By Lady Violet Ruthvene in the SCA This is an accompaniment to a lecture class I taught at the West Kingdom Collegium in November 2013. The goal is to help people in the Society for Creative Anachronism create largess — the small gifts that royalty give to their subjects, such as to welcome visitors, to thank
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
The Accessory Challenge isn’t dead — sorry for not posting about it for the past, oh, month, but this last round of chemo was kinda brutal & I didn’t feel like sitting upright & staring at the computer for any length of time (tho’ yeah, I did have a day or two where I could
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
Looking through all of your blogs, I found a plenthora of pretty hats finished in September! And at least one of you started a purse! Yay! I’ll admit, I’m still working on hats myself (mostly modern stuff because I’m totally bald now, due to chemo, tho’ I also made a new 16th-century coif & re-trimmed
You might think of the purse as a pretty modern invention. Not so! People have needed to carry their crap around for millennia, both women & men. Here are some nifty purses to inspire your next project.
The first month of Accessorizing Head to Toe has kicked off with some lovely results from you creative costumers! Here’s what I’ve found on your blogs & the Flickr pool so far — feel free to add more in the comments below.
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
While the goal of these challenges is to make accessories for costumes — historical, science-fiction, fantasy, whatever — this first challenge of “hats” hits close to home for me. See, I’m starting chemotherapy at the end of August to treat breast cancer. As most people know, a major side effect of chemo is hair loss.
Kendra mentioned this to me at Costume College & I was all “meh.” And then I realized, hey now, I can Carnevale-ize this baby! It’s a two-fer — make a big crazy 18th-century court gown now, goth it up & do it in OTT me style, then I’ll be all set should I need to
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
Hats are everywhere! Until the 1960s, most every adult wore a hat in public, especially outdoors (tho’ it’s urban legend that JFK is to blame for the demise of hat wearing). They were practical & fashionable. Tons of hats exist in museums, & you can see how they were worn in context through artwork &
Need help making a hat? The Interwebs are your friend! Don’t be shy, get a helping hand. I can’t vouch for the historical accuracy or efficacy of all of these sources, but they looked interesting to me & can at least get you going. Arranged chronologically by historical era: Reconstructing the French Hood: An In-Depth
Since the first Accessory Challenge theme is Hats, I thought I share some that I’ve made. And then I realized that, since switching my website to Word Press almost 2 years ago, I still haven’t moved about half my photos & dress diaries here. Ooops. So a lot of the hats I made & gave