We had a mixed-up Historical Sew and Eat Retreat this year, with a day of 18th century, and a day of Medieval. Enjoy a bunch of photos of costumers of varying levels of expertise in 14th century English, French and Swedish fashions, and their time-travelling Viking friend!
We’re incredibly privileged to have had no community transmission of Covid19 here in New Zealand, so we can safely hold social events. While we were in lockdown my friend Priscilla asked if we could have a dinner party at her house to celebrate once it was safe to get together again. We all have, or have been working on, 14th century dresses, so we chose a midwinter Medieval feast. Nina applied her amazing food skills to developing a menu. We all cooked, decorated, and lent a hand. Thanks to everyone’s work and collaboration, we had the most fabulous evening: complete with an entire haunch of wild venison, a gingerbread castle, sugared apples, and Medieval disco dancing. Sending out lots of love to the rest of the world, and hopes for a time when we can all gather in safety and joy ❤️ Hmmm…what’s under her dress? Jenni had the privilege/misfortune of sitting across from me, and having great lighting: The Menu Pear & Parsnip Soup in Bread Trenchers I made the bread …
There’s a slightly funny story to this post. I finished my St Birgitta’s cap back at the end of January, photographed it, and wrote most of my post. And then my Costume History students at Toi Whakaari picked their topics for their first research paper, and I remembered that I’d given them a picture of a St Birgitta’s cap as a research option – and it had been chosen. Ooops… So obviously I couldn’t publish a blog post (even a fairly lightweight one using only the most obvious basic internet references) about making a St Birgitta’s cap until the student had turned in their paper. But the paper was submitted this afternoon, so here’s the blog post! (and I haven’t read the paper yet, so I’m not cheating off it either…). I’d always put St Birgitta’s caps in the ‘too hard and time consuming’ basket, but then Hvitr made one and wore it to our 2019 Historical Sew & Eat Retreat. Now, Hvitr is infinitely more patient and precise than me, and makes notoriously crazy …
