jortschronicles

[jortschronicles]

Received one of my hats? Here's some info!

Did you receive a funny little medieval beanie with a tag reading something along the lines of

Monmouth Cap #99 by Doña Áshildr Inn Hárfagri Based on research by Jennifer L Carlson Made in the Barony of Namron

These caps, easiest to spot by the little hanging loop (which i stick my tags on!) have their roots at least as far back as the 15th century with the Capper's Act of 1488, which was instituted to protect English wool markets.

TL;DR: please enjoy your fun historical beanie in silly colors, I had a fun time making it and I'd love to see how far they make it around the Knowne World! If you can, post a picture of your hat to Facebook or Instagram tagging me or using the hashtag #ashildrhat so we can see how far it traveled!

If you'd like to read more about the history behind these hats, I've included some below the cut!

The Peasant Wedding, by Pieter Bruegel ca 1568, emphasis by Matthew Gnagy in Knitting With the Modern Maker Vol 1

As seen in these in these detail shots, these hats seem similar to the popular "tudor flat cap" in construction, with a distinct crown and brim, but have a more beanie-type structure with the brim occasionally turned up partially or all the way. I have often seen reenactors partially turn the brim up to create a bycocket-type shape.

As far back as 1415, the occupational surname Capper begins to grow within Monmouth. In 1465 we see the occupation "cappeknytter." The Capper's Act of 1488 fixes the prices of knitted caps and hats, delcares fines for foreign-made hats, and court records show that these rules were enforced frequently and to full extent. The 1571 An Act for the Continuance of the Making of Caps further protects the English wool, knitting, and capping industry by insisting everybody over the age of 6 will wear a woollen knit cap made in England on Sabbath and holidays, and women were required to wear white caps of the same restrictions unless their husbands were hereditary nobility or particularly important (Buckland 1979).

While these laws were each enforced for a time before being repealed, they give a glimpse into the storied history of this silly little medieval beanie we so dearly love.

The extant monmouth cap, pictured at the top of this post, dates to the 16th century and has been extensively analyzed by modern day knitters. The hat is 59 stitches in circumference with an inch double knit edge, knit 5-6 inches before crown decreases, and closed to 6 stitches before bindoff. Similar finds of knitted and fulled wool caps from the Mary Rose lead me to believe this very practical hat was fulled or felted but the nap has been lost over time.

For further reading, I recommend The Monmouth Cap by Kirstie Buckland and Making a Monmouth Cap by Jennifer L. Carlson.

My Spin On Things

When people ask why I bring so many hats to certain winter events, my reply is usually "I knit when I'm anxious, and boy am I poorly medicated!" I produce them for gift baskets, largesse derbies, coronations, trade days, and "taxes" for my landeds. I make them for commissions, for auctions, but almost always I make them to be freely given away.

I was introduced to these hats by Mistress Elsa von Snackenburg, OP, who is well known in my kingdom for these hats so much so that the kingdom knows this style of hat best as the Elsa Hat. She produces the hats from Lion Brand Thick and Quick, achieving a much more period gauge, and usually with just 1 or 2 colors per hat. However, thick yarn makes my hands cramp, so I chose to experiment with gauge and make a lighter weight hat to fill the spring and fall niches. My math has worked out to a happy 88 stitches cast on 4.0mm needles, giving an even 8-section crown decrease that lends itself well to distribution across 4 dpns, with occasional variations in cast on # to allow different crown patterns such as the stars or to create smaller or larger sizes.

As seen above, I tend to do multicolored hats, incorporating pride flags or heraldic colors, and occasionally with an Ansteorran or Vindheim star at the crown. At the time of posting, I've made 210 of these hats. Producing this many hats, especially free of charge, would not be possible without the generous yarn donations of those like Lessandra della Torre, Katerine la Roux d'Anjou, Elionora inghen Ui Ceallaigh, and many others who have graciously donated yarn to the cause of warming noggins across the Knowne World.

[jortschronicles]

The Don Marcus Project - a costuming diary

At Vindheim's first Accademia della Spada, the tournament for Princess Octavia's champion was held. My brother white scarf, Master Marcus von Furth, WSA was chosen as HSH's personal champion to be sicced on her foes and to defend her good name and honor. Several years ago, when Marcus was chosen to be Deanna I's champion, she approached my wife to make him one new suit so he could better look the role. That she did, and in addition a second hand silk suit (seen below) we had bought hoping it would fit me did not, but it sure did fit our boy!

(I'm still mad about that suit not fitting me, I'm OBSESSED)

This time, Marcus approached me about making 1 new suit and 2 extra doublets to help him better look the part and to accommodate his sick new gains! Ah, the joys of working out and eating sufficient protein. All your old stuff no longer fits right, and specifically in the difficult areas to let out and take in. Marcus's preferred style of doublet is almost more of a jerkin, with little sleeve puffs as seen in his old doublet and in Don Gabriel de la Cueva y Giron Duke of Albuquerque by Giovanni Battista Moroni (Moroni my beloved <3333) as seen below. Obviously, the heat of Ansteorra contributes to certain styling decisions and the removal of the full length doublet between the undershirt and the puff-sleeved doublet.

The time had come for my second attempt to figure out the barra system and pattern drafting method featured in Matthew Gnagy's The Modern Maker. For those of you who haven't yet used it, it is genius and intuitive in how counterintuitive it can feel. Gnagy walks even an intermediate (begrudgingly) sewist through a historical pattern drafting method that relies on the tendency of the human body to be proportional in certain measurements to the bust, waist, hip, and height. It makes an incredibly good first draft which, for the doublet I'm working on myself concurrently, only took one pass. In defense of the mockup for Marcus, I was figuring it out as I went, okay?

I used multiple colors of sharpies to keep my brain from melting as I went, starting with a fine pointed light pink as a "sketching" sharpie and frequently clarifying lines with an orange or blue sharpie. I did run into issues where my math failed me and had to insert extra fabric, as seen above, but who knew what chaos those simple insertions would portend....

Behold, the frankendoublet. The result of me screwing up and miscalculating in some places, learning after the first try on that the wearer had gained 2 inches of bicep and almost 3 inches of chest and back muscle in the months since I'd last measured him, and in confirming his preference for a more modern, long-torsoed garment than the higher waistline seen in late period. I swear there was a method to this madness, but it gives a few of my apprentice siblings headaches looking at it and I don't blame them. I transferred the pattern to paper, and we were off to the races!

A quick interjection about the fabric choices: we are both in the middle of financial tight spots, so as much as I'd like to work with natural materials (that don't melt by campfires at the very least) we agreed to opt for 1 silvery-blue shot silk-look polyester doublet, 1 crimson shot silk-look polyester doublet, and 1 royal blue polycotton striped brocade full suit, all intended to be interchangable for a variety of outfits. I bought 2 yards for each of the doublets and 3 yards for the pants, rocking out at $40 flat for the self fabric. While not ideal for breathability and late night campfires, right now it's hard to beat costs like that. The silvery-blue can be seen for the remainder of this post as I chose to use it for the first doublet.

In one full day's work I have managed to chalk and cut out the full doublet from the self and the lining (a slate blue linen I pulled from stash) and used approximately 1.6 yards of each. Behold my selection of pattern weights, including a remote, a basket hilt, 3 bottles of paint, most of a block of wax, some drill blocks, sticky notes, and a can of coke I was putting off drinking so it could continue to serve as a pattern weight.

By the end of day 1 of sewing I had assembled the full body and sleeves and begun pinning the collar. This is my first suit lined doublet so I am definitely taking things a little slower than usual. Thus far all the seams have been machine sewn aside from the finishing on the sleeve cuff. After some extra thought considering biceps and the volume of fabric, I patterned the bicep cuffs to have approximately 2 inches of excess cuff to hide within the seam to be easily let out if further size changes do occur. At this point I left the cuffs open for one more fitting before seaming them closed. By the end of the night I also finished the strip of waist eyelets, sewn on linen canvas provided by Asa inn blindi, so in the future pants can be pointed to this doublet. By this time, however, I was a little too dangerously sleepy to be trusted with a sewing machine so with the collar pinned I ended for the night.

The next day saw the attaching of the collar, the reopening of the shoulder seam to "zhuzh" more of the length of the back into the shoulder to accommodate the natural volume of shoulder muscles and to make the collar fall correctly. The eyelet strip was first sewn to the seam allowance of the waist line, after which the seam allowance + eyelet strip was pressed to the body and stitched down securely. After that, some lovely hand dyed wool twill tape was donated by Asa in blinda to cover and protect the raw edges along the waist line.

Rather than the strip of silk taffeta Gnagy recommends the tailor tacks in to the left side to reinforce the buttonholes, I ironed in a strip of fusible interfacing as reinforcement.

Glamor shot of the interfacing being sewn in by hand. My hand seams are getting a wee bit straighter.

In absence of the much sturdier taffeta Gnagy recommends for both trimming and reinforcement, I used scraps of a much lighter weight silvery-gray silk fished out of Asa's scraps, like a raccoon through a trash can. This does not provide the same structural benefit as the taffeta trimming, but it does introduce a little extra "pop" to the colors imho.

Then I tackled my first-ever hand sewn buttonholes. I opted for 3 strands of DMC 930 cotton embroidery floss on the final project after testing with buttonhole thread, all 6 strands, and 2 strands.

And finally, some glamor shots of the completed garment. From left to right, the "secret ease" on the bicep meant to make adjustments for more muscle growth easier to accommodate, the collar lining sewn in, and the final garment waiting in my office to be handed to the recipient at Coronation.

Overall, I think we're both very pleased with the results. Master Marcus retained his full (and simply absurd) range of motion on and off the field, the garment is machine washable, and it is a lovely color on him. The combined power of the ladies of our Princess's household has convinced him to let me raise the waistline on doublet 2 a whole two inches, which I am very excited about.

What did I learn?

The barra method is not nearly as terrifying to manage as I think it is, as long as you trust the process

Multiple colors of sharpies are a game changer.

I'm actually faster at hand-sewing buttonholes than I am at machine sewing them, because I get so anxious about sewing them by machine.

Suit-lined garments are SO much easier to do seam finishing on, it's absolutely night and day.

I think I want to make an entire doublet of silk taffeta. This is a problem. I need money and confidence to do so.

What's next?

Update the 14th C English clothing powerpoint to what I currently use for classes

I am currently making an Elizabethan suit for Darien de Shameless with my apprentice sibling Asa in blinda, with aims of finishing it for Queens Champion

I am currently making an Elizabethan-ish suit for Viscount Micauley Morison ahead of Winter Crown (but cheating on the pants so he has one pair of breezy breeches). The construction is largely the same to this one, so if I make a post about it it probably won't include an entire construction diary. Just some glamor shots.

I am making Rus for Dona Halldora Hrafnsdottir, but I keep getting distracted on which Navershnik I want to finish first.

I am looking forward to making some new and improved Rus for myself and Centurion Runa Bjarki ahead of the Crown/Coronet season, with an eye towards moving us to more accurate pieces.

I need to do a Shift Weekend where I just churn out shifts, chemises, and rubakhas

[jortschronicles]

Hey sexy, you baptized?

By Áshildr Inn Hárfagri, 2024

Presented at Kingdom Arts & Sciences

The History of Tam Lin

Tam Lin is the 39th of the Child Ballads, a collection of ballads first published by Francis James Child in 1882 with the volume containing Tam Lin and its variants published in Volume I Part II in 1884. The earliest mention of this ballad is in 1549 in Vedderburn’s Complaint of Scotland, where "The Tayl of the Ȝong Tamlene" ('The Tale of the Young Tamelene') is “spoken of as told among a company of shepherds.”[1] A dance named “Thom of Lyn” is mentioned at the same party. “A ballett of Thomalyn” was licensed in 1558. 

Child notes a diverse family tree of this story. A Scottish ballad, which he does not name, regards a farmer desperate to save his wife from the fairy court. He was told to wait for the procession of the fairies on Halloween, but “at the ringing of the fairy bridles…his heart failed him,” and he did not manage to rescue his wife from the fairy. A Danish ballad from 1721 regards a maiden transformed into a nightingale by an angry stepmother and the solution to her curse is a knight containing her in a bower as she turns into “all the marvelous beasts one ever heard of…a lion, a bear, a variety of small snakes, and at last to a loathsome lind-worm.” A Cretan fairy tale recorded in 1820 mirrors the tale of Thetis and Peleus, in which an old mentor instructs a protege to “lay hands on the nereid and keep his hold through whatever metamorphosis she might make.” His final point of reference is the 12th century medieval romance Lanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, in which the titular character cannot turn a serpent back into a woman merely by kissing her, but by also bathing her in a spring. This introduces “immersion in a liquid” as a “process requisite for passing from a non-human shape, produced by enchantment, back into human.”

As Child says, “Whether it has come down to our time from mouth to mouth through twenty-five centuries or more, or whether, having died out of the popular memory, it was reintroduced through literature, is a question that cannot be decided with certainty; but there will be nothing unlikely in the former supposition to those who bear in mind the tenacity of tradition among people who have never known books.”

What is it about?

Tam Lin opens with a warning that all maidens who go to the woods of Carterhaugh will be met by the titular character and be required to pay him something–most often, their maidenhead. Our heroine known sometimes as Janet and sometimes as Margaret, hearing this, drops what she’s doing (in some cases literally dropping her sewing in her haste) to run to Carterhaugh as fast as she can go. As she pulls a mysterious double rose, Tam Lin appears and asks her to stop. She insists he is not the owner of Carterhaugh and she can do as she pleases, and notably does not offer him any form of material tribute. Therefore, his collected toll is her maidenhead, all according to her apparent plan.[2]

Janet returns to her father’s hall visibly pregnant enough to worry an elderly knight, who’s concerned all the knights will be blamed for her condition. Her father notices her pregnancy, and she admits she’s in love with an elfin knight and that she wouldn’t give him up for any of the gentlemen of her father’s court. Apparently deciding, though, that being a single mother to a half-fae child isn’t an exciting prospect, she runs back to Carterhaugh to pluck double rose to use to abort her pregnancy. Tam Lin confronts her, and asks why she wants to end the pregnancy. She asks if he was ever even human, and Tam Lin relates his tale. 

When Tam Lin was young he went hunting with his grandfather and fell from his horse. The Fairy Queen caught him and trapped him forever in Carterhaugh as part of her retinue. It isn’t that bad of a gig, but every seven years on Halloween the Fairy Queen pays a tithe to hell, and Tam Lin worries that he’s the next payment. He explains a plan to Janet to free him from the fairies, which will consist of stealing him from a procession of riders on horseback and holding him while he is changed into a variety of fearsome creatures. He’ll then be turned into a red hot iron in hopes of forcing her to drop him, then a red hot coal, at which point she needs to throw him into a well and he will emerge human once more. At this point, he will be able to join Janet and be a father to the child. 

The successful execution of the plan infuriates the Fairy Queen who hates whoever took away the handsomest member of her company and curses the thief. She declares if she knew what would happen she would have taken away his eyes, which can see the fairies when they are invisible, and replace them with wood, taking away his fairy-sight and mundane sight alike.

Tam Lin is about a young noblewoman who decides what she wants and seeks it out herself at every opportunity and does not allow anybody to decide her fate for her. It is a fascinating tale that has been adapted again and again through the centuries across genres and mediums. The most well known modern adaptation of Tam Lin, though adaptation is a strong word for a loosely-inspired work, is A Court of Thorns and Roses. 

Performance notes

This selection of verses has been largely pulled from Child Ballad 39A, as one of the more narratively complete versions, with additions from 39I and some adjustments from the period language to better scan to an audience speaking modern English. As a performer, I believe the period thing to do is perform in a way my audience can understand the story and therefore value the comprehension more than the archaic language. These ballads were long performances, frequently series of performances, for the entertainment of groups of people in a world before the radio drama. Where these adjustments and additions are made, they are noted with footnotes. 

I have not yet found notation indicating a period or near-period tune for this piece. However, the tune commonly associated (and performed here) with this piece seems to fairly match “the vibe” of the extant ballad tunes we do have. The reconstruction of period melodies is not my primary area of interest or study, but modern listeners should note differences between the songs with which we are familiar today and this piece. For instance, there is no verse/chorus verse/chorus bridge chorus structure as we are used to. Every verse is a verse and has approximately the same tune. The song does not always explicitly indicate who is speaking. The song frequently makes use of parallel structure and repetition (see verses 29-32). Unlike many modern songs, this does not seem to be written to showcase a wide vocal range or particular talent, but to simply provide a tune to aid the memory of the storyteller, the storytelling itself, and potentially a sick beat to dance to.

As is the case in many (but not all) of the Child Ballads, the subject matter is sensitive but is skirted with a “fade to black” which is not present in all versions but has been maintained for the listener’s discretion.

Tam Lin – Child Ballad 39

As Communicated by Áshildr Inn Hárfagri

O I forbid you, maidens a', That wear gowd on your hair, To come or gae by Carterhaugh, For young Tam Lin is there.

There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh But they leave him a pledge,[3] Either their rings, or mantles green,[4] Or else their maidenhead.

Janet tied her kirtle green, A little aboon her knee, And she has gaen for Carterhaugh,[5] As fast as she can hie,[6,7]

She had na pu'd a double rose, A rose but only twa, Till upon then started young Tam Lin, Says, Lady, thou's pu nae mae.

Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, And why breaks thou the wand? Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh Withoutten my command?

"Carterhaugh, it is my own, My daddy gave it me, I'll come and gang by Carterhaugh, And ask nae leave at thee."

He’s aen her by the milk-white hand, Among the leaves sae green, And what they did I cannot tell, The green leaves were between

He’s taen her by the milk white hand, Among the roses red, And what they did I cannot say, She neer returnd a maid,[8,9]

Four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the ba, And out then came the fair Janet, The flower among them a'.

Four and twenty ladies fair Were playing at the chess, And out then came the fair Janet, As green as onie glass.

Out then spake an auld grey knight, Lay oer the castle wa, And says, Alas, fair Janet, for thee, But we'll be blaméd a'.[10]

"Haud your tongue, ye auld fac'd knight, Some ill death may ye die! Father my bairn on whom I will, I'll father none on thee."

Out then spak her father dear, And he spak meek and mild, "And ever alas, sweet Janet," he says, "I think thou gaest wi child."

Oh father if I go with child,[11] Mysel maun bear the blame, There's neer a laird about your ha, Shall give the babe his name[12]

"If my love were an earthly knight, As he's an elfin grey, I wad na gie my ain true-love For nae lord that ye hae.[13]

Janet tied her kirtle green, A little aboon her knee, And she has gaen for Carterhaugh,[14] As fast as she can hie,[15,16]

She had na pu'd a double rose, A rose but only twa, Till up then started young Tam Lin, Says, Lady, thou pu's nae mae.

"Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, Amang the groves sae green, And a' to kill the bonny babe That we gat us between?"

"O tell me, tell me, Tam Lin," she says, "For's sake that died on tree, If eer ye was in holy chapel, Or christendom did see?"

"Roxbrugh he was my grandfather, Took me with him to bide And ance it fell upon a day That wae did me betide.

"And ance it fell upon a day A cauld day and a snell, When we were frae the hunting come, That frae my horse I fell, The Queen o' Fairies she caught me, In yon green hill do dwell.

"And pleasant is the fairy land, But, an eerie tale to tell, Ay at the end of seven years, We pay a tiend to hell, I am sae fair and fu o flesh, I'm feard it be mysel.

"But the night is Halloween, lady, The morn is Hallowday, Then win me, win me, an ye will, For weel I wat ye may.

"Just at the mirk and midnight hour The fairy folk will ride, And they that wad their true-love win, At Miles Cross they maun bide."

"But how shall I thee ken, Tam Lin, Or how my true-love know, Amang sa mony unco knights, The like I never saw?"

"O first let pass the black, lady, And syne let pass the brown, But quickly run to the milk-white steed, Pu ye his rider down.

"For I'll ride on the milk-white steed, And ay nearest the town, Because I was an earthly knight They gie me that renown.

"My right hand will be gloved, lady, My left hand will be bare And thae's the takens I gie thee, Nae doubt I will be there.[17]

"They'll turn me in your arms, lady, Into an esk and adder, But hold me fast, and fear me not, I am your bairn's father.

"They'll turn me to a bear sae grim, And then a lion bold, But hold me fast, and fear me not, And ye shall love your child.

"Again they'll turn me in your arms To a red het gand of airn, But hold me fast, and fear me not, I'll do to you nae harm.

"And last they'll turn me in your arms Into the burning gleed,[18] Then throw me into well water, O throw me in with speed.

"And then I'll be your ain true-love, I'll turn a naked knight, Then cover me wi your green mantle, And hide me out o sight."

Gloomy, gloomy was the night, And eerie was the way, As fair Jenny in her green mantle To Miles Cross she did gae.

At the mirk and midnight hour She heard the bridles sing, She was as glad at that As any earthly thing.

First she let the black pass by, And syne she let the brown, But quickly she ran to the milk-white steed, And pu'd the rider down.

Sae weel she minded what he did say, And young Tam Lin did win, Syne covered him wi her green mantle, As blythe's a bird in spring

Out then spak the Queen o Fairies, Out of a bush o broom, "Them that has gotten young Tam Lin Has gotten a stately-groom."

Out then spak the Queen o Fairies, And an angry woman was she, "Shame betide her ill-far'd face, And an ill death may she die, For she's taen awa the bonniest knight In a' my companie.

"But had I kend, Tam Lin," said she, "What now this night I see, I wad hae taen out thy twa grey een, And put in twa een o tree."[19]

FOOTNOTES

[1] All quotes from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol I by Francis James Child [2]  We stan a girls’ girl who knows what she wants. Happy Hot Girl Summer. [3] 39A.2 - originally “but they leave him a wad,” changed for modern rhyme schemes [4] 39A.2 - originally “either their rings, or green mantles” changed for modern rhyme schemes [5] Chorus line drawn form 39B.3 [6] 39A.3 - originally a 6 line chorus changed for modern rhyme scheme and understandability. “Janet has kilted her green kirtle / A little aboon her knee, / And she has broded her yellow hair / A little aboon her bree, / And she's awa to Carterhaugh / As fast as she can hie.” [7]  39A.4 - verse skipped for time [8] 39I.10 and 39I.11 better provide context on why Janet went to Carterhaugh [9] 39A.8 - verse skipped for time [10] Accent added to “blamed” to better scan in modern prosody [11] 39A.14 originally "If that I gae wi child, father,” to better scan in modern prosody [12] 39A.14 originally “Shall get the bairn's name.” changed for modern understandability [13] 39A.16 - verse skipped for time [14] Chorus line drawn form 39B.3 [15]  Refer to verse 3 [16] 39A.18 - verse skipped for time [17] 39A.30 exchanged for 39B.28 [18] Gleed” is a word for hot coal [19] “Mortals whose eyes have been touched with fairies’ salve can see them when they are to others invisible” (Child)

[jortschronicles]

a year later, she's out of time out and the 4th stripe is started. i can't wait to block this bad boy.

WIP: Sion Relic-Purse V - revenge of the birds

Apparently it's time for me to start another incredibly punishing knitting project and break out the crochet thread. I picked Sion V, as I haven't done this pattern yet and the birdies are DARLING. The extant is supposed to be frankly garishly colored, beige and blue birdies alternated with red and green birdies, and purple and white interstitial bands.

“Each band is composed of identical shields, with a small star at the bottom of the space between each two shields. The bands of shields are staggered by a lateral half-drop; each carries a bird. The bands alternate: one band of beige with the shields outlined and decorated in blue, one band of red with shields in green; all bands counter-changed with stripes across the middle of the shields in which the colors are reversed. The bands of shields are separated by a narrow saw-tooth design in violet and white.” -Richard Rutt, on Sion V

I chose to change some of the colors for the preferences of the modern-day recipient while still maintaining the spirit of the wildly colored original. I swapped the beige for more white, the red for a different shade of green, and the violet for a lovely maroon. I did all this color swapping and planning in GIMP 2.8, comparing an approximation of the extant's coloration and different combinations of the colors I'd like to use. All in all I'm delighted with the way the colors are coming out.

Considering this is my third sion bag and it's been more than 3 years since my first, I'm not surprised that my tension is a lot more consistent and resulting in a lovely texture on the front of the design. I've only bothered tacking down floats on stretches of 9 or more, which only occur at 2 points in the pattern. I'd love to see a picture of the inside of the extant, to know if the artisan tacked ANY floats down, or relied on their own consistency of stitching. Is the bag lined? I have so many questions and have struggled finding answers.

I originally cast on August 15, 2023, on 2.00mm needles and 10 crochet thread. My original plan was with 18 repeats, as the extant seems to have that many. However, 18 repeats of an 18 stitch large pattern resulted in 324 stitches, a number that I struggled to keep on the needles and seemed overall unwieldy after knitting 15 rows. I then tried 15 repeats (270), which was similarly unwieldy. I settled on 12 repeats at 216 stitches (or 54 on each needle), having knit and ripped out more than 2000 stitches in the search for the Right Count.

Somewhere along the way, I seem to have knit two stitches together between the bottom of the first stripe of blue shields and the top of the first stripe of green shields. After much searching, no culprit showed, so I've included a sneaky m1L near the BOR jog. Fixing dumb mistakes is period, look at the Pourpoint of Charles de Blois.

I also finally made a needle cozy for my 8 inch us0s, since they dont fit in the cozy i use for my 6 inch sock needles. No more stitches slipping and dropping!!!

You may notice my birdies face the opposite direction of those on the shields. I encourage you not to notice this fact. One thing this project has proven to me is that even when I think i understand the geometry involved in a knitting project, I am bound to make mistakes.

When I finish this, I think I'd like to submit it for competition unlined to show off the floats, then I'd like to line it before giving it to the recipient for use. I don't want anybody worried about messing up the bag by using it.

[jortschronicles]

Dressing the Despencers pt 3: The End of An Era

Part 1 | Part 2

I had to accept that due to time constraints and a sum total of 1 hour to fit two people, my dreams of fully buttoned full length cotehardies would not be fulfilled. However, I am very satisfied with the way things turned out. My cuffs were long enough and sleeves snug enough to prevent riding up, and did not need the planned emergency Glamorgan chevronelly cuff. The mens' cotes were kept long (just below and just above the knee) for personal taste of the wearers. Both boys were put in hoods, though I seem to have failed to catch a picture with Thomas le Despencer in a hood. I have a habit of leaving my phone in the cast tent, so I am not surprised. The yellow dagged hood was my first foray into dagging and I am OBSESSED.

As both of the boys playing Edward and Thomas le Despencer were new to the historical costuming scene, neither were comfortable with the snug fit in the torso of a good cotehardie and requested an expansion to fit more like T-shirts. Due to the short time remaining, I opted to go for a stripe of dark brown linen down the front opening to ensure a semi-unified look. Unfortunately the literal last minute nature of this change resulted in some puckering down the front of each cotehardie that makes my eye twitch. I was terribly sad as this decision came after I'd installed what felt like thousands of buttonholes down the front of Edward's cotehardie.

Alas, some concessions must be made for the hellish clash of the impending deadline of an event and the limited available time for fittings with students. I have very mixed feelings about the results of this project, as I feel I did not make these costumes up to my standards, but I am incredibly proud of what I managed with the restrictions and barriers I encountered.

Some highlights:

To maximize the length of the sleeve and reduce the bulk, I applied a piece of 3/8" polysatin bridal ribbon to the serged edge with the tiniest back stitches I've ever done, then folded the ribbon to the inside and whip stitched it in place to secure the edge and hide the serging. To prevent the thin satin from tearing where I applied my (machine) buttonholes, I took a scrap of linen, folded it in half, and applied it to the buttonhole edge as a facing to take the majority of the strain of the buttons off the fashion fabric.

At the suggestion of Countess Christyana at LPT, I made a long strip of craft felt to apply to the inside of my hem, backing the lions. I found this gave a body to the bronze and blue fabrics that they did not have previously, giving me a much better silhouette, as well as stiffened the edge of the dress and helpfully preventing me from tripping over my own two feet. I wore it with just the craft felt basted in to one dress rehearsal before applying a facing of scrap muslin to the interior edge. This encased the felt, preventing it from picking up every blade of grass in the state of Oklahoma.

Regrettably I have no pictures of the process of inserting the felt, but my process was simple. First, I applied the felt as a facing, turning it towards the interior edge. This I basted fairly loosely to the seam allowance where the red trim is attached to the bottom of the dress.

I then cleaned up the edge where the "grass guard" met the felt met the red embroidered band with some small whip stitches to give a crisp, clean finish.

After three days in a variety of weather conditions, the interior lining did relax a little as seen below, and will require some cleanup.

Pictured: Baroness Elizabeth Despencer attending the court of His Majesty Edward III, wondering why, exactly, one of the privateers has been handed the sword of state. (it was for a bit, we promise)

Also seen above, I purchased 14 badges of Prince Edward of Woodstock for the members of Prince Edward's Court (court 2) to wear, as a gift to the wonderful cast members who variously learned and developed new skills, stepped out of their comfort zones, and maybe let me turn them into human barbie dolls a little bit.

I really enjoyed wearing this outfit for three days through the course of the Norman Medieval Fair. I was incredibly worried about the polyester fabrics causing me to overheat, but found the linen lining and tight fitting torso prevented the polyester from building the dreaded heat pocket of humidity, and I stayed fairly cool and dry throughout the weekend. I found a personal preference for the structure and bulk of a wimple and veil when the face edges of both are folded, providing protection from the dust on the wind and the blazing sun. I cheated and safety pinned the bottom edge of my wimple together in the back, though the rest was secured by a single pin through the crossed upper edges to my brigitta cap and held tight by the pair of pins that attached my veil. Dancing in this garb made me feel more regal than I ever have in my life.

Pictured: a happy baroness with croissants. Fed nobility is happy nobility!

Unfortunately due to mental and physical health issues, I will not be returning as costuming director to the cast.

What comes next?

A klappenrock for a commission

Lesbian Minoan ;)

Coordinating Roman and Greek for myself and my consort

an attempt at a little viking cap!

a nap, probably.

[jortschronicles]

T Tunic Assembly

Notes created for the cast of the Medieval Fair of Norman intended as a good starting point for costumers made nervous by curved lines.

Meaurements and suggested cutting layout for this tunic are here

Cut out 4 body panels, 2 sleeves, 2 gussets, and some* gores.

Sew 2 body pieces down the long edge. This makes your back panel. **Optional for skirt volume: sew butt gore into back seam**

Sew the other 2 body pieces down long edge. This makes the front panel

Sew the front panel to the back panel at the shoulders

Trace a circle with a 3" radius (6" diameter) with the center 1" down the front center seam (This places 2/3 of the circle on the front panels and 1/3 on the back panels). Cut this out & seam rip ~2-4" down the center seam of the front. This makes the keyhole neckline we use for trying on our mockup.

Center one of the sleeves along the shoulder seam. Repeat for the other side.

Sew the gusset (armpit) into the right angle formed by the sleeve and the body. Repeat for the other side.

7. Attach gores to the body panels as depicted in diagram on left. If gores are in multiple pieces (i.e. 4 or more right triangles, as instructed in the prior post, see diagram on right.)

8. Fold tunic in half and start sewing along the outside edge. Gussets should be folded diagonally making armpit "triangles" when viewed from the front.

You now have a T tunic! start fitting and making adjustments as desired. Consider the following suggestions:

pinch and pin along the sleeve to tighten the fit. mark and trim if the sleeve is too long.

pinch and pin under the widest part of the chest and along any part of the torso with too much ease.

mark how wide you want your neck to be, if wider than the keyhole neckline.

consider moving your gores up or down to start at your natural waist or hip.

Consider narrowing or shortening gusset if it has too much of a bat wing. Gussets can also be a "kite" shape with the long narrow end pointing down the arm and the short end into the body.

[jortschronicles]

Loose Fitting Cotehardie AKA the T tunic starting point

Notes created for the cast of the Medieval Fair of Norman intended as a good starting point for costumers made nervous by curved lines.

MEASUREMENTS:

A. shoulder to hem + 1"

B. bust (widest part of torso)

C. (B + 4)/4 "

D. shoulder to wrist + 1"

E. circumference of arm @ the shoulder +1"

F. waist to hem + 1"

G. 6-12"

H. 4-6"

Assembly Notes:

Hypotenuse of gore goes to the body panel, right angles of gores go to each other

Top of gores start around natural waist, bottom rib, or top of hip

May be easier to assemble gores in pairs before attaching to the body

Offset the circle for the neck hole so that 1/3 of the circle is on the back panels (neck hole ~6" in diameter)

Closure can go to natural waist or to hem

This can be used as a basis for a more fitted garment

Additional Notes:

Using gores and body panels cut in this manner is one of the most efficient ways to use fabric if you're trying to be conservative with yardage

While it appears gores went into front, center, and side seams in period, many modern wearers prefer the "flatter" front effect of forgoing the front gores

Doing just side gores and no butt gores can give a "flat stanley" appearance

Remember to round out your hems after assembling!

[jortschronicles]

Dressing the Despencers, pt 2

Part 1

And so it continues. With the supportive underkirtle complete and worn at an event (under a different kirtle of mine) to make it relax the rest of the way, I got the measurements for our Edward and Thomas Despencer and started marking and cutting materials. While I originally believed I would have more than enough of the bronze patterned fabric, I was proven quite wrong and resorted to piecing together several gores and small extensions in the front of the body for Elizabeth and Edward Despencer. The planned change in the last post (bronze body with blue sleeves for Edward and green sleeves for Thomas) was shifted again, back to my ideal of particolor for the married couple and coordinating for the brother in law. I also realized halfway through marking that I was 2 gores and a sleeve shy of enough of the blue, which led to much wailing and gnashing of teeth. I found a similar-enough-at-a-distance blue satin at OKC fabric market, pictured on the right. Flash makes the differences obvious, but there will be very few flash photos taken of this. It'll be fine. I'll be fine. I'm so normal about this.

Because all 3 outfits have similarly sized pieces in similar fabrics, I've taken to organizing them in 3 individual cubes to keep everything straight. It has been a real game changer, and I would recommend it to everybody.

Having cut out and serged everybody's blue and bronze fabric, I dug through my stash of scrap linen to make the lining. I worry the bronze especially won't hang exactly right without lining. Additionally, I'm making the cotes for Edward and Thomas Despencer for a pair of high school seniors who, while I hope they wear an undertunic at the NMF, I plan and prepare for them not to do so. For reasons I cannot fathom, I chose not to serge the lining pieces for Edward Despencer's cote, seen below. Yay, hand finishing.

I usually bag line lined garments, but I also usually make garments in 2 layers of linen. I didn't want a bag lined garment to sag weirdly, so I sandwiched each seam, treating the lining and outer together as one piece of fabric each.

The picture below has two notable features: first, the blue of the body and the blue of the gore are the two different blues. This was proof of concept enough for me to accept the differences aren't terribly noticeable. Second, I did not bother pattern matching the various pieces of of any of the garments. Working from two extremely limited quantities of fabric, I found myself in the position I'd imagine many tailors in period would know well. Laying out pattern pieces over and over, I found the only way to effectively and efficiently use as much of my material as possible is to squeeze things in where I can (while still respecting the grain). I would like to find documentation on this speculation, but I would not be surprised if it is more period to not pattern match fabrics for anything less than a royal coronation garment. And the Despencers, while being played as nouveau riche landed nobility and close friends of the heir apparent, do not have pattern matching and wasting fabric money.

With Edward Despencer's cote largely assembled and waiting until I can do one more test fitting before I add button holes, I started assembling my/Elizabeth Despencer's outer gown. By this time, I decided for the remaining two Despencers to only line the 4 body panels, since that will help the drape enough in my humble opinion.

Don't worry, those gores get scooted up to a better height. I found myself working from Morgan Donner's example of a supportive kirtle, where her gores start where the flare of the bodice in the 4 body panels stops and turns into the straight lines to the floor. I still haven't quite figured out why mine looked so bad and noticeable in comparison to hers (seen below), but my best guess is the difference in drape of material, the fact that Mistress Donner is significantly smaller / less beefy in the hips than I, or that I just straight up placed them wrong.

I do love how much space the dress makes me take up though. It makes the transition from street to court feel a lot easier, I'm playing nobility and I take up space.

Tragedy struck and I realized I was short about an inch across the bust. Still not sure how I managed that, but it was time for a fix. Piecework is period, and I maybe panicked a little and overdid the width, but I added plackets to both sides of the front closure to give me more working room.

Then came the buttons, which I purchased from Bad Baroness buttons. I. Am. Obsessed. I wanted enough to do my front closure to the waist, both boys all the way to the hem, and sleeves for everybody. So I overdid it and bought 150. On my bodice, I spaced them about a button and a half apart to avoid gapping. Because the fabric doesn't play nice with chalk, I ran loose basting stitches to mark my button holes before I made them. Rather than using my wife's fancy new brother with an automatic buttonhole function, I learned how to use the button hole stitches on my old Janome (finally.) Overall, not a bad experience, and it means I don't need to borrow a machine to do buttonholes.

Then came what has been the most stressful point so far. Mistress Elizabeth Caton and Countess Amelot Lisette joined us for an unrelated sewing weekend extravaganza, and I took advantage of their expertise to help with fitting. Thus, the gores got moved up, and the sides taken in more. I really over did it with those front plackets RIP. But tragedy of tragedies, in moving the gores up, I left the dress 4 inches too short in places. Upon consultation with my trusted countesses and friends, we reverted to the original design with the red band and lions at the bottom. I was hesitant to do this because of the cast's restriction of true crimson to the royal family for readability reasons, and because it's not something I see much of in period depictions. However, the rest of the costuming committee reminded me of my own "10 foot squint rule", where if the costume isn't overwhelmingly crimson at 10 feet and squinting, it's fine. And this contemporary depiction of Mary of Waltham (Princess Mary) has a surcoat that appears to have a contrasting band at the bottom which may match gores going up the sides. The decision was made to cut myself some slack and get this workable ASAP.

Much appreciation to Halldora for loaning me her machine and helping me embroider these godforsaken Burghersh lions.

What comes next?

I need to finish the lions on Elizabeth's dress and hem the excess.

I need to add buttons and buttonholes to Elizabeth's sleeves

If the sleeves are too short, I may add contrast red cuffs of the same fabric as the hem, or gold cuffs and embroider them with the Glamorgan chevronelly in the Despencer arms

Buttons down the front of Edward Despencer, and close his sleeves. It's been fitted, and I had to add the button placket of despair to his garb as well.

Seam finishing for Edward :) since I didn't serge the lining for some reason :) I hate myself :) i've at least already started this.

Assemble and line Thomas's cote. I will definitely need a button placket on his too, I girlbossed too close to the sun and made the chests just a wee bit too tight for their comfort. For Thomas's, I'm going to embrace the pieced look and use some dark brown linen for the center closure.

Dye and attach the false sleeves for Thomas, they're going to be a lovely green :)

Hems and necklines for everyone!!

If i have time and spoons, I would LOVE to put some mammen scrollwork embroidery on at least one of the boys' cotes.

I am attending Ansteorra's Laurel's Prize Tournament this coming weekend and hope to have enough done on the Despencers' clothes to present them, so fingers crossed!

[jortschronicles]

Dragging a Viscount into Early Period

My first hack at more elaborate men's Rus has been prompted by a favorite Viscountess of mine dragging her fighter into early period.

I was given a pile of fabric for pre-determined aspects: a chenille upholstery fabric for the body, a buttery yellow linen for the facings, and a cream linen for the pants. For full disclosure, this piece is a commission that I'm doing at a reduced rate in hopes of getting my name out there on a pretty prominent figure in my region.

I used the calculations for measurements and layout given to me by Dvorianka Anastasiia which are derived from the patterning work done by Mistress Talana the Violet of blessed memory. It is similar to a variation of the style 5 tunic as categorized by The Renaissance Tailor, with trapezoidal gores in both the skirt and armpit, leading to an overall sleeker fit to the body than the standard square armpit gore. As some measurements had changed since Anastasiia last took them, I stressed myself out until I realized I have unlimited power at my fingertips: basic scripting. I wrote a short program to take hard coded measurements and spit out the exact dimensions of the pattern pieces, which felt a little bit like overkill and also not impressive at all.

With pieces patterned, cut out, and (mostly) serged, I delved into construction. I have learned from experience my preferred method of construction is starting by attaching the two body rectangles at the shoulders, attaching and turning the neckhole facing, and then assembling everything flat as follows.

This makes lining up and turning the facing significantly easier for me to do, and hides raw edges within the seams. Starting with the neckhole, however, means there's less fabric for me to fight while I turn a particularly annoying facing.

With the facing laid out on the body fabric, consultation with some of my apprentice siblings determined deep burgundy is the way to go for all the accents. I decided on split stitch around the neckhole and buttonhole stitch around the edges of the neckline, but quickly decided I prefer the split stitch for the rest of the decorative stitching on the garment.

For the sleeve cuffs, I pinned them in place, ran a quick line of running backstitch along the tops of the cuffs to secure them in place, then did split stitch at the top of the cuffs and a running stitch around the opening to keep the edge tidy while still not using visible machine stitching.

One thing the recipient of this garment expressed is that the striped facing secured with buttons or toggles is an ideal look, and luckily I have a significant quantity of the Vindheim buttons from Bad Baroness in stash. I do not have sufficient woven or braided trim in truly appropriate quantity or style for this garment to be aggressively period, but with the fabric we're already taking liberties and the ribbons look nice and appear to be a popular substitute for strips of silk tape performing the same function in our area. I laid the ribbon out at inch and a half intervals and made sure my lines would be straight on both sides. I turned the ends of the ribbons in and secured them with a whip stitch in a matching thread.

With my facing done and the worst of the neckhole dealt with, I seamed the rest of the garment into an actually clothing-shaped piece of fabric and let it hang for a day while working on other projects.

I decided to use a "looped cord" method of button loops, using a cord from an old site token that happens to look an awful lot like the cord used for an award the recipient has received. Starting from the bottom of the neckhole, on the wearer's right side, I've tacked the cord down under the edge of the garment, securing the loops aggressively.

Sometime soon I will get clearer pictures of this garment on the recipient.

The more I look at this garment and all other Rus-ish garments i've made and seen, I think I may need to round the gores into the "skirt" of the tunic more dramatically. I can no longer find the artistic depiction that originally gave me the impression, but until this point i've been letting the right angles of the skirt remain as initially cut, giving an angular overall silhouette but the rounding may be necessary for the right look.

[jortschronicles]

Dressing the Despencers

Another post that's more of a costuming diary than anything else, to be added to as I get further in the process.

BACKGROUND

Since 2016 in the Medieval Fair of Norman (my gateway drug to the SCA) I have been cast as a street character named Margery Arkewright, the ditzy, excitable, joyful shepherdess of Avalon best known for her frequent proclamations that she is the Best Shepherdess in All of Avalon (the only shepherdess there) and her inability to keep track of her sheep. I could probably write an entire book about the development of Margery as a character from "<Mundane Name> - peasant townswoman" to the beloved sheep lady, and how that growth has helped me find myself as a person, but that's for another post. The original goal of Margery was to be as brightly colored and loud as I could be allowed. Pictured below are the original outfit I made in 2016 (with the wool blend felt "cloak" i regularly wore when chilly or to just have a huge storage pocket), and the updates to the outfit as of 2023. Even in that short time, I've grown as a costumer and amateur historian. If nothing else, I know how to put my sleeves in right and I know how to cover my hair so it doesn't get icky at the fair.

Being Margery has been a joy, but Margery takes a lot of energy that I just don't have anymore. In discussion with my casting director, we've put Margery on the shelf for a year or so to age like a fine wine, so when she comes back I can be a little less bouncy and not have it be as much of a shock. As far as the town is concerned, Margery is off trying to woo one of those muscley Bretons in the fleet of Captain Jeanne di Clisson. She'll be back.

On top of everything, I accidentally stepped into the position of Costuming Director at least in an interim. I've been handed certain goals to push for improved costuming standards across the board, as well as implementing some specific standards to improve readability to the audience.

DESIGN

In the meantime, I'm taking a step back to play a member of the court of Edward of Woodstock, Crown Prince of England, war hero and darling of the kingdom. For the time being, I am Baroness Elizabeth Burghersh, First Baroness Despencer. I decided to take the chance to really up my 14th century garb game with some Noblewomen's garb. I knew I had some lovely navy blue satin in stash that had just the right drape I wanted, and dug around to find some fabric with similar drape so I could make some particolor.

<insert picture of test wash>

I wanted to incorporate some of Elizabeth's armory as in 1369 (9 years after the medieval fair of norman is set) she inherits the title of Baroness Burghersh and is a heraldic heiress in her own right. I also have some red polycotton velvet that i wouldn't want to wear all over, but I would be more than willing to wear it on hems or cuffs. Some of the big pushes we're making in costuming direction are more heraldic designs, more silhouette varieties, more historical cuts and designs, more couples with coordinated outfits, and restricting large swaths of true crimson to the immediate royal family to improve readability to the public. My initial design below includes gold double-queued lions from the Burghersh along the hem. Shortly after, I adjusted the design to my formal submission (to my committee, I don't like the idea of approving my own stuff) on the right: the lions on lozenges, fitchets in the gown, tippets, and a wimple.

As it currently stands, a pair of new cast members are playing my "husband", Baron Edward Despencer and his brother, Thomas Despencer. Due to their inexperience with both med fair and costuming, I offered to make at least one tunic for Edward in exchange for creative control of the outfits. Due to a very limited quantity of this blue satin, I'm going for a particolor gown for myself buttoned halfway down, and using what's left on the false sleeves for Edward's cotehardie. I want to use a similar-- probably not the same-- bronze on the cotehardie for Thomas, and use green false sleeves. I really wanted to incorporate their family arms, but dear god they're miserable to depict.

I included headwear options to provide the boys with some suggestions and some embroidery options to dress up their cotehardies. The second version, below, should be a hot day version on the off chance we have a truly miserably hot day at fair. Fewer layers, and all linen.

I've got hand me down tippets and an oval linen veil to use for a wimple / veil combo, that I added a gorget of a 2x3'linen rectangle using this method to secure.

Halldora obtained a light weight, barely opaque creamy white silk for me to make a new wimple / veil combo that has more of the drape I really want to have. My problem is I'm obsessed with the fillet + gorget style of wimple with ramshorns braids, but some kind of scalp covering is practically mandatory with our role in the NMF. Sunburn on the scalp is miserable, and direct sun on the scalp can exacerbate symptoms of heat exhaustion, and I'm not looking for my third heatstroke.

Barring this, I am working with the other directors to obtain new and improved crowns for our royal family to justify a fancied up filette/barbette combo inspired by the fabric coronets our court baron/esses in Ansteorra tend to wear. While the pointed coronets of Ansteorran court nobility may be out of period for my goal here, I think adding some embroidery, pearls, cabochons, and the embroidered horribleterrible despencer arms (seen at the top of this post) may dress up Elizabeth Despencer even more. This is all pending new crowns for our royal family, of course, as a big goal is readability and identifiability for the average patron.

CONSTRUCTION

I have begun drafting the undergown using Morgan Donner's supportive kirtle tutorial. As someone who hates shapes and struggles with tailoring, the first pass at this was already impressively fitted. By round 2, I made the armscye a little larger. For the third round of fitting, I added a small kite shaped gusset to the armpit and rolled the shoulders back further onto my body.

I made one last sanity check that the blue polysatin had sufficient yardage to make both Elizabeth and Edward Despencer coordinating outfits, and was satisfied with the resulting layout. One whole gore to go on the side, and two half gores, one each for the front and back.

In a fit of utter hubris, I decided I would completely hand sew this supportive underkirtle, a little bit to prove a point but also largely so I had something to work on during NMF rehearsals and Pathfinder games. I am using a single layer of medium weight linen, with a second layer of the same around the torso for reinforcement and to make everything lie just a little nicer. At the advice of Asa in Blindi, I have been finishing seams as I work, especially along edges I already know to be fitted as needed. One final double check on fitting before I secure sleeve seams, which will be obnoxious to undo--

I'm satisfied. It's not perfect, and I'll tighten the cuff some more and get rid of the back pucker on the outer garment, but I'm rather pleased with this. I did not think i would do gores in the front as historically I don't really like the silhouette it gives me, but this outfit was just begging for full, huge skirts, so I scurried back to the workshop to piecework another gore together, just for the front. Now I'm working on the eyelets, which I'm poking through with a sharp bone awl and widening with a us7 knitting needle. I'm sewing each eyelet with 2 strands of dmc embroidery floss.

I'd originally wanted to lucet some lacing for this gown but mastering tension on crochet thread is eluding me, so I am doing a 7 strand kumihimo braid in white size 10 crochet thread, using these aglets to cap either end rather than my nice ones from Bad Baroness.

Things I've learned so far:

The smallest measurement on my torso is NOT where I thought it is

French seams make hand sewing less miserable to do

Waxing your thread (with a little cake of beeswax) is worth every second and makes life so much easier. And periodically you should run a flame over the sides of the cake so it doesn't start flaking and falling apart

It's worth working with shorter pieces of thread you have to secure more often, i now max out at 2/3 of my armspan for thread lengths

knots are for scrubs, sew 2 stitches in the opposite direction of your intended seam and live your best life

[jortschronicles]

Coronet V: Sheep and Bears

Armiger Runa Bjarki fought for me at Vindheim's fifth coronet tournament, after fighting for me for the first time at Vindheim's fourth coronet tournament.

This will be a bit more of a costuming diary than anything, detailing my process from design, to drafting, to learning new arts, to the finished project, and what I learned along the way.

Our arrangement began prior to Vindheim's 4th coronet tournament, arranged by my wife and Runa's teacher much in the style of an arranged marriage. Runa would fight for me in exchange for me making our coronet garb, giving me an excuse to step up my garb game and enjoy some pomp and circumstance and giving Runa a growing closet of fancier garb. Our arrangement stipulated that I get to make Runa wear Pink, sometimes at least.

Our first outfits were pink and orange with black accents, which is TECHNICALLY Vindheim colors (dark Or, light gules, and sable :P) and includes the pink and orange which I have become associated with in the kingdom. These outfits would not have been possible without Dvorianka Anastasiia and Boiarynia Koia, who loaned me veils and undergowns, gave me instructions on drafting and assembly, and zhuzhed me incessantly day of to make sure the Rus impression was both up to their standards of accuracy and made me feel pretty.

A fun fact about this procession, we were the first ostensibly f/f entrant couple in a Vindheim coronet tournament, we were dressed as lesbian flags, and our procession was riddled with pride flags. Overall, a good day.

I created the following patterns for Runa's and my outfits, respectively:

Our arms:

Time passed, the second coronet tournament was fast approaching, and per our agreement, the next set of outfits would be Vindheim/ Free Company / Runa's own colors. Rather than struggling with pens and sketching over and over and over, this time I simply made "dress up dolls" in GIMP to present design ideas to my fighter, which included the following:

I cannot recommend this process enough. I just sketch outlines of my design on paper, upload into GIMP, adjust levels and brightness, then set the alpha channel to white. Under the lines layer, I make a series of layers in neon colors of each of the "sections" of color I might want to adjust, which allows me to bucket fill to make different designs.

After selecting a design, I obtained stamp carving supplies and sent them to Runa for her to carve my fleece and her bear, the animate charges in our arms, to be applied to the final product.

I commissioned trim by trade from a local to me, Lady Kenda, to accent the borders of the red facings. I only asked for 6 yards. This would prove to be a mistake, although the trim itself was LOVELY

My first attempts to use the stamps were...fraught. Many inappropriate jokes were made about the sheep, in particular. Koia and Anastasiia troubleshooted the problem remotely and provided better paint, respectively, resulting in the superior stamping on the right.

Not a single picture I've taken captures the depth and warmth of the brown in the bears, unfortunately. In natural light, they're clear, vibrant, and a warm coffee brown. In every photo i've taken, they're barely there. With stamping conquered, so began the cutting, serging, and assembly.

I used the crimson and the black linen from OKC fabric market, which are both soft, mid-weight linens with an apparently short staple, but are plenty affordable for my needs. After cutting and labeling all t he pieces with chalk, I ran them through the serger to keep the pieces from fraying while I work. This also let's me be lazy and not do any seam finishing at the end of the proecess, when I may be very pressed for time.

I prefer to attach the two body pieces at the shoulders and apply the neck facing ASAP, as it's easier to cut and turn before the entire tunic is assembled. I also attached the facing to the cuffs before attaching the cuffs. I lay everything flat, attaching gores to the sides of the gown and tunic, then I run one seam each up from the hem to the cuff. The exception to this is the side on which I include my pocket, since I like to have my phone, emergency meds, eye drops, and lip balm on me at events. Runa's tunic does not have this pocket, but her pants have both the cell phone pocket and the Jameson pocket. I should make a post about these pants at some point ;)

I didn't bother turning in the edges on much of the facings of my gown, anticipating applying trim over the top. Then I looked at how much trim I had left, and quickly decided to trim both of our sleeves, the bottom of my skirt, and the neck facing on Runa's tunic.

To the places I did not actually add trim, I embroidered the edge with a tacked herringbone stitch to add visual interest. Luckily, it turns out this particular design delights my fighter, is fairly strong, and has a very pleasant texture to the little hamsters in the brain.

Overall, I'm incredibly satisfied with this result and look forward to wearing so much Rus in the future. I finally feel comfortable enough with the construction of both of these tunics to offer them on commission locally.

Some more glamor shots:

Endless thanks to Dvorianka Anastasiia Dmitrieva Sokolova and Boiarynia Koia Karasova, my Rus Mamas and tolerators of many midnight questions about stamping and styling.

So what am I on to next? Med Fair cotehardies. I'm currently handsewing the supportive underdress for my own impression. Fingers crossed I maintain my sanity!!

[jortschronicles]

Clothing of the 14th Century: an unreasonably deep dive

Hosting the costuming presentation for the Norman Medieval Fair on this blog so it can be shared to the mailing list.

[jortschronicles]

Of Belt Favors and Letters

The Queen's Champion tournament of Nicolette Deuville II is this coming weekend (November 11, 2023) and for it, I have created two gifts for my inspirations. First, a belt favor for my wife. Second, a letter of intent for my queen.

This isn't my first time making a belt favor, but it's my first time making a sizeable belt favor for my wife. I made it for the Queen's Champion tournament of Nicolette Deuville II, in hopes that it brings my wife luck and glory. <3

It is embroidered on a leftover piece from my first dress I ever made for reenactment and the first dress I ever wore to an SCA event. The text is based on the Setre comb inscription dating to about 600 AD. The text on the comb appears to read

hal maR mauna alunaalunana

Ever since I came across it, I've been entranced by Ottar Grønvik's translation of this inscription:

Stone-maiden may thrive achieve everything, enjoy everything

As my wife's SCA name is Halldóra, I've always wanted to interpret this poem into a gift for her. I used a single strand of cotton-wool blend yarn rather than using embroidery floss to call back to the embroidery texture of the Bayeux tapestry. As I did not have any large blocks of space to fill with the Bayeux couched satin stitch, I did this project in split stitch and a single couched line for the center line of the A section of the inscription

For my letter of intent, I wanted to do something that felt more appropriate to the persona of Áshildr Inn Hárfagri, so I decided to try my hand at carving leather. First, to draft and translate my letter itself.

While my letters of intent are usually rather wordy, since I would be trying a new craft for the first time I wanted to keep it short and sweet. I decided upon "My queen, my sword is yours" and began researching an appropriate sign off.

I came across the Einangsteinan inscript on the Einang stone, which is typically interpreted to read "ek (gu)dagastiR runo faihido" or "I Gudgæst wrote these runes." Substituting my own name for Gudgæst's, I now had a signoff of "ek ashildR runo faihido."

I wish past me did a better job of copying notes down somewhere present me would find them with regards to spelling my own name in runes as I've done this before for the Letter of Intent for the QC tournament of Toryn Sevenstitches II.

Make note that the "d" in Áshildr is spelled with a teiwaz rather than a dagaz. I thought that was interesting and not a choice I would have made casually, so I re-researched this difference. The Vatn Runestone, pictured below, appears to read rhoaltR ...something. rhoaltR is commonly interpreted in this case to be Roald, from Hróaldr. With the inverted algiz used as the R following the hard consonant at the end of the name, I consider this sufficient evidence of how to appropriately write a -dR name in runic inscription.

Then came the translation.

My Queen > dróttning mín (first person singular feminine possessive) > drotning min

My sword is yours > sverðsins (singular def. gen declension of sverð) mín er þín (second person gen. posessive) > swerþsins min er þin

I Áshildr carved these runes > ek Áshildr runo faihido > ek ashiltR runo faihido

As my queen's arms include a wolf in chief, I also carved a wolf into the leather. I used a pencil to sketch the runes and wolf onto the leather, then carved with an Xacto knife and a scalpel. I have found I prefer the straighter lines I accomplished with the xacto knife and found the ergonomics superior, but the scalpel produced clearer, easier to read marks against the undyed leather.

While this was meant to reflect the runic inscriptions in stone, this is obviously not stone. I chose to do this in leather rather than on paper or canvas because the three dimensional nature of carving, how runestones such as the Jelling, Einang, and Vatn stones were carved, is better represented in a thick material such as leather rather than painted on to canvas or drawn on paper. Carving these runes and this design gave me a greater appreciation for the straight lines of the Futhark runes and for the artistry, skill, and patience of those long-dead runewrights. Gudgæst, Roald, though long gone from this world, live forever in the carvings they left behind.

"Deyr fę, deyia frǫndr, deyr sialfr it sama; ec veit einn at aldri deýr: domr vm dꜹþan hvern."

[jortschronicles]

Eclipse Coronation Ottoman

At the start of the reign of Gabriel III and Sonja III, I made them a promise. During their reign, in honor and imitation of all the fancy and beautiful clothing they produce, I would cut into a fabric that scared me and attempt to make something wearable.

Prior to Pennsic, my lovely wife picked up some garb for us at a SCA yard sale. this included the following rust/gold ghawazee that a local of mine (recently laurel) informed me is about 200-300 years post period, but would be an OK time saver for garbing myself up for Pennsic. With that knowledge safe in hand, I planned and started to sew a gomlek, with the intention of creating a single-layer supportive undergarment to reduce the number of layers worn on hot afternoons at pennsic. This would be my first ever supportive garment! As you can see in the following photos, the supportive garment was a success.

I began my research with Ottoman Turkish Garb, An Overview of Women's Clothing by Baroness Katja Davidova Orlova Khazarina. This document was recommended to me by Baroness Dominique Michelle le Vasseur. With a bit more of an idea of what I was doing (but only a bit, I was roaring full speed ahead) I used the gomlek pattern found on Turkish Costume by Vanessa Giddings. I made the gomlek from a light-medium weight white linen from stash. I serged each edge of the pieces before pinning together to prevent fraying and to buy me some time to properly finish the seams when I got home from pennsic.

Notably, this is where I made my first mistake. After making the gomlek, I decided to attempt to make it supportive just in case I didn't finish a zibin before pennsic (reader-- she didn't finish the zibin). After making the gomlek according to the Giddings pattern, I then pinched and pinned along the seam between the front body and the front gore to force a little more lift and create a "shelf" on which the breasts could rest. Because I made t his supportive, I'm glad I used a just shy of medium weight linen rather than a more appropriate looser weave, because it gave the garment the body to support the breasts.

As I was in the last leg of time crunch before Pennsic, I wanted this linen to relax as much as it was going to as fast as possible. So i threw on the gomlek, some leggings, and a lazy turban, then did some intense yard work for ~2 hours. My breasts never moved from their assigned seats, the garment relaxed comfortably, and I could move just fine in it. I then finished the gomlek off with a quick button loop and faux-pearl headed button at the neckline, though it has no structural purpose due to how I altered the garment.

With a heart full of ambition and a head empty of reason, I attacked a plan to finish a brand new entari, zibin, and an extra gomlek prior to pennsic. I accomplished none of that.

The following picture shows how I wore this for Pennsic: Gomlek, the post-period ghawazee, lazy turban, some shalwar off amazon recommended by Viscountess Caterina Giovanni, my apprentice belt, and some Rus boots as I was advised to wear ankle support in the Bog.

Upon my return home, I started planning the Entari, with the goal of having a gomlek and entari to wear to Namron Protectorate for Domi's laurel elevation (reader-- she didn't finish any of it in time). I selected from stash a black cotton for the lining and a red and rust upholstery fabric for the outer layer. This was chosen for the similarity, to my eye, between the repeating pattern in the stripes on the upholstery fabric and the patterns present on some extant entaris and in court portraiture. ORIGINALLY I had selected a bright blue silk i was certain I had in stash but my box o' saris was nowhere to be found.

The above portraits, miniatures, and extants were accessed through the Ottoman Turkish Garment Database. The prevalence of red / blue color combos in the portraits and extants, as well as vibrant colors across the board, inspired my choices. As you can see in each of the extants as well as the art, the inside edge of the garment is faced in a color different from the lining and the outer layer. In many of the portraits, the bottom edge of the garment is turned out as if caught in motion, displaying this vibrant facing. The entaris come in different lengths but tend to be in the knee to floor range, while a hip to knee length undergarment appears to be worn as a middle layer.

The center bottom quilted kaftan in red and gold (belonging to Selim I, garment c. 1512-1520) inspired my choice of fabric, as seen below.

Fabric selected, then began the cutting. I used the pattern, cutting diagram, and notes from Kelebek's Persian and Turkish Clothes and drafted out onto my lining layer. Because the gomlek worked up so easily, I just used the black cotton liner as my muslin for this garment. As seen below, it fit pretty well from the outset and the notes and diagrams proved helpful in making sure everything lined up right. Gores are my nightmare. Seen below, the garment as it stood had REALLY prominent hip bumps.

We know that prominent hip bumps were part of the fashion just judging from the art and extant garments (including one amusing extant of Hanzade Sultan's zibins with an attached note deriding the poor quality of the hip bumps) but after repeating the pattern onto my outer fabric, they started bothering me. I was pretty sure I had them sitting too low, or some part of the slope wasn't quite right.

Protectorate was fast approaching, and I had little time to make major adjustments and fiddle with a lot of trial and error. I made some quick adjustments, smoothing the slope of the hip bums into more of a 15 degree angle than the 45ish degree angle they were sitting at prior. Around the same time i started fretting about the hip bumps, I realized my box o' saris was AWOL and began to panic. After fruitless hours scouring the house and workshop, no luck. For my own mental health, I put the project aside to handle AFTER Protectorate, but before Coronation. I had a promise to keep, after all.

I returned home from Namron Protectorate and got to work. With my silks still missing, I selected a soft but bright blue polycotton with a nice sheen from stash and made my bias facing.

It wasn't perfect, but time was short and the fabric was bright. You can also see from this photo the adjustments I made to the hip bump. I left the original shape intact, just folded and gently tacked down inside the body so I have the chance to fix it in the future, when I feel more able and comfortable. And so, the handsewing of the Entari began with Coronation just days away. I finished tacking in the lining, which is only attached to the outer shell by the facing, fun fact, and did a quick try on to make sure it all sat the way I wanted. I was very satisfied with the result. In the future, though, I would probably face the sleeves BEFORE I seam down the underside, because that was the only part of the facing truly miserable to line up and attach.

Then came the last minute fastenings. I'd wanted to weave some trim to make proper button / loop pairs down the front, but didn't have the time. Suggestions from my locals mostly relied on me having not yet put the body, facing, and lining together. I made do, dug through my ribbon supply, and grabbed some shiny polysatin 3/8" ribbon I usually use for making ribbon roses. I cut them into 9" lengths, folded in half, lined up with the yellow vertical stripe down the front, tucked the ends under, and tacked them down securely. For the buttons, I used some Vindheim buttons from Bad Baroness. For a last minute closure I literally finished 2 hours before driving down to coronation, not bad if I do say so myself.

On the day of, I added a long, sleeveless undercoat that for sanity's sake, we'll call a zibin. I need to make one of those rather soon, don't I? I received the coat second hand at Mooneschadowe Trade Days in exchange for a monmouth cap, with the encouragement of Viscountess Mama Cat. I wore a small embroidered hot pink hat over a pink-and-rust silk and pashmina scarf that my lovely wife got for me at Pennsic as a gift, with a veil pinned over the top. The veil is actually one of my spare white scarves, my big "floofy" one that gives my siblings in the order scarf envy. I ordered it from the same place I got my green apprentice belt sash, my wife gets cadet scarves, and both of us get a variety of veils. Mama cat helped me make sure everything sat right on the outfit and helped me get the veil just right. The peacock feather pin is from Sonja III's Queen's Champion tournament, the favor she gave to all the competing fighters. I am wearing the handwoven silk scarf I was made in, a twin to my Doña's and her Queen's white scarves, and it has a subtle Ansteorran Star woven into one end. The pin (hidden because the wind was fighting me while we watched the eclipse) is purple and gold (my heraldic colors), a twin to the silver and deep blue pin the Ansteorran Cadets got for HRH's Nicolette's gift, which she used to pin her Queen's White Scarf in place upon her ascension to the throne.

What feels most important to me, though, is this picture. The Order of the White Scarf is charged with protecting the Queen's White Scarf in the interregnum, with the newest white scarf present protecting it personally and the oldest white scarf present taking it from the arm of the Queen stepping down and putting it upon the arm of our new Queen. We pass it through the circle, some of us pressing it to our forehead or hearts, some of us giving it a good squeeze, some of us kissing it. To myself and much of the rapier community of Ansteorra, this is more than a scrap of fabric on a brass hat's arm. This is the memory of what Don Tivar and Countess Tessa of the Gardens did for us so long ago, legitimizing our community and uplifting us. This is the memory of brothers, sisters, and friends come and gone, of Queens who, for a moment or a lifetime, became one of us, became the head of our order. This is the hope of every cadet who dreams of bleaching their scarf, of every fencer who imagines themselves in the shoes of Errol Flynn or Cyrano. A good Queen inspires us to do better, do more, and reach further, and a great Queen makes our Order stronger with just her presence.

None can compare with bright honor rare We go as the swift arrow flies To stand in the strife, to hazard our lives For a glance from Your Majesty’s eyes

There are certainly adjustments I would make if I were to do this again, notbly find my box o' saris and use a silk facing, among others. I would like to make some non-supportive gomleks in a much lighter fabric and some supportive zibins as well. I would prefer in the future to attach the facing BEFORE i sew down the underside of the sleeve so i feel SLIGHTLY less murderous while sewing. And because of how I roll, in the future I would definitely add a pocket or twelve. I intend to replace the ribbon button loops with some woven trim loops, or at the very least add some matching ribbon bars to the button side for a little more visual balance.

This project would not have been possible without the support of Baroness Dominique Michelle le Vasseur and Viscountess Caterina Giovanni, and the inspiration of the lovely and kind Countess Jacquette d'Anjou, whose conversations and costuming at Gulf XXXI finally kicked me into high gear on this.

[jortschronicles]

Monmouth caps and awesome hats

Those of you who know me in person or on facebook may know that last year, Mistress Elsa got me into the deep dark black hole wonderful world of knitting monmouth caps! I started this as a way to fidget when nervous and burn up some scrap yarn, but this has definitely spiralled out of control with 112 hats made and two (in different sizes) sitting on the needles. I've made a variety of colors, sizes, and patterns, including developing a pattern for the Ansteorran and Vindheim stars on the crown of the hat. I've found this ongoing project rewarding, especially since I started giving the completed hats to my baroness to distribute at her own leisure. There's something pretty magical about seeing your creations in the wild. I do not see this project ending anytime soon.

I have a small number of garb projects in time out for their sins and crimes (mostly, not working exactly the way i want them to right then and there). Foremost of these are my lined Rus Coat and the Neapolitan dress. The neapolitan dress is an experiment in creating a kirtle entirely from scraps of other projects, and the gores just happen to look an awful lot like neapolitan ice cream. the rus coat is in time out as the liner, mill ends of the fleecy liner carhartt uses in jackets, is not cooperating with the outside shell and i got frustrated by fitting issues. this will be picked up again when i feel more confident and less stressed about being warm.

My current ongoing project is creating an ottoman outfit from the ground up. I made a supportive gomlek which fits well and stress tested it at Pennsic. My next step is a zibin or entari, and I think i have just the right fabric picked out for each. I get excited about starting new periods bc I want all the pretty headwear, but have to restrict myself to only starting a new period when I've finished 1 full outfit for the one I was last working on. My pink and orange rus was finished in time for vindheim's 4th coronet tournament, so on to turkish!

the final project on my immediate docket is a new cotehardie and surcote to wear for the medieval fair of norman. For mental health and physical health reasons, I will be putting the fictional character of Margery Arkewright, greatest shepherdess in Avalon, on the shelf for a couple of years and will in the meantime join a court. I'm currently looking at Elizabeth de Burghersh, Baroness Despencer and as a result, need to make fancier garb. I've got the polysatin shell from some old blackout curtains I intend to line with a light linen and make my cotehardie, and some lovely bronze and black curtain material i'd like to make a surcote from. If I'm a little short on either material, I'm planning on doing a simple particolor between the two. Since we're trying to make more of a push for heraldic wear among the court of Edward III and his family, I looked into what arms might have been associated with her. She married into the Despencer family, whose arms are...something, alright

luckily, from what I can tell it looks like she inherited the barony of berghersh in her own right, and the associated arms are something I can work with

If everything works out, I'm considering a strip of red silk around the cuffs of the cotehardie with the lion embroidered at the wrist? If i have enough pretty red fabric (i may have a cheap velvet somewhere...) I may put a strip of velvet at the bottom of the surcote with the lions repeated around the hem. Just gotta fancy it up a little, ya know?

All that being said, that's my current WIPs, plans, and updates. I need to make some more garb for some locals so they're not fighting in denim and so they have more outfits to wear to different events.

[jortschronicles]

WIP: Sion Relic-Purse V - revenge of the birds

Apparently it's time for me to start another incredibly punishing knitting project and break out the crochet thread. I picked Sion V, as I haven't done this pattern yet and the birdies are DARLING. The extant is supposed to be frankly garishly colored, beige and blue birdies alternated with red and green birdies, and purple and white interstitial bands.

“Each band is composed of identical shields, with a small star at the bottom of the space between each two shields. The bands of shields are staggered by a lateral half-drop; each carries a bird. The bands alternate: one band of beige with the shields outlined and decorated in blue, one band of red with shields in green; all bands counter-changed with stripes across the middle of the shields in which the colors are reversed. The bands of shields are separated by a narrow saw-tooth design in violet and white.” -Richard Rutt, on Sion V

I chose to change some of the colors for the preferences of the modern-day recipient while still maintaining the spirit of the wildly colored original. I swapped the beige for more white, the red for a different shade of green, and the violet for a lovely maroon. I did all this color swapping and planning in GIMP 2.8, comparing an approximation of the extant's coloration and different combinations of the colors I'd like to use. All in all I'm delighted with the way the colors are coming out.

Considering this is my third sion bag and it's been more than 3 years since my first, I'm not surprised that my tension is a lot more consistent and resulting in a lovely texture on the front of the design. I've only bothered tacking down floats on stretches of 9 or more, which only occur at 2 points in the pattern. I'd love to see a picture of the inside of the extant, to know if the artisan tacked ANY floats down, or relied on their own consistency of stitching. Is the bag lined? I have so many questions and have struggled finding answers.

I originally cast on August 15, 2023, on 2.00mm needles and 10 crochet thread. My original plan was with 18 repeats, as the extant seems to have that many. However, 18 repeats of an 18 stitch large pattern resulted in 324 stitches, a number that I struggled to keep on the needles and seemed overall unwieldy after knitting 15 rows. I then tried 15 repeats (270), which was similarly unwieldy. I settled on 12 repeats at 216 stitches (or 54 on each needle), having knit and ripped out more than 2000 stitches in the search for the Right Count.

Somewhere along the way, I seem to have knit two stitches together between the bottom of the first stripe of blue shields and the top of the first stripe of green shields. After much searching, no culprit showed, so I've included a sneaky m1L near the BOR jog. Fixing dumb mistakes is period, look at the Pourpoint of Charles de Blois.

I also finally made a needle cozy for my 8 inch us0s, since they dont fit in the cozy i use for my 6 inch sock needles. No more stitches slipping and dropping!!!

You may notice my birdies face the opposite direction of those on the shields. I encourage you not to notice this fact. One thing this project has proven to me is that even when I think i understand the geometry involved in a knitting project, I am bound to make mistakes.

When I finish this, I think I'd like to submit it for competition unlined to show off the floats, then I'd like to line it before giving it to the recipient for use. I don't want anybody worried about messing up the bag by using it.

[jortschronicles]

to do

As this blog is under construction, there's a short list of things i'd like to post about / make record of, if for nothing else so i can remember what i've already done.

Post the papers i've submitted

document the outfits i've completed, including my notes on what to adjust. I'd like to know what I HAVE made, as well as notes I've jotted down in obscure places to make it easier next time

a short list of current projects

a list of my current planned projects, notes, dates, all that jazz

start blogging about progress on projects!