elizabeth_mn

We got up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to attend the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. I hated getting up early but if you leave your house after 9:00 a.m. it adds an extra hour to the drive, because you are sitting in traffic the last five miles before the festival. So we left at 8:15 and got there just after they opened at 9:00.

I didn't get any photos because my camera battery died after taking ONE picture of The Girl in the parking lot. :P So these are almost all from my HB's phone.

Here is the new dress.



You can see more dress details in the dress post. I love way it turned out! Everything is drafted from The Tudor Child and I made most of it over a couple days.

We danced with the court dancers.



Then later we danced with the Scottish dancers.



We met Twig the Fairy.



My favorite thing was talking to Felton, this hilarious and adorable puppet in a booth marked "conversations." Spin the wheel and get a conversation!



As you can see I wore the same old thing.

We also saw Dr. Pandora's science show for kids, a little bit of a juggling show, met some huge puppet people, and hung out in the Princess Garden.

The weather was cool and pleasant in the morning and just verging on hot by midday. I ended up taking off her sleeves and tying them behind her arms to just hang there, which still looked kinda neat.

We were pooped by 3:00 and went home to eat takeout and loaf. It felt like a long day!

Lainey’s ensemble consisted of a shift, petticoat bodies, and gown.




( Notes and a couple more photos )

I've been toying with this idea of making my HB a pair of bias-cut cloth hose for over a year now.  I've gone through three mock-ups and I thought I was getting nowhere, but then I realized that the lumpiness on the top of the foot is just the nature of the beast; it doesn't mean I was doing it wrong.

Yesterday I finally broke down and did the scary part: cutting them out in the real fabric (a slate-color linen twill - wool would probably stretch more and fit better, but the heat is an issue).  I pinned one leg onto him and fitted it smoothly.  I'm using the pattern and directions from The Tudor Tailor.  All the shaping is done in the CB seam, which makes for simple fitting, but a really funky-looking pattern piece.  

This morning I trimmed the excess off the piece and transferred the changes to the other leg as well.  Then I sewed them up with a narrow zigzag as the book suggests.  I want to fit them again before I add the sole and waist facing.

I'm a bit torn about the codpiece.  Giant, stuffed-and-be-ribboned codpieces are really just too weird for my modern eye, and anyway the husband has given them a definite veto.  The dilemma is whether to make a small codpiece, or just a flap.