Historical Sew Monthly 2017 in review

With the announcement of the 2018 challenges, and my completion of the December 2017 challenge, I thought it was time to do a little 2017 challenge review for the Historical Sew Monthly challenges.

January: Firsts & Lasts

My German Renaissance Split-Brim hat with grey ostrich feathers worn with my black velveteen Gollar and my Cranach gown costume.

Create either the first item in a new ensemble, or one last piece to put the final fillip on an outfit.

For this challenge I created a German Renaissance Gollar . (click for the full post)

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Horned Hennin (version 2)

Horned Hennin hat version 2 in dark red cotton velvet with faux pearl and metal embellishment

A while ago I made my first horned (or heart-shaped) hennin. Recently, a friend commented about wanting to make one of her own, but as we were discussing styles, I realized that she wanted a different style than what I had in mind.

I was tickled with the idea of trying a different method (and being able to help her do the same) so decided to look a little more at this style, to try to make a new horned hennin of my own.

My friend wanted to make a “Christine de Pizan double horned hat”, which led me to images like this:

Christine de Pizan book illumination

and this:

2018 Historical Sew Monthly Challenges

I started thinking about the 2018 Historical Sew Monthly challenges in early November when a friend of mine started a Stitch and Bitch group, with the hopes of having monthly garment-making challenges. The organizer hopes we’ll create documentation for a garment in one month, and then create the garment in the next month… with the goal of having 6 projects done and ready for an A&S competition by the end of the year.

I was up for the challenge… but honestly know that I can’t duplicate my efforts, so I wanted to tag-team this group with the Historical Sew Monthly challenges as well!

Golden Byzantine Accessories

Selfie in my new green silk block printed Byzantine gown with golden silk accessories.

In my previous post about my new (Pretty printed prancing period Persian ponies) Byzantine gown, I mentioned also making new accessories to wear with it – namely the collar (Superhumeral) and hanging panel.

Pretty printed prancing period Persian ponies

Painting in some of the details on the silk

For an A&S night (a SCA evening where we practice Arts & Sciences) one of the local artisans taught  a workshop on block-printing, and let me borrow two of her fabulous wooden blocks – winged horses based of an extant Persian fabric. While the original is woven, the blocks make great look-similar-from-a-distance printed fabric!

(Check out her page “Adventures in Block Printing” on Facebook here, and her original inspiration for this block here.)