OK, so I have decided to take the plunge and venture out into the blog-o-sphere. I am a member of the SCA and have just become addicted to reading everyone's costuming diaries over the past year, so I thought "Why not?" besides, it might be good for me to actually write down some of my research and documentation plus get feed back from people who do this too. This might be something of a bonus since I seem to be the only person in my local area who is interested in late period English/Venetian clothing. And by late period I mean after 1450. Everyone around here seems to be focused on Viking, and I look horrible in an apron dress. Besides, in my real life, I am the only female in a bunch of male engineers. Older male engineers. Men who seem to think that wearing pink in the office means your brain doesn't work that day. One of my best friends has now stated that I only wear black and brown with the occasional grey thrown in for a change. So I want to be GIRLY when I go play. I want to wear colors other than the above listed. I want to show more than two inches of skin between my eyebrows and toenails. I other words, I want to look and act like a girl. This is new development in life for me, so we'll see how long it lasts.
Anyway, I have been uber-inspired by the work of several online folks who are out here and I have some VERY serious deadlines to meet, so I am hoping this record will keep me on track and inspired to complete my projects.

So my SCA persona is named Allessia Wallace. She is married to a "Maritime entrepreneur" named Ravenswar Brachae (who is conveniently played by my own husband) Her father is a minor nobleman on the English side of the Scottish border and her mother is an ex-courtesan from Venice. Of course, no one knows that here in England, but her daughters are very educated and slightly risque. And I actually rejected my father first choice of husband for me, so Mother found me one more to my liking. And we did get Father's blessing....Eventually.

So I have been making a chemise. And embroidering the wrists and neckline. I used the custom smock generator from the Elizabethan costuming Page, and I found a pattern in my wanderings online that claimed to be a blackwork pattern from an Italian Sampler from 1600, I don't know how accurate that is but I liked it and it looks similar to some of the chemise embroidery that you see on Eleanor of Toledo (with whom I am quickly becoming obsessed) So I am about 3/4 of the way there. Did I mention that the deadline was this weekend? Yup, I'm a crazy embroidering fool. I've gotten the sleeve cuffs done and 1/2 the neckline, so I'm hoping to get the rest of the neck finished by Wednesday and assemble and hem on Thursday.
So that's deadline and project number one. Finish chemise by Thursday.

And Ravenswar and I are going to the Texas renaissance Festival on it's final weekend, November 19-20, and I want a new dress. A new Venetian dress (or Elizabethan, I can't decide which to do first) This is an annual event for us, almost an anniversary type thing. We normally go on the first or second weekend, but this year didn't work out that way, so we are going much later. I am hoping this means I can wear a real dress and not die of heat exhaustion. I am taking lighter clothing just in case, but I'm really hoping to get something new and pretty completed. That's project number 2, decide on dress, pattern and finish by 11/18.

Did I mention that I'm crazy? But, maybe it can be done? The chemise was only started last week, and I didn't really start hard and heavy until Friday. And like every other costumer I've read about, I have hoarded fabric and trim, just waiting for the right time to complete the project. I have a whole sewing room just STUFFED. I am already in the fabric purchasing penalty box. No more new fabric until I complete some of the existing projects that are still in the idea stages.

So here is the list of possible future projects in no particular order:
1. Red velvet dress with gold couching based on a patriot of Eleanor of Toledo. I have all the materials for this except the thread and the guts to start.
2. A Tudor gown with the wide furlined sleeves.
3. A Venetian Courtesan Dress with ladder lacing in the front. I have some gold brocade that is just screaming to be this dress, but it means that husband and I will match. With lots and lots of gold brocade. Gleaming in the sun, blinding casual passers by. I don't know, I may have to think about that one again. This fabric was originally to be the Tudor dress above and I bought mink fur to link the sleeves. Real mink, real expensive mink, (rereading sentence) yup, I'm officially crazy. I just realized that I have 10 yards of gold brocade, 3 pretty good mink coats, lining fabric, thread, real pearls for accents and jewelry and I'm rethinking my design. This is why I need to actually start and finish the projects, not just collect bits. I think it's called ferret shock. Continuing on...
4. White brocade doublet with pearl embroidered black velvet cape and slops based on a Sir Francis Drake painting (picture to come) I have all of the fabric and notions for this one too...
5. Some peasanty type clothing for camping and grungy work.
6. Choli and underskirt for my Gold Sari for VERY HOT events. Most of my events actually fall in this category due to where I live. Those of you in the MS, LA, TX, AR area understand that it can be 102 degrees with 99 percent humidity and not be raining.
7. Hubby fighting gear.
8. Finish Cohair's Charles de Blois coat (only button holes left, but DANG there are a bunch of the little buggers)
9. Finish Mistress Julian's dress (refitting necessary, and I want to put tippets and she wants a white band on the bottom.)
10. My new fighting tunic and pants.

Holy COW. That's a bunch of projects. And those are the ones I've thought through and have bought stuff for. OK, so that's a list to make one focus a little tighter. Well, embroidered smock first. And then we'll see were this goes.

Hoping to post some serious achievements tomorrow and maybe pictures if I can get the camera to work. However, I have just discovered that I am too tired/inexperienced with this whole blogging thing to figure out how to make the pictures go where I want the to. What am I doing wrong? They are only posting at the top of the page, not in the text where I want them. I'll try to figure that out later.....