helwen

Two weekends ago we had our Bergental 'town meeting', and I tried out wearing my chiton. No stola yet because I still need to choose fabric for it and because I'm brain-dead and can't remember if it's closed up the sides or not. I remember how the neck opening works and the pleating at the shoulders....

Since the meeting was kind of outdoors (I made several trips between the house and the sugarhouse), I grabbed one of my scarves/wraps to use as a palla, which worked pretty well. I used a combination of my fibula from Crossroads at Canterbury, my laurel wreath fibula, and some little jeweled pins to attach the chiton along the top edges. Need a wider piece of cording for comfort I think, but it was still pretty decent. Very comfortable clothing.

I tied the cord the way

rufinia showed me at Coronation, but had it a bit looser I think, so one loop of the cord wanted to go down to the waist. I've seen statues with tying below the breasts and around the waist, so I just fiddled with the fabric to puff and drape it over the lower band and it worked pretty well. I also got to demo the cord tying for a few of the ladies there, so they could see how easy it was.

I may make a few more chitons for Pennsic, although they may be from some cotton I have, because, well, I have it... gauze cotton, so should be cool enough on hot days. Although might need to wear a stola over them so I don't scandalize folks ;)

Rectangles fold up very neatly and take little space. I'm thinking my Norman clothing will be staying home this year!