When a Battle Raven is not a Battle Raven, because you're 5

We are going to ignore how long it has been since I have updated this blog. Thank you for joining me in the delusion as to my ability to document my projects in a timely manner. 

A friend of mine, Æsa feilinn Jossursdottir, was elevated to Pelican in February 2023 at the East Kingdom Rapier Champs hosted by Quintavia. 

So her elevation garments were being handled by her household, Darostur, but someone needed to do the garb for her child. And I, gentle reader, love making garb for children as I don't have to stress over it being destroyed on its first foray out, or outgrown after being worn once. Mom has an Icelandic persona, so we made a very tiny Smokkr or Hangerok (but we're going to use the more popular term in the SCA of apron dress) and panel. 

Finished Apron Dress and Panel

The Apron Dress

We used the left over wool from Mom's underdress and used the Vigdis Overdress pattern, just for someone under 3 feet tall. 

The dress itself was designed to have the apron panel overlap and snap together so that as her chest measurement expands the dress can grow with her for at least a couple seasons. I absolutely should have gotten pictures of how I did that, and I absolutely did not. 

Then thinking about seam treatments, I didn't really want to do embroidery on something that will likely get laundered often. I remembered reading about yard or cord being used to couch next to seams and found some delightful pink rattail (absolutely not period, but we're 5) and used a long zig-zag stitch to couch it down over the seams. I tried to make sure I was using long lengths of cord so there wasn't At the places where I had to start a new section of cord I first did  a few straight stitches down the length of the cord to anchor it down, then did a much tighter zig-zag at the start (basically a satin stitch) to ensure it would not come loose through wear. 

Close-up of couching on the pink cord

Stitching around the tips of the gores wasn't the easiest, but meant
that the tips wouldn't come loose and fray from wear and laundering

The Apron Panel

I wanted to make her an apron panel with a symbol all her own and looked at documentable symbols of the time. We are a big fan of Sesame Street and it came down to either Elmo modified from the Aarhus Runestone or Big Bird modified from the Raven Penny of Olaf Guthfrithson. The raven design also shows up on the Raven Banner Penny.

So I copied the raven design over and started to modify it to look like Big Bird with the 3 little head feathers, the more cartoon-y beak, fluffier tail feathers, and the distinctive banded legs. 

Sketch of the raven design with overlay of the modifications
 to bring some much needed Muppet to this anachronism

Sketched out the design on white linen

The finished design in reverse chain stitch

The finished apron panel with more couched pink cord and
a little scrap of woven trim to cover the machine-stitching on the hem

The apron panel finished had two little loops on the top to be attached to the tiny turtle brooches we had for her. The scrap of trim was too little to go on anything else, and thankfully was able to be used here. I also ironed on top of the design, the heat helps set the thread into the design and helps alleviate the curling that sometimes happens with chain stitch on tight curves. 

The Finished Garment

Turned out super cute and she had a great time twirling in it. I ended up making her several more dresses in the next few months as her Mom became Princess of the East about 3 months after this event....

Stay tuned for posts about those clothes as well. 

Being the King's (and the Queen's) Mistress - of the Wardrobe - In Progress

Their Royal Majesties East: Brennan and Caoilfhionn
Photo by Lindsay Nery

There is a book out there that talks about the five "Love Languages" and how you show your love to others. My way of showing others love is sewing for them. True love is appliqueing circles. (Xavier... Antonii...)

Two people I love in the East are Brennan mac Fearghus and Caoilfhionn inghean Fhaolain. 

Last fall, at the same Crown Tourney where I became an apprentice, Brennan became our Prince again, and Caoilfhionn our Princess. 

And my Laurel became their Chief of Staff. 

And I was asked to become their Mistress of the Wardrobe. (insert nervous but excited squeeing here)

I knew what the job entailed, having recently watched Zippy and Leda do it for Honig and Ioannes, and my friend Ty doing the job for Ivan and Matilde. 

And then they threw me a curveball. 

They want Byzantine. 

BYZANTINE?!?!

I don't know anything about Byzantine other than most of it looks like blingy boxes or that thing Tom Brady wears on the sidelines to keep warm. 

You're still the Greatest of All Time in my eyes Tom.
(Go Pats!)

But. I was promised research help and support from Hypatissa Anna Dokeianina Syrakousina, and she doesn't look like she's wearing blingy boxes, so let's do this. 

I'm going to talk in this post specifically about their Coronation Garments, but I have made other Byzantine for them as well. 

The first thing Anna sent me was a list of words. Words that made ABSOLUTELY no sense to me but with a little research and her page she put together for East Kingdom Coronation, I was able to start down the path. 

We needed a "Khlamys" style outfit for each, including the outer divestesion (almost a dalmatica, but with poofy poofy sleeves gathered into a cuff, the under kamision, two ceremonial cloaks, and a collar for her Highness often called a super humeral. 

Fabrics: 

Clearly, the only fiber that would do for these outfits would be silk. And Tyrian Purple silk at that.

We ordered fabric from SilkBaron.com with the absolute perfect shade. (This site is danger incarnate, I'm so in love) I consulted Brennan on if he was on board with the plan, but I was still terrified to open the package once it came. 

OMG it's so BRIGHT!

I also had in my stash 4 yards of a burnt orange pearled silk I'd gotten at Fabric Place Basement for $5 a yard. Yeah. $5. This fabric made up the majority of the embellishment fabric. 

I also cheated. I admit it. I cheated. I ordered a sari/saree from Amazon which had roundels already woven into it in the right color. The trick for this is to search for "banarasi" sarees, this will have the woven embellishment you're looking for. Now, this is "Art Silk" which is ARTifcial SILK aka Polyester, but I'm using it for the embellishments on the garment. 

I needed fabric as well for the collar, and found a gorgeous gold jacquard silk remnant at Artee's, a high end home decor fabric store in Hudson, MA. Instead of close to $100/yard it was $12. Sold. SOLD. It was one of those situations where you start to suspect the other shoppers of nefariously plotting to take your find. Yeah, there weren't any other shoppers in the remnants really that day, and they could have cared less about my gold fabric. 

For the under tunics, I got lightweight white linen for hers from JoAnn's, and the heavier weight for his. I also had some burnt orange cotton in my stash to make his pants. 

I cut the roundels out of the saree fabric and found they had a perfect pattern already on them to pearl. After cutting I serged the edges of the roundels. If you go back to Xavier's Pelican Hood post, I did that there as well, the serged edge gives you something to push against as you are appliquing the item down and I find makes it much easier to do. 

There were two Roundels on each shoulder, on the fronts and backs of each divestesion, and the under tunics. 

Serging the edges of the Roundels

One Roundel Pearled - Ah-Ah-Ah!
Only 11 more to go!

Whip Stitched onto the TYRIAN fabric, this is how the extant embellishments were applied.

Jewelry Finding from Michael's Completes the embellishement

They were also on the linen under tunics, but I did not pearl the backs of the under garments following the "Don't Pearl Your Butt" rule of Byzantine Garb

I also cut up the remainder of the saree embellishment and made trim which was used extensively throughout the garments. 

Saree Trim

Trim added to either side of the center embellishment for her divestation

Whip stitching the center embellishment on her divestation on

I made all the outfits in this picture!
Photo by Lindsay Nery

A Well-Dressed Man

Gentle Reader, bear with me, I will make this a full-fledged tutorial once I make a second one of these garments and it's not the weeks before Birka and my mom nearly dying.

So let's talk about Þóðrekr ógæfa or as we call him around House Strangewayes: Tho. 

Tho is my best male friend and the premier model of a line I call "Not TogetherWear". Which is all the garb I end up sewing for the men in my circle and yet, we're not in a relationship. 

I have to keep reminding him to tell women he's not with someone, he's just loved a lot by his friends. 

Usually he wants Viking, around the 10th century, tunics and pants. His entire persona choice was based on what eras wore his definition of pants. I've mostly taught him how to assemble clothes, but the pretty embellishment is still the Fortune Dept. 

Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've noticed that there's a huge amount of early period "Viking" tunics out there on guys. It's the SCA equivalent of the sweatshirt, it's easy, it's comfy, and looks presentable. 

But what if guys were shown alternatives of what they *could* be if they just went off the beaten path a little? Thus begins the Henrician Tudor experiment. 

Actually, to be perfectly honest it started with the Queen's Challenge being "Beast of the East" and the joke of an Eastern Tyger Codpiece. ANYWAY....

I did a bunch of research. I took a lot fo screen caps of Wolf Hall and Damian Lewis, re-read The Tudor Tailor, and decided that while I could do something later, Tho was more suited to the early Tudor of young Henry the 8th.  And before you get on me about using "Hollywood" production as a resource, this was the BBC, and these pieces were meticulously researched and constructed. 

Let's all look at Damian Lewis - shall we?

The Yellow Peril

Gingers aren't even my thing, but damn. 

Who doesn't love a man in a slashed leather doublet?

I lucked into some fabulous blue linen and the Rocky Hill, CT Affordable Fabrics (everything is $2.99 and my yankee heart soars) and we had a plan. 

I drafted the pattern one sewing weekend off of his body. The only fitted part is the vest-like portion of the overpiece, the rest of the it is a very long peplum (it's a skirt) which I cut out of a long strip, hemmed and box pleated into the bottom of the vest portion. The front is closed with hooks and eyes. 

You'll notice I offset the shoulder so it didn't run exactly along the top of the shoulder for a more period seam

This step involved a lot of me drawing on Tho and him trusting I wasn't going to cut him. 

The original intent was to have an under doublet of gold but life, liberty, and the pursuit of sleep led there to only being a basic shirt. So he's downgraded to merchant class. The pants I could have made, but again, life, were ladies leggings ordered off Amazon. The hat Tho is a basic flat cap that he ordered off Etsy.

So it's a very attainable outfit for a person with a modicum of sewing skills, or bribing skills, to achieve.

The finished product:

Very proud of the finished product, if yet again, he can't wear a belt at the right height.
The clear cord you see from the belt is his insulin pump

Wearing the belt at the correct height.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

He was complimented on it quite a bit, and some woman at Gulf Wars offered to make him another set since he looks so good in it. 

I'd say overall - a success. 

And as for the Tyger Codpiece, you had to be at the fashion show at Birka to see that marvel. It got quite the response. 

A Green Belt?

My Apprentice Brooch - Mistress Elizabeth's arms (which are amazingly close to my own)

This past fall someone messaged me and said "I think we should talk about our relationship"

Which is a terrifying sentence for most people and honestly, it terrified me a little. Except in this case it was Mistress Elizabeth Lovell and she wanted to talk about my becoming her apprentice. 

We did have a long talk. And I had a talk with my Pelican. And I had a talk with her current apprentices. 

There was some soul searching. I'm (unsurprisingly) headstrong and have a lot of obligations to House Strangewayes, Quintavia, the East, the Knowne World Courtesans, etc. 

Did I want a Laurel? Yes, I must admit I did. 

Do I want THIS Laurel? Yes, I admire Elizabeth's art as much as I admire her way with people. She is the biggest cheerleader for her apprentices and those around her. I love her honesty and her positivity, and her willingness to stand up and say - no, actually, this isn't right. 

Thus, at Crown Tournament last October, I stood with my Pelican at my side surrounded by friends and soon-to-be sisters and made my promises to her. 

I have yet to regret it for even half a second. 

They talk in polyamorous relationships about love being multiplied not divided. My love for my House, my Shire, the East, etc has only been multiplied. I have a wider circle of encouragement and support than I did. People I can truly confide in and who would, if asked, help hide the bodies. Plus, in my apprentice sisters, I get to know some wonderfully talented and wickedly funny women as well. 

She's going to make me enter an A&S competition though, a real one, that's a little terrifying.

I made a new dress for the occasion too. I also made an overdress but the day was warm enough without it. I used Kass McGann's Reconstructing History Cotehardie pattern and some beautiful lavender jacquard with little diamonds throughout. The hood is fleece, because I have a wool allergy, and is from Cyntia Virtue's Hood with liripipe pattern. It is exactly long enough to keep the decolletage warm.

Did you really get pinned?

It's All Greek to Me - More Royal Garb (in progress)

Remember that friend I mentioned? His Majesty Ioannes. The one with the unerring sense of when I am weak and will accept a commission?

He got me again.

During the summer he messaged me and asked about garb for Pennsic. Not just any garb, but Pennsic State Dinner garb in "full on Greek" for himself and her Majesty.

This is why everyone else's Pelicans are pushing them to do stuff and mine is like - YOU NEED TO SAY NO TO PEOPLE.

Pennsic 46 State Dinner
Photographer unknown

What's "Full on Greek" you ask? I asked that too.

I got a couple reference pictures and then went to town. I found some lovely reference photos for her Majesty with all over designs and heavily embellished borders on chitons from some vases and statuary, but his Majesty was proving difficult.

I wanted a more wearable look than the traditional toga and something that said "Young Warrior King" and I came upon this vase from the Louvre depicting a young bearded warrior.

A winged youth, wearing winged boots, a chitoniskos, and a taenia, advancing to the right; a bearded warrior, wearing chitoniskos and pilos, armed with spear and shield.

Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Musée du Louvre, January 1992

Louvre F 26

ca. 550 BCE - ca. 525 BCE

I love the shoulder stripe on this and the detail on the armscye (which indicates to me a little bit of a sleeve). However I'm going to lengthen this as I don't want to expose the East shall we say, and add some linen shorts.

Now, here's where I admit to a failure. I failed hard on this project. I had DREAMS I tell you. Dreams of block printing peacock feathers onto a buttery linen/rayon blend and customizing the chiton of Honig's royal dreams.

But it turns out I block print like a grade school kid on fabric and thankfully I had enough time to alter my course before Pennsic.

King Ioannes and Queen Honig at the Pennsic 46 State Dinner

Going a-Viking with the Prince and Princess (post in progress)

In September a friend from the southern portion of my kingdom contacted me about commissioning a set of viking garb for himself and his lady for the East's big winter event Market Day at Birka.

He knows when to catch me in a moment of weakness and I agreed.

Crown Tournament seemed the best time to catch up and get measurements, but as he was competing I didn't want to get in his space beforehand so left it until after the fighting. We joked that this may become a royal commission if he won.

Joked. Ha ha. Hilarity ensues.

Then he won.

Queen Anna crowns Princess Honig

And there was no time to take measurements after the fact. So I met up with a very stunned Ioannes and an even more stunned Honig at a Dunkin Donuts in Maine to get measurements. We discussed a plan and I got to shopping.

I found the most GLORIOUS teal coat-weight wool at Sewfisticated in Framingham. They'd sold some to a local contestant on Project Runway but had enough for a caftan and Rus viking coat for me. Then I found for $2.99/yard ivory summer-weight wool for the hangerock/apron dress and used the Biking Red linen from Jo-ann's (thank you 60% off coupon).

Ophelia is my crack fabric-inspector

Now, let me just say here - none of this could have been accomplished without Lady Keziah Planchet. Keziah is a stitching STORM and did almost all the embroidery on Honig's coat and hangerock. She is amazing. Sagas should be written in her honor. BUT before she can embroidery anything - I have to pattern it out and sew it. Her blog is here.

For Honig I made three pieces and sourced a fourth:

1. Long red linen underdress - using the pattern from my Viking handout here
2. Ivory wool hangerock/apron dress - using the Vigdis pattern from my Viking handout here
3. Teal wool caftan with peacock embroidery - using a modified version of the Viking underdress from above and shaping the front opening to have a long V neck. 
4. A beautiful white fox pelt from Maine that I didn't want to give up and instead wear about always.

For Ioannes I made three pieces as well:

1. Red linen tunic with contrast ivory yoke with blue "runestone" Tygers
2. Brown linen viking pants
3. Teal Viking Rus-style coat with gold silk trim

I had never done split stitch embroidery before - so I learned something new

Images of the finished garments:

The court at Market Day at Birka
Photo by Jeff Morton

Her Highness in her full outfit (minus the fox)
Photo by Jenn L Miller

A Dress Fit For a Bard

While we're on the topic of dresses for friends I made a "simple" Elizabethan middle class gown for a friend Solveig Bjarnardottir, a very talented Viking bard who was attending a Yule Elizabeth immersion event  and had nothing to wear.

Lady Solveig Sings

Red and Green but not "Christmas-y"

My favorite fabric store, the Auburn Fabric Outlet, where everything is $2.99 a yard, had these awesome fabrics. I used the green as the base and the red I cut down as trim.

I used the Simplicity Elizabethan pattern that they issued after The Tudors came out. The lines are actually really good on this one - no princess lines to draft out. If you are looking for introductory late period pattern, you could do a lot worse.

I added shoulder wings of the same red fabric and made the sleeves detachable and reversible and a very quick petticoat with a portion of the trim fabric as a forepart.

Solveig's Finished Elizabethan

Another Shot of Solveig's Elizabethan

I lent her a few necklaces and earrings and sent her off to be the belle of the Elizabethan ball.

A Dress Fit For a Future Queen

Crown Tournament last fall in the East was in Maine. We'll talk more about the complications that brought to my life later, but this post is about before that.

Lady Ada Wright is a hit at a Quintavian Demo

Lady Ada Wright was being fought for in Crown by her boyfriend Lord Corwin Blackthorn and in trade for a lovely tablet woven belt (It says Fortune Favors the Bold, Fortune Favors the Brave, Fortune Favors the Bling) I made her a dress worthy of a Princess.

We decided on a Burgundian gown in red and white, her colors red and white. I found a gorgeous cream jacquard and a deep burgundy velvet.

This being an outdoor event. In October. In Maine. I wanted to make sure she had a very deep velvet guard along the bottom of her skirt. Here's a few shots of it in progress and the finished gown before the event.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find shots of her at Crown actually in the dress, but it was gorgeous.

Deep velvet bottom guard on Ada's Burgundian

A different shot of the pins.
Each hem section was shaped and stitched a the top "in the ditch"

One of the sleeves, again with a deep velvet cuff. 

I also made a velvet belt with snaps to close it.

Lady Ada in the finished gown

Lady Ada's Burgundian from the side

The finished gown with the trucated henin her sister made for her