My grandmother was an excellent seamstress. She learned to sew and alter to help the family though a tight budget, which was fairly typical of poor southern bells in the 1950s. I don't think she ever took jobs on, but I could be wrong about that. Mostly she just made sure my aunt was well dressed and fashionable. Beauty was cultivated and admired in her house.
I didn't sew until I started to play SCA. Grandma had taught me a few tricks while growing up, but we moved away before 8th grade and she had a stroke shortly before that, so my lessons never progressed beyond simple hems and small projects. With her help I made a pair of shorts when I was probably 10, and I remember she made book covers from fabric for all of my school books in 3rd or 4th grade.
In the SCA I began sewing without patterns. At the time costume patterns were fairly scarce although they were becoming more popular. I learned T-tunics and pants and how to sew on trim to make it look a little better. Eventually we moved on to skirts and simple bodices. Before I left New Mexico I was onto Persian coats and Scottish dresses.
But I haven't sewn for probably 4 years. I decided to take Gerd to an SCA event in New York, a feast with dancing, that would be a small but comfortable first SCA experience. I must have put together and torn apart my chimis at least 4 times. The arms were cut out too high, the neckline non-existant, my sleave seams ended up on top instead of on bottom. Then the seams were inside out...twice.
Although my skirt and overskirt went fairly well (good since I came down with a head cold while doing all of this) I ended up leaving the bodice for my mother to do. It was supposed to be "help with" but she pretty much took over, for which I was incredibly thankful. We (she) finished it the day of the event, I put it on and drove to the feast. Halfway through the bodice I almost cried uncle and cancelled the outing.
Thankfully we made it. Practice dance sessions and a stuffed fox dressing contest ran until feast. I even got Gerd to dance a few with me (his garb was so much easier than mine). I then dressed up my fox (for which I won second price) even though I was sick of sewing by then. It much easier to sew an outfit for a stuffed animal when you don't have to worry about poking them or actually being able to take the outfit off again...
Kids had their own category of fox dressing compeition (which turned out so cute!) and they were given a "bingo" card where they had to find people that matched criteria on their cards...i.e. find a guy with a pony tail, find someone who had an SCA wedding, find someone for whom this is their first event, and so on. I thought it was a good idea.
The feast itself was fabulous! Five removes (courses of course) with dessert. In the past I've been to feasts that were terrible. Cooking medieval foods for over 100 people (and serving it all warm) takes a pretty talented chef I think, and I've never seen it run so smoothly before.
Lets see if I can remember what we had:
1st Remove:
Cheese & Fruit plate
Baked Brie in a pastry
Bread
2nd Remove:
A hole roasted chicken (for a table of 6-8) with rosemary sauce with a grape stuffing
Rice pilaf
creamed peas
Third Remove
Lamb
Medeival Lasagna (homemade noodles with cheese)
Spinach Pancakes
Kidney Beans
Fourth Remove
Pies of Paris (meat pie with chicken I think...kind of like a pot pie but better)
Spinach w/ Raspberry Vinaigrette
Chick Pea Garlic Thing (really the only horrible thing served...tasted like eating a whole garlic)
Crescent Rolls
Fifth Remove (dessert)
Homemade marzipan
Rice pudding
Chocolate cake (store bought, I don't know why)
Rice crispie treats (made into a huge castle that we disassembled and ate)
Eating took about 2 1/2 hours or so and then they had the ball. We didn't dance much the second time...mostly because they didn't call the steps and I didn't know many of the dances, but also because we were still stuffed. We did dance the Korabushka which was tons of fun and a nice end for our day.
2 comments:
Man that sounds like fun. Probably on my list of things to do someday, but I've never been involved in SCA, and wouldn't know where to start. And I'm horrible at walking into a new social situation where I don't know anyone. The whole idea makes me want to hide under the covers for a few days.
Sewing's fun. Funny, I learned to sew from reading patterns--sewing without one has always been more of a challenge. I'm not doing much of it lately. Or any, really. To my shame, I even dressed both my children in store-bought costumes for Halloween last year (well, Trystan's was a hand-me-down, but *somebody* bought it from a store at some point).
One of these days, I'll find the time again (once children are no longer in mortal danger around sewing supplies). Or I'll install sound-proofing material between our office and Charlotte's bedroom, so I can sew after her bedtime without waking her up (my most common complaint/excuse).
It's really fun, I totally recommend it sometime. If you find an event in your area during the summer maybe I could come out and go with you guys (maybe we could get Kelly to visit too), although summer events usually don't have feasts. Instead they have bardic circles where people tell stories or sing songs around a fire. No, we don't expect you to sing.
I'm not sure if I find sewing fun. I find it fun when it actually goes well. Unfortunately I'm usually tearing out a beautifully sewn seam because of one reason or another. But I do like the feeling of having produced something. Eventually it comes together (I just keep taking it apart until it does).
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