I embrace my inner butter churner!
I only ever dabbled on the edges of reenacting until now. I always felt like I didn't understand enough of the period in question, or have enough money to complete a kit, or enough courage to overcome my shyness, or enough memory to take on a persona. In Europe I was slowly meeting good people and working up to join in whole-heartedly, but then disaster struck - we moved away. I have been unable to find a group of costumers here in Montreal who have random costume events like in Paris and California. I thought I might participate in East Coast events in the US, but we quickly found that getting from Montreal to anywhere usually takes a connecting flight and a bucket of money. (Although I have recently discovered that Greyhound buses might be my solution!) So I decided to bite the bullet and find a quality reenacting group. On a long-shot, I contacted the Canadian group Société d'Histoire In Memoriam. www.lashim.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9-dhistoire-In-Memoriam/182466091789043
I say, "long-shot", because I thought they were in Quebec, not Montreal, and it is a closed group that requires they invite you to join. Plus, well, they speak Quebecoise (basicly French) and I am not fluent yet. BUT! It all worked out! I decided to start with 18th century, and the leader of that group is here in Montreal. She is Evelyne Bouchard, who co-created many of the Fleur de Lyse patterns.
http://www.neheleniapatterns.com/english/lafleurdelyse.html
http://evelynebouchard.e-monsite.com/blog
We've gotten together a few times (a real exercise for my French!) and it has been wonderful. I'm working on my trousseau and kit for a long weekend in October when we will be working with a museum to reenact mid-18th century life in an estate. To get started, and since there can only be one lady of the house, I will be a "domestique" or domestic help. Probably my persona will be an anglophone widow who took employment as seamstress and housekeeper. The museum is an 18th century home that is full of original furniture. We will be staying overnight in the house/museum and have full use of the place! Including access to some of their books! Imagine the photo ops! We will be making several short videos too, so I will definitely share. It will be a true time-travel and I have also begun to purchase my dishes and sew my personal linens (napkin, washcloth, etc). There is so much to make and I am sewing it all by hand.
Well, this post has turned out rather long, so I will make it worth your while with a few pictures! I want to write in some depth about what I've sewn, so I'll post that separately. Here is my first fabric purchase of the year (I can't believe I said that. O.o), from a discount warehouse around the corner from our apartment, which is a woven striped wool anda heavy blue linen. The blue seemed a little bright to me, but I found multiple period sources, so I'm going for it. The second is a painting I saw at the Louvre, "The Dance" by Lancret 1738, which is one of my inspiration images. More soon! :)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9-dhistoire-In-Memoriam/182466091789043
I say, "long-shot", because I thought they were in Quebec, not Montreal, and it is a closed group that requires they invite you to join. Plus, well, they speak Quebecoise (basicly French) and I am not fluent yet. BUT! It all worked out! I decided to start with 18th century, and the leader of that group is here in Montreal. She is Evelyne Bouchard, who co-created many of the Fleur de Lyse patterns.
http://www.neheleniapatterns.com/english/lafleurdelyse.html
http://evelynebouchard.e-monsite.com/blog
We've gotten together a few times (a real exercise for my French!) and it has been wonderful. I'm working on my trousseau and kit for a long weekend in October when we will be working with a museum to reenact mid-18th century life in an estate. To get started, and since there can only be one lady of the house, I will be a "domestique" or domestic help. Probably my persona will be an anglophone widow who took employment as seamstress and housekeeper. The museum is an 18th century home that is full of original furniture. We will be staying overnight in the house/museum and have full use of the place! Including access to some of their books! Imagine the photo ops! We will be making several short videos too, so I will definitely share. It will be a true time-travel and I have also begun to purchase my dishes and sew my personal linens (napkin, washcloth, etc). There is so much to make and I am sewing it all by hand.
Well, this post has turned out rather long, so I will make it worth your while with a few pictures! I want to write in some depth about what I've sewn, so I'll post that separately. Here is my first fabric purchase of the year (I can't believe I said that. O.o), from a discount warehouse around the corner from our apartment, which is a woven striped wool anda heavy blue linen. The blue seemed a little bright to me, but I found multiple period sources, so I'm going for it. The second is a painting I saw at the Louvre, "The Dance" by Lancret 1738, which is one of my inspiration images. More soon! :)