No doubt about it...I'm one fancy gal. Ostentatious may as well be my middle name. Nowhere is that more apparent than in my faire projects. Evidence below, naturally.
Goody McMannis and I stepped out in style at the Sonora Celtic Festival to start the faire season out right! My giant ruff made its debut, paired with my first attempt at rolled hair. It's basically symmetrical victory rolls, which is no problem for a vintage gal. I originally intended to wetset it the night before to try the popular 1590s fryssed hair, but I didn't end up having the time. Hopefully I'll get a chance to test that style out at some point this year, and of course I'll be sure to document it here when I do. I really dug this whole look!!! In front of ye olde 19th century Blacksmith, of course.
However, I must confess that I am getting rather sick of the tan waistcoat + gray petticoat combo. I suppose it's because it is currently my only option. More incentive to get the blue waistcoat done and get a move on to my green kirtle. I definitely don't want to be stuck wearing this same outfit the entire run of Northern!!
I hadn't been to this faire since it was in its previous incarnation in Calaveras! The drive was great in my new Impala (Baby was made for road trips--town to town, two lane roads). The faire itself was really nice and we enjoyed ourselves. Definitely bring cash though if you go, even the ticket booth was cash only! Even though it's technically a Celtic festival, at least 2/3rds of the faire was historically-minded. Next year Becky and I hope to return--but this time as vendors!
Also, March features my favorite holiday--MY BIRTHDAY!! I managed to pick up a couple of Elizabethan books as gifts, Sleepless Souls: Suicide in Early Modern England by Michael MacDonald and Terence R. Murphy and Janet Arnold's posthumous Patterns of Fashion 4. As can be expected, PoF 4 is incredible, and the multitude of colored images take the cake. AND THEN ANOTHER MANIA STRUCK!!! Smock! An embroidered one, with a high neck and carnation-pink silk embroidery! Who could say no to that?? Since my name may as well be J. Thaddeus Toad, I am following my latest mania and have started researching, accumulating, and preparing to make my very own smock, while simultaneously continuing to work on my waistcoat. I ordered (and laundered) some beautiful linen from Wm. Booth Draper (WLG 105 ~4oz White Linen). I also ordered some really lovely silk thread for the embroidery, Soie Gobelins #2914. Of course I had to fall in love with a color that is inactive, and I've only tracked down two spools so far. Crossing my fingers that it will be enough!! The design is also pretty much finished, but it's still awaiting approval from my Guild Mistress, so no sense listing it yet. The base of it is the "Eglantine" pattern from Practical Blackwork (http://liadain.fatcow.com/id3.html). Although I have a lot on my costuming plate this year, someday my smock will come! (And hopefully before the end of Northern!)
If you thought I was snooty before, I assure you that my snobbery will soon be taken to whole new heights. You have been warned. I am signing up for the Cabinet of Curiosities course (http://www.thistle-threads.com/teaching/projects/onlineclasses/casket/casket_registration.html) as a present to myself for finishing graduate school. Be prepared for jealousy-inducing knowledge and embroidery goodies. Speaking of grad school, I successfully defended and submitted my thesis. Hardcore awesome!!! Umm, I mean, insooth, 'tis a glorious daye!! Yeah, that.
While I will not be surprised if others want to follow me down the path of historical snootiness, be wary that it comes with a price, and I don't mean just the price of silk and wool!
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