10:30 AM Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge # 4

The Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #4 is the Embellish challenge.  For me, embellishment is not something I think about very often for my costumes.  I tend to wear middle to lower class outfits made out of sturdy materials which I can wash in my washer with ease.  If I have to dry clean something, it's never going to be worn.  Part of that reason is because I'm cheap and lazy.  The other part of that reason is because many of the outfits I make are worn for some working purpose.  For instance, all of my Renaissance Faire garb is made with the possibility that I might be wearing the outfit around the joust horses from time to time.  And let me tell you, horses can get you Very dirty, Very quickly!  I remember I used to have some really pretty white chemises and frilled shirts.  They are all stained brown and green from the horses and also from the sunscreen I wear to take care of my skin.  I also vividly remember a scene wherein my very nice lady's dress I wore for performances was picked up by my mount, Abraham, and flung back and forth in the air as a toy.  So it is impossible to maintain nice things in that arena, or in the stable.  Even now that I've moved on to retail at faire I still don't have any expectation of keeping anything nice.  Fancy fabric can get damaged during set up and tear down as well as when playing games with kids.  It's just not worth it to have to worry all the time about the pretty things on my outfit which may get ripped or damaged.

All of that said though, since I have been working at Pendragon here and there, I have become more comfortable with Small amounts of embellishment on my clothes.  And so this challenge was a challenge to myself to come up with something simple and pretty and Durable.  And did I mention simple?

In the end, my project was so simple I kind of feel like I cheated.  It took almost no time to complete and I totally copied the idea from Pendragon (who I'm sure did not invent the idea either it's so simple).  Oh well.  It was a good exercise for me to think outside of my box.  Now to put it to the test of surviving at Faire.  And surviving my laundromat.

The Challenge:  Challenge #4 Embellish

Fabric:  Metallic woven ribbon trim sewn on linen fabric.

Pattern:  None, I just sewed the ribbon to the already existing collar and cuffs on the shirt

Year:  Tudor period 

Notions:  The ribbon

How historically accurate is it?  From my knowledge, blackwork is historically accurate here - this ribbon is not.  However, the shirt is completely accurate being made from linen and made from the Tudor Tailor book.

Hours to complete:  Took me all of 5 minutes.

Total cost: $4