Weekend Update - Meeting the Curious Frau
I was up early on Saturday. Marion McNealy (AKA The Curious Frau) was giving three lectures on German clothing just a half hour down the road, and I was not going to miss the opportunity to 1) get to meet the Curious Frau and 2) finally see Camelot. My oldest friend from childhood lives in a cohousing community in VA, and back before I bought Frogholm I briefly looked into cohousing communities in the area. Apparently there is a SCA presence at Camelot. It pops up a lot on my friends of friends lists on Live Journals with an SCA connection.
I got out of the house in plenty of time, which was good because I needed it. I picked up lunch at Subway, then plugged the address into my Garmin. Damn, my maps are old and apparently Camelot didn't exist when I bought my Garmin. Too late to head back home and print out Google Maps. So I had my first experience with navigating via smartphone. I don’t like it. It’s awkward driving a stick and trying to pay attention to a phone that doesn’t talk to you. I much prefer the Garmin. Luckily, it was very easy navigating to Camelot Court, it was right off the highway. But once I got there, I realized I had to find the right building. I saw a couple walking to their car and asked for directions.
The lecture was in the community center. Marion had brought a projector and screen, and showed a BUNCH of slides. We also got a 50 page handout. And she brought her smock, half-hemd, campfrau gown and brustfleck to put on and demonstrate. And a bunch of various headwear pieces to show a Wulst, Wulsthaub, Schlier, Steuchlien, and Bundlein. And she brought a pile of books to pass around during lunch. OMG, I already ordered a couple off of Amazon. There was a book about the Sack of Rome! (I’ve been trying to find some research about the Sack of Rome for the past couple of years, there is very little available. How did I miss an entire book! *GLEE* Seriously, either Amazon just added these, or I’m an idiot for not finding it before.) Also books on mercenaries in Italy. And beautiful photos of museum objects.
I learned a ton. I took almost 16 pages of notes (I snagged a seat at the table in reach of an outlet, so computer was used for notetaking.) I took photos of some of the slides, but felt weird taking too many, as she mentioned that she’s writing a book. And some of the images I knew I already had on my computer.
Things I learned or need to think about/research some more:
• I’d never really looked at any of the tailor’s books before. Lots of stuff there.
• Some skirts were cut as a single piece with the bodice.
• Skirts for some gowns were cut as arches, not rectangles.
• Tailors made other things besides clothes (ecclesiastical stuff, tents, horsie stuff, wagon covers, etc.)
• Period evidence of darts, in both patterns and drawings of finished gown.
• Milch Schoben = Milk jackets, come in around 1530s.
• Tellerbarrett comes in around 1530s. Should we be wearing them?
• Need to reexamine what else starts changing in clothing at the end of the 1520s/beginning of 1530s.
• Hem lengths show class (can you walk up stairs w/o hiking your skirts, lady or servant…)
• More plundering, theft going on than we were thinking? Need to do some additional research.
• Sumptuary laws applied mostly to towns (farmers were out on their farms).
• Camp frau pack = 50 -60 pounds. Not a lot of room in the wagons. Again, need more research.
• At the end of the Thirty Years war, there were people who had been born into Landsknecht companies, who had never lived anywhere else, and did not know any other society. *brain ‘splodey*
• Slashed guards for women are incredibly rare in the artwork.
• Documentation for short sleeved/elbow length sleeves on smocks
• Plain smocks, gathered neck was a half-Hemd (support garment, layered, could wear two, one over the smock/under the gown, a second over the gown). Now I need to go back and examine all those pictures of open Hemd and decide for myself if they’re shirts or partlets.
• Documentation for circular gollars with ties under the arms to hold them down.
Marion seems to have focused a lot of her talk on Augsburg, which is 100 miles away from Reischach. But they are both in Bavaria, and while a Free Imperial City, I’m guessing they’d still share a similar Bavarian culture.
I hung around and helped Marion pack up afterwards. She was talking about going out to dinner with one of the ladies. I asked if they minded if I invited myself to tag along? They invited me along (yay!). One of the SCA ladies, who lived in Camelot Court pointed us towards the Solomon Pond Mall as probably being the closest food, so we went to Bertucci's. Which was cool, because I got to order a Sporkie. (I just love saying that word. Sporkie!). It was really nice getting to know the two of them. I ended up friending three new people on FB when I got home. On the way home I stopped at JoAnn and bought some batting and heavier linen. I know all the linen I’ve got in the stash is lightweight, because I bought it for shifts. And I threw that in the wash to prewash when I got home.
The plan for Sunday was to get into the sewing room and sew. Which didn’t quite happen. But considering that I needed to excavate a path into the damn room before I could do anything in there, I’m not uphappy with how the day went. What with a bout with depression, followed by Boss Fella’s death, and a couple of weekends away from the house, Frogholm has been taking a slow slide towards squalor. I needed to get some housework done. And I also needed my weekly ration of just farting around doing nothing/exactly what I wanted.
I got a bunch of dishes washed by hand and ran the dishwasher, handwashed my bras, ran two loads of laundry, and picked up the house. I also (finally) got into the sewing room to deal with all the gear that has exploded all over my sewing room. Stuff got sorted through, organized, and put away where it belongs. It’s still kinda messy in there, but I was able to clear off the floor, the chair, the ironing board and about half of my main cutting/sewing table.
This was all interspersed with farting around on Facebook, spending more time doing German research, looking at the Curious Frau photos on Facebook, looking at Marion’s boards on Pinterest, scanning through my own files, and looking at the Triumph of Maximillian a little more closely. I also downloaded the photos I took on Saturday, resized them, and posted a few on Facebook.
I got out of the house in plenty of time, which was good because I needed it. I picked up lunch at Subway, then plugged the address into my Garmin. Damn, my maps are old and apparently Camelot didn't exist when I bought my Garmin. Too late to head back home and print out Google Maps. So I had my first experience with navigating via smartphone. I don’t like it. It’s awkward driving a stick and trying to pay attention to a phone that doesn’t talk to you. I much prefer the Garmin. Luckily, it was very easy navigating to Camelot Court, it was right off the highway. But once I got there, I realized I had to find the right building. I saw a couple walking to their car and asked for directions.
The lecture was in the community center. Marion had brought a projector and screen, and showed a BUNCH of slides. We also got a 50 page handout. And she brought her smock, half-hemd, campfrau gown and brustfleck to put on and demonstrate. And a bunch of various headwear pieces to show a Wulst, Wulsthaub, Schlier, Steuchlien, and Bundlein. And she brought a pile of books to pass around during lunch. OMG, I already ordered a couple off of Amazon. There was a book about the Sack of Rome! (I’ve been trying to find some research about the Sack of Rome for the past couple of years, there is very little available. How did I miss an entire book! *GLEE* Seriously, either Amazon just added these, or I’m an idiot for not finding it before.) Also books on mercenaries in Italy. And beautiful photos of museum objects.
I learned a ton. I took almost 16 pages of notes (I snagged a seat at the table in reach of an outlet, so computer was used for notetaking.) I took photos of some of the slides, but felt weird taking too many, as she mentioned that she’s writing a book. And some of the images I knew I already had on my computer.
Things I learned or need to think about/research some more:
• I’d never really looked at any of the tailor’s books before. Lots of stuff there.
• Some skirts were cut as a single piece with the bodice.
• Skirts for some gowns were cut as arches, not rectangles.
• Tailors made other things besides clothes (ecclesiastical stuff, tents, horsie stuff, wagon covers, etc.)
• Period evidence of darts, in both patterns and drawings of finished gown.
• Milch Schoben = Milk jackets, come in around 1530s.
• Tellerbarrett comes in around 1530s. Should we be wearing them?
• Need to reexamine what else starts changing in clothing at the end of the 1520s/beginning of 1530s.
• Hem lengths show class (can you walk up stairs w/o hiking your skirts, lady or servant…)
• More plundering, theft going on than we were thinking? Need to do some additional research.
• Sumptuary laws applied mostly to towns (farmers were out on their farms).
• Camp frau pack = 50 -60 pounds. Not a lot of room in the wagons. Again, need more research.
• At the end of the Thirty Years war, there were people who had been born into Landsknecht companies, who had never lived anywhere else, and did not know any other society. *brain ‘splodey*
• Slashed guards for women are incredibly rare in the artwork.
• Documentation for short sleeved/elbow length sleeves on smocks
• Plain smocks, gathered neck was a half-Hemd (support garment, layered, could wear two, one over the smock/under the gown, a second over the gown). Now I need to go back and examine all those pictures of open Hemd and decide for myself if they’re shirts or partlets.
• Documentation for circular gollars with ties under the arms to hold them down.
Marion seems to have focused a lot of her talk on Augsburg, which is 100 miles away from Reischach. But they are both in Bavaria, and while a Free Imperial City, I’m guessing they’d still share a similar Bavarian culture.
I hung around and helped Marion pack up afterwards. She was talking about going out to dinner with one of the ladies. I asked if they minded if I invited myself to tag along? They invited me along (yay!). One of the SCA ladies, who lived in Camelot Court pointed us towards the Solomon Pond Mall as probably being the closest food, so we went to Bertucci's. Which was cool, because I got to order a Sporkie. (I just love saying that word. Sporkie!). It was really nice getting to know the two of them. I ended up friending three new people on FB when I got home. On the way home I stopped at JoAnn and bought some batting and heavier linen. I know all the linen I’ve got in the stash is lightweight, because I bought it for shifts. And I threw that in the wash to prewash when I got home.
The plan for Sunday was to get into the sewing room and sew. Which didn’t quite happen. But considering that I needed to excavate a path into the damn room before I could do anything in there, I’m not uphappy with how the day went. What with a bout with depression, followed by Boss Fella’s death, and a couple of weekends away from the house, Frogholm has been taking a slow slide towards squalor. I needed to get some housework done. And I also needed my weekly ration of just farting around doing nothing/exactly what I wanted.
I got a bunch of dishes washed by hand and ran the dishwasher, handwashed my bras, ran two loads of laundry, and picked up the house. I also (finally) got into the sewing room to deal with all the gear that has exploded all over my sewing room. Stuff got sorted through, organized, and put away where it belongs. It’s still kinda messy in there, but I was able to clear off the floor, the chair, the ironing board and about half of my main cutting/sewing table.
This was all interspersed with farting around on Facebook, spending more time doing German research, looking at the Curious Frau photos on Facebook, looking at Marion’s boards on Pinterest, scanning through my own files, and looking at the Triumph of Maximillian a little more closely. I also downloaded the photos I took on Saturday, resized them, and posted a few on Facebook.