Hem & H.A*
(Historically Adequate)

This ruff is another piece that was originally planned for my presentation at the  Westcoast Elizabethan Clothing Symposium  ( "Wearing vs Styling: Accessorizing to Create a Period Look" ), which focused on using accessories to build a richer, more period wardrobe.  Specifically, it was meant to feature in  Part 3  of my talk, which centered on re-styling the same black fitted gown for different decades (from 1540-1650). 

As part of my talk for the  Westcoast Elizabethan Clothing Symposium ( "Wearing vs Styling: Accessorizing to Create a Period Look" ), I decided to attempt to make a pair of late 16th / early 17th century embroidered and decorated leather gloves.

Welcome to the "Little Black Dress Experiment"! This is truly Mixing & Matching gone mad. For a bit of context... Ages ago I got it into my head that it would be fun to re-style a black fitted gown in as many different ways —and for as many different decades—  as possible.

PART 3: TRANSFORMATIVE (Previous post: Part 2 Cost Effective ) Welcome to a  Part 3  of a recent talk I gave at the Westcoast Elizabethan Clothing Symposium entitled: " Wearing vs Styling: Accessorizing to Create a Period Look ". ~ Transformative In the previous section we experimented with building a basic capsule wardrobe by accessorizing a single foundational garment. It focused on creating variations on a similar look from broadly the same social status and period in time  (and in the case of the “Field of the Cloth of Gold” all the looks were originating from the exact same moment).

A peek into the underwear drawer... I was taking some photos for another big "Mix & Match" (teaser for a future post), when I realized that I don't have many --if any--  photos of what I'm wearing these days as foundation garments. So here they are! Over the linen smock are my trusty  black pair o' bodies and a red wool petticoat (with black worsted wool guards).

I'm still working through the backlog of pieces that I completed during lockdown but never got around to photographing. Next up: A 1590s loose gown. I realize that it's getting a bit cliche to describe every new outfit as having been "on the go for a while" but man...this one has REALLY been on the go for a while. Looking back at my old posts, I've been planning and working on this project for at least the last 10 years. 

As documented in an earlier post , I recently finished a brown wool doublet (well, not so recently, but we'll that that slide...) Made of scrap fabric, it was originally intended as a practice piece to learn some tailoring techniques, and as a result the design was always a bit of a hodge-podge. This made stying the outfit somewhat difficult, since without a firm inspiration image or decade to work from, everything just seemed a little  off.  

(NOTE: This project was started back in early 2020 and was finished at some point in 2022. Trying to piece together the process 3 years later has been... interesting .  So I apologize in advance if this whole post reads like a fever dream.) So... Despite this being my first attempt and more complicated tailoring techniques, I have to say that this project originally started as a bit of a "throw away".

I was mid write-up on an  upcoming post for an outfit inspired by the Dutch folk hero, Kenau Simonsdochter Hasselaer, when I realized this coif needed to be it's own post.   (Please excuse the weird, super wide-angle lens of the iPhone's reverse view ) Let me back up a bit... As part of my research into my Keanu inspired outfit I hit a stumbling block as to what sort of head covering to make. 

Another mini update! As the world opens up again (post lockdown) events are now a thing!  After two years hiatus, my local Renaissance Faire has re-opened its doors and so I decided to take advantage of a rare weekend of cool weather to debut a new outfit: a rust wool kirtle, which I had completed the previous year.

Let's take a trip back in time! I've completed quite a few outfits and/or pieces of outfits over the last few years, which --for one reason or another-- I've never documented. So let's start with a mini-post for my new ( read: not at all new ) Pair o' Bodies!

  Well, it's been a hot minute but I finally have an update for this (very neglected) blog! It's been a year (or three) of starts and stops. Despite the radio silence I've actually been working on quite a few slow-burn projects, including two that didn't quite go to plan.

I'm not exactly sure what this garment is meant to be... A gown? A kirtle? The inspiration came from the Trevelyon Miscellany of 1608, a collection of images appropriated and later redrawn and coloured by Thomas Trevelyon.

Here is the second of my Mix n' Match posts featuring the re-styling of my brown fitted gown . While I've incorporated several reoccurring elements and accessories from similar images, it's primarily an homage to the 1559 Doesburch family portrait.

It's been a bit of a quiet year on the blog. But I promise more has been going on behind the scenes. Since finishing the  brown fitted gown last summer I've been assembling various accessories (sleeves, petticoats, jewelry etc) in the hopes of eventually doing an epic 16th century "Mix 'n Match" photoshoot!

So I decided I needed a new foundation garment!  I also wanted to re-draft my kirtle bodice (again) and experiment with less boning...or in this case, no boning at all. To that end I made a my first set of petticoat bodies!

Here is what I hope to be the final construction/dress diary entry for my  brown fitted gown  now that all the loose ends have been (literally) tied up...Only this time it's been re-accessorized in the style of a Lucas de Heere print! This is the first time I've actually tried to reproduce a documented period image and while it wasn't totally successful the process was a lot of fun and definitely one I'd like to repeat.

At long last, the (at this point almost mythic!) Brown Fitted Gown is finally complete!!!   Frankly, I wasn't at all sure it would ever get finished! Especially considering that the first version was sketched out just shy of five ( FIVE! )  years ago, when I first conceived of the project and started this blog.  The design was tweaked several times along the way, with progress --or lack thereof-- chronicled in increasingly intermittent posts over the last few years ( YEARS! ).

Finally! The "Kirtle of Perpetual Procrastination" is complete! I'm now one step closer to finishing that elusive fitted gown outfit that I started planning an  embarrassingly  long time ago (like, an absurdly long time ago...to that point that it's getting ridiculous).

I hope you're not bored of my blue waistcoat yet...cause here it is again! This time with the ruff I just completed. This version was originally intended for my first trip to the new-ish Nottingham festival in Simi Valley back in November. I wasn't able to go in the end, but at least I've finally got some photos to prove the outfit exists! (Though my old computer finally gave up the ghost and very nearly took all of them with it...).