Event Report: Fête Médiévale de Saint-Colomban

Today was a nice, sunny, not too warm day. Perfect to spend it at the Fête Médiévale de Saint-Colomban. Nancy-Raven and I have gone together for the past three years and we love to walk around and mock the really bad fantasy garb. Today was no exception and I took many pictures to share with you all, but for tonight, since I'm beat, I'll just show you pictures of Nancy-Raven, my daughter and myself. I'll do the mocking thing with you tomorrow.

My Daughter

My baby is wearing her linen tunic (Baby Shower gift from aunt Sciath), Coif (made quickly last week) and SCA - The Next Generation bib (bought at Pennsic XXXVI from Claus the Toymaker). Many people kept pointing at her, saying "Oh, look, a Medieval baby!". Her daddy is proud, she was a success once again!

Nancy-Raven

Look who got the message and covered her head this year: good girl, no sun stroke for once. And yes Honey, she drank plenty of water!

Gwenyver and Daughter: Medieval Mommy and Baby

Nancy-Raven

I love to just point-and-click and get great pictures. I'm pretty good at it too!

Nancy-Raven the Anglo-Norman

Another nice picture of her (whatever she says). I should mention that her jewelry all comes from The Crafty Celt, Raven style (of course!). Specifically, it is the Raven Fibula & Chain Set and the Raven Head Torc (she also owns the Raven Bracelet and Raven Brooch, but was not wearing them yesterday).

Gwenyver in her new Medieval Heraldic Tabard

At the end of the day, we went by the river to take some pictures. As promised, one of my in my Medieval Heraldic Tabard and Glittersweet cote.

Nancy-Raven and her Goddaughter

Two Craft Sisters: Nancy-Raven and Gwenyver

I'm also pretty good at taking self-portrait pictures by holding the camera in one hand and pointing it at myself; just look at my profile picture!

Medieval Baby

One last cute picture of my daughter for the road! Now I'm off to a nice bath to wash the dust away.

Finished Project: Medieval Heraldic Tabard

I did it again! I'm ready in advance. Oh yeah baby, I'm getting organized! Last night, I finished my tabard. Yeah me! A whole 36 hours before an event, two weeks in a row! Believe me, if you've known me for years, that is an impressive feet!

So, do you remember my device? I've shown it to you twice already, why not go for thrice (besides, I love my device):

Device of Mórag filia Scayth

And now, this is my tabard (shown here over my Glittersweet Cote):

It looks great, right? I love it. (And yes G'Kwan, you're very cute too - G'Kwan is our cat; what can I say, we're geeks!). So tomorrow, that's what I'm wearing to the Fête Médiévale de Saint-Colomban, and I'll ask Nancy-Raven to take some pictures of me wearing it.

Do you realize, that's the first costume I've made myself this year, as in 2009? Wow, I was so overdue. I feel really happy about myself.

Project Update: Bumroll and Medieval Heraldic Tabard

I've done it! I'm actually in advance!!! Not at the last minute, no, a whole 36 hours in advance! Mark your calendars people, this will not happen often. (Unless I'm becoming more organized, could that be possible?)

Yesterday, I made my bumroll (the one I said I'd make to wear with my 18th century Bourgeoise Outfit).

OK, I know it looks like an uncooked croissant, but since no one is supposed to see it, who cares! The point is to give my skirt the right support.

I ended up using the pattern piece for the bumroll from Simplicity 8881 (It's out of print, but I sort of collect pattern, in case I might need them one day). After all, why bother drawing a pattern piece if I have it somewhere, already printed.

Simplicity 8881

The pattern calls for the bumroll to be mounted on some sort of wide belt, but I just used narrow twill tape to tie it in the front.

In other news, although I will not be going to Fête des Bois on September 5th (the usual reasons: Baby, money, etc.), I am still working on my Medieval Heraldic Tabard to wear on the same date, but at a different event: the Fête médiévale de Saint-Colomban (it's closer to my home and cheaper).

So, let me remind you first what my device looks like:

Device of Mórag filia Scayth

And now this is the front of my tabard.

It's not done yet, but you can already see what it's going to look like. The Cinquefoils (flowers) have been satin stitched in place, the red and yellow bands are sewn together and pressed, the entire "sash" part has been pinned to the front of the tabard, so my next step it to sew it in place.

I just thought I'd let you know what I was working on and I'd show you my progress.

A Costumer's Shopping Therapy

Where does a costumer shop, you might wonder? (Well, if you are one, you might not.) The Fabric store! For my birthday, my best friend Nancy-Raven gave me a Fabricland gift voucher and today she helped me spend it. Now I could have bought fabric to make a nice skirt or a shirt, but where's the fun in that? You can find these boring everyday items at any store. Costumes, you can only make yourself! (Or get a very talented seamstress to make them for you for a hefty price, but as I AM a very talented seamstress and I'm cheap...) And so I now have fabric for two new projects (not like I didn't already have fabric in my 16-rubbermaid-bins-fabric-stash - known henceforth as "The Stash" - but I didn't have the fabric needed for these two specific projects. Nuance!)

Project 1: Medieval Heraldic Tabard (with my SCA registered Device)

In the SCA, I am know as Mórag filia Scayth, and though I'm not a Lady yet (still waiting patiently for my AoA *hint*), I already have a device which was registered at Pennsic 36. I've been thinking of making myself a heraldic tabard for awhile now and the cotton twill was on sale, so following this sign from the Gods *ahem*, I got all the fabric I need and I hope to make it soon, possibly to wear at the next event I go to (hopefully that will be Fête des Bois in Canton du Boisé Ardent on September 5th, especially since the King and Queen will be there *hint*).

Also, I made myself a dress years ago, inspired by Michaela de Bruce's 14th century cote (which is now nowhere to be found on her website) which is basically a white princess line dress with round neckline and 3/4 sleeves that are split on the inside up to the elbow, with the neckline and sleeve cuffs decorated with lace flowers (pink on Michaela's, yellow on mine). The sad thing is, I have nothing to wear it with! So now I will! (If you still wonder what that dress might look like, I suggest you check out Nancy-Raven's version of what we both call "The Glittersweet Cote".)

Project 2: Tartan Taffeta Victorian Ballgown

In my History of Costume class (Fall 2008), my teacher was presenting Victorian fashion when she showed the following picture:

I fell in love! I knew I wanted one. As soon as I got home, I got on the computer to look through the McCord Museum images collection, found it and saved it for futur references (By the way, it is an 1860 dress worn by Mrs. Ogilvie at a ball given in honour of the Prince of Wales.) Add to that my childhood memories of the Grands Ballets Canadiens' The Nutcracker where half of the girls are wearing tartan taffeta dresses and you will understand why when I found some tartan taffeta at 9.99$/metre with a "Buy 1 metre get 2 metres free" sign, I just couldn't resist! I bought 6 metres and the assistant manager (who knows me by now) that was cutting my fabric sold me the last metre of the roll as a fabric coupon for 1.80$. I am now the happy owner of almost 7 metres of red, black and royal blue tartan taffeta! Guess what I'm making myself for Yule?