The Harried Hen
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us!
  • Calendar
  • Creative Projects
    • Blog
  • Online Store

A message from afar...

4/21/2020

0 Comments

 
Well, darn it. I know it's a pandemic and we all must make sacrifices. But still. 

Our beloved bi-annual Great Plains Renaissance Festival was cancelled for the spring due to pandemic concerns. I must admit I was secretly glad not to have to deal with the cockleburrs and sweaty heat in unfamiliar clothes, even if I did enjoy parading around in them.

The hubs and I felt the need to connect with our friends though, especially since we live geographically further away. I suggested a short video to post to our private Facebook group page the weekend of the cancelled fair. But Kate was sheltering with our parents, away from us and away from her usual stash of costumes...

Magically, she came up with something. There's a reason friends who have had garments sewn by Kate call her the "Fairy Katemother."
Picture
Picture
Ryan and I decided to wear our coordinating Blue Bees outfits. No agonizing decision there; they were in the front of the closet, honestly. Our story for our characters has always been that we hail from the city of "War-drobe" in the land of "Spare-oom." Narnia fans will get this reference pretty quickly! 

Thanks to the magic of the internet, Ryan and I were able to record our portion of the video and send it to Kate, who edited it together. Her thrown together costume was explained by saying that she had been vacationing in the Lone Islands.

Anyway, here's our little video message:
And here is Kate's outfit in a still picture. From top to bottom:

The hat is vintage 1960s from our mom. The scarf is borrowed from her as well.

The Chemise and Corset are from an earlier green and orange dress that has since been recycled into other garments.

The overdress is from my 10th wedding anniversary celebration.

The blue skirt is from middle and high school days of volunteering at a living history museum. (1870s)

The walking stick was most recently purchased to go with the blue bees dresses.

Check out our archived projects page for photos of the chemise, corset, and overdress as they originally appeared.
Picture
0 Comments

Taylor, in Teal (part 1)

2/24/2020

0 Comments

 
It's another dress commission! And it came after another person wore my purple dress. I have no problem loaning out my renaissance dresses, but they are custom fit for me and I know I feel better in clothes that fit. So, after last fall's Great Plains Renaissance Festival I had a feeling I'd be doing another dress. I had already done one not-quite copy. However, the lady in question waited until after the new year to get started, which is kind of last minute for me as we were 2 1/2 hours away by car for fittings. 

We started a Pinterest board to collect design ideas.
Picture
The most recent "outing" for the dress in September of last year.
Picture
I had asked Kate to help with the pattern drafting, and after Taylor sent her measurements online a pattern was drafted. Kate could see right away that maybe not every measurement was accurate.
The bustline was way too high. Kate made her best guess based on standard pattern shapes.

The other change from previous patterns was the side seam. Taylor didn't want the bodice front lacing, but back lacing. In addition she indicated she wanted less of a column shape, but with English influences. The side seams were moved around to the back, and the lacing left at the center back.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
And so we go from pattern to muslin! Even though this fabric mock up was made of leftover linen from a prior project. Kate also very wisely left heckin' huge seam allowances, with stitching lines where the original measurements indicated, and looser ones where she thought they might end up.
Picture
I had been in communication with Taylor about fabric choices in my stash of silk saris I bought online. Unsurprisingly to me, she liked the teal color best. However, it had a golden thread woven motif all over that didn't show up too well in pictures. I packed all of them, but Taylor remained steadfast in her choice. In addition I talked to her more about the design and we chose a secondary silk in grey with golden embroidery as an accent.
Picture
Last week we had a Royal Court photoshoot for photos to go on the website, and Kate and I were able to fit the muslin to Taylor. In addition to letting out the seams to the secondary larger option, the front was lengthened, the shoulders widened, the neckline lowered, and the armholes made bigger.
Picture
I am updating Taylor on Facebook with the important stuff. For this project instead of going from pattern making to finishing hems on each garment, I'm completing all the cutting first so my table can be free for construction from here on out. I took the above picture, but realized the piles of cut fabric only looked in order to me. So I labeled it. Here's to progress out of this chaos!
0 Comments

A new hat for an old dress

9/29/2019

0 Comments

 
​“Some hats can only be worn if you're willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you're only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you.”
― Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys
There's nothing like a new accessory to liven up an old outfit, and at The Great Plains Renaissance Festival this fall we planned to wear an old favorite - our Always Winter Never Christmas dresses. These dresses have an Italian/Venetian influence, and we've struggled since the beginning to find some kind of head-wear to go with the dresses. 

As the September dates of the festival almost always bring the heat of the last gasp of summer saying "and another thing!" before Kansas's brief fall sets in, this was also an excuse to make a head piece that was a little lighter than the winter turbans. After consulting a few reference pictures, I sketched a design (spoiler - the design evolved before the project was done).
Picture
From The Mode in Hats and Headdress by R. Turner Wilcox
Picture
The head piece is supposed to remind one of a sunrise or halo around the head. We added a hair covering, both to cover our modern hair, and to make things look more period-appropriate.
Historically, these hats would have been stuffed with wool or reed, but I opted for cushion foam, both because it's easier to use, and because it's what I had on hand. I used E6000 glue to glue the pieces to wide headbands, and then the leftover linen from H's Viking tunic to cover the foam. It was easier to sew the linen closed on the underside of the headband than glue it.
Sitting on the worktable, I will admit these head pieces looked a little ridiculous. And even trying them on in the mirror with modern clothes didn't help. But, looking back at the reference pictures, if anything they looked a little understated. On to the hair covering!

I had found some thin off-white knit. Maybe not strictly historically accurate (linen or silk netting would have been better), but it was at hand, and was the appropriately sheer. Rachel had some questions about how it would look on our heads, so I sent her a reference photo to reassure her (see photo at right).

To give it more of a netting look, and to keep it from stretching too much, I stitched down matching ribbon in a grid pattern. The hair covering goes on a little like cap on the back of the head, and is clipped into the hair at the top, and gathered into a bag-shape at the neck.
Picture
Picture

​After all that work, the back hair coverings didn't make it into any of the photos with the head pieces! But what did make it into a photo was the cutest little dragon visitor to the festival that we've ever seen! (The dragon is the child of another couple who volunteers with the court)

All in all, I think the hats were a success. No one batted an eye at their ridiculousness, which really makes me question what some of our current fashion trends will look like to people 600 years in the future.
Picture
Picture
Picture

​I did manage to take a selfie with Rachel right before the festival opened in the morning. We barely sat still long enough to think about taking pictures the rest of the day. It was a dusty, busy day that ended with a lot of stickers, dust, and grit in our skirt hems. The best kind of day!

Also, once again, this should serve as proof we are twins. I think we're gaining a reputation at the fair. Or at least we're recognizable as those twin court ladies. No matter how ostentatious the outfit, the fact that we're twins will probably always overrule it.
A post-script! We were surprised with the honor of receiving titles! We are now Barron and Baronesses of the court. What this means in practical terms is that we're allowed to wear a tiara/circlet (as long as it doesn't outshine our betters on the court), we can be addressed as Lord or Lady, and we can officially represent the crown by occupying the thrones while the Royals are out shopping or attending a joust.

Of course Rachel just happened to have ordered some tiaras direct from a Chinese distributor. They came broken, but she had pieced enough of them back into two tiaras to go with our outfits, just in case.

Picture
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Authors

    Twins each with half a brain in reality; the other half displayed here!

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

    Categories

    All
    1/144th Scale
    1/24 Scale
    Alison Jr.
    Art Silk
    Assisi Needlework
    Baby Clothes
    Baby Renaissance
    Baron
    Baronness
    Blackwork
    Blouse
    Bodice
    Books
    Bootstrap Fashions
    Bum Roll
    Carpet
    Chemise
    Children's Clothing
    City Pop
    Coat Of Arms
    Coif
    Commission
    Cookies
    Cross Stitch
    D&D
    Dollhouse
    Doublet
    English Inspired
    Face Masks
    Fitting
    Food And Cooking
    Frock Coat
    Georgette
    German Inspired
    German-inspired
    Great Plains Renaissance Festival
    Harried Hen
    Hat
    Hats
    Hemd
    Hemp Twine
    Hoop Skirt
    Italian Inspired
    Janome
    Kate
    KC Ren Fest
    Linen
    Necklace
    Other Projects
    Paint
    Painting
    Pants
    Partlet
    Patterns
    Pennant
    Photos
    Pirate
    Queen's Tea
    Quilting
    Rachel
    Recipes
    Remodel
    Renaissance Dress
    Resources
    Ribbon Sleeves
    Robes
    Ruff
    Sequins
    Sewing Machine
    Sewing Room
    Shirt
    Silk
    Singer
    Skirt
    Sleeves
    Smocking
    Steuchlein
    Storefront
    Street Clothes
    Subfloor
    Tea Party
    Teddy Bear
    Tellerbrettbarett
    Tudor
    Underskirt
    Vendors
    Vest
    Viking
    Welcome
    Wulsthaube

    RSS Feed

We Would Love to Have You Visit Soon!
Appointments are Encouraged.
Contact us using the information below or on social media using the links to the side.

Location

123 N. Mill,
​PO Box 35

​Beloit, KS 67420

Hours

Tuesdays
6:00 - 9:00 PM
Appointments for other times encouraged.

Phone & Email

785-534-1656
harriedhens@gmail.com
  • Home
    • About Us
    • Contact Us!
  • Calendar
  • Creative Projects
    • Blog
  • Online Store