Cool video about how to make hand cream according to a 15th century Italian recipe

 This is really interesting, informative, and - which is otherwise often the case with youtube videos - not in any way too long.
I might try it.

New Regency underwear, and revisting a very old gown

 Since I took in my old c. 1805 stays from 2006 two years ago when I lost so much weight I didn't have any that fit me now that I have regained some of that weight. I have a pair of transitional stays that I cobbled together for my riding habit, but there were several problems with them - they were really just a wearable mock-up - so I thought that I'd make a new pair. 

My first pair actually also was a a wearable mock.up in a way: they were made from an old cotton damask table cloth and sewn on machine. My new ones are hand sewn from cotton broadcloth and instead of hemp cord, which was a bit thick compared to the preserved ones that I've seen it has cotton yarn in the channels. I am re-using my old busk.
But I used exactly the same me-made pattern as in 2006, only adding gores in front at the bottom.

I also made a new shift. The old one is still going strong, but I had tentatively planned to visit an empire event in Lucca in June and tehn you need more than one shift. Considering the current pandemic state I find it unlikely that it will happen next year, not for me with my compromised immune system, but one can never have too many shifts.

Old stays (and shift). I have bigger boobs now.

As I was already dressed in my underwear I decided to take some more photos. This is the first time I've worn my first Regency gown (link at the top with more info about it) since the early 2000s. It could be a little tighter at the "waist" and I desperately need to iron both the skirt and the frills.

These are taken as a part of an Instagram challenge where the thee for today is "Be more Jane". Since I don't really know waht Jane austen did except write I thought that housekeeping tasks like taking inventory of things in your cupboard might be a thing.

I am wearing the apron that belongs to my folk costume, and of course a cap. But no shoes - bad Eva! ;)

The cupboard is also 1910s-1920s Jugend inspired, I'm in a 1970s flat, and the cream and green jars are 1930s. But I like the photos.

In Sweden it was common among the lower classes in towns to wear a hard cap called bindmössa, today mostly associated with folk costumes (link to my folk costume) with modern clothing, so I took tow such photos too. And it is not only the gown that needs ironing, but the apron too. The cap would probably have been in a lighter colour at this time.

Medieval eating and serving utensils - thrift store edition

Unlike when I started playing in the SCA, an later in the Swedish group Nordrike, in the 1990s (and now I am back again in the SCA), you can nowadays get replicas of virtually any type of plate, glass, pot, dish etc that you want, from different centuries and localities. 

But that was not the case when I started, and I am conditioned by my early experience into looking for suitable things at thrift stores. Everything in these photos is from thrift stores. Most of it, including the table cloth, from Mölndals secondhand. The glasses are painted by me, inspired by Italian 14th century glasses - I have a blog post about them with sources and close-ups here. 

We're a family of five, so of course we need more stuff than one person. I am also fond of cooking in camp, which means that you need bowls for preparation and serving. My pots and pans are not in this photo, they're in the basement. 

The wooden plates I've had since we were only a family of four, probably 20 years now. Two of the dark ones are broken, but luckily I still have five left. I have also broken two of the matching glasses, so I will have to paint more.

Photos from slightly different angles:

I have replicas too, glass, and some pottery, and my beloved cooking pot from Krohns Krukmakeri. But lots of stuff is just things that look medieval (or renaissance) enough. 

The Water Elf photos

Hubby took lots of photos, and I am very happy with almost all of them. Since I don't want to bore you I won't post ALL. Just too many ;)

The cloak that I am wearing in some of the photos is my husband's wool cloak that I made over a decade ago. The belt is a piece of trim, that I beaded last week. And the gown is actually a 1930s gown from rayon satin, that I also made, and beaded. I made it with the photoshoot in mind, but I thought that it would be nice to make something that you can use for other purposes too. And this satin just screamed to me that it needed to be a gown with the skirt cut on the bias.

I felt like a very pretty water elf - and with the sword, like the Lady of the Lake.

This is how the gown looks when not used in a fantasy setting:

And in this video, which I haev shown on the blog's facebook page, you can see why I love a bias cut gown - the way the fabric moves is amazing. Also, the gown has no zipper or buttons, the bias makes it elastic enough to get into anyway.

Going fantasy again: wire crowns

 So, I continue with my fantasy costuming. This flare of interest in fantasy outfits comes from when I "needed" a fire themed crown for an Elf king in August. So I thought: why not try making oen from aluminum wire and glass beads, the latter I have more than enough of.

So I made this crown:

And, which is not uncommon, I got really inspired and ordered lots more wire in different colours.

And I made a earth element/forest crown:

Both these have braided wire as foundation, but for the water crown I used another technique, that I have use previously for circlets to wear with veils - though that was more than 15 years ago.

Here you have two rings of thicker wire, and use thinner wire to weave beads between the two thicker ones. The aluminum wire is a little soft and bendy for this, but it is okay, especially if you add other things to teh circlet, as I did.

Finished:

I am working on an Air crown too, but got sidetracked by making a water gown, so that I could have a photoshoot last weekend, when Rickard and I had rented a cabin by a lake.It is easier to take water themed photos with a lake at hand ;)

This is the beginning of the air crown - I am working with clear, and iridescent glass beads to get a light and airy feeling.

Wanna hear me talk? About cotton?

 Tonight at 7 pm EST (European Summer Time) I am giving a lecture on Cotton in the Middle ages as part of Virtual FrockCon - if you're at all interested in historical costume, which I assume that you are since you are here, you really should check out Frock Con, there's lots of interesting stuff.

Anyway, my class is here, on facebook live . It's my first time using facebook live, so let's just hope all goes well.

A late 16th - early 17th century kirtle from linsey wolsey

I haven't done much 16th century the last years: two German gowns, one more for fun than anything serious (it was a rose themed party and I made it in a week), and a Venetian gown which has now temporarily been turned into a fantasy gown. 
But once I had lots of 16th century garb (well, technically I still have it) and once in a while I feel the urge to make something from this period. Now I feel it stronger, because I miss my Mistress Helwig, and the other members of House Duck and Three Scissors, people who often wear and make 16th century clothing. So one reason why I started this kirtle is to connect to SCA friends that I can't see in person now.

The other reason for making this is that next year Gothenburg celebrates its 400th anniversary and I have planned to make a burgher's class outfit from 1621 and luckily the shape of kirtles, as far as we can deduce from artwork from the period didn't change that much, or at all, so with thew correct jacket and headwear, apron, and ruffs it ought to work. It is nice to be able to wear the things you make more than once.

Except for the boninng channels in the linen lining - I used the layout of Dorothea Sabina's stays, it is all hand sewn. the lining f the bodice is two layers of linen and the top fabric is a 50% linen 50% wool fabric. The guards at the bottom of the skirt are fulled wool.

Obviously I am not correctly dressed in these photos - my hair is put up with a scrunchie!

Under the kirtle I am wearign my first hand sewn linen 16th century smock, which is now 20 years old, and a rather stiff fustian petticoat. In the photo to the right I am also wearing a small roll stuffed with cotton batting, but not in the left, I have lots of fluff, so I really don't need much help in that department. In the photos below I have  the roll in the photo to the left, but not in the one with the 20 year old jacket. Which is based only on Drea Leed's doublet, I had no research on my own about 16th century costume when I made it ;) 

The coif and forehead cloth that I am wearing is machine embroidered by my friend Alfhild as a gift when I became a member of the Order of the Laurel. Hair is still in a scrunchie under it ;)