SCA: Stuff and Things

I'm hard at work on my Kingdom A&S project, but it's going r e a l l y  s l o w l y so I don't have much to show for myself on part 2 just yet.  The wool material that I bought for it turned out to be much thicker than I was expecting, which is making sewing it much more difficult and lots slower than usual. I wish I had a lighter weight fabric, but it's paid for, so I'm pushing forward with what I've got.  Slowly. 

 

Meanwhile, I took a break to go to Queen's Champion this past weekend to help my friend Cris in the kitchen (he was in charge of doing the luncheon for the event).  I was craving an SCA event to go to, so I threw on my new blue tunic dress and hopped in the car to go help.  It was a lot of hard work, but it was fun, and the food was awesome. 

That’s me in the front/right slicing bread (photo by Mistress Osanna van der Linden)

Because I'm somehow not busy enough with my current A&S project, and because I'm a crazy person, I went ahead and started something new just for fun;  a new 1520s Florentine gown to wear to the next Italian shindig that happens.  I had a huge box of aqua-blue cotton velveteen Ikea curtains in my closet, and I decided to use it for this project - all I would need is a couple of yards of contrast fabric for some parts, and a selection of laces and trims and stuff that I could get for cheap from Etsy.  So far I've got a mock-up made and a new pattern drafted  to my satisfaction, but I haven't started the actual dress yet.  More on that soon…

I did already make the jewelry for it, because I was excited about the project and couldn't wait.  I do this a lot with jewelry - usually because while I'm waiting for costume parts to come in the mail, I just happen to already have the jewelry supplies on hand.  This time I made some new mother-of-pearl earrings, and a pearl chain necklace with freshwater pearls and a blue stone (I think it's just dyed calcite) in the center pendant:  

Hopefully I'll have more about that Italian gown and my A&S project for you in the next couple of weeks.  Ta!  

SCA: Quick and Dirty "Peplos" for Quick and Dirty Work

Now that Bjornsborg's spring event is over, there's only one more event between me and the summer lull*, and that's Steppes Warlord.  Warlord is a fun event.  It's a HOT event. It's a FAR event - up in north Texas just east of Dallas, which is about a five-hour drive for me.  It's got all the usual fun and games that events have, but for me, it's WORK.  

I'm part of a group called the Ansteorran Longship Association, which is an SCA-adjacent (not actually SCA) group that builds Viking longships for fun.  Sadly, I live about three hours away from where all the boat-building action happens, so I don't get to be near the ships very often; but I do help out with the fundraisers as much as I can. 

Enter Steppes Warlord. Every year at Warlord, the ALA hosts a breakfast fundraiser where we make omelets by the hundreds on Saturday and Sunday at the event, and the proceeds go to - quite literally - keeping the boats (and the ALA) afloat.  It's four hours at a time for two mornings in a row, of extremely fast-paced kitchen work.  It's grueling, exhausting, and SO MUCH FUN.  I'm not a huge cook on my own, but I love working in a busy kitchen - usually prepping stuff in the back out of sight to help keep the front line going smoothly, which is what I do at Warlord.  I come out of it greasy, messy, covered with eggs, and thoroughly exhausted. 

Thankfully, Warlord has showers.  

The only problem is that working at the Longship breakfast is seriously dirty, sweaty, and hot.  I don't want to wear my regular garb to cook in, it just gets ruined; and more often than not sleeves and jewelry and things like that just get in the way.  It's also not safe - nobody wants your tortoise brooch falling into their omelet, right? Ew. 

So. Cleaning out my garb closet a couple of months ago I found one of those cotton tapestries that are so ubiquitous at renaissance festivals and which we all had at least 3 of back in our early 20s for some reason.  I decided that would be the perfect thing to make a simple peplos out of that I can cook in - it's tough cotton fabric with a busy pattern that will hide stains, it has no sleeves or jewelry to get in the way, and I can just wear it to the shower and back after the breakfast is over.  

I basically just folded it in half lengthwise, folded over the top, and stitched it together along the open side and at the shoulders.  In a "real" peplos the shoulders would be held together with brooches or fibulae; I sewed the shoulders closed instead so that I don't have to rely on jewelry alone just to keep this thing on while I'm running around cooking.  I can wear brooches or fibulae over the sewn parts and it'll look fine, so I'm pretty pleased with it.  

In fact, I liked the way this came out so much that I made a second one out of a blue sheet that someone gave me as part of a huge bag of sheeting and other fabrics that they were de-stashing recently.  

Tada!  Casual, easy garb for working in.  And it'll make a good shower dress for BAM and Gulf Wars, too.  

SCA: As You Wish - Bjornsbog's Spring Event 2026

As per usual, Bjornsborg threw a really fantastic event this weekend.  The theme was The Princess Bride - that's right, the movie!  Not period, but who cares: it was fun, and it was really well done.  There were themed activities and foods, fencing, fighting - maybe not the torture and murder, but there might have been true love, and probably a little bit of  piracy (just a little bit).  

And there was also an Inconcievable! Arts & Sciences Championship, which I’m proud and honored to be able to say that I won. Yay! I entered my Kostrup dress, which I've been blogging about for the past several weeks (here, here, and here).  

I totally forgot to take pictures of my setup. I also forgot to pack my dressmakers dummy, so I had to display the dress flat on the table, and I was SO mad at myself.  (It was kind of a crazy weekend, my house’s plumbing exploded the morning I left town for the event, and then my car broke down on the way there so I spent half the event managing repairs and getting rides back and forth from the site to the mechanic’s shop!) But here’s a pic of my practice run that I did last week: 

I really love putting together displays like this, and I’m pleased to say I got a lot of compliments on it. My documentation is there, as well as some tablet weaving materials and a sample of the same band I wove for the dress, as well as an extra set of beads and some beads still on the mandrels. There’s a linen fabric “booklet” of all the stitches I used in the project, and a yellow linen pleating example that people could pick up and examine closely. And finally à page of photos from the project, some of which were in the documentation and some were not. 

And here’s a pic of me actually IN the dress for once: 

Plumbing and car trouble aside, the parts of the event thst I did get to enjoy were super fun, and I’m SO excited to have won the A&S competition. 

Saturday afternoon after I got my car back from the shop, I sat under the pavilion and sewed a hood out of the last of the scraps from Ivar’s coat. I finished right as court started; and I had fun talking to all the folks who stopped by to see wha I was doing. 

Now it just needs embellishment of some kind - fancy edge stitching, or tablet woven trim? Haven’t decided yet. 

Anyway, today I’m unpacking and washing garb, and resting. More soon! 

SCA: Plans Of Many Things

 I’ve spent the last couple of months weaving my ass off for a tablet weaving display at LPT…and it turns out I’m not going. I’m severely disappointed, but something has come up which will keep me from going this weekend, and it can’t be helped. Oh, well - Life Happens, right? 

Meanwhile, I’ve finished the sewing on my Kostrup dress (see previous post), and I’m going to be working on the glass beads for it next. 

I also just ordered fabric for my next big A&S project, which is a secret for now. :) 

Bjornsborg’s spring event is in two weeks, and I wouldn’t miss that one for the world. I can’t wait! 

At the moment I have “nothing” to do (except those beads, which will have to happen over the weekend when I have time), and so I’m going to start working on some little stuff around the sewing room - organizing the books, putting some decorative stitching into a hood I made last year, maybe making some new Hedeby bags, that kind of thing. 

I did just finish weaving a bunch of Stars of Merit. The Star of Merit is Ansteorra’s grant-level service award.

More soon! 

SCA: Just Loom Stuff

 I read somewhere that "she who dies with the most looms wins," LOL.  I don't know if I'll ever have the MOST, but now I have FOUR and I'm working on building two more:  

Homemade Inkle loom

This was my first inkle loom, which I built out of 1x3" pine with oak dowels, back in 2019.  It's a bit unwieldy to use because it's so big (3’ long!), and the sliding tension bar with the butterfly nut lock is not all that great - it hurts my fingers to use, and I can never get the tension exactly where I want it.  It makes about 4y of trim when fully warped. This loom worked for me for a few years, but I like my new inkle loom better: 

Hand-me-down Inkle loom

This inkle loom I got from a friend who was moving out of the country, earlier this year.  It’s much smaller, but when fully warped it makes about 4y of band. The tensioning bar on it is sooo much easier to use than my big inkle loom, and it's much more reliable as far as getting the warp to the right tension.  The only problem with it is that some of the pegs are so close together that I can't get my fingers around them to untwist the warp threads, and I don't know what to do about that.  I tried removing one of them with a small saw...but none of my saws are small enough to fit into the space between the pegs, either! Argh.  There's also a spot on the frame where someone repaired [something?] with HUGE lag bolts and nuts, and the bolts stick out and poke me in the leg while I'm trying to weave with this thing in my lap.  

Oseberg loom, A&S April 2024

This is the miniature version of the Oseberg upright loom that I built in YEAR.  The warp is tied to the frame uprights with a leather thong, and it's incredibly easy to move the warp around and untwist the threads - you just remove the thong, untwist, and tie it back up again.  The whole thing breaks down into three pieces, so it's easy to transport and travel with.  There are a couple of problems with this one: firstly, this loom is so lightweight that I have to clamp it to a table in order to use it, and the only table I have that I can use is my dining room table. That's the second problem - at my dining room table I have to stand next to the loom and weave from the side next to the loom, which hurts my shoulder and my hip.  I think a full-sized version of this might take care of both of these issues.  

Beka rigid heddle loom

A friend recently gave me this Beka 4” rigid heddle loom, and I spent some time this past weekend figuring out how to warp it up and weave on it. This is NOT a loom for tablet weaving - it’s meant to be used with a rigid heddle, not cards. I thought I’d try it out for card weaving, but I very quickly realized that dealing with twist in the warp would be such a huge pain in the ass (removing the warp from the backboard, untwisting, putting the board back on) that it’s basically just no good for card weaving. Lesson learned! I do plan to get a rigid heddle and try this thing the way it’s meant to be used at some point in the future. 

Pieces for full-sized upright loom

This is the first loom I'm in the process of building.  It's an upright loom like the Oseberg, but more in the early Medieval style which you see in paintings. The white upright posts are stair banisters (newel posts? I'm not sure of the terminology), and the feet and stretcher bar(s) are made out of 1x2" sticks of maple.  I started working on this in my teacher’s workshop at War of the Rams, and brought it home with me to finish building.  When finished it will warp and weave the same way as my mini Oseberg loom, and I'm hoping it'll be a bit easier to sit at since it's bigger.  

I'm also hoping to build myself a new inkle loom this spring to replace my existing two inkle looms, both of which have problems, but I'm nowhere near there yet.  I have lots of sewing and weaving to get done, and stuff around the house, before I'll have time to build a new loom.  

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I'm planning to bring my tablet weaving and some of my looms to Laurel's Prize Tourney*  this year as a "body of work" type display.  I have TONS of weaving I want to get done before then, and not enough time to do everything I want, so we'll see how it ends up looking.  

*Laurel's Prize Tourney is NOT a tournament or a competition, and there's no "prize".  Apparently it used to  be a competition many years ago and the name was just never changed, or something.  What it IS, though, is basically a show-and-tell event where you just bring whatever you're working on - a project, or a body of work, or something you're in the middle of that you might want help with or advice about - and you get to speak with various Laurels who stop by to visit with you and see your stuff, and you get to geek out with other artists all day and see everyone's amazing work, and it's a totally AWESOME event.  It can be very stressful - after all, LPT is all about putting yourself out there where everyone can see you, and it can be intimidating trying to make a good impression on people - but it's also VERY fun.  

 

SCA: Events: Bjornsborg Fall Faire

I haven't had a lot of luck with events this fall at all.  First of all, it was still in the 90s here until like a week ago, so I really didn't want to be outside all that much.  One of the events I was going to go to in September was canceled at the last minute; another one at the beginning of October I managed to go to, but I couldn't camp, and it was so hot and so much walking around a very BIG and extremely dusty event site, and between the heat and my allergies I didn't stay long.  

Last weekend, however, was the Barony of Bjornsborg's Fall Faire, which I wouldn't have missed for the world.  The weather has finally cooled off, and Bjornsborg really knows how to put on an awesome event.  There were classes, competitions (no A&S, sadly), games, a couple of great bardic circles, a tavern with food and drink for lunch, and a feast on Saturday evening.  Court that night was long, but hilarious; and it rained like crazy and even hailed a bit during the first half of court, which made it kind of hard to hear what was going on at the front, but it was still a great court. 

                                 Me and Hersir Ivar 🫶

I also got to try out my new campsite this event, which was kind of exciting for me.  I got a new tent which is bigger than my old one, and sets up "instantly" (seriously, it takes me like 5 minutes to put it up all by myself, and I LOVE that!) I also got a new air bed which is wider than the twin sized one I was using before (that I kept falling out of!), and a new rocking camp chair which is SUPER comfortable.  

                        Big tent! 

This tent is big enough that I can bring my rolling garment rack for War of the Rams next month, too.  It's a five-day event, and it's going to be COLD and there are tons of parties and other activities which may or may not require costume changes - and it's SO nice at WotR to be able to just hang up all my clothes instead of rooting through a plastic tote bin for them like I do at short events, especially for when I need to duck into my tent quickly in the evenings to grab a coat or other outerwear.  

 

For my next trick, I'm going to be making a Norse klappenrock, (a short coat with a wrap-over front) for Master Ivar, complete with tablet-woven trim.  He brought the fabric to me at the event, and we sat down and took some measurements and talked about styles and colors; and I'm going to be working on this between now and WotR.  I'll show you when I'm done.  

SCA: Just Weaving Some Stuff

I’ve just recently obtained my very own copy of Applesies & Fox Noses, a book of historical Finnish tablet weaving patterns by Maikki Karisto and Mervi Pasanen. I’m super excited about it - it’s been out of print for EVER and they finally released a new printing. Yay! 

So far I’ve only done the first pattern, a band from the Carelian Iron Age from the Kaukola Kekomäki graveyard that the authors are calling “Colorful small Applesies.”  The first time through I did it in red, yellow, and blue like the pattern: 

I had an enormous amount of trouble with the tension on this one for some unknown reason, but it came out pretty well anyway.  

The second version I did was in greens, black, and white:

I LOVE the color scheme on this one.  

I recently re-fitted my ancient black linen smokkr - it was in good shape, but it was too tight across the chest, so I took a strip off the lower hem and used it to make a thin panel that I inserted into one of the seams to widen the whole dress. It fits great now, and now it also has a lovely green band on it: 

I can’t wait to wear this at my next event - which will be Bjornsborg’s fall baronial event on Halloween weekend  that weekend is also my fiftieth birthday, hooray! This will be fun. 

SCA: Kingdom A&S Event

 

Well, I'm back from Kingdom A&S, which is THE big A&S competition event in Ansteorra every year.   

My project for Kingdom A&S (KAS) was one you've seen bits and pieces of here on the blog in the past few months - I've been working on it since January, I started as soon as Candlemas was over.  

I made a complete Norse woman's outfit in three layers: a linen serk, a wool overdress, and a wool smokkr.  All of it is hand-sewn, and I did the tablet weaving and the braiding on the smokkr as well. 

The serk is all linen, sewn with linen thread.  It's a light gray in color, similar to what an unbleached linen would look like, but not as warm in color (more gray, less beige/tan).  The thread is white, because that's what I had on hand.  Nothing fancy here, just a plain "T-tunic" style pattern, some flat-felled seams, no trim or anything like that. The sleeves are a bit longer than they need to be - I did that so I could bunch them up around my wrists.  So they hang down pretty far in the picture above.  The stitching on the serk isn't as nice as on the other two pieces, and I got dinged for that by the judges, but it's not a humongous deal or anything.  

armpit gussets.  I hate them so much. 

The green wool dress (previewed here) that goes over the serk is done on the same basic T-tunic pattern (similar to tunics/dresses found at Birka and Hedeby).  It's sewn in a beige colored silk thread which blends into the green fabric pretty well.  The trim around the neckline and sleeve cuffs is blue silk fabric, hand-stitched in place on top of the edge.  

the green wool dress, with blue silk trim and
a blue tablet woven belt

armpit gussets in the green dress

blue silk trim on green dress

The blue wool smokkr is one that I showed at Bjornsborg this past Spring, when the project was about half-finished.  It's a full-length dress, with fabric straps/loops, tablet-woven trim, and a "Hedeby braid" trim on the vertical seams, very similar to the red linen dress I made in 2024.  

The fabric is a broken diamond twill wool in a medium blue color; the pattern is the same three-panel/three-gore pattern I always use for these things, which is based off of Carolyn Priest-Dorman's pattern which is widely used in the SCA LINK.    

The trimming across the top edge of the dress is in two parts: a green silk fabric band folded over the top edge, and below it a tablet woven band in silk, in green, blue, and white. This decision was inspired by finds at Birka as noted by Inga Hagg.  The pattern for the band is Oseberg 12L1 (the Oseberg "narrow band" found on the loom in the Oseberg ship burial), which I got from Elewys von Finchingfield's blog and YouTube channel LINK.  

blue smokkr

setting in the side gores

tablet weaving and Hedeby braid on the smokkr

eleven examples of top trim on apron dresses, 
illustration by Inga Hagg

weaving the Hedeby braid

the Hedeby braid on an extant fragment found
at Birka (illustration by Inga Hagg)

Overall, the day was frustrating as heck (because of all the stress of just waiting and waiting and waiting), but it ended well.  I'm very happy with the scores I got, and the judges' commentary.  I was in the top 10 high scorers, and so I got a commemorative coin/badge as a prize, which was pretty cool.  I only spoke to one of my judges, but she was very cool and had a lot of good things to say, and good ideas for going forward with this project IF I decide to take it to Gulf Wars to compete there - IF I get chosen to go, which I probably won't.  

A few friends and I traveled to KAS together (five hour drive!) and stayed in an Air BNB together for the weekend, which was fun.  We had a great time together, and KAS was a good experience, and I'm happy with the weekend overall.  

Good lord, what's next?  I have no idea.  I think I need to spend some time recovering from the emotional strain, LOL.  No, I totally have things planned.  More soon!  

my prize coin from the competition

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SCA: Event Update and Blue Wool Norse Dress

 Last weekend was Bjornsborg’s spring event, this one Roman-themed. It was really something - all the pavilions and activity areas were arranged in a huge circle, with the lyst fields in the center, like a coliseum. Vendors sold street snacks all around the coliseum (paid for with wooden tokens you received at the gate), everything was draped in flowers and brightly-colored fabrics, and everyone was dressed in their best Roman garb. There was even a refreshment station with a PICKLE FOUNTAIN of all things, LOL. It was really cool. 

I spent the weekend in the outdoor kitchen, helping my friends prepare the street vendor snacks, luncheon, and evening feast. It was a LOT of work, and I missed some of the activities because of it, but it was SO much fun. I was a wreck by Saturday night, but it was worth it - especially since the kitchen had a great view of court in the evening, and of the best Laurel elevation ceremony that I’ve ever seen. 

I didn’t win the A&S competition this time, but my  friend Chris won it, and I am SO proud of him!  My entry was a blue wool Norse dress that I’d been working on since March: 

That’s my documentation hanging from one of the brooches on the right; and a little linen stitch sampler booklet on the left. The entire outfit is hand-sewn; the sampler booklet was so that people could inspect the stitches I used on the clothing. 

The fabric is a “broken diamond” weave wool (mid weight, about 10oz) that I ordered from a shop online. The green silk trim fabric is from a grab bag of sari scrap “ribbon”. The Oseberg-style trim is woven with silk weaving thread, and the Hedeby braid on the seams is made with the same stuff. 

The underdress is the same one I showed at Candlemas; linen with linen thread, also hand sewn.  

This is me weaving the Hedeby braid, pinned to my couch. I have to say, although I love the finished look, I HATE weaving this stuff. It’s so tedious, and it took me four freaking hours to braid two yards of this stuff. Probably never doing this again (which I also said the last time I did it, hehe).  

Anyway, the outfit did quite well, and I got a lot of nice compliments on it. But then at court, something happened which I wasn’t expecting at all: 

I got an Iris! (That’s Ansteorra’s grant-level arts and sciences award).  I was BLOWN. AWAY.  Apparently this was given in March, but I wasn't at the event then, so they gave it to me this weekend. What! I’m still kind of in shock. I’m so grateful to everyone who made this happen. I got to read the award recommendations that were submitted, and people said such lovely things. ♥️ 

Anyway, the event was a lot of work and a lot of fun. I’m proud of my work, and proud of my friend, and so happy to have been able to attend. 

The next event is Steppes’ Warlord at the end of this month. At that event I will also be cooking, though not nearly as much; and I’m not entering A&S at Warlord. Except for the two breakfasts I’m helping with, it’ll be a nice break from working. 

Between now and then, I have some Regency stuff I’m working on, so stay tuned! 

Update on Stuff

 I know, I haven’t posted anything since I got back from Gulf Wars. I’ve been busy as heck, I just haven’t had much to say here. 

At the moment I’m working on another full hand-sewn outfit for A&S, which I’ll have lots to say about in a couple of weeks after the competition. Fun stuff about that: I hand-sewed a wool garment for the first time, I tried out weaving with silk thread for the first time (and I’m in love), and while I normally have my A&S project finished a week or two before the deadline, this time I had sort of a supply emergency and now will end up working up until the last minute - possibly even the late night before the event. So…that’s fun, I guess?  Heh. 

I have lots planned for afterwards, too. A new Viking coat for myself, lots more weaving, and a Regency gown I’ve been “dying” to make for over a year now. I may also get a new tattoo next week, but y’all don’t care about that. 

Anyway, more soon, I promise! 

Just for fun, here’s a pic of my first silk weaving project. The band on the left is cotton crochet thread; the band on the right is silk thread from Dixie Weavers, which I purchased at Gulf Wars. It’s so soft and shiny and smooth! It’s a dream to work with - once I got the tension right, that is - and I can’t wait to keep playing with this stuff. 

Bye! 

SCA: Gulf Wars 2025

So, Gulf Wars was awesome, but I came home and got sick for a week, so this post is a bit delayed…

I just spent nearly a week in the woods in Mississippi. We bugged out a day early to avoid some rather serious storms that were headed that way, and arrived home yesterday afternoon. I’m overwhelmed and tired, but I had an amazing time. 

First, the spoils of war: 

I purchased a new pair of shoes for myself, to replace (a) the old pair of Viking turnshoes that I’ve been kicking around in for like seven years and which are falling apart; and (b) the new shoes I ordered last year which are too tight even after a year and hurt my feet. These new black ones are perfect! 

I also bought three spools of silk weaving thread. I was going to order them anyway when I got home from war, but the merchant was right there on site where I could see the thread in person and chat with her about it. Yay! 

The last thing wasn’t a purchase, but a gift: a beautiful Viking knife with a red leather sheath, given to me by my friends at the Moonlight Madness event in merchants’ row. It’s soooo pretty, I love it so much. 

Activities-wise, I did ALL THE THINGS.  I took classes, saw shows, went to parties, and FINALLY visited the Early Period Life encampment which I’d always meant to do.  I even fed a horse cookie to a horse and petted her fur - which, if you know how long I’ve been afraid of horses, you know that’s a HUGE deal for me. 

All in all, I think the best part of Gulf War was that I stretched myself out and had a great time doing it. I pushed my own boundaries, left my comfort zone to try new things, and it felt good to do. I’m proud of myself. 

I even learned how to naalbind, finally. I’ve been trying to get the hang of it for years and I never could do it, but now I can at least start myself off and make chains. I’m hoping with some YouTube videos I can now teach myself to start off in the round, so that I can make some hats and mittens. 

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So what’s next? Oh boy, just all the things. I have two events to prepare for, another dress to make by hand, a whole bunch of weaving to get done, a broken loom to repair/rebuild (again!), and I’m helping a friend with a woodworking project he’s doing for A&S. Updates soon! 

SCA: Laurels’ Prize Tourney

This weekend was Laurels’ Prize Tourney. It is not a tournament, nor is there any prize - that’s just what it’s called. What it is is a chance to show off your work and sit down with laurels and with other artisans who are interested in the same things and talk about it together. It’s a huge geek fest, and the time I went several years ago was SO much fun. 

This weekend’s event was no different. I met so many new people, and had so much fun talking about stuff I love to do, and about so much more. I learned new things, found new rabbit-holes to head down when I get some free time, and a new appreciation for where I’m at in my work and how far I have yet to go. 

I brought what I’m calling my “Vikings Are Still Cool” display - a little bit of some of the things I do which are Norse-garb-related.  I brought my red hand-sewn dress from Candlemas, the Oseberg loom that I built last year, a whole bunch of tablet weaving stuff, some of the Hedeby bags I love to make, some other sewing items, and some of the jewelry and glass beads that I’ve made. 

Some friends and I drove up together and rented an AirBNB for the weekend, rather than paying for a more expensive hotel room to share.  It was a great little house - I’d never been to an AirBNB before, so it was a new experience for me. 

What’s Next? 

The next SCA event for me is going to be Gulf Wars in March - a weeklong war between two kingdoms, hosted by a third kingdom and attended by several. 

Before then I’ve got to make myself a new serk and a new male tunic; and I’ve got to get started on my A&S project for Bjornsborg in April, as well. And I’ve taken on a weaving commission that I hope to have done in a couple of weeks, too. 

I also have a new regency dress that I’m hoping to get done somewhere in there - it’s high time I had a black mourning gown, I think. 

Lots of things! More on all that soon. 

SCA: Candlemas 2025

 Bryn Gwlad’s Candlemas was yesterday. It was lots of fun - my back and my legs were hurting pretty much all day, so mostly I stayed sitting; but I took a really cool cooking class, watched the costume contest (which was hilarious and really fun), and I got to catch up with so many people I hadn’t seen in forever, which was awesome  

You know what else is awesome? I won the arts & sciences championship with my red and white Norse outfit! I’m SO stoked! This is my first real competition win (I’ve won a couple of largesse competitions before, but never a “real” one).  I completely forgot to take a picture of my display at the event, but here it is on my sewing table at home, all laid out the way I did it at Candlemas. 

Here’s my scroll and medallion - they’re both super cool. I need to get a frame for the scroll, as none of the spare frames I have are big enough for it (and it’s real parchment, so I don’t want to trim it down). 

I got a lot of great feedback from the judges, the baron and baroness, and from friends, on both my outfit and my documentation.  I’m proud of my work, and I can’t WAIT to get started on my next project! 

Today I’m washing all the laundry from the event; and I’m getting ready to start seriously prepping for next weekend, which is LPT.  I have all the pieces together, I just need to do a test run of my display at home, and start packing everything up for next weekend. 

After that…I’d been planning on entering the A&S at Bjornsborg in April - but now I’m seriously considering going to Gulf Wars in March, as well. I’m not sure if I will, it’s a BIG undertaking, but maybe. Lots to prepare for! 

Happy New Year!

I know, I’m late, it’s the thirteenth already. I’ve been busy as heck the last few weeks getting ready for Bryn Gwlad’s Candlemas (February 1st) and Ansteorra’s Laurel’s Prize Tourney (Feb. 8th).  

Candlemas is BG’s big event of the year - everybody puts on the dog and brings their best to the various championships that are held during the day. There’s a marvelous feast in the evening, and an Italian Renaissance ball. It’s really something to see. For my part, I’ve been working on an A&S entry for the event (the red hand-sewn Norse dress I posted about a couple of weeks ago). 

Laurel’s Prize Tourney is not a tournament, nor is there a prize awarded for anything. What it is is a big A&S gathering where you can display your works - a project, a body of work, something you want advice on, whatever you want - and have the opportunity to talk to the laurels and to other like-minded people about your work.  You basically sit at a table, show off your works, and geek out about history with people with similar interests - and it’s SO FUN. I’ve been once before and I had a blast. 

This year LPT is in Oklahoma, so a bunch of us are trekking up there together for the weekend (it’s a one-day event) - picture a minivan stuffed with craft projects and history nerds on a 5-hour road trip, LOL. It’s going to be great. 

So I’ve been getting ready for that, too.  I’ll have more about both events as they get closer, and hopefully some pictures of my various displays afterwards, too. For right now, I’ve got work to do: 

I’m 

• Finishing up some small sewing projects 
• Weaving two projects (three?) 
• Making glass beads
• Organizing and planning my display(s)
• Writing and organizing documentation 
• Planning A&S shenanigans with a friend who is also doing both of these events with me 

And for some reason I’m also crocheting a sweater in my down time, because I guess I didn’t have enough going on at once. AAAAA!! 

Ok, back soon. 

SCA: Some Roman Updates

We have a Roman-themed event coming up in April, so sort of in the background behind all the other stuff I’m working on right now*, I’ve been making some slight alterations to my Roman outfit, which I posted about in April. 

I got a booklet of Greco-Roman themed tablet weaving patterns from Etsy a while back, and used one of the patterns in it create this trim for my blue linen chiton: 

I ordered some new white handkerchief-weight linen and made it into a new palla - four yards long, nearly two yards wide. I hemmed the edges by hand and then embroidered this little toothy gold edge design all the way around it. 

I also made a new blue sash to wrap around the whole thing, as the dark gray just wasn’t working for me (it was kind of boring).  The blue is much better. 

I also ordered these adorable little wire fibulas, which I’m using to close my brown linen peplos (made for my Iron Age outfit in June, but I’ve since had to scavenge the blue apron for use in another project, and the under dress ripped and wasn’t reparable, so all I have is left of the IA outfit is this brown peplos, which will be pressed into service as a Roman peplos in April).  

Now. Is tablet weaving period for Ancient Rome? No. Is edge embroidery? Who knows? Both mimic the look of whatever trim they DID use, though, and it’s fine. I like chasing period accuracy in my Norse wear, but since this is a one-off event, I’m just going for “looks good” and not necessarily 100% accurate. I’m fine with it, and I love the way the outfit looks. 

*Meanwhile, I’ve got February to prepare for: both Candlemas (A&S) and Laurel’s Prize Tourney, a week apart.  LPT is not a tournament, and there’s no prize - it’s a display-only event whose entire focus is to be able to sit down with the laurels and talk shop like a bunch of geeks, and it’s SO FUN. I can’t wait to go - but I have a LOT of work to get done for both events in the next four weeks. Wish me luck! 

SCA: BAM Shenanigans & Updating my Roman Outfit

War of the Rams ended up being a total bust for me. I hurt my back on the first day, and was basically stuck in a chair at camp the entire weekend - I didn’t get to go anywhere or do any of the activities, or even see people I’d been looking forward to seeing. I was pretty bummed about that. I didn’t even get any pictures. 

However, I did wear a blue jean  “cowboy viking” outfit on Friday that I made as a joke, and got a bunch of good laughs out of it. I don’t have a pic of me in it, but here it is on my mannequin: 

Isn’t that ridiculous? I wore it with cowboy boots and a red bandana over my hair. There were several double-takes, and a few people busted out laughing when they saw me, hehe. Silliness. 

I also bought this gorgeous new mug for myself while I was there. It’s a hand made and hand painted pottery in a loosely Greco-Roman design, and one of a kind - I couldn’t pass it up! 

Speaking of Roman, I found out that the Bjornsborg spring event this coming year will be Roman-themed, hooray! I love wearing Roman, and the weather then should be perfect for it.  I decided to upgrade my kit a bit this month, starting with a new sash to tie around my body (it's blue; the old one was dark gray and I didn’t like the way it went with the light blue chiton). 

This week I treated myself to a pdf booklet of Greek- and Roman- inspired tablet weaving patterns from Etsy (some traditional “Greek key” designs, and some patterns inspired by the geometric designs in floor mosaics and frescoes), and I made up this one in blue and white cotton: 

Once it was done, I sewed it onto the top edges of my linen chiton, to dress it up some. (Decorative trim on these things IS period,  but tablet weaving itself is NOT…but I’m not worried about that, I’m not going for exacting historical accuracy with my Roman, I just want something approximate and *pretty* to bang around in at the event).  

That’s all for now.  At the moment I’m working on two pieces: a new palla for my Roman outfit, and a hand-sewn Norse smokkr for an event in January. More on that soon!