This dress has killed me

This damned dress.

   It took me ages to muster up the energy to fit everything together once I'd assembled both layers of the dress because hand stitching is death... so I redid a few things I'd made a mess of with an older dress. By hand. I'm stupid that way but refitting the arms by hand seemed easier than doing it by machine, especially since I just got a hang of how to refit them.

   It's not entirely historically correct to fit the layers together like I do with my dresses, but with a little help it is quite simple. All historical sources I've consulted point to there being linen undergarments and then a separate outer layer (and then another one after that), normally of wool with silk lining, except in some cases depending on wool fabric quality, but heeeeeeey! So what. I'm really not that strict on the details. This is more of an experimental hobby and even though the amount of money it costs is sometimes beyond absurd it remains only a hobby to me. I'm letting having fun be my first priority and money-worries my second. And I'm planning on having fun in my outfits. Also, I caught on to the idea to fit the layers together in an effort to have a way of not needing to use my modern bra underneath my medieval dresses (makes for a more historically correct silhouette). But that should obviously be something I solve with my linen underwear. It's much simpler (see: cheaper) to redo a linen garment than a wool one. I've done two dresses this way already but it's not quite working the way I want it to (in other words: I still need to wear a bra).

   Just like the people of the late 14th century I have a thing for buttons, and so I'm making my own buttons for the arms; nineteen on each arm in this case just up to my elbows.

   I took a short course on how to weave edges back in 2015 and have been wanting to try it since which of course is also an excellent excuse for buttons this time around. On the other hand this meant I needed a tape loom, something I don't own as of yet, so some improvising was at hand (it ended with me slaughtering a deck of cards, gluing cards together and then carving appropriate windows and holes in them). The books and history nerds I've consulted says the woven edge should be silk (or wool) so I invested in some real silk thread (I've used polyester thread on my previous dresses and didn't want to use wool this time).

   But before I could get to that I picked up on another project; a buttoned and lined liripipe hood. I don't have one and want one since there's nothing better to protect one's neck from the cold.
   My fingers hurt but as my mantra goes; "it'll look beautiful when it's done". So I picked up some old dresses that needed some loving and switched between projects as to not bore my restless mind with the hand sewing.








   And it did turn out beautiful! The hood looks much better than I expected, which is always a bonus (and deserves a friggin' gold star).

  Right! Back to the cotehardie! Weave edges. Yes. Good. Since I had already tried my simplified little tape loom on the liripipe hood (with worsted yarn) I had some idea of how to do it. I also knew that it was fiddly work but oh so worth it. At first I thought I'd use mixed colours but then decided against it (and regret nothing).

   IT LOOKS FUCKING FANTASTIC.
   Next step was to make lacing holes. Again, slow and tedious work, but it's the last piece of the dress I can fiddle together on my own. Just me, my bone needle, needle and silk thread. And then, THEN, turning up the skirt hemline and presto
    - a dress.
And I'm dead. Well, my fingers are.

I got distracted

   I've been working on and off with that new dress for The Medieval Week and honestly it's going really well but, as always, I got derailed somewhere along the process and just "had to" finish a few other projects...

   Two surcôtes in dire need of some finishing touches, my new red cotehardie at the right and a new liripipe hood in hand. I'm trying to jump from project to project to keep myself from getting too tired of the hand sewing. 

Celebrating Medieval Days

Along the Swedish west coast is Varberg and Varberg Fortress and just recently they had their Medieval Days. Starving for some "medieval" fun I donned my outfit and jumped on a train to meet up with some friends. Before reaching my destination I received more than a few giggling stares and I guess I can understand them... but you know me. "Smile and wave" is the proper way to deal with people. Once I arrived at the fortress I made the most of it.

One month until The Medieval Week.

Slow but steady...

It's slow work but I'm starting to see how this could become a wearable piece of clothing...

I has a proud!

Feel the pride oozing off of me.

When I sew a new outfit I have a certain inclination to never finish it entirely but always leave one or two itty bitty details that stay unfinished for years. I've had this hobby for a while now but haven't gotten around to finishing a complete outfit until now. This weekend as by a miracle I got that wonderful ache to create and voilà! A completed late 14th century outfit. I fixed some details on my belt (belt, strapend and brass mounts have been lying around for two years), finally finished my St. Birgitta's cap (also two years in the making, effin' hand-stitching) and a veil (cheated a little and bought one from a friend despite having fabric for one lying around). With the belt purses hanging off the belt and my hair finally being long enough for plaits it really comes together.

It's warm as hell but looks amazing.

Suddenly: Dresses

I finally snapped a picture of my new 14th century medieval dress set. The green dress is a fitted gown, laced at the front and with buttoned sleeves, that is supposed to add the kind of bust support that makes sure you don't need modern underwear (I will add a picture of the fitted dress on its own later). My mistake was to lose weight after I made the dress so now it's not as supportive as it was before. Now I need to make some supportive medieval style underwear. Like this. The yellow surcôte is a project I also just finished by adding 'pockets' (slits in the fabrics for easier access to pouches hanging from the belt underneath) and embroidery. The surcôte is a bit short for the period when the longer the garment the better off you were money-wise. But I love this set. So comfortable.

Again with these f-ing buttons

I'm working on a new project.

Well, in all honesty, it's an old project I'm remaking simply because the idea got stuck in my mind and wouldn't let go. I want this old surcôte of mine to be more British 1370's and less of the 1100's that it used to be. Just like last time it's a bitch to stitch but since I know how awesome it's going to look I also know it's going to worth every hour I spend on it.

This yellow thing right here. Looked pretty good. But I never wore it because it doesn't go with anything else in my medieval wardrobe.

So after unpicking the front seam I lined it with linen and hand sewed 42 buttonholes and as we speak I'm attaching the buttons. After I'm done with that I'm moving on to make slits that will serve as pockets of sorts. As this is the second layer and my belt goes on the first layer I'll be able to reach in through the slits and fetch things out of my purses. This was apparently very popular in fashion in Britain in the 1360's to 1390's and it looks absolutely dashing! Which is of course why I'd like to mimic the style.

Now, back to the buttons. All these f-ing buttons.

Week 32

The truth is that the coming week will probably be one of the toughest weeks of my life for the past ten years or so. I will have to work my regular job while taking care of my parents’ house with four different species of animals apart from the normal household stuff.

I attended the Medieval Week on Gotland (the largest medieval festival in Sweden) for the first time in 2005 and have attended every year since. It’s been a tradition, some years more to my liking than others but mostly that one time of year when I could pretend to be someone a little different from myself and meet new and interesting people that knew nothing about how boring I really am. It never turned out much like that, though I have made friends there that I generally don’t meet at all during the other 51 weeks of the year and it’s always that much greater seeing them after all that time.
And lets face it, I get to play princess in all the lovely dresses I make for eight whole days in the year and be out all night with my friends.

Last year I promised myself it would be the last year I’d attend out of tradition. I made a promise I wouldn’t go back until I ached to go there and ached to make clothes I’d be proud of, which is of course the reason I’m not there right now as the Medieval Week’s opening celebrations are about to commence in the lovely Visby of Gotland.

My parents and my older sister are at The Medieval Week as we speak. I don’t know what pisses me off more; that I recommended it to them or that I’m stuck guarding the house. I have a variety of issues with being on my own and would normally just sit on my wide ass when I’ve dealt with my chores but whenever I’m alone in the house I can’t seem to sit still for more than a minute at a time. I can’t even take the time to sit down to eat. I see all the worst scenarios flash before my eyes and imagine the oncoming catastrophe.
It usually goes well.

Also, I want to cut my hair.