allison_is

I got a copy of Weigel's trachtenbuch through ILL and am going to begin scanning them soon, in preparation of another translation project. DUN DUN DUN! And now I am going to edit this post because after I hit post I realized I sounded like a jackass:

The verse is not as exciting or challenging or as clever as Lautenbach's, but still of interest to me.

I really think that when it comes to historical research, costume books are often overlooked or scoffed at for their inaccuracies but that should not necessarily be the case. Sometimes the woodcut artists had seen the clothing they are depicting. They aren't really that different than portraits can be. Everyone takes artistic liberties, yet somehow a portrait can be taken as the authority for clothing. Yes, they can be wrong. But so can portraits. I guess that's where I'm going with that. It's all in how you interpret the material. Grain of salt, etc. I usually try to reproduce a garment I have seen multiple times, be it in paintings or woodcuts. 

Depending on the book that is looked at, they can be a super cultural tool when it comes to understanding what was valued in women and their appearance and virtue. It's also useful when it comes to understanding how other cultures perceived each other, and they also can show that people were genuinely interested in what life was like in other places, especially when it comes to what happened after the discovery of the new world. I think this is super apparent in some of the incunabula - Guy Marchant (publisher in Paris 1483-1504) released three editions of Columbus' account of the new world, all in 1493. Just one printing house. That's how popular they were. They were published in Latin, but the vernacular rolled around as early as 1493. The Nuremberg Chronicles feature woodcuts of different cities (though to save money sometimes they are the same woodcut, but still. . . )

And as I'm learning, because of the financial risk involved, publishers usually just wouldn't print any old thing. That happened with Lienhart Holle in Ulm and that fool went out of business within two years. He published like two books!  He couldn't read his market at all obviously. I'd like to think that if they were published, it was because there was a market for them. That might not be as true in early markets though - people were attached to manuscripts apparently. It's like how I feel about e-books.

Ein blindes Huhn findet auch einmal ein Korn.

I set aside some of my SCA angst and started sewing yesterday. I haven't quite figured out the angst - all I know is that after Germany, everything I really used to enjoy became something I didn't. I gave up WoW, I quit staying out late and drinking, and I started not pissing my time away as much on sewing because I didn't want to. School is the best reason to not do anything I don't want to. "Oh, I can't, I have homework."

I started sewing because I need to make room in the fabric cabinet for all the fabric I inherited from my grandma. I foresee plenty of "what the HELL am I going to do with this?" in my future. Plus winter break is prime sewing time because I can marathon it, which is how I do it best. I can just sit down and plug away on something. . I can't recall exactly how much 3.5 oz linen I had, but I apparently have enough for 2 shirts - fine by me. Here's the interesting thing. I decided that from here on out, I would handsew. That's how I roll, right? Well, here are my reports. I'm using the method laid out by the Attack Laurel on the Elizabethan seam. I was looking at the tiny ass hard to decipher picture in the Tudor Tailor of the shirt seam, and that's what it looked like so I figured why the hell not, for a few reasons.

I handfinish almost all my seams. It takes a while - but that's how I roll. The only difference with this is I am handfinishing them first - which is the amount of time it would take me normally + whipstitching the edges together. Not a big deal. Also, shirts do not take a long time. The shirt will be done by today, no doubt. I am leaving the hems raw until I assemble. I finished 1 sleeve last night, 2/3 of the back and the front panels, and I have 1 sleeve and 2 gussets to do. The things I did finish took me about 8 distracted hours until I wised up to the running stitch - which I hate.

This is a shirt that is going to go under the 1520's German stuff, so I have to figure out neckline finishing because I have a feeling it will be rather bulky. I also put 58" into the shirt width - both front and back. What the hell, I figured. Well, what the hell was I thinking? That one will bite me in the ass later, I am sure. If it proves to be too much after assembly, I'll take a few inches out down the middle.

If someone could let me know when the next appropriate A&S competition for undergarments is happening, I would love to enter it.

Next on the list after this shirt is finished - a smock, and a partlet, the ropa (haha), and the corset.

This is a huge difference from my thoughts of yesterday. I was thinking about selling all my fabric off to pay for the 12th semester of school. I'll do that with some of it, though. Anything I DON'T have to take out in a loan is the best. I also might sell some of the handsewn stuff. . . maybe Etsy.

Tonight I am going to make curry for dinner. I thought I'd invite Sarah over because I was going to use some of the plaid wool I got to make her a jumper but right now I have shirt construction tunnelvision.

I expect event pictures soon!