A Minion for Little B

Little B has a great liking for the minions in the ‘Despicable Me’ movies. He’s never seen the movies, as he’s a bit too young, but he’s seen some of the short films and music videos starring the minions. A while back I saw a few examples of amigurumi minions on Ravelry and decided to make him one. I began in November, and finished it this morning, Christmas Eve, the day we celebrate and give presents in Sweden, after sitting up half the night working on it. I have had a few other things that also needed doing, what with us moving in a week and everything….

Anyway, I used one of the free patterns on Ravelry as a starting point, but didn’t like how it turned out, so in the end I improvised a great deal. I had planned to let the minion have two eyes, like this fellow:

Unfortunately I found, at half past one last night, that the grey crochet yarn I thought I had was nowhere to be found. Luckily I did have a small amount of grey embroidery floss, which was only just enough to make a (rather shallow) Cyclops goggle, like what this one has:

Phew. It vexed me a bit that the tiny buttons I had planned to go on the front of the trousers were packed and impossible to get to, but I can stitch them on later. I had also planned to embroider a G on the front, but that too will have to wait - if it ever will happen…. I did have some scraps of white cotton fabric that had not yet been packed though, and I had left my embroidery floss unpacked on purpose. This morning I embroidered an eye, stitched it to the minion, embroidered a smile and then attached the goggle.

Finished. I’m quite happy with the result, despite the few miscalculations, and even better, B is happy with it. Good thing too, as it is the only Christmas present any of us got today: we’ll save the rest of our gifts for when we have moved (not that we ever give much; we’re quite restrained when it comes to that. Better one or two things really appreciated than several that you don’t care that much about, just for the sake of it). We don’t really need more stuff to carry.

Despite us celebrating Christmas amongst boxes and cartons, we are happy. We have each other, we have good food, we’re healthy, we’ll be moving to a new home in little over a week, we’ll be having a new baby next summer. God has blessed us greatly.

I hope you all have a nice Christmas (or just a nice week if you don’t celebrate it), with lots of joy, love and inspiration.

Why Historically Correct?

I’m pondering a future blog post (EDIT: now published) for my medieval blog and my 19th century blog (both in Swedish), aimed at beginner living historians/historic costumiers, or those who haven’t even started out yet. While I know there are many reasons for choosing to make historical or historically inspired clothing, for me personally historic accuracy (or as close as we can reasonably get) is important for several reasons:

- Almost everyone who sees you in “period” clothing will assume it’s correct. That may well spread old misconceptions further, or create new ones, unless you’ve done your research and made good interpretations of what would have been worn. Also, as clothing usually reflects a country’s economy, political and religious views, traditions, current events and how they view people (men and women, adults and children, rich and poor, natives and foreigners, etc.) at any given time in history, wearing the wrong things will also add to fabricating history. As we see enough of that in most “historic” films and TV-series, we don’t really need any more….

EDIT 2015-05-12
- Historically accurate vs. historically inspired - this is really a spectrum in which all of us are located. If you for some reason don't have the inclination, opportunity or skill to make tolerably historically accurate clothing, it would perhaps be more fitting to call your outfit historically/period-of-choice inspired, as opposed to the plain historical/period-of-choice. If you have deviated from what was done in period, it's no longer historical. That's a fact. Be honest about what you've made, and most people will be fine with it. It's when you try to pass something inspired of as accurate that even the kindest and most generous of those who try to be accurate begin to be miffed, as it, no matter how beautiful your item is, does lessen the value of all the research and hard work they've done in the eyes of the largely undiscerning public, who usually give most attention and appreciation to the thing most appealing to the modern eye, not necessarily the most correct one. See the above point.
END OF EDIT

- You will never really experience what a historic fashion feels like unless you actually wear it: that you use the right materials, the right cut, and combine the garments (all layers) in the proper way is crucial. That experience will advance your understanding of how it felt to live during a certain time: how people moved, sat, what posture was desired etc. It will also deepen your knowledge of why all those layers where used.

Jørgen Roed, "Haven med den gamle døbefont" 

("The garden with the old babtismal font"), 1850.

- Doing it wrong may not only be unsightly, it can also be uncomfortable or even dangerous; a wool/polyester blend coat getting too close to an open flame and melting into your skin; heavy petticoats without stays or corset to take the weight of your waist and hips; man made fabrics getting too hot in summer or too cold in winter; the wrong hairstyle throwing of the delicate balance of a fashionable look; a bosom unsuported by stays or corset making the prettiest dress look frumpy.

- You’ll save both time and money doing it right, as many beginners want to upgrade after a year or two anyway. Invest time in researching now, and save time and money redoing everything later. Mind, research is never completed, and you’ll always find something or other in your wardrobe that needs changing….

- The resale value on good, period accurate items are reasonably high, if you decide you don’t like the hobby, the period or just want to have a new something.

- It’s fun! It’s an interactive way to learn history, it's creative and will teach you new skills, and perfect the ones you already have. While spending time browsing blogs, forums and homepages you’ll get new friends all over the world, as interested in this as you are. The knowledge in the collective hive-mind of living historians and historical costumiers in the world is vast and ever increasing. Not taking part is missing out on a lot of knowledge and well needed help.

EDIT 2015-05-12

Those of us who have gained some little – or a lot of - knowledge of a certain period will do well to remember that we were once new too. We’ve made mistakes. We still have lots of things to learn, and that is a humbling thought. Our will to help others improve should never lead us to be unkind, snarky or condescending. Openness, gentleness and a willingness to hear what the other comes from will be a lot more effective in showing them what there is to gain from historical accuracy, as well as lifting both them and ourselves up.

EDIT 2015-08-07
Those of you that are new to historical costuming: don't be afraid, you can do this! I have seen quite a few people who, with the help, advice and cheering from others, achieved really good outfits on their first tries. (I wasn't one of them, having no one to ask for advice, and mostly outdated library books for reference.) It's all about willingness and determination, and being humble enough to ask for, and accept, help. Yes, there is the odd person that is unpleasant. I'm sorry if you encountered (or will encounter) one of them. Try to brush of whatever acid comment they dropped on you, and move on. Don't let them get you down. I believe in you. Getting dressed up at all is more than most people do for an event, so one point to you for even getting started! 
END OF EDIT

I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons why period correctness matter and I want to find as many as possible. Please share your thoughts on the subject, be they continuations of mine or something completely different!