Sweatshop or Vigil Reception?
Jul. 14th, 2008 11:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chargirlgeniusThose of you that were in attendance, recognize that there are two meanings behind the title of this post. It was HOT. Unbearably hot and humid. Despite that and the frequent rivers of sweat running down my face, lightheadedness, and letting myself get sunburnt because the lotion wouldn't stick, I had a fabulous day.
The second meaning of the title refers to the fact that I have the bestest friends in the world. I had more than a full day's work left on Jeff's gown, but![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sskipstress gave me some critical help in processing the fur. What a nasty job for a day like that, but she did it in good speed, and without complaint. The woman is a goddess. And then, she jumped in to help on my dress. Yes, my dress got done, but only because, as I said, I have the bestest friends in the whole wide world.
Friday evening, I cut and sewed together the body pieces of a v-neck gown in record time - 1 hour and 20 minutes. It would have helped if I'd done sleeves, but I thought I could teach my process as I went along. As it was, I even passed that task onto others.perronelle finished the front edge, and sewed the front seam shut. sskipstress hemmed the edge of the neck trim, and attached it to the dress. tashadandelion patterned and cut the sleeves for me. murieldechimay and her talented apprentice Ceinwein (sp?) stitched the sleeves together. Between the three of them, the sleeves were attached. I cut out cuffs, and tashadandelion and I attached them. I then stood on a stool, while she cut the hem even. I sewed myself in, added the belt, and voilà, I had a wearably-finished dress, in less than 24 hours. There was no visible machine stitching, and from the outside, everything was finished, with the exception of the hem. Amazing. Truly amazing.
I tossed around (half-jokingly) the idea of doing something similar on a regular basis, like a cooperative where the recipient changes every time, but the experience was so hot and hellish that I'm not sure. I think it still has merit and is worth exploring, though. I still have quite a bit of work to do on it - but more about this dress on another day. I have construction thoughts to ponder. I looked more than fine. I can say that, because I'm not the one who can take credit. :-D
Jeff's gown. Jeff's gown was finished. It has problems, and things that need to be fixed or finished, but for now, I'm not sharing them (if you can't see them yourself), because I want to bask in it being done for a bit. :-D Keep reading for many pictures of it.
The day went quite well, despite all of the heat.
The night before, Jeff went up to site, took some furniture, and set up two tents with the assistance ofthornbury, and I hear siobhan_sca and others. That helped quite a bit. We arrived on site by about 8:30 on Saturday morning, where the other vigil was setting up as well. Two vigils, one reception. Well, there were two reception tents so we had enough space, but all of the food was under ours.
Jeff did most of the hauling. My back was bugging me, and besides, I was busily sewing cartridge pleats while he set up. After a bit,azpapillion and J (and others) arrived and got everything looking nice. And by looking nice, I mean that azpapillion put out an amazing spread of food. The tables, white oak tops and all, were groaning under the weight of the roasts (all cut into serving cubes, in perfect 15th century fashion), cheeses, eggs, pizelles, mustards, compost, TONGUE, pies, tarts, pastries, and several things that I'm missing. And when I say "roasts", I don't mean one or two pieces of meat. More like five. And platter after platter of pies. SRSLY. She literally stayed up the entire night before producing this perfectly documentable 15th century feast. To top it all off, she made everything as finger food, which could be eaten off of the linen napkins that spikywheel provided.
The non-15th century items on the table were quite tasty as well, provided bytirloch and his crew. I especially loved whatever it was that tasted a little like peanut butter Turkish delight. Yummmmy.
It was heartbreaking to realize that none of the leftovers should be kept, after the day in the hot sun. I'm sure I wasn't nearly as heartbroken asazpapillion...
The spread was complimented by all of the pottery, most fromthatpotteryguy, and all of the glassware provided by mselspet. We had no paper cups or plates, and the plastic jugs were all discreetly tucked away. mselspet was incredibly generous with the glassware, instructing people to carry them for the day to stay hydrated. If anybody accidentally took them home (completely understandable), make sure to get them back to her!
Morning court occurred right next to our vigil set up, handily enough for everybody. At the beginning of court, I askedreabhecc for a quick demo of her camera. You see, we're kind of looking for one... or that was my story, anyway. When she was called into court, I snatched it out of her hands, and hopefully got a few decent shots for her. Hee hee! Congrats, m'dear, on your Pearl.
His Maj,sinclairhawkins, sent Jeff and Caemfind off to vigil, and we went to another clearning to do the joint handwashing ceremony. carthew had some lovely words for both candidates. mselspet poured the water, while spanish_peacock held the bowl (or the other way around), and I dried his hands with a handwoven and hand embroidered towel. If anybody got a chance to see it (it was sitting on the chest in the vigil tent, you couldn't miss it if you went in), it's quite well done. alina_s wove it, and martelvonc whitework embroidered a laurel wreath. Nice. Very nice.
We were fairly well organized, but I did forget a few things. I'd talked to people about the visitor list, but didn't have a notebook.attack_laurel saved me, and let us use a notebook for the day. She and her Bob also provided some entertaining and scandalous music throughout the day, which I enjoyed very much, for all of my mock disapproving looks. siobhan_sca guarded the list for a bit when I had nobody else, reabhecc perfomed the duty throughout most of the day, and melaniesuzanne played substitute (and was generally helpful the rest of the day as well). The vigil book itself was sent by greta_k, despite the fact that she wasn't even able to be there for the day.
During the day, we all ate, tried to drink enough water, and sewed like mad. I wish I'd been done in time so I could have played social butterfly a bit more, but as it was, I think I still chatted with half of my friends' list. I appropriated a chair as mine, though it wasn't to begin with, but all of my furniture was in the vigil tent or otherwise being used. This led to me kicking people out of somebody else's chair so I could sit down and work. Worst of all, I kicked poor Evil out of his own! chair, so I could keep sewing. He's a gracious and kind person, and put up with me well. I had a few moments where what little social grace I have left me, but I hope I'm forgiven, as this upper Midwest girl wilts in the heat of the deep south. (No, we're not in the deep south. The weather was, though).
I walked up to the rest of the event exactly twice during the day, and each time I thought I was going to faint, so I stayed put as much as possible. At 4:45 or so, we ended the vigil, as court was starting at 5:30. There were still people on the list, but they weren't in sight at the moment, so I apologize if anybody missed him.
We were last on the court docket, so we took that time to get Jeff dressed and primped. He cooled off a bit in the A/C of the car and the bathrooms, so I could sew him into the gown without him dripping all over it. He then stood in the A/C, until I retrieve him two or three items of court business before him. I made it up front for Caemfind's ceremony, and was also able to attendpenguininarmor's Pearl. cathgrace's husband, anselmatthews, received a Coral Branch for his woodworking (I saw some of his work later - quite stunning). Congrats!
Finally, Jeff was called up. I walked him up, to music provided by Alle Psalite. It almost felt like a wedding. We walked slowly for the benefit of the musicians, then I kissed him at the end of the aisle, like I was the father of the bride. I did land a perfect butt-slap on him at the last minute, apparently to the amusement of the assembled crowd. When the order of the laurel was called up, I took a front line spot. But then everybody stood way behind me! I had to step back a bit. :-D
He had a *five* worthies ceremony -pinkcountess spoke as Lady of the Rose, thatpotteryguy as Laurel, badouin as Knight, thornbury as Pelican, and ballistabob as a member of the populace. I enjoyed listening, being able to step away from our day to day interaction, and see him as others see him. belfebe produced a hood, which fit perfectly, embroidered by herself, ballistabob (who knew he was so talented?), and pirategirleee, and sewn by melaniesuzanne. You know, it fits ME perfectly... Just kidding. The size makes it good for a chaperon, as well. It was quite a sight, perched upon Jeff's pouffy shoulders. The closest I got to crying was when I gave him my medallion. His oath was in Middle English, the same Southampton Burgess's oath that I had used, though he toned it down a little since he was doing late 15th, and I'd done late 14th. Vowel shift and all of that, I guess.
The herald then produced the scroll. It was quite simply the most amazing scroll I'd ever seen presented.ladyaneira outdid herself. Go here and here to see it. I was blown away by reading about it online, but the pictures are nothing in comparison to seeing it in person. I wish I'd been able to display it during the day, but I didn't bring a stand for it, I didn't want it anywhere near the food, and I was quite simply too hot to go looking for it. But as the line of people was waiting to hug Jeff, I let everybody have a peek. We will bring it to events, as soon as it's framed. If you look at the pics, you'll notice two children. The original only had the boy on the floor, but ladyaneira replaced a distaff with a swaddled baby, to be Edward. All at once now - Awwww!
At the end of court,psalite snapped a few pictures of us, and we headed back to pack up. Thank you to everybody who helped - I think you all were previously named in this post for other help.
I hope I didn't forget anybody. For those people who drove down from the East, I was so glad to see you. For everybody that was there, thank you for being there and making it fun. Hot or not, it was a great day, and that's what we'll remember.
This got really long. Pictures under separate cover.
Thank you, all.
The second meaning of the title refers to the fact that I have the bestest friends in the world. I had more than a full day's work left on Jeff's gown, but
sskipstress gave me some critical help in processing the fur. What a nasty job for a day like that, but she did it in good speed, and without complaint. The woman is a goddess. And then, she jumped in to help on my dress. Yes, my dress got done, but only because, as I said, I have the bestest friends in the whole wide world. Friday evening, I cut and sewed together the body pieces of a v-neck gown in record time - 1 hour and 20 minutes. It would have helped if I'd done sleeves, but I thought I could teach my process as I went along. As it was, I even passed that task onto others.
perronelle finished the front edge, and sewed the front seam shut. sskipstress hemmed the edge of the neck trim, and attached it to the dress. tashadandelion patterned and cut the sleeves for me. murieldechimay and her talented apprentice Ceinwein (sp?) stitched the sleeves together. Between the three of them, the sleeves were attached. I cut out cuffs, and tashadandelion and I attached them. I then stood on a stool, while she cut the hem even. I sewed myself in, added the belt, and voilà, I had a wearably-finished dress, in less than 24 hours. There was no visible machine stitching, and from the outside, everything was finished, with the exception of the hem. Amazing. Truly amazing. I tossed around (half-jokingly) the idea of doing something similar on a regular basis, like a cooperative where the recipient changes every time, but the experience was so hot and hellish that I'm not sure. I think it still has merit and is worth exploring, though. I still have quite a bit of work to do on it - but more about this dress on another day. I have construction thoughts to ponder. I looked more than fine. I can say that, because I'm not the one who can take credit. :-D
Jeff's gown. Jeff's gown was finished. It has problems, and things that need to be fixed or finished, but for now, I'm not sharing them (if you can't see them yourself), because I want to bask in it being done for a bit. :-D Keep reading for many pictures of it.
The day went quite well, despite all of the heat.
The night before, Jeff went up to site, took some furniture, and set up two tents with the assistance of
thornbury, and I hear siobhan_sca and others. That helped quite a bit. We arrived on site by about 8:30 on Saturday morning, where the other vigil was setting up as well. Two vigils, one reception. Well, there were two reception tents so we had enough space, but all of the food was under ours.Jeff did most of the hauling. My back was bugging me, and besides, I was busily sewing cartridge pleats while he set up. After a bit,
azpapillion and J (and others) arrived and got everything looking nice. And by looking nice, I mean that azpapillion put out an amazing spread of food. The tables, white oak tops and all, were groaning under the weight of the roasts (all cut into serving cubes, in perfect 15th century fashion), cheeses, eggs, pizelles, mustards, compost, TONGUE, pies, tarts, pastries, and several things that I'm missing. And when I say "roasts", I don't mean one or two pieces of meat. More like five. And platter after platter of pies. SRSLY. She literally stayed up the entire night before producing this perfectly documentable 15th century feast. To top it all off, she made everything as finger food, which could be eaten off of the linen napkins that spikywheel provided. The non-15th century items on the table were quite tasty as well, provided by
tirloch and his crew. I especially loved whatever it was that tasted a little like peanut butter Turkish delight. Yummmmy. It was heartbreaking to realize that none of the leftovers should be kept, after the day in the hot sun. I'm sure I wasn't nearly as heartbroken as
azpapillion...The spread was complimented by all of the pottery, most from
thatpotteryguy, and all of the glassware provided by mselspet. We had no paper cups or plates, and the plastic jugs were all discreetly tucked away. mselspet was incredibly generous with the glassware, instructing people to carry them for the day to stay hydrated. If anybody accidentally took them home (completely understandable), make sure to get them back to her!Morning court occurred right next to our vigil set up, handily enough for everybody. At the beginning of court, I asked
reabhecc for a quick demo of her camera. You see, we're kind of looking for one... or that was my story, anyway. When she was called into court, I snatched it out of her hands, and hopefully got a few decent shots for her. Hee hee! Congrats, m'dear, on your Pearl. His Maj,
sinclairhawkins, sent Jeff and Caemfind off to vigil, and we went to another clearning to do the joint handwashing ceremony. carthew had some lovely words for both candidates. mselspet poured the water, while spanish_peacock held the bowl (or the other way around), and I dried his hands with a handwoven and hand embroidered towel. If anybody got a chance to see it (it was sitting on the chest in the vigil tent, you couldn't miss it if you went in), it's quite well done. alina_s wove it, and martelvonc whitework embroidered a laurel wreath. Nice. Very nice.We were fairly well organized, but I did forget a few things. I'd talked to people about the visitor list, but didn't have a notebook.
attack_laurel saved me, and let us use a notebook for the day. She and her Bob also provided some entertaining and scandalous music throughout the day, which I enjoyed very much, for all of my mock disapproving looks. siobhan_sca guarded the list for a bit when I had nobody else, reabhecc perfomed the duty throughout most of the day, and melaniesuzanne played substitute (and was generally helpful the rest of the day as well). The vigil book itself was sent by greta_k, despite the fact that she wasn't even able to be there for the day.During the day, we all ate, tried to drink enough water, and sewed like mad. I wish I'd been done in time so I could have played social butterfly a bit more, but as it was, I think I still chatted with half of my friends' list. I appropriated a chair as mine, though it wasn't to begin with, but all of my furniture was in the vigil tent or otherwise being used. This led to me kicking people out of somebody else's chair so I could sit down and work. Worst of all, I kicked poor Evil out of his own! chair, so I could keep sewing. He's a gracious and kind person, and put up with me well. I had a few moments where what little social grace I have left me, but I hope I'm forgiven, as this upper Midwest girl wilts in the heat of the deep south. (No, we're not in the deep south. The weather was, though).
I walked up to the rest of the event exactly twice during the day, and each time I thought I was going to faint, so I stayed put as much as possible. At 4:45 or so, we ended the vigil, as court was starting at 5:30. There were still people on the list, but they weren't in sight at the moment, so I apologize if anybody missed him.
We were last on the court docket, so we took that time to get Jeff dressed and primped. He cooled off a bit in the A/C of the car and the bathrooms, so I could sew him into the gown without him dripping all over it. He then stood in the A/C, until I retrieve him two or three items of court business before him. I made it up front for Caemfind's ceremony, and was also able to attend
penguininarmor's Pearl. cathgrace's husband, anselmatthews, received a Coral Branch for his woodworking (I saw some of his work later - quite stunning). Congrats!Finally, Jeff was called up. I walked him up, to music provided by Alle Psalite. It almost felt like a wedding. We walked slowly for the benefit of the musicians, then I kissed him at the end of the aisle, like I was the father of the bride. I did land a perfect butt-slap on him at the last minute, apparently to the amusement of the assembled crowd. When the order of the laurel was called up, I took a front line spot. But then everybody stood way behind me! I had to step back a bit. :-D
He had a *five* worthies ceremony -
pinkcountess spoke as Lady of the Rose, thatpotteryguy as Laurel, badouin as Knight, thornbury as Pelican, and ballistabob as a member of the populace. I enjoyed listening, being able to step away from our day to day interaction, and see him as others see him. belfebe produced a hood, which fit perfectly, embroidered by herself, ballistabob (who knew he was so talented?), and pirategirleee, and sewn by melaniesuzanne. You know, it fits ME perfectly... Just kidding. The size makes it good for a chaperon, as well. It was quite a sight, perched upon Jeff's pouffy shoulders. The closest I got to crying was when I gave him my medallion. His oath was in Middle English, the same Southampton Burgess's oath that I had used, though he toned it down a little since he was doing late 15th, and I'd done late 14th. Vowel shift and all of that, I guess.The herald then produced the scroll. It was quite simply the most amazing scroll I'd ever seen presented.
ladyaneira outdid herself. Go here and here to see it. I was blown away by reading about it online, but the pictures are nothing in comparison to seeing it in person. I wish I'd been able to display it during the day, but I didn't bring a stand for it, I didn't want it anywhere near the food, and I was quite simply too hot to go looking for it. But as the line of people was waiting to hug Jeff, I let everybody have a peek. We will bring it to events, as soon as it's framed. If you look at the pics, you'll notice two children. The original only had the boy on the floor, but ladyaneira replaced a distaff with a swaddled baby, to be Edward. All at once now - Awwww!At the end of court,
psalite snapped a few pictures of us, and we headed back to pack up. Thank you to everybody who helped - I think you all were previously named in this post for other help. I hope I didn't forget anybody. For those people who drove down from the East, I was so glad to see you. For everybody that was there, thank you for being there and making it fun. Hot or not, it was a great day, and that's what we'll remember.
This got really long. Pictures under separate cover.
Thank you, all.
