Living le Webbe

So this is based off the same bodice pattern as before, with some modifications. I made the armscye deeper, squared off some of the seam edges. All in all I think it came out pretty good. 

However, It is a little short. By at least 4 inches. Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it will keep the hem out of the mud. But it’s not what I was aiming for. This is giving me more Hobbit than 16th-century. The waist is an inch or two short, which contributed to this hem situation. And for the life of me, I can’t attach the shoulder seams correctly. It’s not a talent I have. 

I do think I’ve fixed it in the next set of items I’m making, and I can still correct it on this one, but it’s a little discouraging.

Also, I somehow made the center front closure too far apart. I used a scrap piece of fabric that I’ve just pinned in to not show the shirt through the opening. It gives the illusion of being one solid piece. 

Last weekend I went to Crown in Leesburg, and had a wonderful time. And I got exactly two pictures from that day, one at the beginning, one at the end. 

I’m in the Barony of Ponte Alto, and the Baroness was fighting in Crown this Spring. While Her Excellency, Marie-Therese did not win, she fought the good fight and had a lot of fun doing so. I walked as part of her retinue into Morning Court, and as such wore her colors of red and white, and the barony’s colors of black and gold (not pictured, my shoes, which were, in fact, black).

The only items I have in those colors are my Roman garb, so I was in Roman for the day. I have my hair all bound up in braids, a ribbon sewn through both the braids and my own hair to keep everything in place. I’m also wearing a red gap-sleeved tunica and the gold palla I’ve previously posted about. 

(Again, this is the only picture I have from the whole day, and as such, can’t show my outfit.)

I spent the day doing three things. Watching the fighting, handing out with my SCA friends, and eating food. There was a lot to go around! The hospitality booth was set up, and at the various barony set-ups around the barn we were all in, because it was absolutely pouring rain outside, there was a variety of food. 

I for sure took some home to eat for dinner that night, since there was no feast. I don’t remember what it was, but it was all good!

The winner is the now Prince  Abran de la Barra for the now Princess Anya Shchulepnikov. I’m looking forward to seeing them learn over the next five months and and interested in seeing what they do with their reign. 

After the event, I did still have my golden palla. It’s in the wagon. My good friend Sæunn gave me this length of wool, which will be really helpful for Scottish garb as an arisaid. Until then, it kept the rain off very nicely as I was walking back to my car from the barn in the rain. 

One of the really cool things I like about the SCA, specifically A&S, is the ability to show your appreciation for someone’s work. 

How it was explained to me: if you like someone’s work, you leave a token by it. Whether or not it is part of a specific competition or open display. Here are the tokens I made:

Yes, it is underwater themed. I live in Atlantia, and thought it would be funny. These are wooden circles I got offline. I have more than is here, and I bring them with me to any and all events I go to. I used stamps I have, with normal black ink. They are stamped on both sides. One side is a sea creature. The other is some kind of shell or similar, two of them. 

Roman, or it's precurser Greek, tends to be the easiest garb to make on the surface. It's essentially a series of squares and rectangles of various sizes with various embroideries. Of course, it helps to know what they proportions are for your garb. and if you get those wrong, you can sometimes get a hilarious result.

Take the palla, for instance. It's basically a body-veil, covering a person from head to feet. It tends to be yards long, and we're talking 4 yards or more, depending. And again, various thicknesses.

This is the largest palla that I own. It's always going to be the largest, because any that I make after this point are going to be smaller. This is using a 5.3 oz linen. It's just shorter than 6 yards. And it's the full width of the fabric. It's long, it's heavy, and it's impractical for doing most things in the SCA, since it's a lot of fabric. I would not wear this to retain, for instance, because of it's length and weight. I have to hold it in my arms, or at least one arm.

I also added a comb to it so I could anchor it to my head. That way it didn't go anywhere. I've got a weird shaped head, and a lot of things fall off.

I'm working my way through developing my persona. But I do have the basics:

from roughly mid-16th century

English Father/Scottish Mother - Merchants

Parents died when she was 9 and was sent to be brought up by paternal uncle, Sir Galfrid le Webbe, a knight in a baron's household

Was treated as a foster, and now one of the baroness' ladies, working on sewing/stitches/embroidery for the household

What this ostensibly means is that my garb is mid-16th century mixed English/Scottish, with a proclivity to lean Scottish when the moon is right.

To that end, I've been working on a bodice pattern. I'm probably on #6 overall, but this garb was made using pattern #3. I think. 

First, the fabric: I'm a big proponent of "use what you can find". I got the fabric for the bodice at the 2021 Holiday Faire in Atlantia. It was inexpensive, I think the entire bit of cloth was $5. And I still have a bit left over that I could use to make a coif or a pouch or both.

Second, the peplum: I think it's about 10 inches from edge to connection with the bodice. And that's about as wide as I want it to be, doing a Highland bodice. I've got a very long torso and shorter legs. So, really, it should be shorter than that to make the proportions look good. I do like how it looks from the side in the  back. And that's not padding. I've got a sway back, so my butt pushes it out.

Third, the skirt: I'd actually made this first, and have had it for a while. I love it, and even enjoy the length. However, for my purposes, it may need to be at least an inch shorter. I don't want to trip on it while not paying attention and walking over grass. I also might want to wear some kind of petticoat under this, so that the skirt gets some support. The linen here is very flowy, and while it sits pretty, the material of the bodice is much more structured on it's own.

Fourth and last, the armscye: There's two issues here. The first is how high it is into my armpit. I've fixed it in subsequent patterns, and it's fine, I cut it down to sit at the same level as a bra, and now the shirt/shift has some more room to move and it doesn't bunch or pinch. The second issue is the strap. I keep making this mistake, so I think it's a me thing, but the strap isn't sitting properly on my shoulder. it's at an angle. That's fairly easy to fix from the back, but not from the front. I may need to just re-draft the strap from the front. Or treat it more like an English kirtle, and have the strap be a separate piece, then connect it to the front and the back, at least until I can check the fit and re-draw it. Which would also mean changing the neckline in the back. *SIGH* I really liked that V-shape. Maybe I can bring it back once I get more practice in.

So the second time I made garb, I made Roman. This was back in early August 2021 for Stierbach’s Baronial Birthday, and was the second in-person event I’d ever gone to. I didn’t want to wear my Hiberno-Norse gear for several reasons.

I boiled when I wore that a month earlier, so I didn’t want to continue to boil. 

I enjoy making things so I wanted to make something new.

I took Latin in high school, and became pretty obsessed with the clothing of that time, so I wanted to make some.

So what was I to do, but make more garb? Please enjoy these not very flattering images of me trying on my gap-sleeved tunica. 

I made this Roman gap sleeved tunica with 3.5 yards of a double layer cotton gauze. In pink, obviously. It was one of the easiest projects I've ever completed! The bottom hem encases a rope of lead weights to make sure the cotton gauze hangs properly, as it tends to crumple upward when it wrinkles.

The only "complex" part was adding the rosettes to make the anchor points for the "gaps". I don't think it's noticeable at this distance, but each of those rosettes has a pearl bead at its center. Romans were nuts for pearls, absolutely giddy. So, pearls.

Side note: The best way to belt this, I've found at least for simplicity, is right under the bust. Then messing with the folds for proper drape.

When wearing something like this, it should be noted what site you’re going to be at when you are wearing something long. Also keep the weather in mind. On the day I wore this in early August, it was raining, it was mostly outside, and my hem got at least 6 inches of water from the bottom because of walking on the grass. So maybe next time I make sure to have one of these that’s shorter, or zhuzh the fabric more above the belt, or even double belt to raise the hemline. 

You live you learn, I suppose. 

I added a selection of fake pearl jewelry I found at a thrift store (I can't emphasize this enough, Romans were nuts for pearls) and a palla I made out of a strip of RIT-dyed cotton muslin.

There are 2 things that I would do better differently were I to make a muslin palla again. The first is to try and get already dyed muslin, as dying this myself in a pot was annoying. Turns out I don't like that bit. (This was before I decided I wanted all my headwear to be yellow/gold, which is why this is blue.) The second is to make it longer. In my later research, which I am not linking here, is that pallas were about 4 to 5 yards long. So my probably 3 or less yard palla is not long enough to be "accurate".

So second round of this. Hiding my phone at SCA events. I thought about a pouch! Which does make some sense, since pouches are all the rage. 

This one I make to the measurements of my phone. Well, to be precise, the the measurements of my phone plus like 1-2 inches in every direction. This way my phone wouldn’t be snug in the pouch and I could easily retrieve it. 

It’s two layers of linen, for extra assurances that if my phone screen lights up it’s more difficult to see it, and the two layers help soften the lines of the popsocket I have on my phone which prevents me from dropping it on my face when I’m sitting in bed alone at night scrolling on some app I’m using to distract me from reality. :)

I made this back in August to use while at Battle of the Bay, and it works like a dream! the straps are long enough that I can easily loop it in a lark’s head around whatever belt I’m wearing, and still long enough for me to open and close it. Here’s a picture of me wearing it, I’m on the right:

This is not my Image, the Chronicler for my Barony took this, Lord Rónán mac Ímair. This was taken at Highland Havoc back in November, hence why everyone in this image is bundled up. But you can clearly see the pouch hanging from my belt. 

So when I was making my first garb ever for a Hiberno-Norse event, I had need of the turtle broaches and string of beads. Since this was part of my first attempt at garb, and I already knew this wouldn’t be my permanent persona, I did what any person probably would do: I went to Joann’s.

I bought some clay beads with patterns, some abalone shell beads, and some colorful dyed-stone beads to make this. I also got this pendant which I am well aware is not historically accurate. But it’s pretty, and this passes the 10 ft rule, so I’m good.

It’s two strings, since I’m extra, and the beads are strung on copper wire rather than any sort of thread. I’m clumsy, and often careless and forgetful, so making sure this was sturdy was important.

I think it’s important to note that the wire for the two strands is connected. It’s one piece. The idea is that as I was attaching the straps of the apron dress to the body, I would slip the loops of the bead string through the pins. And it worked, and stayed in place the entire day.