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.

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".

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.

Another Faire season has come to an end and I was really hoping to have my 1590s gown finished in time for the last weekend. However, about a week out it was clear that I just didn't have enough time to get the various pieces finished and assembled, so I decided to do a last minute pivot back to my trusty  blue waistcoat .

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...).

When in doubt, make a ruff! I'm currently stuck between two half-started (read: stalled) projects...and when faced with indecision I do what I always do: accessorize !!!

A long overdue NorCal update! Back in early September I made my second ever trip to the Northern California Renaissance Faire. I really enjoyed my first visit --the location, with it's larger more northern trees, reminded me of Canadian Faires-- and I was really looking forward to going again. Hoping for a cooler event (compared to the SoCal Faire) I added a couple of layers to my waistcoat ensemble and drove the 5 hours north!

I had a week off work before the last weekend of this year's SoCal Faire, so I was able to make some new pieces to wear with my waistcoat for a much posher look.

(Note: This post was compiled before I realized that Blogger had a secret "enhance" feature that it automatically applied to all your photos.  I've since figured out how to turn it off, but I apologize for the crazy saturation and vignetting on some of the photos below.) Phew!!! So I finally finished the blue Elizabethan/Jacobean waistcoat I started planning...what? Three years ago? Yikes.