Cheapest Garb/Yet another SCA Rant for the day

[isabelladangelo]

I'm sure someone else has done "resonably period garb on a budget". The one I actually kept account of was a 1520's Italian dress with "angel" sleeves. It's out of rayon velvet, which is most definately not period but does get a period look until you touch it. The lining is a heavy "satin silk-look" acetate fabric which, again, not safe around a fire and not period but you really do have to touch it to realize it. The buttons for the sleeves are real metal that I got for free from a lady I bought a lot of other buttons from in the past. The material was all from ebay and about $2 a yard for the velvet and another $2.50 a yard for the satin. The bodice was lined in canvas and lined in muslin; both of which are fabrics I had on hand and aren't $$$ if you don't need much of the canvas. (Half a yard of canvas is about $3. It's even cheaper if you use a coupon from Joanns). You can see pictures of the dress and a post on it here. The dress, along with the buttons and the thread to sew it up cost me a grand total of $21. That's about the same as a site fee and feast to any SCA event anymore.
My point (and I'm probably preaching to the choir here in my own journal) is that it doesn't cost $$$ to make a reasonable attempt at garb. It's all about effort and not about money. If you don't want to put forth the effort (and it doesn't have to be perfect) then why do want to play in the SCA? Part of the SCA is giving the look of pre-17th century Western Europe. I'd say it's a big part of it because, without the look, it's hard to play the part of an early 16th c lady in Naples. I can't say I'm Isabella in my jeans and fairy t-shirts. I can say I'm Isabella when I'm wearing the dress I made out of $21 dollars worth of materials. ...which is about the same as the cost of one of my fairy t-shirts from Hot Topic.
If you are too poor to be able to buy 3 yards of plain solid colored cotton from Joanns to make a t-tunic (which would be about $3 if you have a 50% off coupon, maybe $5 if you need thread to sew it up), then you need to focus on earning more money at your job and not on a cool hobby.
Yes, hobbies help us take the stress off of every day life but we need to get out of this idea of entitlement and into the idea of not living outside our means. You are not entitled to attend an event in inappropriate attire and expect to be treated like someone who is wearing a perfectly period linen kirtle. People will ask you if it's your first event. People will try to help you to look more like the person in the kirtle or like whatever period you say you are interested in. If you aren't interested in a pre-17th century/Middle Ages/Renaissance time period, why are you in the SCA to begin with?

Comments

[situveuxmoi.livejournal.com]

That dress is beautiful! Reminds me of one of my first SCA dresses on a budget- a pale yellow brocade tablecloth (!), which was from BedBathandBeyond, with a pink silk dupioni underskirt (verra verra cheap silk). Nowadays I might not be so inclined to use a tablecloth, since I know I can get better stuff for cheap. You just need to know where to look!

Those people who snark other people for the suggestions need to have their hands duct taped so they can't type.
(Besides, aren't there guide book thingies out there specifically for the purpose of "SCA on a Budget" ?)

[isabelladangelo.livejournal.com]

Yeap, there are guide books. There is also ebay, etsy, a ton of "garb for sale" sites, loaner garb, and many other alternatives to people who can't sew. If you can, or want to learn, there are plenty of simple but close to period (if not period) patterns out there. It's not hard to make an attempt. To not do so is really just wearing your speshal snowflake card out there for all to see.