Keep Calm and Craft On -16 May 2017

I don’t have a real post for Keep Calm and Craft On because I haven’t really done any knitting this week.  I have been doing a lot of research.  I’m getting back into the SCA and need so new garb.  I whipped up some quick garb for the event Ella and I attended last summer.  Remember this:

Late period Russian peasant.  It was cool and easy, but it’s not the persona I really want.  My plan is late period Elizabethan Welsh yeoman farmer’s wife.  This way I get use some of the really cool Elizabethan pieces but made with fabrics I have/can afford.

As with most garb/costumes you have to work from the inside out.  So I need a high neck shift, a petticoat, and a pair of bodyes (Elizabethan for corset).  I’m making the bodyes lace in the front and back for better fit.

Unlike the 1800’s, a pair of bodyes isn’t just ‘underwear’:

Add a pair of sleeves and it’s perfectly good outerwear.

Add a doublet on top of the ‘bodyes’ (minus the sleeves) and you are ready for a trip to Market.

A final option is the gathered kirtle:

Add sleeves and it’s a gown on its own.  Or it would go under the doublet/jacket.  Or it can also be the underdress to an open front Elizabethan.

I’m just not sure what colours to use.  Elizabethans loved to mix colours.  Especially someone of my status who might be making/buying my clothes piecemeal as I could afford the expense.  I have 6 m of red wool crepe, 5 m of fine black wool, and 3 m of very dark green twill (cotton/poly??).  I’m thinking of saving the black for a kirtle.  It’s really nice quality (bought for a suit back in my office days) and it deserves something special.

 So do I make the bodyes (and sleeves) and petticoat with the red? Use the green for a separate skirt/petticoat.  And then buy some other colour? for a doublet?  Man I wish I were creative, I have such a hard time with this.  I need to decide soon because Fabricland has linen on sale for May.

I really like this look.  She has a red petticoat over a pink one (yes pink is an Elizabethan colour).  She’s wearing a green pair of bodyes under a blue doublet (I love that colour).