The Armour Archive

Charlotte J

Aww! That baby is a tad young for fake hair! (so cute!) I'd recommend slicking the hair back, and placing a veil under the fillet. I know short hair people get tired of the "cover it" approach, but the "cover it and add plenty of fake" can be fun. There are a few examples of the ...

Charlotte J

Hee hee! The point was to add fake hair, and make it look like my own. I failed pretty miserably. That said, it is possible. I'll have to dredge up some pics, but if you attach a fake braid to a fillet, and braid your real hair across the back (starting from the temples) you can fake it pretty well...

Charlotte J

Pray, that headpiece that you taught the class on... Is that your actual hair bound up in that piece, or is it designed in such a way to make it look like you have long hair when in fact you do not? (I couldn't tell from either of the other pictures whether or not you actually have long hair.) Hee ...

Charlotte J

Not armour, I hope nobody minds if I post garb/hat pics. January, 2001. I even taught a CLASS on how to make this! http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/gallery/albums/Charlotte/CaulFron.sized.jpg 15th century, last year (crappy pic, but all of the good pics from that even are silly with friends): http:...

Charlotte J

Something to consider- the plagues were made worse due to crop failures because the weather was so horrible in 1348/1349. Fields were flooded with mud and crops died, leading to famine which exacerbated the impact of the plague. Could the weather changes have led to changes in fashion, which in tur...

Charlotte J

Ok, no harm no foul! That takes the thread into an entirely different philosophical discussion which is the question of what is period, whats not, whats acceptable for reenactment and whats notFor example what would be the period thing to do? To wear an exact copy of an existing bascinet or to wear ...

Charlotte J

Looking back to the beginning of the post, Bob H said â€œForget about the terminally lazy for a minuteâ€¦â€

Charlotte J

Hello every one. My brent @ aa email is broken and most likely will be the the weekend. you can contact me by phone or brentjunkins@att.net. To MJ quite right on your thoughts about just trying to do " it " right SCA or,... what ever. I checked the price of silver and about crapped my pan...

Charlotte J

Youâ€™ve received good advice already regarding the cloak itself, so Iâ€™ll go in another direction. If your goal is keeping warm, have you considered a heavier layer of tunic or gown? Personally, I stay away cloaks, because to get anything done you have to stick your arms out, letting all of the co...

Charlotte J

Pssst. I suspect Violante de la Fuentes was being facetious. Not to put too fine a point on itâ€¦ I love helping people. Even from a purely selfish standpoint, it gets me to crack open books that may have been collecting dust for a while. The archive is a great tool to use. But thereâ€™s use, and th...

Charlotte J

Oh the conversations I inadvertently start! Luther.. you said you can make one of those spoons out of silver? How much would something like that run? As a sidebar.... I am in the SCA, this is for SCA use.... why can't it be high quality for the SCA? These spoons COMPLETELY aside, why should the qua...

Charlotte J

Dude, like totaly place the spoon over the drawing in the book and any reasonable person can plainly see that they are similar enough for anyones veterinarian. It's not like your going to fly this sucker to space. If I had a chance to mic the real one then you probably could. P.S. the book calls it...

Charlotte J

I don't have the book, maybe an acorn? Not sure. Maybe Luther can say, or someone else who knows metal stuff better than me. Yep, the fork is the extrapolation from a larger carving fork or something like that. My pewter pieces were a gift, and I don't know who made them originally, but the handles...

Charlotte J

Depends what you're looking for. Do you want to just make something? Great. Google, ask, whatever. Entering something in your local A&S display, putting on a presentation, whatever? Need to have good research? And pass it off as your own knowledge? And frequently? Buy a flippin' book, and crack ...

Charlotte J

I have that spoon (and the fork). What is the top shape supposed to be? It's hard to tell from the pic in the MOL book. IIRC, the fork was an extrapolation - is that correct? As for pewter being weak, I've never had a problem with my spoons, and I've been using them for years. A couple have had the ...

Charlotte J

How's about some stale bread? Cheap, period, and works great as a trencher/plate.

Charlotte J

There are instructions for a LOT of things in Med Tailors Asst. I don't remember if there's a chaperon in there, but that book will be able to answer a lot of your other construction questions.

Charlotte J

But then again, the shirt is not seen for all intents and purposes. And if we are talking about late 14th century /early 15th century hose were suspended with a belt right? Making the use of a doublet for hose suspension a later period phenomenon. I dunno guys...Ive seen plenty of pictures of houpp...

Charlotte J

I think you meant a shirt between myself and the houppy...but yeah I do wear a linen shirt. Im not worried....just hate being extremely sweaty during a two hour show... Its hard to be glamorous that way. No, I mean between you and your doublet. The houppe would likely be worn over another garment. ...

Charlotte J

What I was getting at (but was on my way out of the door) is that you don't *have* to line it. As mentioned, not all garments were lined. Lining is good, and I think preferable, to hide seams, if you're wearing wool on wool, the lining will keep things from "sticking", as it were. But if ...

Charlotte J

What I was getting at (but was on my way out of the door) is that you don't *have* to line it. As mentioned, not all garments were lined. Lining is good, and I think preferable, to hide seams, if you're wearing wool on wool, the lining will keep things from "sticking", as it were. But if i...

Charlotte J

Why does it need lining? What is the material that you're using?

It's entirely possible to get away without lining it, but a bag lining can be the easiest way to hide all machine stitching.

Charlotte J

Andrew, I have this all written in an article that I have yet to publish, but itâ€™s at home. Pics havenâ€™t been taken yet, either. So, here it is in a nutshell (there are a couple of ways you can do this, but hereâ€™s how Iâ€™d do it): Sew the body pieces together of the houppe. Add the collar. Se...

Charlotte J

Speaking from a practical standpoint, and not an historical oneâ€¦ For a Houppelande, you might as well bag line it. Itâ€™s generally easier, and you have less seam finishing. Itâ€™s easy to hide all machine stitching this way, inside and out. You can finish the seams of the garment and of the linin...

Charlotte J

I'd love to have the opportunity to set up a group lending library. It lets beginners get a leg-up on basics without spending all their money on books and having little left for materiel. If they stick, they'll probably buy their own copies. In my experience, the best library resources in a group a...

Charlotte J

Bob's list is good, but skip the Houston costuming book. It's one of those that uses line drawings of Victorian sources, etc. etc. etc. Instead, try: The Medieval Tailor's Assistant and The Tudor Tailor They're both good books for beginning to medium costumers. They're a really good start for somebo...

Charlotte J

Problem is... yeah, I can do it, if I'm willing to spend bookoo bux patterning in leather... (ow) Could you try using some heavy fabric to get an idea? Is the bend mostly in one direction (across your body)? Would a couple of test strips around your body do the trick? Is this one big piece? Can you...

Charlotte J

*eeeexxxxcellent* *ahem* If you do end up lining the whole cloak, attach the fur to a linen or hemp interlining. If you padstitch the fur all over to the interlining, you'll give it a lot of strength. Then you'll just tack the interlining into the cloak. You can then pull the fur and interlining out...

Charlotte J

That's going to look nice! Trim is nice, even if you can't line whole cloak. Sometimes it's nice to just have that little bit of fur to snuggle your hands into. I wish we all could wear more fur. Have you worked with fur before? I don't want to give you advice that you don't want or need, but if you...

Charlotte J

Going back to what Flittie said...

Women.

SCA combat is one of the few sports in the world where women compete on the same field, and with the same rules, as men. There have got to be some athletic, tough, women out there who that specifically would appeal to.

Charlotte J

True. Hadn't thought about that with the sheep. Fur is pretty heavy as well, watch what you get. I've had some luck with "squirrel fur" as my ebay search term. Squirrel is fairly lightweight and thin. What's amazing is how relatively light all of the fur is, once you get done ripping out t...

Charlotte J

I get my fur from eBay, but if you need it all to be one color, I'd look for some sheepskins. Do you have a time when you need this? I've seen a lot of fiber festivals across the US, and they tend to sell skins there.

Charlotte J

No problem!

Ok, here's a PSA to all Americans who attend events in Europe. You are OBLIGATED to get at least one picture of yourself standing next to a castle (gate, wall, some sort of medieval architecture) wearing your awesome clothes that your awesome wife made you.

Guess who didn't?

Charlotte J

We have our own gallery that we use and like. I don't like photobucket, mainly because I can't see them at work.

Charlotte J

Excellent! I heard briefly from him, but at $3/minute he said he'd have to elaborate later. I can't wait to see pics.