"La Fée des Étoiles", a French Christmas Character

For most of you, Santa Claus' feminine partner has probably always been Mother Claus. It is not so for everyone. You see, In France and French tradition in general, Le Père Noël is accompanied by La Fée des Étoiles (The Star Fairy). In the past, in families where some male relative played the role of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, there was often an aunt dressed in a white or blue dress decorated with stars. It is our tradition.

My favorite depiction of the Star Fairy comes from a 1984 French movie, J'ai rencontré le Père Noël. I was at the local premiere with my parents, I was given the soundtrack and I still have it (it is a vinyl 45 rpm). It is not a great movie by far, but to me, it is associated with Christmas and I love to watch it and listen to the music.

In the movie, the Fairy is played by French Singer Karen Chéryl. Her dress looks nothing like the usual descrition: she wears a cream coloured Elizabethan inspired dress, complete with puffed and slashed upper sleeves and sheer fan collar.

In the following video (a clip from the TV show Champs-Elisées (1982) that originally aired on November 24, 1984), starting at around 2:20 minutes, you can see Karen Chéryl in her Fairy dress, full length and in detail.

Nowadays, the character of Mother Claus has been adapted in French too as La Mère Noël; but it is nice to remember our traditions and not forget the Star Fairy. After all, "every time someone says 'I do not believe in fairies', somewhere there's a fairy that falls down dead"*.

*Line from Tinkerbell in Hook (1991).

An Elizabethan Gentleman

There is less than a week before Fall Harvest, Barony of l'Île du Dragon Dormant's autumn event, and I, your favorite Costumeholic, is in charge of Arts & Sciences, that is anything that is not Martial Arts. I will be teaching classes (Irish Dancing and T-Tunic making) and running an A&S display.

With my Baby keeping busy, I haven't had time to make anything new to wear (*sigh*), but it's OK. The one great thing about being addicted to costumes is you end up having enough to pick from for any occasion, just like a regular wardrobe (actually, costumes take up the most part of my closet).

I'm not the only one in this house who needs to dress for these event: my Sweetheart does too! When I first joined the SCA in 2006 and I dragged him back (he played with them maybe 20 years ago), I asked him what he wanted for to wear to Court. Amazingly enough, he choose late 16th century as his persona's era, and so it is Elizabethan menswear for him.

Charles de Baste, Fall Harvest 2006

Before Fall Harvest 2006, I dragged him to the fabric store to find a brocade he would like and he picked a lovely purple and gold tone brocade with diamond pattern. From it, I made him a Doublet, using McCall's 4695 (i love that pattern, I have used it for myself too; you just have to adjust the darts to fit a feminine figure), and a Tudor Flat Cap, from McCall's 4805 view B. Then, using black panned velvet we had bought the previous year with the intention of making him a Drow costume, I made him sleeves for his Doublet, also using McCall's 4695 (in this case it is view D), and breeches which are really just puffy Bermudas gathered at the waistband and knee cuffs. My Sweetheart choose not to wear a codpiece (I don't blame him!), so the pants' fly simply laces up (this way, I could add a codpiece if he changed his mind, though I doubt he will). I also made him a shirt out of off-white cotton using Butterick 4486.

Of course, I had enough of each fabric to make him a full set, and I have cut the pieces already, I just haven't gotten around to it (actually, I had forgotten about them until I started typing this post).

By the way, I would like to point out that in this first picture, he is actually wearing black tights, which he never did again afterwards. Apparently, he found the seam to be irritating. Nowadays, he wears black leggings under his breaches.

Mórag filia Scayth and Charles de Baste, Feast of the Hare 2006

When I first made the Doublet, I had only used six frog closures to close the front, as the pattern suggested, but my Sweetheart felt that, being that the Doublet is meant to be tight, the gaps in between the frog closures were unattractive. So on our way to Feast of the Hare 2006, while he was driving, I sewed another five frog closures to close each gap. It takes forever to put on, but it looks good!

Side view of Charles de Baste, Feast of the Hare 2006

From the side, you can see how the Doublet's sleeves are tied at the shoulder only.

Back view of Charles de Baste, Feast of the Hare 2006

It's always nice to be able to see a costume from every angle to better understand it.

Mórag filia Scayth and Charles de Baste, Baronial Investiture Anniversary 2008

Another view, without the Doublet sleeves this time. It is a very versatile garment!

(Yes the beard was distinguished, but it also made him look way older, and yes, I have lost weight since then. 25lbs to be exact, and I feel very good about myself, thank you for asking.)

Eventually, I'll finish the pieces I have already cut and he'll have both a full black velvet set and a purple and gold set. What stopped me back then was that I needed to get more experience before tackling the purple and gold breeches as I want to make them paned. Now that'll really be something!

Project: Tudor Initial Pendant

Lately, the Tudors have been all over the small and silver screen; whether it's The Tudors (2007), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008) or Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen (1998) or Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), we can't seem to get enough of them. So naturally, I wanted a piece of the costuming action, and what better way to wear costumes everyday than in jewelry! Since initial pendants are so In, and since I found a tutorial that showed how to make polymer clay look like old cast bronze, I went ahead and made my own Tudor Initial Pendant.

Anne Boleyn by unknown artist, c. 1525

The tutorial I had found on DIY Network no longer seems to exist on the web, but it was by Jennifer Parrish of Parrish Relics, famous for creating Ugly Betty's version of the Anne Boleyn necklace.

America Ferrera as Betty Suarez, Ugly Betty (2006)

Natalie Dormer as Anne Boleyn, The Tudors (2007)

Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn, The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)

To make my necklace, I used black Fimo that I formed into the shape of a “G”, using both my hands and clay working tools. Once I was satisfied with the shape, I used different imprinting “tools” (a few of my “Celtic” rings, an interesting brooch, a metal appliqué) to give the surface a nicely chiseled texture. Once I was satisfied with the look, I cut and inserted four wire hooks into the clay so that once finished, I could hang my pendant from the pearl necklace as well as hang drop pearls from it. It then went into the oven to be cooked.

After the clay had cooked and cooled, I proceeded to sanding the dried clay lightly where it needed it before giving it a first coat of gold paint. I used four coats of gold acrylic craft paint instead of spray paint to get a richer effect. Then, I used diluted black acrylic craft paint to fake the oxidation effect. I put a coat of black paint on, let it dry a little and the wiped it off to leave black paint only in the crevasses made during the imprinting step. I had to repeat the process a few time to achieve a satisfactory effect. Finally, I varnished the piece with a satin finish varnish to give it a realistic shine.

As the piece had shrunk a little during the cooking process, the wire hooks were now loose in their holes, so I took them out with pliers, I put a drop of crazy glue in each hole and I reinserted the wire hooks.

Once all was dry, I hanged the pearl drops, threaded the pearls and pendant into necklace using four strands of nylon thread and I added the closure. I put a drop of crazy glue at the closure to make sure the knots would hold. I tried to keep the length of my necklace short enough so that it would hang close to my neck, just like in Anne Boleyn’s portrait.

Gwenyver's Tudor Initial Pendant

I also made one for Sciath, my Domina (the head of my SCA Household, Household of the Busy Bees)

In the 16th century, such a necklace would have been made out of gold and fresh water pearls. I used Fimo, gold paint and faux pearls to achieve the right look. This way, I managed to recreate a period look with modern materials and I now wear this necklace often, to work and school, with a V-Neck Tee or my teal velvet doublet jacket. That's my way of wearing costumes everyday!

Project: Pseudo-Blackwork Coif

I always have more costuming projects in mind than time to make them, but I did manage to make a small one a little while ago for Nancy-Raven's birthday. (Truth be told, I was looking for something I could make myself with stuff I already had - the economy, you know...) As I am home all day watching TV while nursing, she lent me both seasons of The Tudors, which she loves. (Now I know the costumes in that show are often historically inaccurate, but that is besides the point here.) This gave me an idea: whenever we go to Medieval / SCA events, Nancy-Raven has nothing to cover her head, which is especially important if one is outdoors in the sun, so why not make her a coif? Let's make it an Elizabethan coif, I thought, since I know she has fabric to make dresses of that period.

And so I visited one of my favorite costuming resource for that Era, The Elizabethan Costuming Page and used their Elizabethan Coif Pattern. Blackwork embroidery was often used on such pieces in that time, and I looked at many pictures of beautifully decorated original and recreation coifs, but my embroidery skills are still very limited and I started the project five days before her birthday, so I decided to go for a pseudo-blackwork look by using some of the decorative stitches my SINGER®Quantum® Futura™ offers.

Enough chit-chatting on my part: here is the coif and its making-of.

This is the coif after I had done the horizontal stitches, alternating between a Swan and Tulip stitch. Before I started on the decorative stitches, I marked them all with an embroidery penn so I would only have to follow the lines.

In this picture, you might notice the seam in the middle: that is because I was using cotton leftovers and had to fit the pattern in what fabric I had. There wouldn't be a seam normally.

Now you see the coif after I've added the diagonal vine leaf stitches.

The finished coif - I've bag lined it, added ties made from bias tape and added the decorative stitch all around.

A side view of the finished coif.

A back view of the finished coif.

Now all I need is a picture of Nancy-Raven in garb wearing her coif.