler, ways to embellish your garb that would be more suitable.  (For example, a simple strip of silk fabric as trim at the top of a Viking aprondress is more period than a wide row of purchased metallic Celtic knotwork trim.)

And look around the work of others.  You will find some lovely things at events and online.  Some things I have seen recently that I love are below.  There are so many more, you just need to poke around a bit to find them!
  • 16th C. German & Elizabethan Costuming by Amie Sparrow
  • There are some lovely re-creations on Kostym.cz (I really love the German Lady, the Red Cotehardie, the Brown Peasant, Durer Dress, Kampfrau, and the Fortune Teller): http://www.kostym.cz/Anglicky/VIII_01_01.htm
  • Often living history groups have strict standards for what can and cannot wear to events and they produce some lovely items (particularly those in Europe).  There are some nice examples on this site: http://www.fletcherey-hammelbacher.de/6.html
  • This one is the gallery of a photographer that has some amazing images, a few of which are of people in lovely medieval dress: http://alcove.deviantart.com/gallery/
  • Most of the dresses in these links are not workclothes, but they are lovely reproductions that are not over-wrought.  I particularly love Anea's dress: http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/yourgarb/showcase.htm
  • And this lady has some lovely garb, particularly her houppeland with ruffled veil! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elisas-Endeavors/388450527889191?id=388450527889191&sk=photos_stream




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Weaving Wide

4/29/2013

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Because I never believe in doing things the easy way, I decided to get a fine warp of 800 ends warped up on my loom.

To do this I had to add an additional 100 heddles to the shafts (it is an 8 shaft loom, but I only have 4 on it at the moment). 

The warp is Borgs Faro wool (6/1).  It is lovely, but very, very sticky.  I had to use a pick-up stick to help separate the warp strings every few inches as I wound the warp on so that it would pass over the lease sticks.

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The weft is a green singles wool yarn that is very, very fine that was gifted to me by a friend.  I think it would have been suitable for warp, but it was an older cone of yarn and I did not want to risk too many broken threads (I've had two already but that was easily dealt with).

I had done a needle woven test sample and when finished this should close up well and still be a very light weight wool.  (Yes, that is another Birka broken diamond twill you see as the pattern.) 

I have about 16 inches woven so far and should have a total of three yards or slightly over that in woven fabric when done.  I will start winding the warp for some mat-type rugs for the Pennsic tents soon :-)

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Dressing for the Weather

4/16/2013

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I have mentioned, in classes and previous handouts, the importance of natural fibres for garb.  Linen, wool and cotton breathe far better than synthetics.  Rayon, a cellulose fibre, can also breathe well depending on the weave.  My personal preference, however, is 100% linen, especially for Pennsic.  Over the years, and over many, many Pennsics, I think I have have a system for what suits me best in terms of comfort.  Given the number of hits this blog gets for "pennsic garb", "hot weather garb" and "bog dress", I thought that I would share my wardrobe tips (and some resources) in more detail.  (Please note, I in no way made this entire wardrobe in a year, or even five!  It took time to grow, and I am continually revising and adding too it.)  My basic Pennsic Garb list is mentioned in this Pennsic Post, but this post will expound on it.

With the exception of some of my non-period Middle Eastern dance attire, all of my garb is Linen (with some wool for the evenings as well).  There are great sources for linen online:
  • http://www.fabrics-store.com/  This is my favorite resource for linen.  In general, I think most people have been happy with the quality and the price.  Note for those who have not bought from them in the last several years, the quality now is more fine and more even than it used to be!
  • http://www.mcssl.com/store/gray-lines-linen-inc/solid-linen  I have not yet purchased from this store, but know several people who do and I have fondled their swatch cards.  This fabric is lovely and I am sure I will eventually be giving them some business.
  • http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com/  This shop has stock that comes and goes quickly.  Occasionally they have great deals on linen.  They also have online coupons for new customers as well as regular sales.  (This is also a nice resource for wool.)
  • http://www.fabric.com/  I have made many purchases from this store over the years, sometimes the linen quality is hit or miss, so it is good to order swatches first (however, I once got $3/yard linen that was less nice than I am used too, but for $3 I still consider it an amazing buy). 
There are several places I do NOT buy linen.  One is FashionFabricsClub/Denver Fabrics.  Denver Fabrics used to be great, but when the company was sold, I noticed a drop in quality and frequent mislabeling of fibre content online.  If you order from here, get swatches first!  Joanns usually has a limited color selection in the store, and I honestly prefer a lighter weight linen than what they sell, so rarely purchase from there.  If you do, make sure you are on their mailing list so that you can get 50% off coupons which make the linen the same price as the online resources. 

The one other thing I watch out for, especially when it comes to linen for hot weather, is short-staple linen.  Regular linen is spun from long fibres from the flax plant.  This is a strong fabric that absorbs water well and stays cool in the heat.  Short-staple linen is made from the same fibres, but they have been chopped up, processed and spun together in to a more coarse yarn.  It is a similar process to that used to make to silk noil (raw silk).  The texture is often wrong for period linen, it is not as colorfast as some of the other types and, in my opinion, it does not really act like line should in the heat.  Some merchants sells this linen (and at least last year started labeling it as short-staple to differentiate it).  At $3 a yard, it is not a bad buy, but at $6 I really feel one are better off spending a bit more and going to one of the sites mentioned above.  (Of course, I still prefer short staple linen to cotton, but I would not deliberately buy it at this point unless I got a great deal on it.)

In addition to making wise fabric choices, here are some other tips for warm-weather attire (not always period, but they often make people happy while still allowing for a look that exceeds the required "attempt"):
  • If you are wearing late-period garb, it is possible to fake your under layers.  For example, you can sew chemise sleeves into an Italian gown.
  • You can often face some items, such as linen Entari (Ottoman coats), with a contrasting color and eliminate a lining completely for hot weather.  The contrasting color can still give the illusion of a full lining.
  • Certain garments, however, just need to be lined, they lay better and offer the necessary support that way.  You can, however, line with heavy linen or only partially line the garment (I have lined quite a few cotehardies to the upper hip only). 
  • I personally am happier with a linen chemise and a cotton gown than I would be with a cotton chemise and linen gown.  The linen absorbs moister better and, for me, is more comfortable next to the skin.  (Of course, I would say that an ideal world would have all layers being from linen.)
  • If you are using cotton, look for cottons without a heavy layer of dye on them.  Some quilting prints are very pretty for garb, but some of them use a process of dying that is more like paint and it affects the breathability of the cotton.  If it still seems somewhat airy and the drape is not too stiff, it will probably work well for warm weather. 
  • Many Indian block print cottons have a bit looser of a weave than regular cotton broadcloth and have very thin dyes used only sparsely.  Depending on the print, they can actually be very period!
  • Adopt a summer persona!  Personally, I admire those who have one persona and are dedicated to being an Elizabethan Lady in any weather.  I cannot express enough how incredible these people are.  However, that does not work for many who do not tolerate the heat well so consider going Roman, or Norse, Indian or early Celt if you need less layers in the heat.
  • If you are crafting a wardrobe on a very tight budget can cannot choose linen, it would be a good idea to plan for items that layer well, and do not create bulk.  (Pleat skirts or pants on to a waist band rather than gathering up the entire width on a wide piece of elastic.  A double casing and narrow cotton elastic can also be fairly comfortable and I show that here http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/a-wandering-elfs-journey/salwar-for-the-summer )

Now that you know what most of my garb is made out of, I will show you what I wear most often on those hot, hot days!  (Note that I also take wool coats, cloaks and dresses for cooler weather as we often can have a chilly night or two at Pennsic, but I am focusing on the bulk of my garb in this article and that is geared towards heat and humidity!)

I have instructions for my summer "bog dress" and a hypothetical wrap-dress that can be found in this post:  
http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey/summer-wardrobe


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This photo shows the lovely Galyana in a linen (5.3oz/mid-weight from Fabrics-Store) bog dress I made.  This is what I turn to on the most hot and humid days that Pennsic can toss at me. 

I started with one of these dresses in 2008 and now take five of them with me to War.  They are easy to rinse out and hang to dry if I need to reuse them.

(The instructions for this type of dress are in the "My Documents" section of this blog.)

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I love my Viking garb.  Most of my Norse day-wear is comprise of a handkerchief weight underdress (3.5oz/light-weight) linen and a mid-weight (5.3oz) hangerock (aprondress).  I also usually have a light linen scarf to keep the sun off of my head.

Since Viking is my primary persona at this point, I have been working to upgrade these outfits and have enough that I do not have to wash them during the course of the event.  I think I have at least 6 light weight underdresses and perhaps 6 aprondresses in mid-weight linen.  I also have a few mid-weight underdresses and even some heavier aprondresses for the cooler days/evenings.


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My Ottoman day wear represents a lady's indoor costume from the 16th century.  These are comprised of light-weight salwar (pants) and gomlek (chemise) and a mid-weight hirka (short coat).  I usually wear these with a hat and veil.  My costume in this photo is far more comfortable on a hot day than the one Galyana is wearing.  Her's has cotton pants, a rayon Ghawazee coat and cotton blouse as well as the belts and scarves layered over all of that.  I have many of these Ottoman outfits, as this was my primary persona at one time.

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I also have longer coats!  I am wearing a mid-weight linen Entari here with a light-weight linen chemise and pants.  The lovely Samira is wearing a "dancing coat" that I made.  It is cotton, but very light weight and made in a manner that makes a chemise unnecessary as it would not show.  (My Dancing Coats are cut as a period coat, but have many additional gores added for volume in the skirt.)

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In this image I am wearing a Saxon gown, one layer of mid-weight linen with linen contrast facing and cuffs.  Cool and comfortable on most days.

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The dress above is one I can wear on a slightly cooler day, it uses the same 3.5oz linen underdress I have on with the Viking outfit above, but has a mid-weight linen tunic over it.


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Cool evening garb is easy, as I have wool for that.  But what about muddy days where I don't want to ruin my nicer Norse attire?  Well, I am prepared for those as well!  I regularly hit the clearance bins at Joanns and pick up mid-weight cottons with nice weaves (this is actually a herringbone twill) and make "SCA Generic" tunics out of them.  This garment will wear well, still looks ok, and I don't care if it gets muddy!  I usually take at least two such dresses with me to each Pennsic (just in case...)

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And of course, who can forget the camp dresses?   These are loose t-tunics made of light-weight cottons from the clearance bins at Joanns.  I think I have 7 at this point and add another each year.  They are easy to wash out and dry for reuse.  I use these only for laying around camp in the hottest part of the day.  Galyana is here modeling one of hers (and a glass of 3 O'clock Wine).

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Best Librarians Ever!!!

4/15/2013

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Flax Experiment - Part 2 (Something is happening!)

4/15/2013

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Flax Experiment

4/10/2013

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At the Cabin I have a small garden plot that used to be a place for the baby livestock to live.  When moved in, I decided to use that space for a garden.  Unfortunately, the lack of soil (there is more shale there than anything else) and the fact that I cannot be there every day, made it very hard to grow anything.  My purple green beans did amazingly well, but everything else (that lived) was nothing more than a miniature version of what it should be.  Radishes the size of a pea, carrots only an inch long, cucumbers that should have been huge but looked like gerkins.

Eventually, I will have the time to bring in topsoil and fertilizer and do a full scale garden and do it right.  For this year, however, I just opted to test out some flax.  If the summer is too dry, it is likely not much will come of it, but I am crossing my fingers I ge

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I turned the soil for two beds and added in 2 cubic feet of a topsoil/compost blend.  Over that I sprinkled flax seeds purchased from Landis Valley Farm.  The variety is Marylin, which is specifically bred for better fibre production.

The beds are staked off and I look forward to seeing if anything has sprouted in a couple of days.

Ideally, this will grow well enough that learn the entire process of turning flax into fibre - from the seed to spinning.  Below is the wet-weather pond (which would be great, I think, for retting, except that it tends to disappear in mid-summer) and team of oxen I used for my field work ;-)

Eventually, this field will be home to Icelandic Sheep!

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Dyeing: Experiment #1 - Part Three (and my Oops!)

4/8/2013

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Here are the final roving samples from the Madder experiment.  The first was the 12 hour mordant (with alum) and 3 days in the dye (left), 5 days (middle) and 3 day mordant with 7 days in the dye.  Unfortunately, the sun washed it out a bit.

I did have an oops with this.  The madder was powered, but I had sense enough to not let it float free with the roving.  Initially, it was contained in nylon stockings but at some point I accidentally poked one of the stockings when I was moving the dyeables around and ruptured it.  The madder grit invaded the dye bath and is impossible to get out of the roving.  The darkest sample in the image above actually felted during my attempts to remove the powder.  The other roving piece I set aside an only lightly rinsed twice.  It still has flecks, but will work to spin for a dye sample, even though I would not use the yarn for anything else for fear that the madder would release more dye and stain something else.

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To the left is the yarn I previously posted.  This also was in the 3 day mordant, 7 day dye bath.  Next too it is a piece of linen that I mordanted and dyed with the wool just to see how it would turn out.  The pink is very nice and actually dyed evenly on the linen.  I look forward to playing with more linen dye samples after Pennsic!

Up next... Experiment #2 - Weld Revisited!  And following that I have birch leaves and bark to test.

As for what else is going on well... see below the 16 bundles of fine wool warp that is now on my loom!

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Dyeing Results: Experiment #1 - Part 2

4/3/2013

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I could not be more thrilled with this! 

Here is crewel wool from Renaissance Dyeing that I dyed myself with madder (the same madder bath as in the previous post, but I mordanted the wool for three days before soaking in the dyebath for 7 more days).  I LOVE the color!

This yarn, btw, takes dye exceptionally well.

Now, of course, I am contemplating a project for a hand spun, hand-dyed, and hand woven mantle f

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Dyeing Results - Experiment #1

4/1/2013

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Over the last several weeks I have been experimenting with natural dyes.  The only dyeing I have previously done was in 2009 (I think) with onion skins.  I managed a lovely marigold color with those (on wool) on my first attempt, but only a pale, dull yellow when I tried a second batch.

I have known for years that I wanted to weave my own fabric, and given that I also recently took up spinning, a more serious attempt at natural dyeing seems to be the logical next step.  So, I tried a couple of dye baths with madder and weld (and still have another madder bath going) and below are my initial results.
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Above you can see my initial attempts.  This is a white wool roving that I dyed with weld (left) and madder (middle and right).  They were each mordanted with alum for 12 hours.  The weld sat in the dye bath for 4 hours (I wish now I had left it longer), the madder in the middle was there for 3 days and the madder on the right was 5 days. 

I actually still have that same madder bath going as it was not nearly exhausted.  The items I added this time were mordanted for 3 days and the wool has been in the dye for 7 days so far.

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The yarn above is my Icelandic hand spun (2 ply).  On the left is undyed (it was a natural heathered beige) and the center has the madder and to the right is the weld.  These skeins soaked in the same dye baths as the wool roving.  I actually like how the weld looks on the heathered yarn more than I do on the roving. 




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Now, I cannot make something just for the sake of making it, even if it is something you have to practice a lot in order to obtain a quality product.  (I actually guess that would be a period practice as well, lol.)

So, the skeins of dyed yarn are being woven into a tablet band that will start a warp for a miniature warp-weighted loom that I am constructing.  For the band design, I was inspired by the double diamond pattern of the image to the left.  This is a fragment of an extant band from Kaupang (more info can be found in Hilde Thunem's document here http://urd.priv.no/viking/smokkr.html ).  It appears from the diagram that the original might have been brocaded, but given that this is for warping purposes it is not a technique I wanted to test out on this particular piece.

I also will admit that do not truly understand the "how" of tablet weaving just yet.  I can print a pattern off of the internet, set up the weaving according to the directions and follow the turn turn/flip pattern that they suggest, but this piece is my first attempt at really understanding the process of how weaving with cards creates a pattern.  So, I drafted the pattern myself, set it up and fuddled with it until I got the weaving to show the pattern I was expecting. 

Plan to weave a bit of the band on either side of the warp, so you can see below that I have started the left hand bit of the weaving.

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    About Me

    I am mother to a billion cats and am on journey to recreate the past via costume, textiles, culture and food.

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    Blogroll of SCA & Costume Bloggers

    Below is a collection of some of my favorite places online to look for SCA and historic costuming information.

    More Amie Sparrow - 16th Century German Costuming


    Gianetta Veronese - SCA and Costuming Blog

    Grazia Morgano - 16th Century A&S

    Mistress Sahra -Dress From Medieval Turku 

    Hibernaatiopesäke

    Loose Threads: Cathy's Costume Blog

    Mistress Mathilde Bourrette - By My Measure: 14th and 15th Century Costuming

    More than Cod: Exploring Medieval Norway

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