A Venetian gown from the middle of the 16th century

 I made this to wear to the Barony of Gotvik's investiture (SCA) in March, when my friends Alfhild and Mattis stepped up as baroness and baron. She is mostly doing 16th century, and I wanted to match. 

 Due to unforseen circumstances I ended up working in the kitchen instead, so I never got to wear it.

And then things happened, and Double Wars, and more things, so I never took any photos of it. 

But today hubby and I went out to the yard outside our block of flats and snapped some. 

My inspiration was images like this from the middle of the 16th century Venice.

There may even be a page about it later, when I am out of the madness of grading that always comes with the end of the semester.

Learning to do sprang

Linnea Skog, or Meisterin Marlein Eberlin, as she is known in the SCA taught me how to make a sprang ribbon at Double Wars (SCA event in the south of Sweden) last week.

Linnea, of course, is the Goddess of sprang. Her blog is over here.

Roman, early Imperial times, at Double Wars

I wore my wool tunica recta for the first time at an event this week. 

It is made from wool, and I love how it looks tied at the waist, and under the bust .

I also tried making a sort of Roman hairdo for the first time. I had only vague memories of images and instructions, and winged it, but I like the result .

Two braids are pinned in front, at the hairline. The rest of the hair is wound with a wool ribbon and wrapped around the head, and the ribbon is wrapped a few more times before being tied. Then I added a wool hairnet .

Taking a walk to the lake through the beech woods .

Roman wool tunica

I technically don't need Roman garb, I don't wear it in the SCA, and I don't do Roman (or any) re-renactment. But I had this wonderful 100 % wool etamine that just cried out to be a rectangular tunica.

I wear a lot of modern versions of the tunica recta made from cotton in summer, and Injut love how the unshaped garment feels when I wear it .

This is the tunica matrona, though I have buttons instead of proper fibulae for the time being.

Next step is a stola, because I am a respectable married woman. Will also fix my hair and not wear socks 😉.

Make do and mend

 My beloved, trusted, linen hose, sewn over fifteen years ago are getting worn in places.

Last year I mended one, and now I mended the other one 

Variations of the 1780s

 After making my 18780s outift I realised that I wanted to trim the robe along the sides, and that I, if I did some piecing, had enough fabric to make a matching petticoat.

As you can see it is worn wit a yellow grosgrain ribbon as belt. The ribbon is also vintage and thrifetd, like most of this outfit.

I also took some photos with my white broderie anglaise petticoat, and the blue stomacher.

I didn't have the time/energy/inclination, to do my hair properly for these photos - but there will be other times. Now I am going to make the alterations that I need to do to make it easier to get it to fit right.

A 1780s outfit

 My sister had decided to celebrate her 45th birthday with an 18th century party. And of course I ws going to go. (Her husband's birthday was celebrated with a 19th century dinner in 2023, you can see my 1830s outfit here)

I got rid of my old 18th century stays, made after Nora Waugh's interpretation of the Diderot drawings from the Encyclopédie, when I lost all that weight six years ago. Which probably was a bad idea, since I gained it all back again. (Link to a good blog post about Diderot's and Nora Waugh's stays) 

But in any case I wanted a slightly later type of stays, and decided to do something that I have never done before: not only buy, but actually USE a commercial pattern. I have bought patterns before, but never actually used them ;)

I had heard lots of nice things about Scroop Patterns, and their Augusta stays , and also seen a lot of people making them on Instagram, so I ordered them. This was another first for me too: This is the first pdf-pattern that I have used  (mostly because I normally make my own patterns)

And I am so happy with the pattern. I have a weird body: narrow straight shoulders, large boobs, a very wide rib cage that angles out at a 45 degree from under my boobs in front (the combined effect of arthritis and pregnancies), a very non squishable waist thanks to a titanium net covering all of my stomach after a hernia, a long torso and high hips. But the stays fit me without alteration, I think thanks to the clever placing of the boning. To make them more comfortable I chose not to lengthen them, but becauase of that long torso they still look proportional.

Stays, all hand sewn. Because I am insane, and because I was influenced by Myra Lea (link to her Instagram) while having lunch in Stockholm in October.

I am also wearing Scroop Patterns free pattern for a false rump here, and a petticoat that I made from a decorative bedsheet with a wide broderie anglaise flounce that I found at a charity shop.

Actually, everything in this costume except the silk, which was a left over from another project, the pink ribbon, the boning, the fabric for the blue pettitcoat and stomacher, the yellow ribbon and the plumes is bought from charity shops. 

The shift is a linen bedsheet, the inner fabric of the stays in hand woven linen fabric, probably intended for towels, and the gown is a rayon satin that probably was made for furniture.

The fabric for the blue petticoat is deadstock fabric from Gårda Textil, a local fabric shop which has a lot of both vintage fabric from their own history, and more newly aquired deadstock fabric. I cannot guess when it is from, it could be any time between the 50s and the 90s.

The trim around the sleeves and neck is probably from the 1940s, and I bought it at a charity shop over twenty years, intending to use it for an 18th century gown. Sometimes things just take time.

The cap was made for my very first 18th century costume in 2007. But it wasn't properly starched and mounted, just gathered with a ribbon. Now it is very much starched, it feels like paper, and luckily survived being carried on public transport a slightly rainy evening.

2007:

2024:

This is the frist time I have tried 18th century style make up, and made a try to powder my hair. I am very much fond of it.  Not having any eyeshadow or mascara seems strange a tfirst, but I think that it looks pretty.

I didn't really have the time and energy to make false hair pieces or get a wig and style it, so I just curled my hair and then back combed it a lot.

I haven't done any serious backcombing since the 1980s, and it was much easier then, with a layered hair cut. My hair is too long all over but the cap hides the not so good looking back of the head where I mostly pinned hair in place.

Then I added powder, both normal powder and some rice flour, because I didn't have enough powder at home. As a first attempt I think it looks good enough.

And it lasted through five hours of dinner party, the cap photos above are taken when I was leaving.

And this is from the tram on my way home. Still raining a little.