This fall had been exciting for me with all sorts of costume events, most recently a Renaissance Faire! It was the first one I’ve ever been to and it was so much fun.
The faire took place under the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First, though there was also a lot of fantasy inspired looks which is what I chose to go for. I wasn’t a part of the event, just a guest with a few friends.
Queen Elizabeth and her court ruling over the proceedings.
I was happy to go for a fantasy maiden look made up of a combination of some of my historical items worn in a way that was not historically accurate and paired with a big flower crown I made.
There was even real jousting being done by a group called the Knights of Valor. They do real full contact jousting which was exciting to watch. They wore real armor, used real lances, and one of the knights even got knocked off his horse twice in the proceedings. It was very exciting to watch.
I even got to ride one of the knights horses later. I felt very majestic and like I was in a story book.
It was a great day and I was sad to have to leave the fantasy renaissance for the real world again. It’s an event I definitely want to go to again in the future.
Find your own local events and take advantage of them, they are another opportunity to wear your historical clothes and just have a good time.
I’m a member of the Indiana Historical Costuming Society and we recently had a weekend retreat. This was one of my first major costuming events and it was so much fun. I found the Indiana Historical Costuming Society on Facebook and was able to join. I highly recommend finding a group to join in your area because costuming with friends is so much fun. The group of us met for a weekend of hanging out in our historical clothing and getting to know each other better.
We stayed in a lovely historical house which just added to the atmosphere.
We also got to eat together. We’d all brought food and were able to eat wonderfully all weekend. As a college student, I especially appreciated all the good food.
For the first day I went for a very pastoral look which was fun to wear around. It was my casual 18th century wear. We got the chance to take so many great photos over the weekend and had fun seeing the local sights.
I especially liked taking photos in a public garden that was there because it went with the pastoral look I was going for.
And we all always had time for some silly photos too!
The weekend was great because it was a chance to learn from others and connect with others who enjoy doing the same things I do.
Later we all got dressed up and went to dinner in our formal wear.
After dinner we changed again (there was a lot of changing because it was a good opportunity for me to wear as many of gowns as possible!) and went for a ghost tour which was pretty fun. I did find one picture of myself from it that I couldn’t resist turning into a meme because I felt like I could just read my thoughts in it.
The last day we were there was really hot so I got lazy and didn’t do my hair which is not historically accurate at all but I was going for the romantic heroine look.
There was even some hedges for me to dramatically run through.
We finished off the trip with some lemonade and a walk through the local museum.
All of us dramatically looking out from the stairs.
It was a great weekend and I’m so happy that I got to go. It was great to really get to know others who have some of the same passions that I do.
Go out and find others with your same passion, it makes everything ten times more fun.
I had a historical retreat approaching (post about it to come soon!) so I wanted to make myself a banyan so I could be comfortable and stylish for when everyone was lounging around. A banyan is basically an 18th-century bath robe or dressing gown. There are several different designs but they were often only made out of one or two pattern pieces making them a very simple garment to make. They are often shown being worn by men but they were worn by women too. They were the 18th century go to comfy clothes.
My original plan was to machine sewn my banyan because the simple design meant I could probably make it in less than an afternoon, however, the simplicity also made me think maybe I could hand sew it. To decide I put a poll on my instagram and the people said to hand sew it. I immediately was wondering what I had gotten myself into, but I was committed now.
I wanted to make this project quickly and cheaply because I didn’t really have the time or money to buy new materials before the weekend retreat so I started digging through my fabric bin to see what fabric pieces I had that were even large enough for this project. I ended up using the leftover fabric from my old Frankendress project and I was ready to go. This is a poly-taffeta which is not historically accurate at all because it is plastic, but it looks like normal taffeta which can be right to use, it looks pretty, and it was free since I already had it so it was a winner.
I drew on this photo so you could actually see were I marked the fabric with my fabric pencil.
The pattern I was going for I had seen a photo of on the internet so I mostly just winging it, but it seemed pretty simple. This banyan was made in one piece so I folded the fabric so that there was a fold at both the center back and the top then I laid on top of the fabric with my back on the center back fold. I then literally traced the shape of the pattern around my body. It was a simple shape, basically a triangle with arms.
I then cut it out and it was starting to look like a banyan.
I then began the long process of hand sewing which make this project take about 10 times longer than it would have taken me to zip it through a machine. My hand sewing skills are no where close to 18th century standards since I usually machine sew but it got the job done. I used a back stitch for strength, which was honestly pretty silly since banyans really don’t need strength since they are bathrobes. I also did french seams which encases the raw edge of the fabric inside itself so there is no raw edges. I’m glad I did the french seams, but it also doubled my hand sewing time.
The banyan was then almost done! I just hand to hem it so it wasn’t dragging on the floor. I also noticed at this point that the fabric was starting to make pretty lapel type things on the front so I decided to go with it and tack those down because I liked the look of them.
Tacking down the lapels.
I then did a lot of ironing because my fabric was very wrinkly and my hand sewn seams needed to be pressed. There is a deceivingly large amount of fabric in a banyan so this took quite a while.
Lastly I added a ribbon tie to the front so I could close it and the banyan was done! I’m really happy with how it turned out and really proud of myself for hand sewing an entire garment for the first time! It took me about an entire day of hand sewing to make. The result is beautiful and I love how it swoops behind me when I walk. I will for sure be wearing this for historical things but also just for lounging around my dorm because I love it so much.
I encourage you to take on a challenge. I am glad I kept to my challenge of completely hand sewing this. I was hard, but it allowed me to grow and now I can look back at it as a big accomplishment.
History On A Budget 