Confessions of a Closet Costuming Geek
Since the sun is shining, and we have finches in the back yard wondering where the garden is, and the local SCA group might, just might, be remembering that we do this for fun, I thought I'd take a little time and actually talk about Clothiers' Seminar finally. After all, it was only, what? three weeks ago (I got straight A's in procrastination). You know me, Tail-end Charlie.
I love, love, love Clothier's Seminar!! I've gone to it for years, and even though it really hasn't reflected much in my garb, I've learned so much over the years that I have a file cabinet full of notes and handouts I've collected--an entire file cabinet! I actually cannot wait to get my hands on the schedule of classes every year. Ask Lachlan. I sit there with Mews in hand, reading the list of classes and their descriptions, plotting out which ones I want to take, checking the schedule for conflicts--"damn, Thora teaching that, but Jack teaching this at the same time.......and how can I get around to this? Oh wait! Mistress Margaret is teaching this one! Ooo! Maybe someone from Vatavia is taking one of them........hmmm. Hmm, I bet Jorunn and Eleanor will be in that class....." The Wonder Hubby says I sound like Eisenhower planning D Day, but you can't just go willy-nilly, you must have a plan for maximum enjoyment.
But I love costuming, I love it!!! I don't get to do much of it, oh, but it's just so wonderful to be the student and not the teacher for a day!! To hang out with wonderful people who know so much more than I do about how medieval clothing; to learn their little tricks to make things fit better and look more period; to just be able to sit there and discuss the geeky obsession I have with the Kragelund Tunic with others who are just as obsessed with it -- now that's happiness, my friends! No, that's bliss! The sheer bliss of reveling in pure knowledge!! Not even Lillies War can quite recharge my batteries like a full day of classes at Clothiers'!!
Ooo, and sitting in class with your friends; Oh, that is so much fun!! Taking Norse classes with Briallen and/or Maren--if Thora's teaching a class, I always try to get in there because I just know I'm going to find out something new. The Wonder Hubby's persona is a tenth century Scot, but he's from the outer islands in the North Sea, so there's a heavy Norse influence there. The more I study the culture of the time period, the more interesting I find it, so I'm quite content to build him the appropriate garb. And usually Jorunn and Eleanor are in there, too -- they're so patient with me--they will let me practically undress them just so I can figure out how to cut the new linen! And I always make a new friend or two! So, how can this be wrong?
Between classes, oh there's Modar and Brianna and Jad! "Hi Guys!" Play catch up for a minute. Look at all the Vatavians up here this year! There's cousin Roberto -- Hi Cuz! There's Alan Darkdale and his damn camera --- 'Get thee behind me, Satan!" Oh Gods! A group grovel! "MO, Get UP!!! You're too damn old for that! STOP IT!!! Roberto, don't you dar.......GUYS!! Please?! STOP!!!"
Red-faced and feeling oh-so embarrassed, but oh-so loved, I run to Master Jack's class because he is teaching about (Insert angels singing here) " The Kragelund Tunic!!!" OMG!!! Uber-Geek moment! Sit down next to Bri and Liriell. Giggle like a school girl but take notes like a fiend: Uh-huh, okay. Oh, so you finesse that gore in the front to make it lie flat. Okay! Got it. But what about the sleeve.......uh-huh. Yeah, but......oh...wait......that square makes an elbow cup? The sleeve won't pull then, right? AND it will fit more comfortably?....Wait.......wait...............(angels trumpeting victoriously) I GET IT!!!!! Look to Briallen, then to Liriell: "I GET IT!!!" Look to Master Jack: I GET IT!!!! And kind, sweet Master Jack beams at me like a fond uncle while I scribble furiously and make sloppy diagrams, praying all the while that I can decipher them at home. AND I COULD!!
But wait, there's more! Mistress Margaret Bruce is teaching about 12th Century bliauts - a fancy tunic quite popular amongst the Normans. Now Mistress Margaret knows more tricks to hand sewing than Carter's got little pills, so I hop into class and encounter my beloved Baroness: "Meli!" Okay, this is gonna be good! Pictures, pictures, pictures. Descriptions of laying out the fabric and how you want the bias to effect the final drape of the dress. Hadn't thought about that before---scribble, scribble. Discuss the many revelations presented to us with Meli--"so by schmooging the top of the sleeve down two inches in the front where it joins the body, the long sleeve will drape the right direction.........that's brilliant!" and if you smock the side gore tops like the statue shows, the gore fits into the body of the dress without all that bulkiness..........OMG! THAT'S AMAZING!" More mad scribbling, giggling, I feel so good! I will live off this endorphin rush of friends and knowledge for days!!!! SO WORTH IT!!!
After classes, the annual Inn put on by the host shire, Cum an Iolair (no, I can't pronounce it, thanks for asking!), great food, cheap prices. Then the annual fashion show, where we see many of the techniques we were just discussion in action. Everyone looks amazing, only about 7 pieces I'd like to try to make (who am I kidding? Where will I find the energy?) Too many to share, but OMG! Did you see the Elizabethan? The bliaut Susannah had on? What about that Yorkist gown? And on. And on. And on!!
A short court by Her Majesty--Gods, I love a Fun Crown! When the King and Queen are determined that everyone is going to have a good time, Themselves included, Calontir is at its very best! I do so hope that Hirsh and Maddelaina go for it again! She even called up the Brass Hat Commando Chorus, a relic from the distant past, to sing Happy Birthday to a poor newbie receiving her AoA! Okay, turns out there's about twenty brass hats attending, and we sang in about 20 keys, too; but that's all part of the fun!
Going home with Sameera and Sung, two ladies who absolutely are stuffed with awesomeness, we stop at a place for dinner and end up talking for about three hours before we finally start home. I fall into The Wonder Hubby's arms (home!), exhausted, exhilarated, inspired and oh-so sore! But I'm good. I'm recharged for another year. Bring it on, all you grump-bunnies and doomgloomers, I can handle it!!!
Hopefully, this year, I can put more knowledge into our garb, and said garb will reflect my knowledge better. I'll never be a Laurel, but I do so enjoy this part, the "making it all look real" part. Try it--you will, too!
I'm warning you, though, there's no cure for Clothiers' Seminar addiction. Isn't that wonderful?
I love, love, love Clothier's Seminar!! I've gone to it for years, and even though it really hasn't reflected much in my garb, I've learned so much over the years that I have a file cabinet full of notes and handouts I've collected--an entire file cabinet! I actually cannot wait to get my hands on the schedule of classes every year. Ask Lachlan. I sit there with Mews in hand, reading the list of classes and their descriptions, plotting out which ones I want to take, checking the schedule for conflicts--"damn, Thora teaching that, but Jack teaching this at the same time.......and how can I get around to this? Oh wait! Mistress Margaret is teaching this one! Ooo! Maybe someone from Vatavia is taking one of them........hmmm. Hmm, I bet Jorunn and Eleanor will be in that class....." The Wonder Hubby says I sound like Eisenhower planning D Day, but you can't just go willy-nilly, you must have a plan for maximum enjoyment.
But I love costuming, I love it!!! I don't get to do much of it, oh, but it's just so wonderful to be the student and not the teacher for a day!! To hang out with wonderful people who know so much more than I do about how medieval clothing; to learn their little tricks to make things fit better and look more period; to just be able to sit there and discuss the geeky obsession I have with the Kragelund Tunic with others who are just as obsessed with it -- now that's happiness, my friends! No, that's bliss! The sheer bliss of reveling in pure knowledge!! Not even Lillies War can quite recharge my batteries like a full day of classes at Clothiers'!!
Ooo, and sitting in class with your friends; Oh, that is so much fun!! Taking Norse classes with Briallen and/or Maren--if Thora's teaching a class, I always try to get in there because I just know I'm going to find out something new. The Wonder Hubby's persona is a tenth century Scot, but he's from the outer islands in the North Sea, so there's a heavy Norse influence there. The more I study the culture of the time period, the more interesting I find it, so I'm quite content to build him the appropriate garb. And usually Jorunn and Eleanor are in there, too -- they're so patient with me--they will let me practically undress them just so I can figure out how to cut the new linen! And I always make a new friend or two! So, how can this be wrong?
Between classes, oh there's Modar and Brianna and Jad! "Hi Guys!" Play catch up for a minute. Look at all the Vatavians up here this year! There's cousin Roberto -- Hi Cuz! There's Alan Darkdale and his damn camera --- 'Get thee behind me, Satan!" Oh Gods! A group grovel! "MO, Get UP!!! You're too damn old for that! STOP IT!!! Roberto, don't you dar.......GUYS!! Please?! STOP!!!"
Red-faced and feeling oh-so embarrassed, but oh-so loved, I run to Master Jack's class because he is teaching about (Insert angels singing here) " The Kragelund Tunic!!!" OMG!!! Uber-Geek moment! Sit down next to Bri and Liriell. Giggle like a school girl but take notes like a fiend: Uh-huh, okay. Oh, so you finesse that gore in the front to make it lie flat. Okay! Got it. But what about the sleeve.......uh-huh. Yeah, but......oh...wait......that square makes an elbow cup? The sleeve won't pull then, right? AND it will fit more comfortably?....Wait.......wait...............(angels trumpeting victoriously) I GET IT!!!!! Look to Briallen, then to Liriell: "I GET IT!!!" Look to Master Jack: I GET IT!!!! And kind, sweet Master Jack beams at me like a fond uncle while I scribble furiously and make sloppy diagrams, praying all the while that I can decipher them at home. AND I COULD!!
But wait, there's more! Mistress Margaret Bruce is teaching about 12th Century bliauts - a fancy tunic quite popular amongst the Normans. Now Mistress Margaret knows more tricks to hand sewing than Carter's got little pills, so I hop into class and encounter my beloved Baroness: "Meli!" Okay, this is gonna be good! Pictures, pictures, pictures. Descriptions of laying out the fabric and how you want the bias to effect the final drape of the dress. Hadn't thought about that before---scribble, scribble. Discuss the many revelations presented to us with Meli--"so by schmooging the top of the sleeve down two inches in the front where it joins the body, the long sleeve will drape the right direction.........that's brilliant!" and if you smock the side gore tops like the statue shows, the gore fits into the body of the dress without all that bulkiness..........OMG! THAT'S AMAZING!" More mad scribbling, giggling, I feel so good! I will live off this endorphin rush of friends and knowledge for days!!!! SO WORTH IT!!!
After classes, the annual Inn put on by the host shire, Cum an Iolair (no, I can't pronounce it, thanks for asking!), great food, cheap prices. Then the annual fashion show, where we see many of the techniques we were just discussion in action. Everyone looks amazing, only about 7 pieces I'd like to try to make (who am I kidding? Where will I find the energy?) Too many to share, but OMG! Did you see the Elizabethan? The bliaut Susannah had on? What about that Yorkist gown? And on. And on. And on!!
A short court by Her Majesty--Gods, I love a Fun Crown! When the King and Queen are determined that everyone is going to have a good time, Themselves included, Calontir is at its very best! I do so hope that Hirsh and Maddelaina go for it again! She even called up the Brass Hat Commando Chorus, a relic from the distant past, to sing Happy Birthday to a poor newbie receiving her AoA! Okay, turns out there's about twenty brass hats attending, and we sang in about 20 keys, too; but that's all part of the fun!
Going home with Sameera and Sung, two ladies who absolutely are stuffed with awesomeness, we stop at a place for dinner and end up talking for about three hours before we finally start home. I fall into The Wonder Hubby's arms (home!), exhausted, exhilarated, inspired and oh-so sore! But I'm good. I'm recharged for another year. Bring it on, all you grump-bunnies and doomgloomers, I can handle it!!!
Hopefully, this year, I can put more knowledge into our garb, and said garb will reflect my knowledge better. I'll never be a Laurel, but I do so enjoy this part, the "making it all look real" part. Try it--you will, too!
I'm warning you, though, there's no cure for Clothiers' Seminar addiction. Isn't that wonderful?