Everything's Coming Up (Tudor) Roses

I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged--especially because so much faire excitement has happened since then! So I will try to bust out all of the missing entries to get this Elizabethan train back on track. We left off getting ready for a trip to the grandest show of them all, the Northern California Renaissance Faire!

Ye crew! My sister looks enthusiastic as always, ha ha.

Mom, Veronica, Goody McMannis, and I headed to the Oktoberfest weekend of Northern, and we had hotel reservations so we could stay the whole weekend. Fortuitously, an historical costume contest was added to the schedule on the Saturday. Of course, I couldn't pass that up! But what to wear?!! There was no possible way that I could get my blue and orange waistcoat done in time, especially by hand and with all of that trim (it's now April and I'm still working on it). And nothing else I had was contest worthy. So I had the genius/crazy idea of sewing a new waistcoat by half machine/half hand in a week! Plus, JoAnn's had a perfect tan wool that was very similar to the commoner's waistcoat that the lovely Tudor Tailor ladies brought to their Vallejo workshop over the summer. So off I went!

With Frida Kahlo's help, naturally!

As per usual, I made no mock-up, did no fitting, and just went for it! I am ever the sewing daredevil. It was a smashing success, I must say! I even had enough time to hand sew all of the hems (so that I wouldn't hate it later). The only issue I had was that I sewed the gores in by machine, and it just pulled all wrong (the photo with the number down below shows the problem), but that was easily remedied the following week. I managed to hand sew a plain apron to finish off the look, and made a new hat for my Ottoman Turkish look that I wore on the Sunday. Not bad for a week!!

The apron definitely looks cuter with 16th century clothes!

This was such a fun hat to make. What a showstopper!

I actually remembered to take a few candid shots to spice this post up, including the requisite selfie (or Holbee, as the Elizabethan Costume Facebook group calls them). On the other hand, I managed to forget entirely to get a shot of us in our Turkish looks on day two. I know, I know, bad blogger!

Blue steel!

I'm really starting to love my Elizabethan look.

And now, that moment you've all been waiting for...the main event...the costume contest!! I was so eager to compete that I was the first contestant to sign up, so I got to rock the #1 sign!

That makes me the number one contender, right?!

I rocked the stage early-modern style and earned third place! Outfit looks pretty damn good, if I do say so myself, especially given how quickly it was put together. Even better, Her Grace Queen Elizabeth whispered to me as she gave me my prize that I was HER favorite--so in my book, I earned the win!!!

That, however, was not the best part of the costume contest. My look caught the eye of the Assistant Guild Mistress of St Luke's, the middle-class guild at Northern, and I heard through the lovely proprietress of Farthingale Enterprises (the sewing notions booth that I blow all of my money in at faire) that they were interested in meeting me! Luckily we were staying the whole weekend, and the next day I found myself in an impromptu interview with the Guild Mistress--with an invitation to do a test run with St. Luke's the next weekend!! If there was ever an occasion to shout huzzah, this was it. HUZZAH!!

As you can guess, my next entry will be about Northern again, but this time from the other side of the curtain! Everything's coming up (Tudor) roses!!

Sweet as a Nut

"As sweete as a nutt, a good naturd girle I tell thee."

--John Cleaveland, Club Law, c. 1600

Threediculous at Southern 2013

         Luckily, I have always had family and friends who have been willing to be dragged along to Renaissance faires all across the state of California.  My usual crew is my mother Tammy and my sister Veronica, and together we refer to ourselves as "Threediculous" for visits to faire and trips to Disneyland.  I went to my first Renaissance faire, at Blackpoint, while still in the womb and developed my love of early modern historical reenactment through some kind of osmosis.  I was then born with an addiction to the Elizabethan era that has manifested itself in multiple costumed trips to faires throughout the year, plans to start a renfaire business for 2014, and an ongoing master's thesis on the Elizabethan kitchen.

     I am not alone in my quest to become a Renaissance merchant, fortunately, as I have found a comrade-in-arms in my longtime close friend Becky, aka Goody McMannis.



Goody McMannis at Bombay Lounge discussing business

She has joined me as my associate in our prospective business (top secret--to be revealed hopefully soon!!!), and so together we are trying to build appropriate wardrobes for the working 1590's woman.  Our first major clothing item we're making together is a waistcoat/jacket from the Tudor Tailor, pages 84-85.  Since we are portraying merchants of the middling sort, our version will land somewhere between this:


Lady Dorothy Cary, 1615, by William Larkin

 and this:


Woman spinning outdoors in the Pepys Ballads

Yesterday, we scaled up the pattern from the book by eyeballing it onto 1" grid Christmas wrapping paper.  By a stroke of luck, I currently happen to be the same measurements as the book, and so a mockup should reveal if my laissez faire method works.

Pattern pieces all done!

       Becky and I also tested out a recipe for candied walnuts from Sarah Longe's 1610 receipt book, transcribed in Folger Shakespeare Library's Fooles and Fricassees.  Though delicious, the recipe still needs a little adjustment.  If we're successful, we will be offering them in our booth next year!

CANDY!!

Goody McMannis doing her part

Consulting Mrs. Longe, my fav receipt book author!

     With my thesis nearly done and plans heavily underway for our booth and my Elizabethan wardrobe, things are starting to sweeten up around here!