German split-brim hat – Historical Sew Monthly February 2017

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

In mid-January the SCA barony I live in celebrated the step-up of a new Baron and Baroness, who have German personas. To recognize their elevation in a symbolic kind of way, several of us planned to add German elements to our existing costumes. As I wasn’t entirely sure if I could pull together a new German gown in time for the coronet, I decided to start with accessories. First the Gollar I already posted about, and next a new hat.

2017 Costuming challenges – themes announced

On December 5th, 2016 the creator of the Historical Sew Monthly announced the themes for the 2017 challenges. I’m feeling very inspired by this next set of challenges, and in this article will brainstorm some of my ideas.

2017 costuming challenges

January: Firsts & Lasts – Create either the first item in a new ensemble, or one last piece to put the final fillip on an outfit.

Historical Sew Monthly December 2016

Complete “celebration” Italian outfit including the padded roll hat, teal figured velvet overdress, and green silk underdress with sleeves

The Challenge: December – Special Occasion: make something for a special event or a specific occasion, or that would have been worn to special event or specific occasion historically.

This project was started in the summer when it was announced that my SCA friend Caterina would be elevated to the Order of the Laurel (the highest honour and responsibility in Arts & Sciences). I finished the final touches on this costume RIGHT before her elevation on November 5th, making it timed perfectly for the December HSM challenge.

Historical Sew Monthly search

So.. I’m amused. I did a search for the Historical Sew Monthly on Google the other day, and saw that a bunch of the images in the regular search… are mine!

I took a look at the Image Search… and there are even more!

Screenshot of Google’s Image Search for Historical Sew Monthly

Do any of the photos look familiar to you?

The top line includes my Ottoman outfit (hot pink), my Byzantine outfit (the blue, red, and gold), linen and other Viking age hoods (green, blue, black), & another shot of my Ottoman outfit (pink and orange).

The last image in the second line is my German hat too…

Is this just MY view (sneaky Google) or does everyone see this?

Elizabeth Woodville portrait dress (part 2)

Me wearing the finished dress. I’m a bit bustier than the person it’s intended for, and I’m not wearing a shift under the dress

In an earlier post I showed off the initial ‘muslin’ or mock-up dress I made for a friend-of-a-friend. (Kadie/Sicillia) I made the mock up in a synthetic fabric which looks and feels a lot like smooth wool suiting, but once the muslin fit well, it was time to make the dress up in the final fabric – a black wool suiting with red brocade.

Direct link from Pinterest. Click for original, or the original source here.

As a reminder, above is the portrait we’re referencing for this costume… a portrait of Elizabeth Woodville.