Day of the Park/Dag van het park, Capelle aan de IJssel

The best description of this medieval event is, WET! Which was a real shame, as the organisation put a lot of effort into making it a big succes.


Lucky enough for us, it didn't rain when we had to set up our camp.



Here a picture to show off my son his 15th century outfit, with the undertunic I had made the day before. He liked this costume so much, that for the biggest part of the day, he flatly refused to wear his warm overtunic.



There where a lot of familiar and friendly faces, so the atmosphere was good. While waiting for the weather to clear and the public to come. We all huddled around the fire with our neighbours and talked about events passed. Ofcourse there where a lot of the (in)famous no-shit-there-I-was-stories.






Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail, could keep this lovely young lady from bringing us food. Having a full stomache always lifts the spirits. My son especially loved the pancakes with jam and the meatballs.



Ofcourse we where doing our crafts.



Audrey was sewing



Peter showed off his nice sharp,pointy things...



Remko was casting pewter



I was dyeing silk scarfs with Campeche wood and continued nalebinding my son's socks.

When it was dry, the childeren tested my son's gambeson. But they also enjoyed watching the juggler, the fighting practice and the jousting tournament.






No, the little princess is not concerned for one of the boys. She is waiting for her turn!

It was pouring, when we had break up camp. And I can't remember ever having been finished this quickly!

Help, I've created a costume monster!

After making and finishing costumes at the last minute for years. I promised myself never to make a last-minute-costume again. Up untill now I've managed to keep my promise most of the time. (Okay, that is not counting the long black victorian coat that had to be finished the night before, last December.)

Today, I was faced with a big dilemma...

After refusing to fit his medieval costume for days. I finally (nearly) twisted my son his arm and he tried on his costume. This 15th century costume, was a gift from a friend who's son had outgrown it a long time ago. He's a handsome 18 year old lad by now, but just like me, she can't stand to throw any of his costumes away. She was kind enough to donate, some of his costumes, to us. I intended my son to wear this costume with the natural colored linnen tunic, he usually wears. But when he had it on, it looked wrong. I thougth so, he thought so. So I took out the worn out white undertunic that belonged with the costume (BIG Mistake!) just to try it on. And he looked gorgeous. I thougth so, he thought so. He turned on his big brown puppy eyes and smiled at me....

And at that instant, I knew I was lost!

Mum, I really like this shirt better, he said.
But it's worn out, I said.
*Even bigger puppy eyes*
Yes, it is. But could you make an new white linnen one for me? Pleaaasssseee?*blink, blink, pout*

It's really hard, or better impossible, for me to say No, to my son. Who likes nice costumes, just as much as I do.

So now, this mum is sewing a new white 15th century undertunic (the fabric btw was for my new undertunic) and making some small repairs to the, really cool, 15th century outfit.

Hopefully it will be finished in time! To be continued...

Whitsun Viking market at the Archeon

We had a wonderful, and busy, Whitsun at the vikingmarket in the Archeon.



Aud/Audrey is doing sprang under supervision of her daughter Skuld/Aurora



Per/Peter is doing leatherwork



My son and husband are doing leatherwork as well.



Me doing some embroidery, instead of nalebinding, for a change.



My son had been asking me, for embroidery on his tunic, for a year. Now I finally got around to it. It is very simple, a herringbone stitch and a chainstitch in wool thread, but I think it looks nice. Myrddin is happy with it, and that is most important.

Friends who came to shop, ended up sitting in our camp, doing crafts....



Cyril is teaching my son Myrddin how to make his own arrows.


Marianne is doing some nalebinding.


Even the public joined in the fun! This lovely young lady, named Iris, wanted to learn how to do nalebinding and asked for a workshop. In return she gave me a refreshment course fingerlooping.





Ofcourse there was also time to play.






Per/Peter did a Robin Hood!



Ofcourse at a market you have to shop!



A lady never ever has enough shoes ;-)



After buying the shoes there was no money left to buy the white, diamond twill, linnen in need for my Princess of Zweeloo costume reconstruction. But I did manage to buy a beaver tooth. So I can wear it on a chain, around my neck, just like her.


Finally we had a chance to try the Anglo-Saxon geteld we bought last year.



Along with some other things Remko made during the winter.



Next weekend we will be doing medieval re-enactment on Sunday. I am lucky if I get all the viking stuff cleaned up and all the medieval thing together in time. So I won't have time to work on my Edwardian costume this week.

Progress on the purple Edwardian Skirt & letting out

The pictures don't do the skirt justice, but I couldn't wait to show the progress I made. I still need to sew in the snap button closure, in the back, and it needs to be hemmed.

Front


Back

Back detail, inverted pleat.


This week I probably won't have time to work on it, as coming weekend we go to the
vikingmarket at the Archeon. I am happy that I made my sons costume with large seams last year. I let them all out this weekend, and I didn't have to make him a new costume! It fun to see how much he has grown...



Even after pressing with a hot steam iron the let out seems did stay visible especially on his linen tunic and trousers. It's a pity, but I am still really happy not having to make a new vikingcostume at this moment

Edwardian Ladies Vest

The Edwardian Ladies Vest is finished and I just love how it turned out! Like most Folkwear patterns the finished backlength is short, even for me and I am quite small.



Here is the silver and marcasite Edwardian jewellery I am going to wear with the costume. The earrings were originally clips, but I had them altered.

Next step is deciding with what part of the purple Edwardian costume to start...

Edwardian style shirtwaists

White cotton, with white cotton lace and small mother of pearl buttons, Gibson Girl blouse. I converted, the back closure of Folkwear pattern, to a front closure. The back length of the pattern, even the longer modern version, was too short. So I had to add a wide band to make it longer. The pattern piece for the long cuffs come from the Edwardian shirtwaist pattern by Sense and Sensibility. I love the look of the lace details, but as it is modern lace the thread used it to thick. Luckily enough I have some more authentic antique lace for the final version. I also love the long buttoned cuffs, both features will be used in the final version.



White, striped, cotton Edwardian shirtwaist with a pintucked front. It closes with buttons in the back. This shirtwaist I made to check the fit of the Edwardian shirtwaist pattern by Sense and Sensibility so I kept it simple. As the fit is good, this will be the basic pattern for my final Edwardian blouse. I am not sure if it will have pintucks as a feature. I find it really diffult to make them neatly. But I just love the look when it's done properly.



My silver and marcasite Edwardian (style ?) brooch looks really good on the collar of this blouse!

Currently I am working on the buttons and buttonsholes of the Edwardian Ladies Vest.

Edwardian waistcoat

To spice up my Edwardian summer costume I decided to make a ladies waistcoat. With Folkwear pattern #222 Vintage Vests and some scraps of lovely fabric I still had.



The skirt I was working on is finally finished. The waistcoat still needs buttons and buttonsholes. The shirtwaist in the picture, I made some years ago, is a converted version of the Gibson girl blouse pattern (# 205) from Folkwear Patterns. The lower part of the sleeves comes from a Sense and Sensibility pattern and still needs buttons and buttonholes. The shirtwaist, from the Sense and Sensibilitly pattern, that I was working on, is also nearly finished it only needs buttons and buttonsholes. Guess what I dislike sewing...