Queen's Champion

Vasilii and I at Queen's champion this past weekend:

• his decorated plain shirt
• spiffy new blue belt from Gulf Wars

• my new, plain, quick black dress
• and a totally derpy look on my face, lol.  

Oops, forgot to get a decent pic of the jewelry, sorry.  Will do soon. 

:o)

.

And Now For Something Completely Different

As I mentioned in the recent month-in-review post, in February I got the opportunity to create part of a Japanese outfit for a friend of mine, for Gulf Wars.   His persona is that of a 14th-century (Ashikaga period) Samurai warrior.  He's also a member of a fighting company/household whose colors had to be taken into account, and a Centurion (an Ansteorran grant-level fighting order), the insignia for which also needed to be worked into the garment.  Whew!

The piece I made is called a jin-baori, which later evolved into the kataginu. It's a sort of loose, sleeveless vest, tied in the front and split at either the back or the sides, which Japanese men wore over their kimonos, with thier hakama (the big "Samurai pants").

In this picture, instead of the kimono underneath, he's wearing a padded armor shirt that he made himself.  (He also created the black leather armor with red lacings that's visible through the front of the jin-baori, and the helmet in the second picture!)  The hakama were made by another friend of his.

The black panels down the front are a wide lapel which is turned back to reveal, in this case, the black lining in the garment, which is appliqué'd with six white lion heads, which are the symbol of his fighting company.

Black and gold are also part of the company's colors - and also the colors of our kingdom.  The 10-pointed star on the back of the jin-baori is also the kingdom badge.

The red displayed eagle on the lower right of the back, with another black 10-pointed star in the center of it, is the badge of the Centurions.  Their usual livery includes a red cloak with a gold eagle and black star; it would have been a bit much to wear the full Japanese kit with the Romanesque Centurion cloak, so we incorporated the Centurion badge into the jin-baori, and reversed the color scheme.


This was SO much fun to work on.  I believe there are going to be one or two more of these coming up this year, for this same person.  I can't wait to work on it again. :)



.

Haha, Whoops. (Month[s] In Review).

Dropped the ball on this one, didn't I?  Ahem:

March In Review
Events

• Gulf Wars (inter-kingdom)

Projects

• red sleeves
• Began teaching Vasilii to sew; between the two of us we made him two more fighting tunics and two more arming hoods
• multitudinous last-minute alterations and quick-fixes before War   >_<

February In Review
Events

• Candlemas (Baronial)
• entered (but did not compete in) my first Bardic competition
• sat gate for the second time ever.  I really enjoy doing that. 
• Winter Crown Tournamenet (in Seawinds)

Projects

• red sleeves
• 3rd chemise, loose, doubles as a nightgown :) 
• Finished blue velvet late-1500s transitional gown for Candlemas
• finished Vasilii's green opashen
• a Japanese jin-baori for a friend, which I realize I forgot to ever blog about!!  Coming soon! 

January In Review
Events

• Shadowlands' Fall Ball In A Small Hall (yes, in January, long story)
• calligraphy class! 
• 12th Night (The Steppes)
• entered Sable Talon original scroll competition:  did not win; but was asked by the laurel-in-charge to re-create my scroll for a grant-level award instead, because (she said) it was too fancy and pretty to be an AOA-level award.  Hee!  

Projects

• little red hand-stitched pouch for camera
• started blue velvet dress for Candlemas, made pearl-and-silver necklace for it
• threw together a new and more cohesive feast gear collection (red/gold)
• red brocade + green linen lining liripipe hood
• began experimenting with designing original scrolls, and learning calligraphy

December 2011 In Review

Events

• Yule Revel (baronial)

Projects

• aubergine linen gown with pomegranate embroidery on the sleeves
• made over the entire craft/sewing room
• new shirt for Vasilii for court/evening wear
• began embroidery on pieces for pomegranate bag

I'm hoping since May is only a week away, that I won't forget to do April in a timely fashion.  ;) 

As A Matter of Fact...

I have actually just finished

a)  a new dress, and
b)  a new jewelry set

To be worn to Queen's Champion this Saturday.  Pics forthcoming!   In the meantime...

Maison
St. Claire

One of many paintings that inspired the dress.  It's plain and simple - long lines, little embellishment.  Black (mine, not the painting, obv.), full-but-not-huge skirt, knuckle-length and closely-fitted sleeves, wide neckline like in the painting, and buttoned with smallish, dark "aged" gold, flat buttons that don't stand out very much.

It's nice and simple as a stand-alone dress;  and will also make a great under-layer for a sideless or houppelande, pulled up over a much nicer under-dress or under-skirt, or just accessorized with nifty belts, hats, hoods, tippets, capes, etc.

image from Fire Mountain Gems 

The jewelry is gold, with glass "citrine" briolettes (harvested from an old pair of earrings), and small cream-colored pearls...

Sapphire & Sage

The necklace is shaped  somewhat  like this;  instead of a "chain" of pearls as a foundation (and for the loopy bits between the decorative drops, too), I used a plain gold chain, with drops made of glass "citrine" and pearls instead of the set red cabochons/pearls that you see here.

I'll get pics this weekend while I'm in it. :)





So, that, when next we meet - and also (I hope) some info about my local Clothiers' Guild, and a competition entry!


.

I'm Not Dead

I  promise.  I'm here.  Just been a little overloaded and burned out since War.

Back very soon. :)