Tag: Variety Pentathlon Challenge 2017

VPC2017: Meisterin Christian’s Linen Hose & Katharina von Bura Dress and Haube

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Meisterin Christian presents a pair of linen hose for the categories One Metre Material Project; Hitting Below The Knee; Togs, Togs, Undies.  Possibly also Remake, Reuse, Refashion, Reconsider, and a dress based on a portrait of  Katharina von Bura for the categories Remake, Reuse, Refashion, Reconsider and Counting (on) Sheep, and finally a haube for The Neck Best Thing.

About the hose, she says:
I first made woollen hose some years ago, and then after a particularly hot and wet Canterbury Faire one year I decided I needed some linen hose to either wear alone, or as a lining layer for woollen hose. However my pattern had disappeared. Having torn apart my sewing room, I gave up on the project. Last year I decided it was time to make some more hose, and after failing to find the pattern yet again, made a new one. Which I then promptly lost. While looking for some beads for another A&S challenge project I found last year’s pattern. So, using a (less than a metre) scrap of the same linen I used for my child’s shirt project in this Challenge, I whipped up these linen hose.  Pictured as worn below (the foot-selfie makes my feet look alarmingly small).

Hose made from woven linen fabric are recorded in 16th C sources and at least one extant example survive. These may have been worn as lining for woollen hose (so that the woollen hose can be worn repeatedly without washing while the lining pair could be cleaned frequently), and/or they were probably worn alone in warmer weather. The hose were cut on the bias in order to stretch and conform around the feet and legs.  Garters are worn to hold the hose up. The seams here are stitched in linen thread, overcast stitch for strength, with the seam allowances flat felled on inside for comfort.

About the dress and haube she says:

For Yule 2017 I decided that as this winter event included outdoor activities I really needed to wear something warm (and made of more practical fabrics than say silk or brocade). It was not cold enough for my really heavy woollen dress, and too cold for my light woollen dress with the slashed sleeves; ideally I needed something in between.  It occurred to me that I had an unfinished green woollen dress in the naughty corner (that’s where annoying, frustrating, or uncooperative A&S projects are sent until they learn to behave) which I had started years ago and not finished because a) I didn’t have much use for warm clothing at that point, and b) the woollen fabric was somewhat annoying to sew).  This seemed like a prime opportunity to get a new dress and also knock off a couple more A&S Challenge categories in the process.

Of course this all occurred to me the night before the event, which is not the ideal time to decide you need a new dress.  After some excavation I recovered the dress and found that there was only about 30 mins work (tidying the lacing rings and waist fastenings), and a brustfleck (the brocade breast-band), needed to make the dress wearable.  Since it was the night before the event, and I’m not completely crazy, I found an brustfleck from another old dress and covered it in a scrap of brocade from my stash, and after a couple of hours work I had a new, never-been-worn dress.  And to add to the fun, I also quickly cobbled together a haube (the hairnet/snood type thingy Katharina is wearing in the portrait) from a (purchased) black hairnet and a gold headband I had begun for another haube project. I didn’t get any photos of the dress at the event, so the photo below is of the dress on a dressmakers form.

This dress is based on the 1526 portrait by Lucas Cranach of Katharine von Bura (below). Katharina von Bura was the wife of Martin Luther (he of the 95 theses).  The size, shape and placement of guards (black trim / bands) on the bottom of the skirt and the back of the dress are conjectured from dresses in other portraits of the period.

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PC2017: Dona Isabel Maria’s Camping Shelf

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Dona Isabel Maria brings us this ingenious camping shelf for the category Containment System.

She says:
Being an old hand at Canterbury Faire, I try to regularly make improvements to my camp schmutter. In this case, the specific purpose was to facilitate better event-long organisation by containing my feast gear and giving me a place to hang my hand towel. Although an unlikely pairing, it proved to be not uncommon in period artwork.

This shelf is not constructed using period techniques. It is very much in the “quick and dirty”, “prototype” and “let’s attach as many pieces to one another as we can to stop them getting lost between Faires” school of manufacture. Additionally, I have not seen any evidence of this type of shelving in period tent imagery. However, since I tend towards “playing house” rather than “being on campaign” at Faire, it seemed reasonable to add this shelf to my tent.

Materials & Equipment: dressed knotty pine in the desired width, jigsaw, coping saw, sandpaper & block, hand drill and drill press (thanks to Adrian for use of the latter).

The disassembled picture gives a pretty good idea of the pieces and how three of them are attached by hinges that allow it to be stored flat.  The right side of the shelf sits on a block, and is held in place by a nail that just slots into a pre-drilled hole in both pieces. The back of the shelf sits on the shelf, so it can’t flop back past 90 degrees. The whole thing gets suspended from the top of my tent’s perimeter poles and lashed to them using calico tape.

Verdict: a bit tricky to put up (apologies for the near concussion Christian), but then really quite secure.  Displaying my pewter was so helpful in maintaining track of my feast gear that my long lost St Jude spoon (not seen in over 4 years) also found its way home.  I call that a success!

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VPC2017 Her Excellency Ginevra’s Appearance In A Play & Throne And Kneeling Cushions

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Her Excellency writes to inform of her appearance in a morality play at Canterbury Faire. This falls into the categories Break A Leg, and Out Of Your Comfort Zone.

Additionally, these throne and kneeling cushions, submitted as Show Us Your Arms, Give What You Get and Embellish It.

The kneeling cushions of Southron Gaard were looking a little tired after 20 or so years of service, and did not have the augmentation of the arms of Caid on them, as that was granted to us when we moved to Lochac. Her Excellency charted and worked the augmentation, and Meisterin Christian dis-assembled the old cushions, washed the embroidered tops, attached the augmentations, and reassembled them with nice bright red velvet, so they looked as good as new, and ready for another 20 years service.

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VPC2017: Mistress katherine’s Dog Collar, Puppet Theatre Towers & Bookmarks

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The increasingly prolific Mistress katherine adds the following to her Challenge entry hoard.

Firstly, a medieval dog collar for the category Togs Togs Undies! 

This is a dog collar, based on the comments by Gaston Phoebus in 15C Book of the Hunt, and from illuminated manuscripts. Common features: red velvet, embroidery with gold thread or wire, a leashing ring, single eyelet, rumbler bells, studs of various kinds. Modelled by Mercalli (“what a good dog!”).  Here’s a good site with lots of doggy and hunt info.
And a good image from Gaston Phoebus of white pointy-eared dogs with collars.

Mistress katherine says: 
I was particularly delighted to read that the Boke of St Albans describes the kind of dogs to be found in a medieval Scottish town including a ‘prick-eared cur’

The next entry is new towers for the puppet theatre at Canterbury Faire, made from scavenged cedar shingles and painted up like 14-15C examples. These are for the category Out Of Your Comfort Zone, which katherine assures us she was.
She says: This took me out of my comfort zone — I had to use power tools and — worse– ask an unknown neighbour for permission to raid his construction skip. I also looked at the shingles after I’d painted them and realised that circular saw marks were clearly visible, which Master Edward confirmed was a no-no to proper woodworker eyes, so I flipped them over and sanded them down to start again.

Some examples of puppet theatres in manuscripts can be found at the Bodleian here and another example here.

Finally (at least for now!) – bookmarks in baronial colours for the largesse chest. From the 12C onwards, cords, threads of strips of leather were attached to beads, buttons and similar shapes to make stand-alone bookmarks. Multi-threaded bookmarks were particularly popular amongst the clergy for flipping back and forth in service books. These are for the category Fly The Colours, but they also meet the requirements for Give What You Get. More information about these from katherine here.

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VPC2017: Dona Isabel Maria’s Marchpane

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A delicious and delightful entry from Dona Isabel Maria – Marchpane! This is for the categories Back To Basics, Show Us Your Arms and Fly The Colours.


She says: I began with a copy of ‘The English Hus-wif’ by Gervase Markham, a packet of raw almonds, a packet of caster sugar, a bottle of rose water, a mortar and pestle and a quiet evening.  Some time later I had ‘searced’ (powdered) sugar. Some considerable time after that, I had a lump of raw marchpane, two sore arms and a strong resolve to buy a spice grinder. I followed the rest of the instructions (kneading, rolling it out, adorning it, washing with rose water etc) but with a few modifications. I ignored the wafers (not having any) and decided to have a go colouring the ‘ice’ (icing) using plausibly period ingredients. The red was colour was created with a couple of drops of beetroot juice in some powdered sugar and rose water, while the green came from boiling up some rosemary and parsley from my garden. The decorated marchpanes were then baked in a relatively cool oven until they were just beginning to colour. However, the colours did not really develop as I had hoped, so I applied additional coats. I tested the differences between baking it before icing it, and icing the raw marchpane, as well as the difference between letting it dry between coats and baking it between coats to see if there was any appreciable difference I could use in future experiments. Taste: the finished items were taken to a household sewing day, to add to the lunch table. The general consensus was that the marchpane was tasty, even for those people who actively avoid modern marzipan. I personally found it fairly irresistible and hope to experiment further in the future.

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VPC2017: Lady Melissa’s Winter Hood

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Lady Melissa brings us this lovely hood for the categories The Neck Best Thing, Cover Me, Counting on Sheep, Tis the Season, Give What You Get

She says:
This hood was made in the 13th century style, and can be worn as either an open hood or a fitted hood. The outer shell is wool, and it is fully lined with winter coat possum fur; period pieces would have been lined with rabbit or, for the very wealthy, ermine. All of the fur was hand-pieced and hand sewn. Only the central (hidden) seam in the hood was machine sewn. The buttons are self-fabric. There is a central plate with button holes because the test pattern did not fully account for the thickness of the possum fur, and it would not close without choking the wearer. While I have not seen a similar device in illuminations, it would be a suitable period solution.
This item is for a very lovely lady I met at Canterbury Faire (she may have to share with her family, though!). I was very glad to be able to work with the possum furs, which were luxurious and provided by the family. They are all relatively new to the SCA, and I hope that they enjoy their next CF with some additional warmth!

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VPC2017: Lady Mathilda’s Hood

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Lady Mathilda presents this hood for the categories Cover Me and The Neck Best Thing.

She says:
This hood is the first I have made in a long time, and definitely the first that I have properly researched.
The hood is made of vibrant pink linen lining and a grey tabby woven wool outer with medium length liripipe.
It is based off a hood (D10597)  that forms part of the Herjolfsnes finds from Greenland from around the beginning of the fourteenth century.
I have chosen to make the hood a bit bigger than the original, as I wanted to have lots of room for comfort.
As in manuscripts from much of England and Western Europe at the beginning of the fourteenth century, the hood is often depicted with some lines of decoration around the bottom. I have included this in my hood- by adding two rows of parallel chain stitch in light and dark blue Appeltons’ Embroidery wool.
The hood is handstitched using running and back-stitch, and is fully felled.

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VPC2017: Mistress katherine’s Garters and Swaddling Clothes

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The garters are presented for category Hitting Below The Knee

Mistress katherine says:
I saw the trim at Pennsic and loved it as it has my tower, even if I had to settle for green, rather than white. But I knew the pattern was far too mundane to use visibly (I’m sure I’m not the only one who asks herself “What would Mistress Rowan say?”). So, having repurposed the lovely garters Catherine d’Arc made me into a travel coronet, I thought a pair of garters would let me use the trim in a hidden but useful fashion, and answer another VP challenge. I sewed petersham ribbon on the back for sturdiness and grip, added pewter buckles cast by Sir Sebastian, and whacked a grommet in for a hole. They keep the new hose (Mistress Ginevra’s creation) up nicely.

The Swaddling Clothes are presented for the category of Containment System, and Mistress katherine adds that this is for the baby, not their by-products! 
Futher, she says: This is part of the Venetian swaddling band my mother wrapped me and my short-lived brothers in.
Swaddling bands appear in a number of Renaissance paintings , such as  Laviania Fontana’s Newborn Baby in a Crib (1583)Extant Italian examples from the 1570-90s can be seen in the V&A and Met. Typically they are made of white linen doubled up and edged with a lace or embroidered band (including whitework, reticella, stem stich, interlacing); rectangular at the wider end (12-24cm) and tapering to a point along a 2-3-metre length. The shape is to allow a spiral band of the fancy work to show as the final layer of swaddling cloth is wrapped around the child. A V&A example can be found here.This one is made of a linen-like cotton from my scrap pile; with lace purchased on Burano, the lace-making island in the Venetian lagoon; and Spotlight trim whip-stiched on as an edge.

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VPC2017: Lady Melissa’s Tablet Woven Belt

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VPC2017: Lady Melissa’s Tablet Woven Belt

Lady Melissa presents this tablet woven belt for the categories  Out of Your Comfort Zone, String Theory, and Counting on Sheep.

She says:
This tablet-woven belt was made using motifs from historical Finnish tablet weaving, which uses more threaded-in patterning and less brocade than historical Scandinavian pieces. The outer yellow strands were hand-spun from raw fleece and dyed yellow with rosemary. The thicker blue was handspun as well. The rest was commercial embroidery wool. The colors are the same as Melissa’s heraldry. This was an interesting and challenging project for Melissa, as it was her second attempt at tablet weaving, and much longer than the previous (failed!) project.

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