Needleworkers went quite well. It was a first-time visit to Fionguala and Montague's house for Emma. islenskr was there -- she spent part of the evening learning about 14th c. clothing and part of it learning to spin on a spinning wheel from D.Moiselle. etainmbw's mother Patricia was there, also Brigit, ellid, and Una.

Pagan G did the majority of the talking and explaining and had lots of books for people to look at. I had some stuff printed out as well, to supplement what she was doing. The plaid that Dagobert is sitting on (near end of 14th c) was a new thing for her, so she was excited about that. I modeled my old Italian slip - it's lightly boned and modelled after a memory from Zeferelli's Romeo and Juliet. Works quite well still. Anyway, I think when we get to work on clothing that we'll start with the Gothic fitted dress ('cotehardie') first, with appropriate shaping and support during the fitting process. It should be wool lined with linen, so we'll see if that is sufficient support without anything substantial underneath. But if not, I think making strapped slips as in some of the illustrations but with some breast support may be in order, especially for our shapelier ladies. It wouldn't have to be done with boning -- we could just fit the bodice of the slip and use a couple of layers of linen, maybe quilted through.

We had some good discussions on silhouette and how things progressed over time in England, France, Italy, and Spain. And a little bit of Germany too. She and I are theorizing that possibly plaid shows up sporadically because of class issues. Also, I personally think a lot of artists didn't like to do patterns that would be hard to do on drapes and folds. No proof, of course. But I have noted that there is even less evidence of plaids in the 15th century, which doesn't make a lot of sense -- except that much of what we've seen has been really rich people or really poor people. Plaid may be somewhere in between. Ah well. At any rate, it seems that my purple/green plaid may become 14th c. clothing for well-to-do merchants/printers/bookbinders :) Possibly parti-colored. I also have some beautiful light blue/green stuff (another large pattern, not the also beautiful subtle dark blue/green silk/wool I got from freya46, which may have to become something modern. I suppose I could wear plaid outside the SCA.... hmmm.....

For EK 12th Night I think I'll wear what I wore at Bergental Yule. I have projects to work on, so it'll save some time and wear and tear. Really, if I have any time to sew, it ought to be finishing a tunic I cut out this summer and a warmer jacket for the warmer winter days! Oh, for those who haven't seen what fitzw and I wore at Berg Yule, he managed to take a pic or two of me in the woods, but I haven't seen any of both of us yet. Will work on trying to get one to put up here.

We had some things to finish up this (Saturday) morning, so we got to the family gathering a little late. We weren't the only ones though, so I guess it was just one of those kinds of days. Everyone was happy with their presents -- among other things I am now the proud possessor of a gift certificate for Webs, from my sister-in-law S :) And some very pretty pewter buttons are coming in the mail soon too! (Thank you fitzw!) And we got gift cards and things from M and W (my in-laws), so sometime after the Christmas season we can go shopping at the mall. Food and company were both excellent, which is of course the best part. Oh, and I'd forgotten and left fitzw's present at home, but he's just opened it and likes it. See his LJ for details.

Tomorrow we'll be going to the Sundered Lands for fighter practice. fitzw hopes to fight; I'll be there for a conversation. If there's time after that, I can socialize with everyone else, before returning home to work on a couple of clients. Then choir practice at 6pm!