Greek and Roman Summer Garb

Hi guys! Sorry to neglect this blog for so long! I have so many online sites to maintain for my business, sometimes a hobby-based site falls behind. Anyway, I have tons of stuff to share, but I'm going to start with some basic summer outfits I made for my boyfriend and myself this year. We attended a few very hot events this year, and I thought we could both use something really cool to wear!

For my outfit, I took inspiration from the Greek athletes and workers wearing short chitons.
For Chris, I was inspired by the Roman workers. I also made him some "barbarian" pants!

More photos are here:
Me: http://www.faerie-queen.com/greek-short-chiton/
Chris: http://www.faerie-queen.com/roman-boy/

15th Century Hat

I made a 15th c. hat! This hood is present in many 15th century images, and I've wanted one for a while. I finally made it while watching a movie last night!
I came upon sevenstarwheel.wordpress.com in my search, and her pattern is very similar to mine. I just updated it and changed a few things! I also lined mine because I like the weight, and I like to sew everything by machine and then turn it inside out to hide the stitches. hehe

Note: This creates a fully lined hat. I started with two small rectangles for the brim and a large rectangle I folded in half for the back. I sewed the large rectangle together, cut off the top, then sewed the two brim pieces together with the back stuffed inside - so it turns right side out. The back of the brim is stitched together at the very bottom. To wear, wrap the two tails around the head and tie.

Completed cotehardies for a client

I finished these two cotehardies (aka gothic fitted gowns) for a client. She wanted them to be similar to two dresses I made for myself, just without all the heavy hand stitching.
These are both late 14th century styles, though they are still present in the early 15th century.

The first dress is made of linen. The second is made of cotton velvet with silk sleeves and belt.
My intern Dani helped me sew on all these buttons. There are so many! How sumptuous!

My similar dresses:
http://www.faerie-queen.com/early-15th-century-cotehardie/
http://www.faerie-queen.com/purple-velvet-cotehardie/

Sideless Surcote and Gothic Fitted Gown in Progress

I have several projects in progress right now. Since I have photos of these, I thought I'd share! These are both 14th/15th c. I have a couple of late 16th c. projects going too, but I need to photograph them before I can share!

The first one is a wool gothic fitted gown, lined in linen. I already had both fabrics at home, and I thought it would be nice for cold weather. It gets much colder in CA than where I grew up, so now I'm always bundling up in lots of layers that may or may not match, and this will really help!

The second one is a sideless surcote to accompany a late 15th century transition gown - also made, just not pictured. I used non-bias binding since I really only have evidence for non-bias and I wanted to try it out. I've worked with tons of bias binding in my life, and I was a bit worried about going around all these curves without bias, but it worked out really nicely! It's still pinned down on the backside in the photo, hence all those little pinned spots.

My Old Green Kirtle

This is my old green kirtle, made in early 2007 to wear underneath my Burgundian over gown. This dress is a pretty ubiquitous 15th century style. I have newer and better kirtles now, but Jocelyne makes this one look so good, so I thought I'd share! She's also wearing my velvet belt and my linen coif, both of which were made sometime around 2011-2012.

http://www.faerie-queen.com/green-kirtle/

Green and Brown Cotehardie

I made this cotehardie for my boyfriend. It's green and brown linen, fully lined. The fabric is all linen. The buttons and button holes are all done by hand. He's also wearing a coif and tights I made for him.

I have more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/early-15th-century-male-cotehardie/

Green and Purple-ish Cotehardie

In case it wasn't obvious by now, when it comes to SCA period, I LOVE late 14th-early 15th c. So I made another one! This is one of the cotehardies I'm most proud of. I made all the buttons by hand, and I also did all those millions of button holes by hand (fun!). This is patterned with gores in the sides and back. The gown is single layer linen because I live in southern California.

The veil I'm wearing is white linen. It's a pretty basic frilled veil style.
The belt is made of velvet with metal filigree bits I sewed on.

You can see more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/early-15th-century-cotehardie/

Medieval Morgan Le Fey

I finally posted these images! Months ago, last summer in fact, my barony did an Arthurian Legends themed event. I decided to be Morgan Le Fey. I've been dabbling in alchemy, well, since before I was in the SCA. I only just decided to make it one of my historical art forms last year. Anyway, my vials were all filled with useful concoctions I've made, as well as some dried herbs.

The gown is late 14th / early 15th c, depending on the specific region and person. The way I've styled it here, I feel it takes on more of a 14th c. vibe. It's a linen cotehardie / kirtle / gothic fitted gown with buttons all the way down the front and on the sleeves in counterchange. The sleeves pin on.

More picture here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/morgan-le-fey/

Elizabethan Corset For Sale

Elizabethan corset for sale! This was going to be my new standard linen one for my Tudor/Elizabethan gowns, but I cut it from the wrong size, so I went ahead and finished it and put it up for sale. It's discounted because I can't use it, so I may as well just get it out of here! It can also be used for regular fantasy costuming, as well as historical. The boning is minimal, so the corset is supportive but not overly constrictive, just comfortable and holds you in place!

This one will fit a waist size of about 27-30" (most ideal is 28-29"). It may fit up to a 32" waist with a small gap in front.

Marked down to $90, rather than the normal $220 for a custom fitted version of this.

http://shop.daisyviktoria.com/corsets/ready-to-ship/elizabethan-corset-ready-to-ship.html

Mid-15th c. Flemish / Netherlandish Waisted Kirtle

My first waisted kirtle for the SCA! Of course, I have made a large number of modern waisted dresses with this type of fit before, but it's always monumental when it's a new historical style for me. ;)

This was based largely on Van der Weyden and Memling's paintings, mid-15th century Flemish / Netherlandish. This project actually began as an underlayer for a new "Burgundian" gown. However, it takes little time for a simple layer to turn into a whole complex project for me.

Nothing new was purchased to make this dress.
The kirtle is made from some linen I had lying around, which turns out to be linen/rayon blend. The sleeves are made from scraps of brocade I also had lying around. The belt is a scrap of velvet with filigrees and chain attached. I have a collection of filigrees, which was perfect! The veil is linen.
The front lacing loops are very small metal lacing rings, and the lacing cord is finger loop braided.

This is my second frilled veil, this one larger than the last. I'm not a very girly girl, but I really like the subtle "girly"ness of frilled veils, and I think I may make them my new "thing".

I also made a new underdress, but I can't fit it onto my incompressible mannequin, it's so incredibly fitted.

Red Linen Kirtle

This will eventually be an underdress for a couple of other gowns, but it also works as a single layer dress! This is a red linen kirtle, early 15th century. I'm also wearing velvet tippets here and a white linen veil.

More photos on my site: http://www.faerie-queen.com/red-linen-kirtle/

Light Blue Cotehardies and Wool Cloaks

As promised, I do indeed have fancy photos of our new light blue cotehardies, along with red wool cloak and hood and my boyfriend's brown wool cloak. This was inspired by Red Riding Hood and pre-Raphaelites and early 15th c. European fashion. The kirtle and cotehardie are patterned according to period documentation, as is the hood. The cloak has a small modification that adds significant practicality. Period cloaks, from my experience, appear to have been semi-circular. Also in my experience, this means they are very annoying to wear. I cut shoulders into my cloak pattern, and bam, works like a charm! I've been told that attached hoods are not period, but I have sources that prove they did exist, just more rarely than unattached hoods.

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/