Another year in the SCA

Happy New Year! Yes, I know that the New Year's holiday was a month ago already. At least we can all agree on that. (Whether the new decade starts at the beginning of 2020 or the end of 2020 is still fodder for debate.)

I know I haven't posted here in a while, so let me catch up.

In 2019 I attended more than twice as many SCA events as I did in 2018. Nice side benefit of having a more reliable vehicle (even though it's still pretty old)! And some of the events came my way -- like Fall Coronation, hosted by my Barony of Storvik.

The incoming Royals, Cuan and Signy, let it be known that They wished Their coronation and Their reign to have a late-period German theme. Many, though certainly not all, attendees decided to wear their best German garb -- think Landsknecht, Cranach gowns, and the like. I personally did not have a German dress, but based on the little I know about late-period Lithuanian and Polish women, I figured that making a German dress would be a good place to start learning how to sew late-period clothing.

So, with the help of a few friends, I drew up a bodice pattern and, based on various images I collected on Pinterest, I managed to put together what I call the "base" of a German Renaissance dress. It doesn't have sleeves yet -- I'm going to make some detachable sleeves, because I hate boiling under multiple layers in the summertime. It doesn't have guards (the contrasting horizontal stripes around the bottom of the skirt). It doesn't have a proper hat yet. But it looked plausibly German enough to wear to Coronation.

I really, really want to do a "dress diary" type of entry with photos and such, but in the meantime, here is a link to a photo of me at the event: https://www.flickr.com/photos/34356022@N03/48855928906/in/album-72157710604512416/. (I had to "kilt up" the skirt because it stretched while hanging overnight and it was suddenly too long. That's what happens when you hem garb the night before the event!)

University of Atlantia

This past weekend my Kingdom held a session of the University of Atlantia, where I taught a class called "The SCA on a Budget." I had some enthusiastic students who made suggestions of their own. Overall, a good experience.

I know I said I'd have a copy of the handout on my blog … I'm still trying to figure out the best way to get it up here, though. My professional Wordpress-based blog handles PDF uploads just fine, but I can't figure out how to do a similar upload here in Blogger. *grumble*

I'll have it up here as soon as I can, honest.