Pictures of the Housebook...

So I just realized it's been over a week, and I never posted the "finished" photos.  Oops... I have a few snagged off Facebook from various people, and somewhere in the realms of her camera are the photos my lovely wifey took of us posing and other silliness.  Those will surface eventually.

M. Amber Bayles hoc fecit

The photos that have shown up so far are mostly from M. Amber Bayles, and are of the dancing.  I had the whole skirt kilted up to dance, and look at how pretty the folds are on the front.  The skirt is about 6ish inches past the floor on the front in order to puddle properly when released from the belt, like in some of the seated images.  The back of the skirt had a lovely little train that I happily dragged allover the site, and every time I stopped to talk to someone, or merely to stand still, I'd turn just a half step so as to properly drape the train out behind me.  (And then I would look down and giggle like an idiot about my train.)  I never got around to lacing the sleeves closed though I put in 16 handmade eyelets the night before.  My excuse was the event was in 70+ degree weather, and I was in wool, but really I was just being lazy.  I appreciated having my hair braided, and sewn up for the warmth of the day, and there are several photos of the dancing wherein I'm bareheaded due to shucking the warm woolen hat.

M. Amber Bayles hoc fecit

I think the back turned out nice enough, though I'm not sure about the sleeves.  They gave me SO much trouble, and I still don't understand why.  I'm pretty sure I understand exactly how they work, but for the life of me, I couldn't get them to work right for me.  There are a few tweaks to the overall dress I'm thinking about doing before Midwinter's in January.  I'm not pleased with how narrow the front of the neckline seems to be.  I'm considering taking off the "silver" lacing pieces, cutting the neckline wider and reattaching them after.  All the images seem to have very wide necklines, without appearing to fall off the shoulders.  If I go ahead and change the neckline I'm tempted to reset the sleeves, and cut the armscyes just a little deeper in the fronts.  I have plenty of sleeve to go around a larger armscye, and had plenty of trouble trying to ease the sleeves in in the first place, so it might even go easier the second time around.  The other alteration I'm considering is picking out the hand stitching in the pleats on the front, and lowering the height of them.  I wouldn't cut anything off, but refold the height down so the pleats don't bend under my bust as can be seen in the last photo.  The extra fabric in the pleat would also pad the rolled pleats a little better, which was one of the original plans, but I didn't have enough fabric left over to pad the pleats!

John P Van Domelen hoc fecit

 I love the red hats that inspired this challenge.  I had to show documentation to some friends to prove that they were in fact a historical style, they looked too much like modern ski hats to believe me.  Unfortunately, the fringed hat style doesn't go with the 3/4 sleeves, and when I get the time, I'm making a Wulsthaube to go with it.  I would also love, love, love to find a decent fabric to make a checky petticoat or underdress for it.  Though on that one I should probably do a little research to see which item is the appropriate under... thing  for the style.

Score is Lorien 1, Lauren 0

Because I'm a responsible student, I've spent most of the last couple of weeks working on studying and projects and preparing for finals. This is good, except it also means that my time for working on the Red Dress Project has been limited. Had my pattern cooperated from day 1, I might have been okay, but alas, it has been giving me fits, and at this point, to finish the dress in time for Yule, I would literally have to work all day and night, Lori and I both, and probably rush some things I'd rather not rush. So, instead of doing that, I'm merely getting Lori to help me with the pattern, and wearing my red hat with a different dress on saturday. Eventually, I will finish the dress (soonish I hope, actually) and hopefully our hats can be reunited at an An Tir event, but for now? My sanity and qualiy time with my BFF are waaay more important. Also, not spending today slaving away on a dress means I actually have time to cook my A&S entry--w00t!


In other news, even though it's been giving me fits, I still love and adore the Herjolfsnes method of making a gown. The basic idea is that the center front and center back panels of a dress are more or less straight cut, with little to no flare or shaping, and that all of the shaping is achieved by a series of gores. Some of these are the normal (to me) triangles that are inserted at the waist, but the Herjolsnes gowns also include a number (4-8, depending on the specific garment) of elongated gores that extend all the way into the armpit, forming the sides of the dress and the bottom of the armsceye. My major issue came with the fact that I am much, much squishier than most women (hooray plus-sized!), and keeping 4 very narrow panels all on grain while trying to fit myself was seeming kind of impossible. Insert the clue-by-four, and I went back and examined the research (http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/herjback.html) and found that, contrary to what I'd been told, the rule that women's gowns always had four side gores and men's always had two is just totally fallacious. Specifically, check out #39 (woman's gown, 2 side gores) and #41 (man's garment, 4 side gores).

So, secure in that knowledge I cut a new starting-place mockup and adjusted the seams to match the straight-cut fronts and backs, then combined my four side gores into two. Already, I like the shape much, much better, and Lorien's tweaks were going much smoother last night.

I'll hopefully update with progress photos soon, but I've got a sleepy BFF to go have adventures with and documentation to write.

Well, this is it...

It's about six hours till we leave to drop me off in Portland, 10ish hours till I hop on the plane.  The dress is almost done, save for the eyelets on the sleeves.  Had to keep part of the dress to do with my Wifey, cause it isn't a project with her if we aren't sewing till at least the day before the event.

It looks pretty good.  I need to bring some kind of belt though, as I deliberately left the skirts long like they are in the pictures.  I debated bringing the sky blue petticoat from my Italians, but I don't have any room to pack it.  I try to pack light, even for a 2 1/2 week trip, so there's only my small rolling luggage, the dufflebag that goes with it, and my purse.  I packed the dress in the duffle for a carry on, because after this much work, I don't want to risk the dress not making it on time.  My regular clothes can get lost for all I care, but I would have a crying fit if the dress didn't make it to Houston.  Nearly couldn't find the red hat that started it all.

I have packed a few things from the braid box, just in case.  Not the full box, but the few necessities that would be harder to justify replacing.

I'm excited!  I really should sleep, but I'm not sure I want to.  Less than 15 hours till Lauren and Lorien are reunited, this could be disastrous...

Nearly there...

 Not the best photos, but the dress is coming along!  I think moving all the eyes will help with the gaping in the front, but I'm not sure.  Still to do: Make lacing cord, eyelets in the sleeves, move the blasted eyes or figure out lacing strips somehow, hem the dress, and shorten the sleeves on the hemd.

Collar didn't go too well...

I evidently cut the collar that I beaded on the wrong curve, and when I attached it to the bodice, it dug into my shoulders and neck uncomfortably, and curled in on itself.  So, since I have very little time left, the collar has been cut from the plan.

The bodice is now assembled, aside from hooks and eyes down the front.  Sunday is for Skirts!  I have less fabric for the skirt than I had hoped, but I hear Tim Gunn in the background telling me to "Make it Work" and that is what I'll do!

Left to do on the dress:
Figure out the skirt cutting layout
Attach the skirt
Hem the skirt
Sew on hooks and eyes
Make lacing eyelets for the sleeves
Possibly make lacing cord, depending on what I get from my friend
Sew on the neckline lacing findings.

I have until Wednesday to finish, but I also have to pack clothes for the trip somewhere in there too... And I have work on Tuesday... EEEK!

I finished patterning my Housebook Bodice...

And I'm about to go and cut out the pieces of the bodice now.

I'm so giddy.

Yesterday I had a tiny change of plans....

Which turned into a distraction that kept me up all night working on the new divergence.  Bettina's version of the dress points out that the lacing on the collarbone is actually attached to a separate collar piece on the dress.  Several of the Housebook images show women from behind where the collar is clearly made from more elaborate fabric.  I know it wouldn't require a lot of fancy fabric to make a collar, but I don't happen to have any pretty brocade fabric right now.  So instead I decided to cut the collar out of the same wool fabric as the dress, like Bettina did, but I wanted to embellish mine with beading, like the delicious dresses of the Babenberger family tree.  After 8 hours of work, ending just after 5AM, I ended with:

The color of the teal is way prettier in real life, but so far I've had an impossible time getting it to photograph  properly.

I believe the chips are amethyst and both they and the pearls were largess I received for A&S competitions in 2010.  The silver seed beads have been in my stash for ages.  I'm a little worried the spaces between the pearls might be too empty, but I think it will look better once I have the seam allowances turned under.  The beaded band is only an inch wide.

On other fronts, I've been running against a wall all day on the stupid sleeve pattern.  I keep thinking I'm so close, only to have it need tweaks here and there and not fit at all!  It's gone from too small around my fat upperarms to too big and back again!  The angles of everything are mostly working, but I'm having a harder time doing the Moy bog/Grand Asiette style sleeve than a normal fitted sleeve.

And on top of the trouble with patterning the sleeve, the linen I'm lining the bodice with is stretching out of all understanding.  So now I'm all angsty, and nothing seems to be getting accomplished today.  Hopefully working till like three am tonight will help get something accomplished.  I'm running out of time, I have to have this dress done by NEXT WEDNESDAY, and I'm STILL patterning!  ARGH!

Quickie update...

Just a quick update to show off the cuteness of my hemd, and a Paint sketch of my hemd pattern.  Tomorrow I work on patterning sleeves, and then it's time to cut out my dress!

Tag, I'm it!

As the loveliest BFF ever has explained in a previous post, 2,000 miles between us isn't enough to keep us from making costume plans together, and most especially not when SHE IS GOING TO BE HERE OMG!!!

Yes, I'm just a wee bit excited about time with my bestie, can you tell?

Anyway, the idea for my half of the red hat challenge was born before the red hats, at a class I attended at Gulf War XX on the subject of the "Greenland gown" or the "10 gore gown" or whatever name you may prefer. The class itsself was taught by a lovely woman who I recognized as having taken Petra's flame-test class at Gulf War 19, and was very informative and enjoyable. Well, apart from one unpleasant attendee who felt the need to "correct" every other statement out of the teacher's mouth, but that's another post.

I seem to have mislaid my handout, but a lovely explanation of the garment in question can be found here http://www.damehelen.com/cotes/index.html

I've long been fascinated by the variety of interpretations of the close-fitting somewhat-to-completely-supportive gowns seen so widely in western Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries, and while many people have made many lovely dresses, something about this method just feels more "right" to me than others. I mean, aside from the fact that this construction method is not conjecture at all, the gowns I have seen constructed this way just look and feel more correct. The differences can be tiny, but they're there, and they are often the differences between a strikingly pretty dress, and a strikingly period looking pretty dress.

While the originals were all, I believe, made in wool (of such a weight and weave that they would have clung and draped *marvelously*), my first attempt at this style is going to be linen, for a few reasons. One, this is Ansteorra, linen is wearable more often than wool. Two, I have a dress-length of butter-yellow linen that'll dye up nicely into the exact shade of green I want, and I'd rather not drop the cash for wool until I know I can do this style correctly ; )

Other than the gown, I'm mostly set. I'd love a new hemd, but that's going low on the priority list, since I have a shift that will work. I've got appropriate shoes, stockings, garters, braies and jewlery, I've got a pretty pair of sleeves if I choose to make the dress short sleeved, I've got an ossim frickin' hat, and in like 15 days, I'll have my BFF here to squee over our pretty new dresses with.

There's a funny story about how I'm going to pattern this thing, but that'll have to wait for another post, as I need to go tie up some loose ends and finish packing for BAM. Which, y'know, I was a little morose about, as it's my first BAM minus Lorien, but OH MY GOD SHES COMING HERE I CANT EVEN BE SAD!!!

My Hemd is hemmed...

It's late, 4:40 am late.  But my Hemd has gone from a pile of linen to a wearable garment in less than 12 hours.  The seam allowances need some kind of finishing treatment, but that can wait till I have more time.  Patterning/Dyeing/Sewing/etc on the main dress is more important than finishing the seams on the inside of the undergarments.

17 days left before the trip.

I'm motivated right now...

So last night I stayed up till 5 working on a bodice mockup for the Housebook dress.  I gotta say, good God, how do people fit themselves for anything?!  I've got some sore muscles from straining to pin my shoulder seams and to mark the cutting lines on my back.  But I've got the first mock up done.  I need to draft the initial pattern and do a secondary mock up.

In order to give myself a little break from the fitting of pain and torture, I'm working on my hemd today.  I've got a nice simple cutting layout figured out, and we'll see how it turns out, but I think it will work out just fine.  And because all the best bloggers include photos in their posts, here's a wonderful image of a woman in her underwear!

After making my hemd,  and doing a second round of fitting the bodice, the next step is to dye the wool I was gifted.  I think it will be time to visit the Eugene Textile Center.  As long as they provide all the equipment, it should be cheaper and easier than trying to dye at home on my stove.

Less than three weeks to finish this dress!

A sewing challenge has been laid down...

I am a very lucky lady, because my family is making sure I get to go down to Texas to visit them, (and also my friends).  I get to be there in time for the local group's Yule event.

I, of course, have nothing new to wear.  Despite it having been almost a year since I've seen people, I haven't really made anything new to wear aside from light weight Roman clothes.  So I was playing with the idea of a fancy new dress, whilst talking to my lovely best friend.

We were both trying to decide if we should make something new to wear for Yule, but couldn't really think of anything we would want to make aside from each of us having one particular dress in mind.  It so happened that the different dresses we were thinking of were both to be worn with the cute red fringed wool hats I made months ago.  And since we were thinking of different styles to go with said hats, I decided it wouldn't be too matchy-matchy to make up these dresses.

So now we are challenged.  We have just under three weeks to make these dresses.  I know we can get it done, we just have to keep motivated.  So we're supposed to be checking in with each other, and seeing how the dresses are coming along.

I'm planning on doing a Housebook dress based on the ladies with coats of arms sketches.  The main difference between these two and the dress I really want is the sleeves.  I found a couple images of women with a tight, 3/4 sleeve that is open up the back and laced across, usually with three points, and allows the hemd to be seen.  

I'm having trouble finding the sleeves and the hat on the same person, but I think if I'm persistent, I'll find the image I want.

I'm working on fitting the bodice, but I never realized just how hard it is to fit oneself!  Hopefully I can get the bodice pattern done by the end of the weekend, and can find the time to dye my fabric next week.

I'll tag Lauren, and see if I can't get her to post and update about her half of the challenge.

Hair Styling class went well...

I had about seven or eight people in the class which is the most I've ever taught to.  I flew through without reading my notes, which is my usual problem, talking too fast and not hitting every point.  I did demo how to hair tape, which went over well.  Evidently a "what-to-do-with-your-hair" class is a unique thing up here, I suppose I should do more.  I think I'll do a french-braid class where I actually teach how to french braid, but that'll have to be limited to three to five students and their braiding partners.  Most of the students this weekend seemed to want to learn french braiding, despite it not being period.

Basic Braiding Class Notes part deux...

My GOD!  I didn't realize how much space the pictures take up!  The first two thirds of my notes, which I posted earlier, two up two pages.  The last third of my notes takes up seven pages because it is so photo heavy. And there's a bibliography.... cause you know I have to cite all the sources on the internet that I stole photos from.  I think the part that took the longest was the very last section on hair taping, because the one and only website that EVERYONE cites has disappeared.  Gone, and all her research too.  Therefore I had to hunt around to find any kind of portraits of hair taping.  I decided to just go with the lovely Italian sources from Realm of Venus, and forgo Flemish and Elizabethan because it took me five or six hours to find the ones I did!

Below you'll find the second half of my notes, with all the photos yoinked from elsewhere included, so long as they didn't give me any grief.  (Sorry, there's only so much fussing with the photos I'm willing to do at this hour)

Basics of Hair Braiding,

Or “Just Get It Off My Neck”

Lady Petronia Casta

Once you’ve got the supplies you need together, what styles are there that are historically accurate?  PIGTAILS!  That’s right, braided pigtails are accurate for almost any time and

place the SCA covers.  The earliest example I’ve found is a carved stone, called a hogback, in the St. Michael’s churchyard in Lowther Park in Cumbria.  These sculptures are used as grave markers.  Collingwood mentions these monuments show that Lowther was settled in the tenth century by Danes from Yorkshire, Christianized Vikings².

The women have long plaits of hair which are curled at the ends.  Most women have only a single braid, but others are clearly depicted with two.  I don’t know if the curled ends of the braid indicate curly hair, curled hair, a decorative knot as a tying off method, or are simply artistic license.  In some of the carvings texture of braiding can still be seen.

The next instances of braided pigtails come from the 12^th and 13^th centuries and are some of the most iconic braids in our period.  Bliauts have become the dominant fashion for France and surrounding countries³.  The tall, thin body image is reflected in the long thin braids framing both face and body.  Most instances of this hairstyle is shown with a minimum of headcovering, crowns are most frequent on the jamb statues of Chartres, which depict kings and queens of the Old Testament.  The image from an Italian fresco shows the ladies wearing a hat that looks a lot like a Phrygian cap.  These braids are often very long, hip to mid-thigh in length, and some appear to have tassels or weights added to the tips to keep the braids pulled taught.  Occasionally, as in the image from the Winchester Psalter⁴, the ends of the braids may be covered in a long fabric tube.  This could be for several reasons, including protecting the hair, but such a style is an excellent way to fake longer hair than one owns.

Chartres Cathedral
1210-1215³

Provins, St. Thibaut,
1160-70³

Madonna of Viklau,Church of Viklau, Sweden³

    

                              

                                                   

from the Winchester Psalter,  1160-1170⁴ 

The Lovers ca.1180, Hortus Deliciarum⁵ 

              

                                                                                     

A fresco depicting the story of "the foolish virgins" from Castel d'Appiano in Trentino Alto Adige, Italy, 1125³

Joan Ingham, Lady Stapleton c.1365⁷

The 14^th century is the beginning of strange new hairstyles, and more attention being paid to arranging the hair.  The braids begin to be looped up next to the face in various styles, mostly a narrow, vertical braid on either side of the face descending, or appearing to, from the temples.  This style is known by several names, templers or cornettes, though it is affectionately called puppy dog ears or lamb ears.  The hair is still parted in the center, and two braids are created.  The thickness of the braids on either side of the face seems to indicate that the braids are formed at the temples and are folded once they reach chin length.  After this, the ends of the braids disappear.  If we believe that the length of hair is similar to previous centuries, this does not seem to accommodate the full length of the hair.  In the image from The Romance of Alexander we see the back view of a couple ladies in a circle dance.  The braids that descend from either side of the face are also crossed at the nape of the neck⁶.  I’m unsure whether or not this is the method for all of this period’s hairstyling, as many images are either covered with a veil, or are front facing.  While often seen with a bare head, the cornettes style is frequently adorned with a veil and wimple, a veil and elaborate fillet or a hood of various styles.  A false hairpiece in this style has been found, made of human hair and is attached to a tablet woven band⁸.

Philippa of Hainault
Westminster Abbey⁷

                             

Sir John Harsyck & Katherine

Calthorpe, Southacre, c.1384⁷

(There should be two more pictures here, but I'm having trouble getting them to load)

 Lady with Swan Coat of Arms, 

Martin Schongauer c. 1450/1491⁹

Braided and arranged pigtails show up once again in 15^th century Germany.  In this arrangement, the hair is parted down the center, appears to be braided at the nape of the neck, and wrapped around the head.  The two large braids pass in front of, and cover the ears.  The braids are joined at the top of the head, most likely by sewing the braids together and through the hair of the scalp.

Many of these braids are extremely thick at their bases, which could mean the hair was dense or curly, teased to achieve that volume, or the presence of false hair.  This style is frequently accented by all sorts of crazy hats, as the Germans are wont to do.                  

Kissing Couple. Master E.S.
c. 1450/1466. ⁹

Lady with Radish Coat of Arms. Master of the Housebook. c. 1475/1500⁹

                             

Portrait of a Young Fürleger with Her Hair
Done Up. Albrecht Dürer. c. 1497⁹

 The Letter B. Master E.S.

c. 1466/1467⁹

The last form of pigtails I want to cover is one you might be familiar with, Hair Taping.  This style is most commonly thought of as Italian, but is also used in Flemish and Elizabethan styles as a sturdy base for coifs and headdresses.  In this style, a ribbon is used instead of sewing thread to secure the hair in a halo around the head.  Begin by parting the hair down the center and starting your pigtails as close to the part as you can.  This allows your braid to extend as far as it can around your head, and that keeps the thickness of the halo as consistent as possible.  I use the elastic ponytail holders for the end of these braids, but sewing them with a thread would be more secure as well as more authentic.  Then thread the large blunt needle with a ribbon, ¼” works well, about 2 yards long.  Push the needle through the ends of the braids, a couple passes before the tie off.  Wrap the braids around the head so there is a loop of ribbon that connects the two tails underneath their starting point.  Then, gently pull the ribbon taught, adjust it so you have one short end and one long one, and tie it in a knot at the nape of your neck.  Thread the needle onto the long end and sew the braids in place by pushing the needle under the braids toward the center of your head.  Continue stitching from outside to the inside advancing around the braid by about 1½ to 2 inches.  Once you’ve reached the back again, wrap the remaining ribbon around either the base of the braid, or, for a different look, lay it against the center of the braid to flatten it down.  Other Italian decorative methods include tying bows around the braid and jeweled trim in front of the braid.

Portrait of a Woman

Girolamo da Carpi, c1530¹⁰

Portrait of a Lady

Moretto da Brescia, 1540¹⁰

Isotta Brembati Grumelli
Giovanni Batista Moroni, 1550s (?)¹⁰

“Portrait of a Lady”, by a follower of

Paolo Ucello, first half of the 15th century

Bibliography

¹ Miller, M.E. “The Bobby Pin Revealed.” http://www.nyu.edu/classes/bkg/objectsblog/archives/bobby.pdf

² Collingwood, W.G. "The Lowther Hogbacks." Transactions of the Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, Volume 7. (1907) pp. 152-164. 

³ ingen Dairmata, Aibell. “The Bliaut throughout 12th Century Europe.” http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~lwittie/sca/garb/europe_class/europe_bliaut.html

⁴ Esther. “Bliaut-A 12th century court gown.” http://www.gelfling.dds.nl/bliaut.html

⁵ Hortus Deliciarum copy of Christian Maurice Engelhardt, 1818 http://bacm.creditmutuel.fr/HORTUS_DELICIARUMbas.html

⁶ Scull, Judith. “Examples of Women’s Clothing.” http://vieuxchamps.com/persona/wgarb2.php

⁷ All images owned by Gothic Eye Ltd. are subject to copyright and must be credited as such on reproduction. http://www.gothiceye.com/index.asp

⁸ Elina© Neulakko 2010 http://www.neulakko.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Cornettes_final_neulakko.pdf

⁹ Smith, Emmie. “15th Century German Visual and Extant Resources (1450-1500).” Eme’s Compendium. http://www.gluckliche-eme.com/15thcentury.htm

¹⁰Wake, Annabella. http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net

¹¹http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Follower_of_Paolo_Ucello_001.JPG

Basic Braiding Class...

Working on a Hair Braiding class for the camping event this weekend.  I'm two thirds of the way through my outline, and want to pat myself on the back for finally sitting down and figuring out what needs to be in the class without begging someone else to do it "with" me.

Here's the first two pages of my notes, let me know what you think:

Basics of Hair Braiding,

Or “Just Get It Off My Neck”

Lady Petronia Casta

So today I’m to teach you about Period Braided Hairstyles.  Show of hands, who knows how to braid?  Okay, and who knows how to french braid?  Okay, those that don’t know how to French braid, you’re just fine.  Most research I’ve come across says that augmentation braiding, where you add a new section of hair to the braid strands with each pass, isn’t correct for the SCA’s period.  I have one resource that uses French braids for a Roman hairstyle, but that technically predates our period.  And for most of the styles I plan to share with you today, you don’t need to know how to french braid.

But you do need to know how to braid, and if those that know will bear with us, those that don’t know how should come to the front.  The hardest part of braiding is to divide the hair into three equal sections.  Hair is less dense at the ends than at the scalp, due to breaking, cutting and styling.  Proper sectioning is a learned skill; you get better at it the more often you do it.  Sections of hair from the forehead and temple areas will get smaller than sections from the center back and nape as you work your way down the length of the braid, so those front sections should be larger went you start.  After dividing the hair, cross the right section to the center, thereby trading places with the center section.  Cross the left hand section over the new center section, trading places again.  Continue down the length of the braid, alternating right and left sections.

The braid will diminish in size as you travel the length of it, and at some point it will become difficult to continue braiding.  This is usually the point where you want to tie off the braid.  Sometimes a larger tassel of hair is desired, and you can tie off earlier than that if desired.

Tying off a braid brings me to the next section of my notes: Materials, or what you’ll need in a braiding kit.  For the most basic of braiding styles, you will need only some way of tying off the end of your braid so that it doesn’t unbraid itself.  People with extremely curly hair can sometimes avoid even that, as their hair ends will curl together and seal the braid.  For the vast majority of us though tying off requires something else.  Modern elastics are a wonderful item as far as time and convenience are concerned.  A large bag of clear elastics will set you back $2 or so, and last through scores of hairstyles.  They tend to hide well enough in period hairstyles and for the most part are easily ignorable.

  

Other items that should be included in a braid kit include methods of securing the braids into the elaborate styles of the later eras.  This is a bobby pin.  This is completely useless when it comes to working with braids.  Bobby pins pinch the hair to hold it in place, and are only useful for loose hair.

Hair pins are U shaped bits of wire with the tips coated to not snag hair.  They come in a variety of sizes, colors, materials to accommodate all types of hair.  These are the pins that you want to use for hair styling any thing that involves braiding, twisting, buns or tight styles.  They work by tension in the hair.  The pins are given a little pinch or a twist as they’re inserted so they exert pressure against the tightness of the hair.  However, natural movement of the head can cause the pins to work their way out

Hairpins are relatively modern, being mass manufactured heavily in the 19^th century.  The more accurate method for tying off braids and securing tresses is to use a large eyed, blunt needle and thread to sew through the hair.  The tension of the tight hair allows the thread to hold it in place, braced against the next section of the braid.  Thus the thread can replace both the elastic band and the hair pins, becoming a much more efficient and more stable method of securing the hairstyle.  The difficulty with sewing ones tresses is trying to sew something you cannot see and is on the back of your head.  Thus most hairstyles requiring sewing are likely to indicate a higher ranking individual, someone that can afford servants to do their hair.  It is possible to sew one’s own hair, just difficult.

The next few items in the braiding kit are not precisely necessary, but are damned useful.  A variety of brushes and combs are useful to have if working on different textures of hair.  The comb can also be used to section hair, especially if you own a rattail comb.  Another tool that is great for dividing hair is a set of hair sticks, chopsticks or hair bodkins.  These historical hairpins are also great to the hold hair out of the way when working on a section.  And the final “items” in a braiding kit are all the decorative elements that are used to adorn the final hairstyle.  Ornamental hairsticks are nice to dress up simple styles as well as hold things in place.  I try to always keep stocked on pearl headed corsage pins to use for pinning veils and for simple decoration.  I’ll also keep a couple cheap spools of ribbon for hair taping.  The list of decorative bits gets long and sometimes random; just make sure to clear out the superfluous junk every so often.

Comfy costuming

Having attended DragonCon for the past 3 years, I have learned the following if nothing else;

1)Time spent not in costume feels like time wasted
2)Time spent suffering from a costume feels like hell


The first, I think, is relatively self-explanatory. I pay a lot of money to attend those 4 days of D*C, which more often than not is the only 4 days a year I get to spend with most of my costumer and/or fandom friends. I want to get in every second of geeky goodness I can!

The second will likely make sense to most anyone, but only someone who's ever been there will really feel my pain. Cons, renaissance festivals and SCA events put us in different physical and emotional situations than our normal 9-5, the practical upshot being that discomfort tends to get magnifed exponentially. Tall heels, heavy costumes, tightly laced corsets and tons of layers can be worn fairly easily for a short photo session in air-conditoned comfort, but those little twinges of discomfort can and will turn into surprisingly severe pain and soreness. Don't get me wrong, you'll pry my 4" heels out of my cold dead hands, but I can only take them for so long before they start to get painful, so wearing them all day and night while doing a lot of standing, walking, posing, dancing and socializing just isn't going to happen.

I mentioned rennaisance festivals and SCA events in with cons, but there's an important distinction to be made on the subject of comfort, I think. While I do have minimum standards of comfort for a con costume, and do limit the amount of time I spend in anythng I'm going to pay for later, my SCA philosophy is much different, largely because the activities and settings are so different. I spend my cons in hotel rooms, restaurants, bars and ballrooms. I spend my SCA events in camps (that I help set up), kitchens (that I'm often running), parties and gatherings (I usually had a hand in planning, or at least have offered assistance with) and spaces that I, as an attendee, am expected to help set up, maintain and clean. In short, I have things to do at SCA events that just can't be done in white satin, no matter how much I love it.

Anyway, practical upshot of all the above is that I've decided to spend some time focusing on con costumes that, while not frumpy or unflattering, are comfortable enough to be worn all day. I'll do a seperate post for each for ease of keeping my thoughts straight (especially when I go back and do a write-up for each), but the above is pretty much my philosophy for all of them.

The day has come!

We've been talking about doing something like this since our very first sewing night back in my college dorm, but never really had a compelling reason to, before circumstances made our costume shenanigans rather more difficult than they used to be. However, friendship always finds a way, and in this case, the internet is the way. So, while I've always enjoyed blogging about my various projects for vanity and information-sharing purposes, I'm especially excited about using it to share my SCA and creative life with my BFF (known also as my hubby, there's a story there ; D) while she's far away. Without her prodding, encouragement, emotional support and well-timed application of chocolate (or strawberries, or booze, or...you get the idea) most of my projects would never come to fruition anyway ; )

One day all this will be ours...

This is eventually going to be a shared blog for me and my Wifey, my best friend.  It will most likely contain projects and ideas for our SCA life, which have sadly gone two different directions lately.

One day...