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Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Medieval Costume


Since I've been blogging about period costume, I thought my readers might be interested in my newest project. The Historical Novel Society is having their annual conference in Chicago in June, and if you historical writers aren't already signed up, you really should be. They have a fantastic array of agents and editors who are especially interested in historical novels. That said, my blog focus today is on the Period Costume Pageant for Saturday evening at the conference. I decided my "persona" would be a 12th century scribe, and after reading directions on SCA websites promising that you needed no pattern for a tunic, I still wasn't convinced, being a lifelong sewer who never set scissors to fabric without a pattern. I found a site, after much looking around, which carries period patterns. (You may know that Simplicity, McCall's and the others do have what they call "medieval" patterns but the seams and construction are not authentic.) Medievalists made use of every inch of fabric, so their patterns were much more rectangular than out garments today.
I bought No. 16 medieval from Patterns of Time, and was dismayed to find about 6 sizes on one sheet of tissue, making it difficult to locate the line for my size. To make things worse, I cut a muslin pattern first, which was too large, and had to go back twice and scotch tape the pattern and recut. This took two evenings and a lot of unprintable words, but I finally got what I wanted.
Next, I decided on material, and that's a whole new blog……..'Til next time, do go to the HNS website and look around at the conference info. It's all at http://www.historicalnovelsociety.org/.

12 comments:

Mary Ricksen said...

I am always amazed at those of us who can sew clothing.
I'd be in big trouble in Medieval times! I can't sew to save my life.

Anonymous said...

I would have uttered the unprintable words too! LOL. I'm apparently not typical in shape or patterns aren't. So, I know what you mean.

Loretta C. Rogers said...

Joyce--can't wait to see the final results of your costume.

Tanya Hanson said...

Hi Joyce! I'd love to see your costume...and I'd love to get to the conference if it were a tad closer. Although I write Westerns, I totally love the medieval period. I've got an oldie (that probably isn't a goodie LOL) stuck in the hard-drive that I probably ought to resurrect again.

I used to sew pretty well but it got just as expensive as buying something...so those days are over LOL.

Thanks for pointing me to this great blog!

~Tanya
www.tanyahanson.com
Marrying Minda, available June 5
The Wild Rose Press

Anonymous said...

I appreciate those of you can sew. I tried, and trust me, no one would want to wear it.

Sarah Simas said...

I couldn't sew if my life depended on it! It's a sad state of affairs when I have to ask my husband to sew a button on! LOL But I have a HUGE amount of respect for those that do sew. Your costume sounds wonderful!

Joyce Moore said...

Mary: Well, I didn't sew for years and was a bit rusty. There are so many new tools now, like fray-check. I don't know how my mother managed with an old Singer that only sewed a straight line! Thanks for the comment.

Joyce Moore said...

Skhye: Hi: So gald you visited our blog. I enjoy readingyour posts on TWRP. I guess noneof us are shaped like the patterns--we always need a little adjusting! Thanks for visiting our blog!

Joyce Moore said...

Loretta: I'll take a picture and post it when I'm done. The most fun is the hat. It's prettier too.

Joyce Moore said...

Tanya: Thanks for visiting our site! One of our bloggers, Loretta, writes Westerns. You may know her. We're glad you looked around. Yes, by all means, get that medieval out and polish it up.
About my costume, I'll post a picture of that and the hat I'm making when I finish--if I ever do!
Thanks for stopping by!

Joyce Moore said...

Elaine: Thanks for stopping by! You have a nice blog page and pretty website. I enjoyed snooping around! Hope you come back often.

Joyce Moore said...

Hi Sarah: I see you are workingon a Regency. One of our bloggers, donna Hatch, writes Regencies. She has some interesting blogs about the period so come back often and snoop around, and thanks for visiting.