All posts tagged: 14th century

At last, a first layer to my medieval ensemble (HSM 2017 Challenge #1)

I’ve been terribly backwards with my medieval sewing, making the gown, veil, belt and circlet, but not a proper shift (the nettle shift doesn’t really count). It was so easy to skip the shift when I could get away with using one of my 18th c shifts, but the problem with using 18th c shifts is that they have 3/4 length sleeves, which get caught beneath the long medieval sleeves, and make a horribly bulky line on your arm. So a medieval shift was a must, and I’ve actually been working on one for over a year, doing bits of hand-sewing whenever I had a plane ride or a lecture to attend. This shift didn’t make either long trip to the US, as it had too little left to do to, and would have ended up done, and useless weight in my luggage, far too soon. But it did get finished over New Years, though when I tried it on in preparation for the Levin Medieval Market, the neckline was a bit high, so I …

The Levin Medieval Market

Published by The Dreamstress

There aren’t a lot of historical costuming events in New Zealand, and one that I’ve never managed to get to is the annual Levin Medieval Market. Levin is only an hour and a half up the coast from Wellington, and I (finally) had the weekend free this year, so I decided it was time to go. I put the word out to friends, and not only did Hvitr & Madame O put their hands up, Hvitr already had a 10th c Viking outfit, and Madame O committed to making a 1360s ensemble like mine if I’d help her with the pattern. Juliet came down from Palmy, and we four went to the fair! Very conveniently, Juliet’s parents live in Levin, so we Wellington girls headed off just past 7am (gah), drove up, met Juliet there, got dressed, and then headed out I was warned ahead of time not to get too excited about how medieval the day would be: I was told to expect standard market fair with the Order of the Boar doing fighting …

A trio of Medieval accessories

Published by The Dreamstress

You’ve already seen my medieval dress, and a costume-y medieval belt, but I’ve been working on much more historically accurate accessories. My first belt was fun and sparkly, but I wanted a proper belt: (shown, with complete lack of properness, with my Miramar Gothic dress) I made the belt from two strips of soft leather in mid-brown. I couldn’t find a leather scrap within my budget that was long enough for a single strip (a $200 hide is out of the question at the moment), so I joined the two strips with a bit of stitching. I have no idea if a leather join like that is accurate, but I suspect it’s plausible. And it reminds me of the mended sashes of the sword-wearers of Damar, so, win! I used a vintage English-made brass buckle I found at an op shop: it’s not quite right for the 14th century, but isn’t too bad. I had a stroke of luck the day after I cut my belt, but before I’d finished it. I found a crappy …