September 2023: Growing The Family Tree
My September goals were:
Continue on with the commonplace book.
Make headway on Gonete version 3.
Get my fabric stash under control.
I started my month tackling the hardest of these three goals- my fabric stash. I laid out every piece of fabric I own on our dining table and Evan helped me discuss each of them, my plans for them, and why it had to be that specific piece of fabric. I was able to get my stash largely under control and fitting in my traveler’s chest. I do need to take some notes on what I have and add to my inventory sheet as well as my aspirational projects sheet so I can stick to those plans.
Marguerite’s apprenticeship contract
After that, I did one of my favorite activities- immediately and completely ignoring the goals I set myself for the month! The beginning of the month was dedicated to some work travel, the High Holidays, and some extensive wedding DIY’s. I did not get started on SCA projects until really mid-month when I returned home from all of that.
My first priority was not listed above- Marguerite’s apprenticeship contract. She knew I was going to make it for her belting at Roxbury Milled! at the end of this month, but I wanted to keep details a surprise. I’ve been working on this since August and I’m super thrilled to finally be able to share it. Bea and Master Ishmael worked together to Tudor-ify the language of the apprenticeship contract to match Marguerite’s persona, and the hand I chose is an English Italic hand from the same original source I used for my Spanish handwriting. This was so fun to work with, both because the writing style is incredibly lovely and easy to pick up, but also because Tudor English truly did not give a single shit about spelling. Getting to see how the letters just somehow fit and work together even if my brain knows they’re wrong was a fantastic experience. Much like the one I did for myself, this will be signed by both Marguerite, Bea, and witnesses, then cut in half down the middle, with each of them taking one half for their own keeping. The final draft pictured to the left was completed over University weekend.
When I did finally get back to SCA work, I realized I did not have the motivation to start a third gonete in a row. I’ve made several of these and they’ve been the entirety of my personal projects for the recent few months. So instead, I decided to pursue a different project to give myself a little bit of a break. I chose the black saya I discussed in last month’s post. I’ve been wanting to expand my personal closet of staple clothing for a bit and this felt like a great opportunity to do so. The saya itself is modeled on the Green Saya’s pattern. It’s very simple- no decoration, a fairly sedate skirt, and fairly plain sleeves that tie on at the shoulders. However, I’m hoping it can be a useful foundational piece for future outerwear as well. I did make it a bit longer, closer to the length of the Tan Saya after its recent enhancements. This was an interesting fitting process. It turns out that I had shortened the shoulder straps on the Green Saya but did not adjust the pattern- they had to be shortened by about an inch both front and back. It also appears I’ve lost a little weight, so there’s more ease in this than I expected. Hopefully wearing with an adequately full camisa should account for it, but it’s about half an inch more than I would normally want in a supportive garment. All in all, the garment fits better after the adjustments, provides more support, and is more comfortable to wear. And Kiki also had to help and evaluate how cuddle-able it was of course.
I also made a set of matching sleeves to go with this at the same time. I’m still chasing the open seamed sleeves for my camisas to hang out of so I tried something new on this and added both a lining and an interlining, as with the bodice of my saya. The theory here is to help the sleeve hold its shape despite the opening at the seam. Additionally, I added some extra attachment points at the shoulder so it now ties in at 3 spots with two holes on each spot for some security and distributing the weight of the sleeve a little bit better. I’m fairly happy with how this set turned out though. It flares a little bit when I bend my arm, but I think it retains its shape nicely after the arm is straightened out again. The additional anchor points helped a lot I believe. This outfit as a whole will be debuted at Coronation, along with the blue gonete next weekend and I’ll put pictures in with my October post.
Juan de Alcega’s vasquina pattern, image courtest of The Alcega Project.
I worked a bit on the commonplace book this month, though not as much as I would have liked. I never quite caught up from my busy first half of the month but I did my best and I’m satisfied with what I was able to accomplish. I’ve started formalizing the documentation for that piece a bit more as well and am hoping to have the documentation completed by the end of 2023. The remaining pieces of my Persona Pentathlon entry were all mostly focused on design this month. Version 3 of the gonete is largely set in its design components, but I’ve been noodling on the decorations I want to put on the black falda and on the chopines. For the falda, I could leave it plain, but I’m hoping to push myself a little. The most common category of ornamentation on my samples are stripes of various kinds, very similar to what I did with the Green Saya. I could to that again, in a different color, probably gold on the black, but there’s also one example in my sample that has some cool triangles as well. This falda is likely going to be my first formal foray into Alcega as well and I’m quite looking forward to that. There are two patterns in particular I’m considering for that but I’m leaning towards the one pictured above. I do plan to do a translation and compare and contrast of the two patterns as part of the documentation for this piece. For the chopines, I love the extant pair that has leatherwork detailing on the sides at the Met, and I think I could find a reasonable stamp to make that happen on mine, so I think we’ll make them a tad fancy, but not bejeweling them or adding ouches or anything.
llumination by Dame Deirdre O'Siodhachain. Calligraphy by Mistress Inga Danska inn Fostra. Text by Olamn Jeane Kilmeny.
Speaking of University weekend, I had a nice time. It was a pretty quiet University overall but I felt really good about how my Exploring Late Iberian Court Cuisine class went this time around again. I did end up recording it, which posed a new challenge: editing. I’m somewhat ok with tech, but far from proficient with any sort of video editing so I was a bit apprehensive about this. I decided to use CapCut to edit the video and get it ready to post on YouTube. Unfortunately, the original recording was a bit muddled due to coughing, so I ended up re-recording it, using the original class as the basis for a script. I’m pretty happy with how that turned out and am excited to get it up and shareable soon!
Also at University, a very cool thing happened- I was awarded my Honorary Doctorate! Doctorates are awarded by the University Chancellor at his or her discretion, and I am incredibly honored to have receive this. The award itself (to the right) specifically calls out the quality of my classes and research and I am so so proud of this achievement, it’s hard to put it into words. When I started this journey, wanting to know as much as I can and share that knowledge with people who were also excited about it was my highest priority and remains so, so this award means more to me than I can say.
Across the Iberian peninsula, loudly have praises rung out for Dona Mariana Ruiz de Medina. Long has she toiled, researching the food and clothing of her home. Her classes on these and diverse subjects have been well attended and well received. Thus, for her prowess in research and her excellence in teaching, Mariana is awarded a doctorate of the University at this Fall session (114) held on 16 September 2023.
Ollamh Jeane Kilmeny
Chancellor, University of Atlantia
October is going to be a little different for me this year. My wedding is fast approaching and I’m trying to build on the good behaviors of healthy boundaries on my time. So for the month of October and November, I’m not setting myself any formal goals for SCA work. I don’t doubt I’ll still be doing some SCA projects, especially on the commonplace book, but there isn’t anything I am going to hold myself accountable for completing until this wedding is wrapped up.
