October 2022 trip to Marshall’s Fabrics in Edmonton

Trim at Marshall's in Edmonton, October 2022

Trim at Marshall’s in Edmonton, October 2022

I was up in Edmonton (well, Nisku) in October for a conference and thanks to some very generous folks who drove me up – and were willing to take a 20 minute detour – I was able to pop into Marshall’s after a LONG time since I was there last.

The last time I was up there was in the spring, but since I’d be walking around by myself afterwards, I only got a little bit of elastic when I was there, and not the meters of fabric I was tempted to get… prior to that I hadn’t been there since pre-covid I think.

I find it fun (ish) to look back at my “shopping” posts when I actually USE the fabric I bought (to see how long I stored it… LOL) so I figured I’d do a quick shopping post this time around too.

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Finnish Costume Capsule

My new Finnish Iron Age outfit, minus the underdress.

My new Finnish Iron Age outfit, minus the underdress.

One of the ‘wardrobes’ I’m examining for my Capsule Costume Collection is my Finnish Iron-Age costume ‘wardrobe’.

Finnish Iron Age capsule wardrobe

Calling my Finnish Iron Age costume items a  “wardrobe” is a bit ambitious really. Right now what I have for this costume amounts to very few garments.

  • I have one peplos-style overdress, and use the under dresses from my Viking Age wardrobe.
  • I also have a small selection of accessories including a hat, two coil-embellished apron panels, and a few pairs of mittens.
  • I also have jewelry like a set of brooches, and two necklaces. There are other accessories I would like to add (or improve upon what I have) like a knife.

However, each layer works well with other layers, and I think it’s another good candidate for a capsule wardrobe.

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Fabric, capsule collections & palettes

photo of my Byzantine costume with a palette generated by coolors.co

photo of my Byzantine costume with a palette generated by coolors.co

Palette developed by coolors.co for my Byzantine costume

I decided a while ago to focus my fabric collection and sewing projects around ‘capsule collections‘ – where I’d pick certain colourways for each costuming era I wanted to work on, and assign fabrics to them – letting me organize my fabric collection by projects, and trying to make my various items integrate with one another better. Continue reading