16th Century Persian

I actually made this a little less than a year ago, but never got any pictures.

Today's event was hot enough that I decided to break the Persian out again. It's based on a number of Persian miniatures from the 16th century.

It is made completely from thin cotton quilting fabric. It consists of a pair of striped pants (hurray for pants!), and two tunics, worn one over the other. I've lined only the front lower portion of the top tunic in yellow, so I could turn the front back the show the lining.

The tunics are patterned almost exactly like t-tunics. I did take them in along the side of the torso slightly, to make them more fitted and less boxy. The bottom tunic is closed with buttons, and the second tunics use a button with a frog and loop system, similar to these.

I'm wearing a white linen headband which ties in the back of my head, with two veils pinned to it - the first is short and in copper silk, and a second is longer and in sheer green silk. Hopefully you can tell how the veil layers look in the picture below. Lots of information on Persian veils along with great examples from miniatures can be found on this excellent website.

I love this ensemble. It's a fun change from the 16th century Italian stuff I normally wear to events. It's relatively cool, and you get to wear pants while remaining historically accurate. And I love that I get to stay in my time period (16th century) while just moving over a few countries.

1520s Florentine Tourney Dress

Since I've made a couple of front lacing gowns, I wanted to try my hand at making one that laces on the side. And since I needed new Tourney dresses (which should be easily washable), I decided to make it out of cotton sateen. In my brain I imagined that it would look more like silk. But I had forgot that cotton sateen is what they often make sheets out of. But it doesn't look like it's made from sheet, thankfully...

I drew inspiration from the collection of images on Festive Attyre. Particularly these images. I like the flat front, the high waist, and the awesome sleeves. And two images portray turbans - I was fascinated by the Florentine turban trend, so I decided my dress must include a striped one.










I finally broke down and attended a costuming gathering down in Long Beach, where one of my Kingdom's costuming Laurels helped me with the bodice pattern. It is AMAZING!!! Drafting patterns on yourself is very difficult, if not impossible. Having some help, especially someone so knowledgeable and talented, makes all the difference in the world.





The rest of the gown is pretty standard. The skirt is a giant rectangle, knife pleated to the bodice. It laces in the side. I trimmed the neckline and hem with some brown linen. It also has a brown linen sash at the waist.

One thing that doesn't show up in the picture is how awesome the sleeves are. They're rather large round sleeves, navy on one side, and maroon on the other. They're attached at only one lacing point, at the top of the shoulder, so the chemise can peak out as it does in the original paintings. Here they are as they were being cut out. The width at the widest point is about the same as the length.



The turban is just a long strip of striped cotton fabric about a foot wide. I attempted to replicate the turban wrapping method demonstrated at The Purple Files. I was very pleased with how it turned out.

Bonus picture: Here I am enjoying my new Dantesca chair, which I purchased at Gulf Wars for far too much money. But it's perfect, and exactly what I wanted. And the most comfortable wooden chair I've ever sat in.

Costuming for Friends - Another Faux-hardie

Here's Emma. She's a friend from work who I convinced to come to an SCA event with me. For the occasion, I made her a T-tunic disguised as a cotehardie, which I've begun calling faux-hardies. They're easier to pattern than real cotehardies, and go together a little quicker. And also a hood. I think Emma really liked the hood. She didn't take it off the whole day, even though it was kind of hot. The liripipe is really really long.










The event was lots of fun. We killed fighters by throwing plague rats at them, and flung things with a trebuchet. And otherwise, just hung around in the shade. Lovely day.