Interesting developments

So I'm thinking of taking a huge step.

I want to make and sell some garb. On Etsy.





Not a lot. Just a few pieces. Test the waters, if you like.

I find there's a dearth of reproduction/recreation/accurate-in-any-sense-of-the-word clothing for the SCA or even for LARPers and Rennies. I want to develop a few basic cotes, kirtles, hoods, and body linens with the basic Nockert types found at this site. I'm trying to get my hands on the Nockert articles and books, but they are proving illusive to my ILL.

Carlson's site is definitely one of my favorite sites as far as collected information on basic medieval clothing that most medieval hobbyists wear. Very organized, very professional. I'm trying to find a way to do this without stepping on Marc Carlson's copyright.


I made a version of this gown last year for Val Day. I added sleeves to the undergown and left the original as a surcote. It's based on the gown of St. Clare of Assisi. There's not much information the Carlson's page about this particular gown, but the extant examples of some of the Herjolfnes kirtles and cotes are more in-depth and worth a look.

Obviously, making my own personal version of the gown is fine because I'm not selling it (plus I added an extra gore accidentally, thus changing the gore count of the gown). Making it up as-is and selling it may be on the sueable side of wrong. Even if it's not, I still feel uncomfortable selling something I haven't personally researched and thought through.

At the very least, I can use the Nockert types as proto-patterns to create a few gowns for myself and refine my own style (as I'm convinced most everyday medieval people did) to fit my body or the body of my customers.

This is assuming I will have any. Anyways, I need my gowns to use for pictures on the site so I can provide examples for buyers so they can order their own custom garment. I don't want to hold any stock and I'd like to be able to personalize each garment. I think it's important to have nice garb even if you can't sew.

I'm also using Etsy because they unofficially encourage barter as a form of payment, but also offer PayPal as a payment mode. For example, I really need someone who can do tablet weaving for me. My patience with it is very limited. I want more historical trims for these garments, or at least someone who I can send my customers to if they are interested in historical trims.

I can't tell you how tired I am of seeing crappy, unhistorical garments labeled as "SCA", "medieval", "renaissance", or any combination of the three on eBay and Etsy. It's a damn shame that so few options are required. Metallic and polyester trims make my eyes bleed. I want to give people a choice. Right now all they have is a choice between junk and more junk. I really hope I can influence the SCA community (at least, if not a wider audience) to go more authentic.


More work is going into this and you'll hear more from me to this end. Oh, and I was planning on offering versions done with a machine and versions done by hand, just so people would a have a choice. Also offering very simple embroidery around the interesting edges or the seams...or anywhere I guess...for extra, of course. And offering them in wool, linen or silk. I think that covers a lot of bases.

YiS,
Gillian


Picture from:
Carlson, I. Marc. Some Clothing of the Middle Ages Historical Clothing from Archaeological Finds. Last date edited. 1996-. Text html and digital images. Marc Carlson. Available: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/bockhome.html. 24 January 2009

Virgin post

Okie dokie I thought I'd tell you a bit about myself and about this project here. I'll try to keep this blog free of random whining about my normal life a focus solely on garb, garb history and research, and garb construction. Since everybody has one of these blogs if they are a costumer in the SCA, I'll join that illustrious group that I hope to join in apprenticeship if I can make some new friends soon. I'll be talking about that too, possibly, but only because I'd like to learn as much about garb and garb construction as possible.

About me, quickly, since I don't think you care too much:

My unregistered Society name (as of yet, I have to finish my documentation) is Gillian de (name soon to come).

I can be rather crude, and have a bit of a sailor's mouth so let me know if I am too free with my french. I like dirty jokes, innuendo (no, in-YOUR-endo!), and double entendres. That being said, I'm also well read and if I may toot my own horn, I have some rather insightful things to say.

Let's see...what else? Oh, I'm built like a Mack truck. Haha, no seriously, my ancestors were generous with the boob and hip genes--farm people, what can you expect? I come from a double line of Scandinavian/German/American Mutt people who married--oddly--French Canadians two generations ago. My stock is pretty old by American standards, with both sides of my family being settled in this country no less than 6 or 7 generations ago. That's a lot of time to lose my European heritage, but as an SCA member, I'm trying to gain that back with a lot of research and hard work.

Why is that important? I'm a big girl who's very short (5'4" on a good day), but I've also got considerable hourglass curves and a long-ish torso. This makes it hard for me clothe myself mundanely, let alone garb myself seemly and proper. So skinny girls may find techniques they can apply here, but not much sympathy for your costuming woes. No offense, but until you can hold one boob up with two hands and still have overflow, I don't have much in the way of understanding for you. On the other hand, I hope this page helps the bigger (and shorter) ladies among us garb themselves beautifully and simply.

Why this blog:

I'm interested in several time periods, but find that I have difficulty finding blogs about my particular persona period (middle to late 14th C English outside of London) even though it is highly popular. I find far too many late 15th and 16th C. garbers for my taste. Not only do those styles of garb make me look like a jolly fat Bavarian Frau (not my favorite thing to look like, since I'm already that way by ancestry--the lithe French genes seem to all have gone to my lithe, French-looking sister...damn her.) I prefer the simplicity of the chemise and kirtle and surcote look. I've been investigating the French influences on this and have concluded that if I lived in London, I'd have known about the latest fashions from France, including those soup-dipping tippets!

So either way, my garb consists of some really bad beginners garb right now (we're talking polyester and lame' here--really bad) and I'm starting a real kit beginning with my rather unwilling significant other. Making his garb first will give me the practice I need to make mine look better and allow me to perfect my fitting techniques, which at this point are stolen from the other blogs I've found, along with some previous mundane sewing experience.

Many of you out there are lucky enough to have a significant other who loves the Society and is a part of the goings on. I, however, do not. He's just not interested. He's a musician--I told him he could do that in the SCA, he said no way. He doesn't like to fight--I told him that he could learn to be a blacksmith or a costumer like me or a scribe or herald, he said no way. He likes computers and technology--I told him he could design and build huge war machines that actually work--he said no way. Apparently, he can like all the nerd things I do--D and D, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, etc, but he really has no interest in the SCA. I don't know why, but he puts up with me fitting him with cloth and poking him with pins so that I won't have to go to events alone when my SCA buddy isn't in town. He's wonderful and I love him, so I don't complain too much.

Speaking of my SCA buddy, he's the one that introduced me to the Society. My first event was Baron Wars a few years ago. I had a blast and and did my first all-night pre-event sewing extravaganza at that time. That was it. I was addicted. Iohann (mka Dan) and I have been friends since high school and have always been able to connect on this history level. I'm excited for him to come with us this summer for Pennsic, since we haven't been for two years. The first time we went, everyone though we were married *shudder* and we aren't even close to anything like that so we're bringing my boy Bryan this year. He's already bitching about no running water, but he'll live and he might even have fun since I'll keep him well-fed and drunk most of the time we're down there.

Well this is dragging on for an introductory post, but more to come, probably after I get some pictures up this afternoon.

Blessings (of a general kind, not a Christian or otherwise kind...I'm not really into that sort of thing) ok so scratch that...

Well wishes! (How's that? Better? Good? Nah, we'll try again...)

Hail and well met! (That's more like it...)

--Gillian de (some small town around London yet to be determined)