Red and Black Spanish

Going back over my older posts I found a post about things I was thinking about making. Well I did make a few things off that list before I stopped really playing in the SCA. I did make the Red and Black Spanish Dress and I did make a Spanish headdress and decorated a hat.

 The Fake Spanish headdress. I used to try to actually get a wrap to stay in my hair around a braid but it never worked very well. This headdress is held in my a hair clip at the front.

 Close up details on the sleeves. I really loved using the pearls to hold the strips together.

 Please ignore the discolouration by the flash the hat is a dark black with a velvet band and hand made red tassels. Loops inside the hat are pinned to the headdress to hold it on.

The completed dress at the event.

Embroidery for Bart

A blast from the past a new piece just like the old:

Bart is getting knighted at Rowany festival this Easter. Due to a trip overseas I cannot afford to go this year. So I asked if there is anything he would like. He chose another piece of embroidery of his heraldry. Here's a photo of it near the beginning and at completion.

Fixing and completing things

Fixing my Spanish dresses

As you can see from the profile picture for this blog my pretty yellow Spanish dress never sat right. I found the issue was that the plastic boning available at spotlight is very bendy and as such does a shit job of holding everything where it needs to be. I replaced the plastic boning in my yellow dress a while ago with aluminium pieces which Daddy so kindly provided for me and cut to size. Today I finally removed the plastic from my blue and red Spanish so I can wear it comfortably again. The first photo is me wearing the yellow dress showing how much better it sits. The second is the other dress which I fixed today.

Pilgrim Bag and Tokens:

I decided to day trip to Great Northern War last year so I very quickly knocked together a pilgrims bag to carry my stuff in. It's just some blue drill lined in black drill. All the outside edges were handsewn. Today I finally got around to attaching my event tokens to the front flap. It seems the tokens are too shiny for my camera on the phone but you get the gist of it. See the below photo. I can't seem to rotate it the correct way, it displays correctly on my pc but wont play nicely when I upload it.

Coat of Plates

Hello Blog, Long time no see :)

So I had a fair break from the SCA. I'm starting to get back in. The first step was to complete my long held dream of having a Coat of Plates to replace my plastic chest armour that no longer worked for me and hadn't for a long time. The inspiration came from the coat of plates that Sir Rufus wore. I did a lot of researching for images and how toos but I didn't have much luck. Sir Rufus gave me some ideas. I sewed the coat itself with an inside layer of black drill, two inner layers of canvas and an outer layer of velveteen that I got on sale a few years ago.

The coat then hung complete for a while as I tried to work out how to do the plates. My good friend Will came to the rescue and helped me draft the shapes for the plates. We then sketched them out onto galvanised steel and set out cutting them out.

Below are some images of Will and I having some fun cutting out the plates. I am suitably dressed in a Rowany festival shirt.

The next fun step was drilling four holes on average through every single plate. Some of the larger plates had extra holes. After the holes were drilled I cleaned the sharp edges off all the plates on a bench grinder. Then used a steel file for the final touches. See the image below of all the plates with the holes drilled.

The next step was to punch a hole through the four layers of fabric and rivet the plates onto the coat. Brass washers were also used in a hope that the rivets wont pull through easily. See the image below for the layout of the plates inside the coat.

See the two images below which show the final product front and back:

I am very happy with how it turned out. I can't wait to use it :) I owe Will many thanks as if would not have been possible without him :)

Unfortunately when I pulled my armour bag out of the shed after a very wet summer it seems the damp has invaded my bag. Everything was mouldy. I spent most of Sunday firstly washing all my kit down with a water and vinegar mixture, then all the metal which instantly started to rust had to be cleaned with WD40 then coated in a fresh coat of lanolin. All the fabric gear such as knee pads, gloves, aketon, chauses etc were thrown into the washing machine with vinegar added. Hopefully that will keep the mould at bay for a while. It still has not stopped raining.

A list of things I want to get or Make

i've just been to Great Northern War and I'm all enthused. Last night I started a list and have decided to post so I may possibly do it.

Armour:
Coat of Plates (I have had all the bits for ages just need to do it)
Light weight Legs: Leather uppers with metal Knee cops
Light weight Body armour: thinking maybe a barbie bra and kidney belt

Thinking about maybe a new ackoton; something more flattering to my shape
Shoulders for my Tabard; not sure what I want to put on them yet but I want to make them interchangable. So maybe my device, Bart's and Tomas's devices

Clothes:
Spanish Head dress to match and complete my current outfits
A red and Black spanish like my gold and black and red and blue one
A german Red and Gold or Red and White dress

Bits and Pieces:
A purple or purple and white cover for my director chair and small wooden fold out table.

Elizabethan Covered Tall Hat

So I have a large amount of Buckram and Velvet siting around from my Tudor gown and French hood. I decided to make a hat in my spare time to wear with late period garb. I made a mens hat but that doesnt really matter perhaps I am borrowing my Lord's hat on a sunny day. I like to think it's ok to slightly mix late period garb. I mean in period people were travelling and adopting new dress. Perhaps when i'm wearing my spanish dress and an elglish hat it is because my lord has been travelling and brought me back a present.


Anyway enough Rambling. I desided to go back the tudor taylor. I chose to make a Elizabethan covered tall hat. The describtion did not explain what the material covering the hat should be so I used left over velveteen from my gown. God damn velveteen pills and goes everywhere.


Here is the inner structure of the hat; Buckram with heavy gage beading wire around the edges.

The fun job of gluing flanalet to the buckram for some padding. I didnt have any felt laying around and decided this hat was going to be constructed completely of left over materials.

Here is the outside face of the top of the hat covered in flanalet and the top has been attached to the side wall.
The inside lining has been sewn into place before the rest of construction takes place.
I did not take photos of the next stages as much of the fiddly stuff was done during my break at work. A circular piece of velveteen was pinned to the top then gathered into pleates around the sides. I pulled these down tight as I stitched them into place. The bright purple gathering threads were removed before the covered brim was fixed into place. The outside covering of the brim it attached to the base and the brim. I stiched through the brim, the brim covering and the side wall to attach the brim and brim covering. The underside of the brim covering is just attached to the inner layer of the hat.

The band is a 4inch wide strip of velveteen which I hand sewed. i attempted to machine sew the tube then turn it around the right way but the velveteen just fell apart at the stiches.

Here is the completed hat which looks totally silly on my head but very period.

English Gown Based Jacket

I have a massive bright orange/red wool cloak that was given to me by some friends many years ago. It is very warm but not very practicle. I have comfortably had two other ladies under it which hints at to how large the cloack really is. I thought it was about time I finally made myself a jacket.

After much searching of the internet I came up empty for patterns. I wanted something I could get away with wearing in late perriod and early period. So I went back to my trusty tudor taylor and desided to make a slightly modified English Gown. Rather than it toughing the floor I made it come to mid calf and rather than having a stupid amount of material just hanging from my shoulders I made it slightly less bulky.

The next issue was the material. I would like to have made a wool Jacket however the cost of wool from spotlight in Brisbane is stupid. I could not afford the amount of wool that would be required. I decided to cheat a little. The fabric is a wool/polyester blend that was on special at spotlight. The weave is a standard Tabby with purple and black haphazardly spun into the threads. The fabric is a rather open weave so I have lined the coat with black flanalet which is fluffy and soft and shall never be seen.

Here is a photo of it hanging while the seams were droping before the arms or colar was attached.
Here it is hanging complete. I used some cloth ribion I had lying around the house for the ties. When I wore it with my early period garb at Great Northern War this last weekend I overlapped it at the front for extra warmth rather than tying it at the front.