Kaarina Iron Age Hat

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Photo above from Beothuk’s Flickr feed. Direct link, no copyright violation intended.

In another instalment of “how much work can I do last-minute before an event?” I decided to tackle the Kaarina Iron Age (Finnish) hat.

This is a much-later post, as I actually made this earlier, but never actually finished it off, so put off posting this. As I’m going through my archive of drafts, I figured I’d share it – even in the stage it’s in.

New veil & my very late entry into the Historical Sew Monthly January challenge

I’ve gotten a lot of wear out of the veil I made to go with my Byzantine outfit in January 2016, but I noticed that it had stained lightly with wet, freshly dyed hair… so when I was washing fabric for the fourth version of my horned hennin, I decided to wash up enough linen to cut a new veil as well.

Marking linen for a half-circle veil.

Based on Fabrics-Store’s linen, I’d estimate this around 3-4 oz/yd, though I bought it from a different seller who doesn’t note the weight of the fabric. My previous veil used 2.8 oz/yd linen from Fabrics-Store.

I folded the fabric in half, and marked out 71cm from the centre in an arch to make a quarter-circle on the fold – to make a new half-circle veil (the shape I find attractive and versatile).

My previous veil was entirely hand-hemmed… but I didn’t really feel like spending that kind of time on this one. I ended up doing a stitch, turn and press, turn and press and stitch on it by machine instead.

I did add the same embroidered “L” to one of the corners like I did on my last veil though…

The result is a heavier veil than the other one I have – I think it will work well for styles where I wear it under another hat (like my Byzantine costume) but I don’t think it works well on the soft collapsible horned hennins that I made. So… for that – I’ll be making another 2.8 oz white linen veil instead!

 

The Challenge: January 2020: Timetravelling Garments: Create an item that works for more than one historical era, or that can be used for both historical costuming, and modern wear. It could be an apron that could do 1770s or 1860s in a pinch, a shift that can work under many decades of fashion, or a historical cape you also wear everyday, etc.

I am getting to the 2020 Historical Sew Monthly challenges EXTREMELY late, but this project suits this theme, so I’m calling it good. I’ll be able to wear this veil through several different costume projects – my Byzantine and 15th Century costumes specifically.

Material: 100% linen

Pattern: 1/2 circle, marked directly on fabric

Year: generic medieval – suitable for my 11-15th century costuming

Notions: thread

How historically accurate is it? The shape seems to suit many paintings and illuminations. The construction is entirely by sewing machine.

Hours to complete: About 10 minutes to cut, another 45 to hem and embroider.

First worn: not yet

Total cost: The linen was on a great sale for $4.95/yard (USA site plus shipping)  and this veil took just under a meters, but the leftover bits from the half-circle being cut out went into making my fourth version of a horned hennin.

A (twisted) Mad Hatter’s Hat – Complete

A Mad Hatter style hat for a costume party

Ages ago I posted the construction details for a Mad Hatter style hat for an event – however I ended up getting sick right before the event, and never finished off the last few details of the rest of the costume – and ended up not attending the event. 

SCA involvement

Award of Arms

I understand that part of the SCA involves lots of challenges and commemoration, so I thought I’d try to keep track of things as much as I was able. There’s some things I’ve totally forgotten or never picked up on to begin with at all because I hadn’t even thought of recording it!

This post is really more as a way of recording things for me… and honestly, I doubt anyone else would be interested. It’s also subject to be updated as more information arises.

Montengarde’s Samhain 2020

Montengarde Samhain (Nov 6-8 2020) class: Making your viking age gear more specific

With the SCA needing to cancel all in-person events for North America, a lot of different SCA groups have chosen to move their events online. While Avacal (the SCA kingdom I’m in) ended up cancelling most of their events and not creating virtual versions – they did end up doing an online Grand TUA ( a series of workshops over multiple days) along with a few other online events.