Eva's journal

Copied from my costuming blog.

By now I should have been at Double wars (or at least on my way, Maja should have had her dance recital yesterday, so I wouldn't have left until today), I would have struggled with my anxiety over having the pavillion put up, and been releveed when my dear friends had helped me and I had fixed everything. And this would have been my home:





But not this year.

So I have decided to post photos of me doing things that I would have done, had there been a Double wars this year. This is helped by people organizing lots of social activites online, so that I have a reason to dress up in medeival clothes every day.

I have posted these on instagram and on facebook, but there you don't really have space to explain what you're doing. So I will try to get a photo up every day until next Sunday, when we would have been packing and gone home.


Friday the 15th
As I said, I wouldn't even have been there, but I did join an impromptu zoom pity party, which was lovely. And which had attendants from both Sweden, the US and Canada.



I went for Italian ca 1300, though I wasn't perfectly committed to that style, since I probably wouldn't have worn a veil the way I did then.

Saturday the 16th



What I always do at Double wars is to teach. This year Countess Agnes Odygd had organized a Pride day, and I had offered to give an old lacture (last given in 2017) lecture of mine about same-sex sexuality in the Middle ages. Sine tehre was no Double Wras, the lecture moved online, as did the other Pride activities. It was my first online lecture, and I think that it went well. I think that the lecture needs to be re-made, with a different structure, and with some new stuff, but peopel seemed pleased.
Here I am wearing my c. 1300 gown from Verona. And I use rainbow ribbon for my hair taping, and as a belt on top of my bust.

Today it is the Princess of Nordmark's mimosa party, so I have to get orange juice before 1 pm. I'll get back to you on that.

 Well, not really, last weekend there wasn't an event, but going to two events with only a fortnight between them is really rare for me and I look so much forward to this one, which is Nordmark's (Sweden) Coronet Tourney. I haven't 100% decided what to wear yet, except that I'm wearing this for court and feast. 
So I could either go Italian 15th century all the way,. by wearing my working class outift during the day; I ahve made a wool overgown for it so that I won't get too cold (it's below freezing and rather windy at the site, snow is also expected) or I could wear some of my stuff from the high Middle Ages, which probably will be warmer. Or I can just bring along one of my high medieval thick wool overgowns and wear it over the quattrocento gown. So many decisions. I thought that I would want to wear everything but the 13th-early 14th century after Måns and I stepped down, after wearing it for two years, but I really am very enthusiastic over Italian garb from this period.

In any case I will bring my Italian cotton gown, because I'm showing it at the A&S display.

It's five past eight in the morning and I have to work first, so I'll just let those thoughts simmer in the back of my head and make a decision later.

 I have now, finally, written baout my high-waisted teal Italian gown on my costuming blog/.

Go see!

 I'm putting off posting about it on my strict costuming blog until I have made Måns' gown too, and have photos of us together, but Rickard took some photos of me today.

It's still shorter than I'd like it to be, mainly because brocade with metallic threads tend to be rather stiff and I didn't take that into account enough. But it's pretty.

Without belt



With belt
 

The inspiration. Of course I can't go without a veil, not at my age and general respectability ;)

People have asked me to write about (my) fillets, so I made a long blog post about it.

Now I'm going to shorten two pairs of jeans for Rickard and than make waffle batter, because in Sweden today is waffle day.

After not making any (or at leat very few) medieval clothes for a long time, due mainly to having a lot of them already, I of course had to go an get obsessed about a year ago, making lots new clothes from ca 1300.
And now I have lost 18 kilos and will probably lose at least five more, and while you can wear this styel with very varying weight, they do look bette rif they're not too large over the bust. And since I have lost weight there too (hooray). I will have to remake a lot of clothes, including the shiny investiture gown. That will have to wait though, because I'm going to wear it this weekend and I don't want the stress of picking it apart and remaking it before Friday.

I have, however, started on this one. It's a bit easier, since it's not lined. Though more hand work since I have to fell seams again.

Yesterday we had sewing meeting at my place and my friend Anna helped me even out the hem of my mint green kirtle. The satin had been stretching like crazy (cutting it was a nightmare) and finally we decided that the best we could do was that I put it on and she cut the fabric while I wore it - pinning it would have been useless, sincethe fabric would have moved in all directions when I took the kirtle off and put it on the table.

To stabilize it I used a cotton bias tape to hem it, like I had done around the neck line. While cotton bias tape certainly isn't period, using tape or strips of fabric to stabalize things is. It's all hand sewn anyway - I would have haed to sew this fabric on machine.

These are just quick photos, I put on a slightly supportive shift (that badly needs ironing, if you see lumps showing through the satin) and hubby took some quick photos. No headwear or anything, just shift and kirtle.



When I have forgotten how much I hated cutting the kirtle I will start on the surcoat from the same fabric. It may take a week or so ;)

It was finished last week, but I needed to have some photos taken of course.



More photos, info and discussion over here.

I started working again this week afte the holiday, and it was okay. I would have preferred to hav holiday of course, but there are quite a few thigns that I need to do before the semester starts on the 1st of September. Also, there was only me and one other person there most of the time, so it was really easy to concentrate. And I wasn't tempted by sewing, knitting or any other thing that I could do when I'm at home. So I commented on a student's essay, went throgh hundreds of e-mails, wrote a four page abstract for an anthology that I'm hopefully going to be in and started on the research for a paper that I'm, presenting in Bologna in September. I'm still on sick leave (and will probably be for the rest of my life), which means that I only work 15 hours/week, so I think this was actually rather good.
After work I have been out hunting pokémons, which is probably very good for my health, knittign, sewing, making scrolls etc. I have also started to have sewing/craft meetigs for my local SCA barony once a week. They're on Thursdays, when Rickard is away playing X-wing. Not that he minds having people here, but sometimes there's quite a lot of us and he does like his peace and quiet. This week I made a new "chin strap" and veil for my early 14th century wardrobe, painted a scroll and did some mundane knitting.



Next Thursday there won't be a meetig at my place though, because I am flying over to Visby on Wednesday, and will stay until Friday (Saturday is my mother's seventieth birthday). I will miss court by one and a half hour, which is both sad and good. Sad because I like courts and good because I won't need to pack my crown :)

The main purpose of the trip is to hang out it with helwig and liadethornegge, and to sign my apprenticeshop contract with the former. And to spend time with Renika, where I'm also staying.

I will also get the chance to wear my new red wool Manesse gown, and my new green wool surcoat with lots of metal flowers sewn on to it. A gown which I have NO good photos of. Mainly beacuse I haven't worn it.



I will also bring my old murrey gown to have something that I won't care so much if it gets dirty.

Gotland is suffering from severe drought and we are adviced to save water as much as possible, so I will take a bath at home before I leave and when when I get back to Gothenburg. So I will bring at least two shifts so I can change. Actually, that's how I usually do it a Medieval Week: one shower in the middle of the week and three or four shifts to change between. People shower too much anyway.

Hopefully by the time that I leave I have gotten somewhere on one of my new lectures for this autumn, on historical cotton trade.