[My Own] History of the Veil, Part I

I'm sure there'll be a million of these posts.  For a woman who swore in January that I'd never cover my head or - god forbid! - wear a hat...I sure have a lot of veils. (Six at last count, not that I know where they all are).  And I just made my first hat.

I experimented with a frillion ways of pinning my veil directly to my hair, at first.  All kinds of fancy braids, with and without hair taping for support, hidden hair bands and barettes, all to no end. Everything just slid off.

At a demo in Salado, TX, in March.
There's an elastic band around my head, and the veil's draped over the top, pinned in place, and then folded back.  Slid off. Repeatedly.

 A turban-y sort of situation at a demo in Hellsgate.
VERY comfortable.  Bad photo, but it's basically one of these.

Lately I've taken to wearing a it as a foundation onto which to pin a veil, and it works REALLY well.  The trade-off is that the extra layer is kinda hot, although I can soak it in water to cool off, or roll ice cubes into the brim.

And then there was this business ("silk" veil and wimple), for our Fall Championships, which was *AWESOME*.  Still no finished pics, though.  Soon.






I'd been thinking lately, though, of trying out a couple of things:  a barbette and headband, and a hat.  So last night, I ...

Made what I thought was going to be a "quick" little linen barbette (chin strap) and head band.  It actually took me like an hour, since I mis-measured...twice.  D'oh.

For some reason I couldn't find my box-o-headgear last night while I was taking pictures, but I scrounged a square of fabric from my craft room to test-drive the barbette situation:  here's a "veil" pinned onto it.  SO COMFY!  Doesn't move, either.
Sold!

And I found my headgear box like five minutes later.

I swear, if 1 more person asks me if nose rings are period...

And then I made a hat - a plain, 13th-early 14thC toque.  I'm not completely sold.  I like the hat itself, and I love the the fabric (which is a scrap of an old shower curtain - and yes, it's kinda paisley-ish, which is not period for Medieval Europe, but it was what I had, and it's a first draft).

Honestly, I think my face is tall enough already without the extra emphasis; and this oddly-angled picture doesn't really help. Stupid phone camera.

So I'll wear it this weekend to the event I'm going to in Bjornsborg, and wait for the Facebook pics to start showing up.  Either I'll love it or I'll never go out in public again without a bag over my head.

Hilariously enough--I thought--I used my dog's e-collar to come up with the angle and size and curve for the hat pattern, LOL.  Much easier than taking fifteen head measurements and doing a bunch of algebra.  ;)

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