Weaving Snartemo

The An Tir weave was about half-finished earlier this week and I was determined to get it finished.  I didn't work on it at all over the weekend, so I spent a couple evenings this week finishing it up. I posted it on my FB page and got a request for the price.  I am willing to barter, of course, so price is negotiable. I don't know what John can offer in terms of trade--I know he has mad skillz with automobiles, but I have no need for these skills at the moment.  Perhaps he has other virtues that he has not yet revealed...

Here is the weave all finished up, ends twisted and tied, and wrapped neatly in a spool.  Like the others, it measures about four yards and is 15 mm wide.

Not to be without a weaving project for long, I laid up in bed overnight thinking of what I could do next.  WELL!  I came upon an idea.

For the next Costumer's Guild challenge, I would like to focus on something Norse.  Whether or not I focus on the Greenland finds or just general Norse--Scandinavian, for example--I haven't decided.  There are several patterns in the Greenland finds book I picked up that has lots of pieces in it, a variation of men's, women's and children's. I need three garments and three accessories, and I'm not entirely sure if there are pieces enough to outfit one guy--I know there are patterns for tunics, coats, hose, and hoods, but that still leaves me a couple garments short of a wardrobe.

However, I thought it would be great to create some documentable Norse trim.  I combed the internet and came across this site for Shelagh's weaving. In it, there are references to a few extant examples and the patterns for how to re-create them.  I chose the Snartemo II weave, which is unusual as it has skip-hole weaving techniques.  The skipped holes does not show up in this weave, but with the way it is threaded, the cards tend to turn in whatever way they want, so I employed a pencil drawn through the holes to keep them from shifting.  This pattern comes from two grave burials in the southern part of Norway in Hægebostad.  I guess there are several tablet weavings found there, so I'll have to look to see if I can find more.  This site has a few patterns and fun things to try next time.  There are also a number of patterns found in Birka that can be researched, but if I'm going to try to make 14th century Greenland, then 8th to 11th century trim won't work, will it?  I'll have to think on it some more.  I only set it up to weave about two yards rather than the whole four yards, just to see what it looks like.  I think I'll make an Apron dress and put this around the top or use it for the shoulder straps.  Or both.  I don't know how far those two yards will go...

When I finish this one, I may go ahead and find something to work on from the Birka finds.

More Weaving!

New piece finished:


And another one started!  I will be working on this at Ursulmas in the Ursulwyk A&S area during the weekend.  I may bring some other things to work on, too, but only if I think I'll get bored with weaving.


Gotta round up all the pieces that I will be putting out for sale at Gypsy Caravan, label them with prices on my little SCA calling cards, and tie them on.

Then I have to pack up all the stuff for the weekend.  I'm planning, again, to bring all the Costumer's Guild stuff, although I didn't make any headway to finding judges for it.  If I happen to find a couple, I will see what I can do, but I'm not really planning on having anything happen.  Like I said before, if I don't bring it, people will ask and I will regret not having it with me.  If I do bring the stuff, and they don't ask, then I will have at least been prepared.  No regrets.

See you!
Elewys

Back to Weaving

After getting back from 12th Night, I realized that it was 12 short days to Ursulmas, and if I wanted to get a piece of weaving or two done before the event, I better get on it!  I still have a few pieces from last year and a couple pieces that I've made during the year, as well as a piece that I was commissioned from me...but after 10 months of no payment, I'm going to check with her to see if I can go ahead and sell it.  I can make another one when she has the money again.  It's a fairly simple pattern and it looks really awesome...and I think the colors I had at the time were not quite the colors she wanted anyway.

It's been nice to get my fingers back into the threads, and I finally finished the Ithra weave that I started many months ago.  I estimated how long it took me to weave one repeat, how long each repeat was, and the finished length, and I concluded that it takes about 20 hours to weave 4 yards of card weaving.  I don't weave this nearly as tightly as others do--I don't beat as hard as someone like Master Fiacha--but I like the look and the suppleness of a slightly looser weave.

And having finished (mostly) the Journeyman level rank for Costumer's Guild, I started making plans for the Scholar level.  Looks like I need to make 3 garments, 3 accessories, do some teaching, writing, judging, and 3 more "entrant's choice".  I thought I'd make Kelly look amazing and do a couple of different tunic styles, a surcoat, pants, hood and hat.  The rest I'll have to figure out as I go along.  If I work really hard, I think I could get all the garments done by July Coronation...but that's going to be a lot of hand sewing seams and things.  The decorations will probably be the hardest part, like the decorative seam finishes.  Luckily, I can present a few pieces at a time; I don't have to do one "big reveal" like I was going to do with the Journeyman stuff.

Costumer's Guild Online Challenge

Well, it appears that there isn't going to be a rank challenge this weekend.  The guild has lost a lot of officers, one of them being Challenges Coordinator.  I am really quite crushed that all the hard work I put in to meet the deadline is for naught.  How do I feel about this?  (Warning:  language ahead)

And since some of my records had been lost, I figured I'd just start from the beginning to make sure that all the elements for each rank has been covered and that there is no duplication.  So now, out of interest for a few people who wanted to see what I had done, I present to you Elewys's Online Costumer's Guild Journeyman Rank Challenge.

I gathered some of my favorite references and went to the Costumer's Guild Rank Challenges page online to find out what needed to be done.  I am also the self-appointed Google Queen, so I was able to find a number of fantastic online references and research that other people are doing, which helped springboard me to the right sources.

To keep things organized, I got a binder and put plastic page protectors in it to hold all the documentation.  In it, I had an introductory page, outlines of each challenge, and cover pages for each entry.  I also included a list of sources for each entry, but since I've always been bad at doing the bibliography *perfectly* according to whoever decides the proper form of listing sources is (which seems to change bi-monthly), I just listed them however I wanted.  Mostly alphabetical, some by type, but I tried to always include author, publisher, and date with web addresses if applicable.

For my Junior rank, I had to only prove that I had taken a class in costuming.  The University of Ithra has all the records available online, so you just have to click "students" and search by student name. I printed out my entire Ithra records and highlighted all the costume-relevant classes, which was just shy of 20 (it would include more if you count spinning, nalbinding, survey of tailoring books, smocking, etc.).  For my credits, I chose to apply Basic Rectangular Construction, which I took in 1996 from Master Eduardo.  I put those in page protectors and put them in the binder...all of it.  275 credits of every class I have taken since 1991.

The next rank is Senior.  For this rank, you must do five things.  You must show one garment, one accessory, and two of any of the following:  Take a class, enter a contest, provide service to the Costumer's Guild, teach a class, or write an article for the costumer's guild newsletter.  For the fifth element, it's Challenger's Choice: you may choose any of the categories listed above.

One garment:  a 14th century Viking tunic, based on Bocksten bog find, child size.  Wool, dyed in onion skins.  Edges finished with wool yarn, blanket stitched.

The original tunic (above); my tunic (below).

One accessory: 14th century liripipe hood, wool lined with linen.  Admittedly, not my best entry since the fabric pattern choice may not be period and the construction was done in two pieces rather than having inserted gores over the shoulders or in the back, but it has the proper silhouette and materials choice.  It looks very much like a Greenland find, Herjolfsnes #66.

Write an article for the Costumer's Guild Newsletter.  I wrote an article for the Murmurs, the Aquaterra Newsletter, which was later re-published in the Costumer's Guild Newsletter at 12th Night 2010.  It was entitled, "Turkish Women's Clothing," and included all the details of the layers of clothing that women wore in Turkey, as well as other parts of the Ottoman empire.  Different cultures called them different things in the local languages, but it covered the cakshir, gomlek, chirka, and entari.

I also listed two classes:  one, "Costume History" was taken 1993.  One class taught, "Making a Bocksten Bog Style Tunic" which I taught in 2008.

Then, the Journeyman challenge.  This is a Magnum Opus...to me, it seems even more difficult than the Scholar rank, which keeps everything in one culture and time period.  The Journeyman rank is meant to show breadth of knowledge.  Using this chart, one must choose 10 items that fit into these various categories, noting that no more than two items can be in any one column or row.  

Location and Culture	pre-600	600-899	900-1199	1200-1399	1400-1499	1500-1549	1550-1599	1600-1650
British Isles
France and the Low Countries
Germanic Cultures
Iberian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
Middle Eastern/North Africa/ Greece
Scandinavia
Slavic Cultures/Eastern Europe/ Russia
Eastern Asia/Nomad
Other/None of the above

Further, the items chosen must be:

*  Two garments

*  Two accessories

*  Two items in the Teaching/Writing category

*  Two items in the class/contest/service/judging category

*  Two items, Challenger's Choice

After much thought and planning, I chose

1st Garment:  14th century Middle Eastern Pirihan, based on extant garment from Persia.  I used cotton, just as the original was, although the fabric I chose was muslin and a bit denser.  I did not embroider on it--I don't really do embroidery--and I made the sleeves shorter for convenience and work friendliness.  I'm not sure if this is meant to fit loosely or snug, but I chose to keep it loose for comfort...it's going to have at least two more layers on top of it anyway.  I also finished the neckline, unlike the original, which was not even cut--never worn.  I created an opening to the waist, as is mentioned in some 16th century first-hand accounts of Western visitors.

2nd garment:  16th century Flemish gown (1560s)

It's rather difficult to see what the gown looks like when I'm not actually wearing it, but suffice it to say, it's a fairly simple garment.  The period piece is covered by a white partlet on the top, but in general, it's an open-front bodice with wide lacing, and a gathered skirt that may (or may not) be sewn in the front up to the thigh.  It is often covered by an apron, so it's difficult to tell.  Mine is made with fulled wool, lined bodice but unlined skirt.

1st Accessory:  16th century Elizabethan Ruff (1575-ish).  This is another item I was unsure about because of the construction technique.  The more I did the research for the documentation, the more I found no support for the method of construction that I was taught by my Mistress.  While it looks right and it fits well, it isn't made entirely period (that I can document).  I may take the white muslin and make a new ruff using period construction techniques.  It also needs washing.  I meant to do that prior to the weekend...like today...

It was made with cotton muslin and had factory-made lace added to the edge.  Inside is a length of horsehair to add stiffening to the edge.

No idea who this lady is, but this is essentially the look the ruff has, except that mine has lace on the edge.

2nd Accessory:  15th century Pilgrim bag.  I made this bag from two types of linen--a fine linen for the interior and a coarser linen for the exterior.  The reasoning being that if something small spilled inside, like seed beads, they wouldn't fall into the lining and get caught forever.  Antler button and string acts as a closure.

Two items in teaching & writing:

Pre-600:  The "Bog Coat" Examined:  Denmark's Bronze Age Shirt from the Borum Eshoj Dig (ready for publication)

Taught:  Pattern Drafting, 2012.

Two classes taken:

Medieval Underwear, 2003

Shirts & Smocks, 2003

Two items, challenger's choice:

1st:  11th-13th century Egyptian Knit Socks

These were modified a bit to fit me, and I didn't do the cast-off correctly at the top.  The pattern was drawn up by me, and then compared to another researcher, Dar Anahita, whose pattern differed very slightly, but hers looked better, so I altered mine to match hers.  

2nd:  Class taken:  Picture Parsing, 2003.

So there it is, Ladies and Gentlemen.  My brief presentation of my Costumer's Guild Junior, Senior and Journeyman ranks.  Hopefully I'll get a chance to challenge it for real this year.  In the meantime, I can make a couple of modifications to ensure that I get more positive remarks on the judging sheets.

Journeyman's Challenge

I've been spending the last few days finishing up the paperwork on the Costumer's Guild Journeyman's challenge.  I had to start from scratch since the records from the Junior and Senior levels were lost somewhere.  I received the gems in the mail for having achieved them, but when I went back to do my Journeyman stuff, they were not able to locate it.  Then I couldn't remember exactly what it was that I had entered, so I wasn't sure what I could enter for Journeyman.  It was a fiasco.  In short, I decided I'd just start over.

For the Junior level, you just have to prove that you have made a garment or taken a costuming class.  Easy enough.  Do you know how many costuming credits I've earned?  Lots.  I chose Basic Rectangular Construction, a class I took in 1996.  Done.

Senior level is a bit more complicated.  You need to make a garment, make an accessory, and two of the following:  take a class, enter a contest, provide service to the guild, teach a class, or write an article for the guild newsletter.  Then, you have a choice of any of the previously mentioned items.  I chose:
* Garment:  14th century Tunic (child size)
* 14th century Liripipe hood (also child size)
* Class:  Costume History (1993)
* Taught:  Making a Bocksten Bog style tunic (2009)
* Article for newsletter:  Turkish Women's Clothing article

So that's all done.  Now for the tough part.  The Journeyman's level.  This is a mixed bag of requirements that took more than a few minutes to wrap my head around.

First, there's a written test.  I haven't taken it yet, but I'm supposedly allowed to take a gander at some sample questions prior, but I may just go ahead and take it.  Hopefully that can be accommodated.

Then, there are 10 requirements.  Now, the time frame that the SCA operates in is from approximately 600 AD to 1650 AD.  These time frames are broken down into 8 time ranges on the X axis of the chart:  pre-600; 600-899; 900-1199; 1200-1399; 1400-1499; 1500-1549; 1550-1599; and 1600-1650.  No more than two entries can be in any one of these time frames.  So you can have three different tunics, but only 2 can be from the 14th century, and the third has to be from another time period.  OK.  Easy enough.

Now, here's the curve ball.  The chart is then broken down into 10 categories on the Y axis.  You've got British Isles; France & the Low Countries; Germanic Cultures; Iberian Peninsula; Italian Peninsula; Middle Eastern/North African/Greece; Scandinavia; Slavic Cultures/Eastern Europe/Russia; Eastern Asia & Nomadic; and None of the Above.  Each of those categories falls under the same guideline:  no more than two items can fall into any one of those categories.  Again, three tunics:  two can be Scandinavian, but the third must be from somewhere else.

Ready for the kicker?  You need two garments, two accessories, two teaching/writing, two classes/contests/services/judging, and two items of the challenger's choice.  So you can do four tunics...but then you have to make other stuff and stuff.  Are you as exhausted as I am?  Good.  I hate feeling this way alone.

So...after much agonizing, re-arranging, and a little bit of cursing as I agonized and re-arranged some more...I came up with this:
Garments:  14th century Middle Eastern chemise; 16th century Flemish Gown
Accessories:  16th century Elizabethan ruff; 15th century Pilgrim bag (counts as French, I think)
Teaching/writing:  Pre-600 "Bog Coat" article (ready for publication); Pattern Drafting (taught 2012)
Other: Medieval Underwear (class, 2003), Shirts & Smocks (class, 2003)
Challenger's choice:  11th century Egyptian socks; Picture Parsing (class, 2003)
And for the bonus, just in case something is thrown out:  14th century Italian Ren Chemise (class 1993)

I have gathered up all my pieces, written up my documentation, printed and put it into a binder, and now have to pack it into a suitcase, clean out the car, get the oil changed, finish this week's chaos and mayhem, and then I can head down to the event. 

In the meantime, I'm finishing up on the Turkish entari I made last week by making woven buttons to put on it. I have 3 finished, one in process, and I figure if I make six or eight, that should be enough to decorate the coat.  I was really excited to see this--it's fairly quick, easy and inexpensive, and it looks sharp!  The wooden beads show through more with the flash than they do in average sunlight. I can't wait to see what it looks like on my new coat!