50 things – Medieval Millinery starting 2024

15th century horned hennin. In this photo you can see the length of this particular veil.

In early 2024 I finally reached my SECOND “50 things“ challenge – making 50 things towards my main personas after the 50th anniversary.  I also showed off more than 50 things in other categories too, but decided once I reached the 50 things in my main category to start again… this time with a new “50 things” challenge.

The original challenge was to select either depth, or breadth… and I kind of did both. I selected depth – going towards my main personas, and breadth – also looking at other costuming areas, and largesse as well.

Starting in 2024 though I decided to really focus on one area that I think I might be best known for right now – medieval millinery.

Throwback Thursday – Viking Knit – my first time using silver

The silver wire chain, once through the smallest drawplate hole, is small enough for a Pandora-style glass bead!

This is another post that I started ages ago, saved as a draft… but forgot to post!

After feeling a lot more comfortable with Viking Knit (Trichinopoly) after a few successful projects in stainless steel and copper wire, I decided to buy some silver wire. (Almost twice the price.)

CoBloWriMo – August 21 – UFO

CoBloWriMo – Costume Blog Writing Month

Oh… the UFO… Unfinished projects. One of those things that torments me… they sit in my sewing room waiting to be finished. Sometimes when they start bugging me enough they go into a bag and into one of my fabric closets. If I can’t see them they can’t keep bothering me, right?

The CoBloWriMo prompt for today is UFO – and I’ll just show ONE of my UFOs… which I wish I were further along with.

A new material (to me!): Shrink Plastic!

Some of the shrink plastic projects before shrinking

A few years ago I was admiring the broach a co-worker was wearing, and she shared that she had made it herself – with shrink plastic! Even as a kid I don’t remember playing with ‘shrinky-dinks’ though I remember them… but it got me thinking. Of course, all of the cool shrink plastic projects on Pinterest and finished items for sale on Etsy didn’t hurt…

I wanted to try it too!

Unfortunately, I had a REALLY hard time finding shrink plastic that wasn’t pre-printed with  kid-centric designs. I tried the #6 plastic option instead (and still have a drawer full of take-out containers!) but the pieces just weren’t large enough for some of the things I had in mind. (Considering shrink plastic shrinks down to about half to 1/3 the size of the original.)

Renaissance Iron (wo) Man?

Full-length photo of the gown, taken late at night after the event

The more I looked at my Gamurra that I showed off yesterday, the more I started to think “it really has the colour scheme of the Iron Man costume (armor).

Then I found the Shear Madness Quarterly challenge #6 – “Twisted Historicals“… and I couldn’t stop thinking about a Renaissance take on the Iron Man costume – but of course for me instead of a masculine version.

““Twisted Historicals” – Costumes made using a historical genre as a base.  A Betty Boop Elizabethan, Steampunk Victorian, etc.  Must have a historical shape to it.  (January 2015 – April 2015)”

With an April 1st deadline, I’d still have plenty of time to finish this costume as a proper attempt at a 1480’s Florence gown.. and enough time to then tweak it and twist it into the Iron (wo) Man costume too… It’s something to ponder for sure!

I think a Pinterest board is coming! If you have any interesting takes on the Iron Man costume, please drop me a link in the comments below!