The Renn Faire

[velvetpage]

Hamilton now has a very nice little Rennaissance Faire located in the Royal Botanical Gardens. Ourselves, nottheterritory, anidada, their daughter who is Elizabeth's age, and danaeris went this afternoon.

I'm not up to a full write-up - it's almost eleven o'clock, and it's been a full day, and Piet still wants to fiddle with pictures. But for me, the most interesting part of the afternoon was the donning of some period garb. I am now seriously considering buying a bodice instead of a corset, primarily because they cost less than half as much and are more comfortable to wear. Also, since they are designed to be worn with a peasant blouse shift underneath, they are easier on my modesty than a corset designed to be worn as the only garment above the waist.

I took a close look at the construction of the peasant blouse and skirt, and concluded that, with a few lessons from Aunt Jeanne and possibly a pattern for the blouse, I could sew my own with little trouble and considerably less expense than the ones they were selling. I might even crochet the lace for my sleeves myself, since that would be a logical use of my favourite handicraft, and would be very period appropriate. The bodice, however, I would have to buy. Dana found the ones there quite expensive at $85, but they had more boning than hers and good workmanship; I think I would be happy to pay $70, if I could then make the rest of the costume for somewhat less than that. (The peasant blouse could be made from cotton sheeting, and the skirt, while more fabric, was still just a cotton batiste - $8 a metre if I'm careful about colour and pattern. They had no underskirts with them, but I think I'd want one, maybe with a bit of flounce at the bottom. Again, though, cotton sheeting is cheap.)



So, what do you all think?

Comments

[anguine.livejournal.com]

Simplicity offers a few different versions of the peasant blouse, and you're quite right -- they are very simple to make. Walking through Faires, I've always been taken aghast by the expense of some items that are really quite easy to sew. Skirts are probably the easiest of all, especially with an elasticised (albeit non-period) waist. Darts and buttons gets a little fussy.

Simplicity also has bodice patterns, but fitting those is always a chore. Sometimes, you can luck out, and the pattern just works for your body, other times, it just looks a little off. The best 'pattern' maker I've heard of for a well-fitted bodice is to take an old t-shirt and a roll of duct tape. Put on the t-shirt, and tape up your mid-section. Cut the shirt off with the tape shell, and section it. Those become the bodice panels.

For all the fuss they can be, it's often more worthwhile to buy -- the notions like solid brass grommets and the hefty fabric that's unlikely to pull apart... They're a professional sort of piece.

Be careful when shopping about though, especially if you go to some online stores -- bodices come in overbust AND underbust like the lovely one you're wearing in the photo. Don't buy one that goes up too high!

[purplkat.livejournal.com]

I haven't had trouble getting a well-fitting bodice pattern, but I HAVE had trouble finding a pattern that doesn't have any darts in it.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

The skirts they had on display were basically big tubes with a drawstring. The pattern is identical to the rod-pocket curtains I've made a few times, except that you take the two sides of the curtain and sew them together to form a tube, and then add the string. It was incredibly easy. The peasant blouse was a bit harder, but not significantly.

I'm planning to buy a bodice, though I may see about getting one custom-made. I'm also debating making more than one length of skirt. I know for renn faires, floor-length is de rigeur, but if I were going to wear it practically anywhere else, a few inches shorter might be nice.

Can you believe they wanted $50 for a peasant blouse made of white cotton sheeting????? I could get that material for about a third that amount, even if there were four meters of fabric in it (and there were, easily) and for $50 worth of fabric, I could get something much nicer - maybe a light linen or muslin.