Holiday faire

[isabelladangelo]

I got to dress up the Mommy! Tehehehe! Kat is used to being dragged somewhere and having to dress up. She decided to go middle class English, mid to late 16th c. Basically, my old well worn red corduroy bodice, blue linen skirt, and the tan crinkle cotton skirt that goes beneath along with the black wool sleeves. Some of you might remember it as my "Sept 11" faire outfit which is all it is. I gave her an Elizabethan shirt to go with it which actually made it look really nice.
I wore my old $20 black velvet gown with red satin lining. I made it for a challenge a couple of years ago I think (make accurate looking garb for under $25). It's 1510's Italian. I threw on my belt and one of my favorite necklaces before heading over to grab Mom.
I spent most of Friday at home cleaning and sewing. I mean really cleaning and sewing. There is more than just a pathway in the sewing room now. I boxed up all the fabric and can actually get into things like the patterns case or the cabinet at the bottom of the bookshelf. It's not great yet, but it's not "Oh my stars and garters!" either. My goal is to go through half a box of fabric each month until the end of the next year. I'm only allowed to buy fabric if it's an accent for another project.
After cleaning, I finished the blackwork handkerchief (more on that later on) and sewed up 26 or so eyelets on the back of Mom's 15th c green silk gown. That was interesting. Sewing eyelets isn't nearly as bad when you are watching a movie as opposed to just watching regular old tv.
Anyways, Kat and I got all dressed up, threw Miss Ginsie in the car and went to Mom and Dad's. First thing: I don't want to dress up.
me: ::sighs:: But Mom you have to dress up.
Mom: But it's cold! (it was in the 50's yesterday)
Me: Wear a long sleeved t-shirt and sweatpants underneath. No one will know and I brought my fleece cape for you.

That plus the fact that I told her most everything is inside convinced her to come all dressed up. I really need to get started on the late 15th/early 16th c gown she wanted out of either velvet or maybe the corduroy I have lying around...hmmm...Brown corduroy with green trim would be pretty...I'll ask. She is coming to Pennsic.

So leave the pup with Dad and the brothers and head on out. This is the point where my sinus headache decides it wishes to appear. So I apologize right now to anyone who saw me yesterday, my headache got worse and worse through the day and there were other things going on that were not helping it (such is when Kat disappeared....again!)
So we make the rounds. I introduce my Mom and Kat to as many people as I can. (If you met them, you will see at least Mom again. Kat is more of a rennie.) We looked and I saw tons of stuff but we really didn't get much more than sweets. I did get 3 yards of trim at the auction but that was really it. Like I said, it wasn't because there wasn't stuff it was more of the fact that Kat didn't bring her wallet (long story there), Mom wasn't in a shopping mood, and I was trying to keep my eye on both of them...which was hard.

Mom disappeared once. Kat disappeared three times. She has this tendency to suddenly stop, look at something, and not tell anyone else to stop. Luckily, most of the time you can just retrace your steps and she'll be right where you left her. (Unlike me. :-) ) So as long as you remember where you last saw her and can go back from there, you can find her. The problem this time was the cloak I gave her to wear...it was camouflage. Really. If you want to hide at an SCA event wear a blue/brown tweed wool cloak. No one will ever see you.

That was something else my Mom noticed...there is a disproportionate number of people in the SCA that are just ugly. Not plain, not normal, just freakishly ugly. I pointed out (since this does seem to be true for the most part) that the ugly ones also tend to wear the ugly garb. Their garb is ill fitted, in really bad shape, no distinct time period, and really would look bad on anyone but even worse on someone that has nothing to work with. The normals and the pretty people (which all my friends fall into according to Mom :-) ) wear garb that has a distinctive time period (you can guess the century), is clean and well made. The normals wear garb that enhances themselves.
Now, I realize some people just lucked out completely on the genetic lottery but for the love of everything, can you at least wear something that is pretty? Show off your personality through your clothing somehow? I'm not talking "you must wear full Elizabethan because you are too ugly" but maybe a semi-fitted t-tunic with some beaded trim? Don't have three layers of garb hanging over your belt along with your belly. It's just not pretty. A houppeland will look far better on you and with those sleeves? Pretty! Maybe I should do a class on how to accent your better features through color or would that be too prissy girly of me?

Okay, so I did enter the A&S with the blackwork handkerchief. I probably should point out at this point that vast majority of all my embroidery has been Victorian or cross stitch. I've only done a few pieces of period embroidery. In all the Victorian (or cross stich) stuff I learned to tie knots when you were finished with the thread so yes, there were knots in the blackwork. molly_world thankfully told me how to do blackwork without the needed knots after the judging. I used an even weave linen (got it at Pennsic) and black silk thread for the embroidery but not for one edge of the border (there was black cotton thread already on the needle.) I got the black silk thread at http://www.abrahamslady.com They are mainly civil war (The store is in Gettysburg, PA) but there is tons of stuff that they sell that can be used for SCA purposes (like the sewing kits they sell. Maybe another field trip up there is due?). The pattern of the blackwork was taken from the second row seen in this picture http://www.skinnersisters.com/stitch/issue1/images/quentel.gif
It's apparently from a design book made during the 1520's. I would have had this all in my documentation but it got left in the car and I was already frustrated (read headache) so yeah...

Okay, I won the trim and picked up my handkerchief. The trim isn't exactly pretty but I love woven trim much more than the regular store bought stuff. It's yellow, brown, and pink and probably is about as old as me. But it's three yards and I'm sure it would look fine on a pink outfit of some sort...

So after Holiday Faire, we went to Applebees. Oh yes, myself, my Mom, and Kat all went into Applebees (all giggling of course) dressed in our lovely range of 15th -16th c outfits. About halfway through the meal was when my sinus headache became a SINUS headache. I was not happy. We drove home after twenty "Are you sure you don't want to stop and get meds?" and I managed to down the severe sinus Tylonel. That stuff is awesomeness. Once it started to kick, Kat, Miss Ginsie, and I drove back to my house so Kat could go back to her house which is clear across the state. (No really. She lives on the other side of the bridge near Delaware; the forgotten state.)

So that's my Holiday Faire report for now. Mom loved meeting all these people I talk about so she can put faces to the names now. :-)

Comments

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

how spiffy! I wish I could get hubby to play -- let alone my folks.

*sigh*