February 2022 Recap: And This Is How We Get Sh*t Done
Because I am, in fact, that person…
My February goals were as follows:
Try to finish the Green Saya hem.
Finish my jeweled headpiece for the Green Saya outfit. I dremeled all the open work cabochon pieces during the last weekend of January, now I just need to finish sewing them all on.
Start on another set of body garments: a wide sleeved camisa and another set of calzas.
Make a “defining your terminology” paper for Spanish garb. I’ve revisited a few terms, but I think I’d like to have that somewhat more definite and published on the "Research and Documentation” page.
One of the best parts of this month was having a massive revelation for an A&S project. This project will be a long term endeavor and won’t likely start in earnest until 2023, but it might very well be my magnum opus. I’ll give more details in my December recap and my 2023 goals post. I intend to spend this year a) using my clear out space plan to clear out space in terms of both projects and unused materials in preparation and b) putting some real leg work into research before I even begin the physical part of this project. Bea and I chatted and we’re going to take some time to sit down and assess art and sources sometime together and by the end of this year I hope to have a solid plan in place for going forward.
Now for my goals.
The first try-on after completion
At Winter University, I finished the jeweled headband. Mistakes were definitely made along the way, but I’m still really happy with how it looks. Future iterations (which I very well might make, because this is a really easy way to dress up an outfit for the evening) will include some sort of interfacing and then a backing to cover up and preserve the stitching. Just based on my first try on, I think this will do exactly what it’s supposed to and act as an anchoring point for the whole headwear set up, both above and below it. It’s got some weight, but not uncomfortably so. I might still add a backing layer to this but I have not yet made up my mind. I did have some left over bits from this and used them to make some bracelets. There are still a couple of odds left over, and I have ideas of making a ring or brooches, maybe to even give as gifts.
It was a quick project, but I also completed my “defining garb terms” short paper. I’m hoping that as I explore more garments I can expand the list. Having a glossary to which I am accountable when writing my documentation. That document can be found here.
The completed Saya hem, in all its glory.
I got my Green Saya hem done a little less than halfway through the month. That was a huge weight off my back. It’s really an exhausting project. I’ve hit the home stretch, only 12 ribbons left, but it feels like a mountain. I think I’m going to call it for the month after finishing this last hem stripe and then for the next 4 months, set myself one set of each cardinal points until it’s done. That’ll put the Green Saya complete in June, which is totally fine by me. I want to try to avoid burning myself out on this project, and still give bandwidth for other things.
My plate, pre-firing.
Instead of going to Ymir as originally intended, we stayed home and had an awesome friends day out. First, we hit up a fabric store that is like the TARDIS of fabric stores. It looks itty bitty on the outside but is packed to the absolute rafters and the prices were all around solid. Then we went to eat Uyghur food at one of Sof’ia’s favorite restaurants. We finished out the day at a paint your own pottery place that also had frozen custard and I painted a new plate for my feast gear kit, inspired by one of the plates in Stanzi’s pictures. Building a better feast/dining kit is something that’s not a huge priority, but is a slow and steady progress kind of thing and this was a really fun addition to do, despite my mediocre skills.
I also tried something a little new this month. My apprentice sister Esa opened up a new SCA women’s studies Facebook group recently. That happened to coincide with a day in Daf Yomi that addressed some gender spectrum discussion and I thought it might be a cool thing to share with the group. I will be the first to admit that gender studies is not my strong suit, but I am pleased with the quick write up I put together to share. It’s a great example of how the many facets fo us as people both in the SCA and out of it intersect with gender studies, whether we realize it regularly or not. Here’s a link to what I wrote. Both Esa and Bea were a huge help editing this piece and helping me learn how to write in the topic better.
My new sleeves with a me for scale.
Once the Green Saya hem was done, I decided to go for it with a wide sleeved camisa that I have dubbed the Fancy Camisa. This should be a great way to snazz up any outfit and will make a great accompaniment to some future projects I’m planning to do. It took a whopping 4.5 yards of fabric and the sleeves are as wide around at the wrists as I am tall (60”). It’s bonkers. I love it.
While we were playing D&D one day, I happened to have some left over strips of fabric from cutting out the new camisa and decided no time like the present to test out how a wrapped tranzado would hold up. Amazingly, it did great! I had four pins (three at the base, one at the bottom) and five hours later, the wrap was still in place. It wasn’t very neat, but then it hadn’t started out very neat either. However, I think this is a very valid way of taking pressure off the cofia.
The Fancy Camisa gets its first try on, and it is GLORIOUS.
The Fancy Camisa had some really great progress this month- I finished it! I decided to do the hems all as rolled hems to practice this technique. This turned out to be the best idea I’ve had in a while. Hemming is normally the mountain I climb when making garb because it is just so tedious. With this method, what normally would have taken me days to hem the bottom and cuffs was done in less than 24 hours. I am still having the slight tension issue with the neckline shaping as with my last camisa. I think the solution to this is going to be adding an additional inch to the neckline on each straight away before the neckband is applied. I also noticed that the bias edges of the sleeves moved a lot during hanging (see the picture above and the big corner sticking out). To even them out, a lot had to be cut off. I think for my next iteration, I’m going to stick with a trapezoidal shape for the top, but extend the base out several inches rectangularly from the base of the trapezoid. It is my hope that what this doesn’t stabilize, it gives me a buffer to remove and still maintain the width.
While the camisa was hanging, I used the opportunity to practice it on a wrap-style tranzado. I don’t expect to have the latter done before KASF but it’ll be a good project to take with me. I am using the rolled hem on this to finish the edges as well.
The last project I had on my plate this month was for Ponte Alto’s Savory Food Arts and Sciences Block. I had chosen to do three recipes out of Ruperto de Nola’s Libro de guisados, manjares, y potages. I made three spice mixes: Spices for Common Sauce, Spices for Peacock Sauce, and Duke’s Powder. I started the Duke’s Powder per the Libro de guisados, but ultimately settled on modeling my recipe off of Nola’s other work, the Libre del Coch. This last blend is absolutely my favorite thing. It smells amazing and was a great chance to work with some fun spices I had never tried before. My very short documentation can be found here.
March goals:
1 set of Green Saya point stripes (probably the front, and I can have them pinned in place for KASF).
Start another set of calzas to go with the Fancy Camisa
Make a square-fronted cofia to go with the wrap-style tranzado for the Green Saya outfit.
Continue working on my calligraphy for Coronation.
Begin research for a black hood, to present as part of my Persona Development Challenge at Crown (though probably virtual because it’s Tessa’s bridal shower weekend).
