Easter Witch

Last year I wrote this on my private Facebook page, and since I made a broomstick last summer I've been planning to take pictures to match the text. Last Saturday I did.

"In parts of Sweden and Finland it's rumoured that on the 

Thursday before Easter - "Skärtorsdag" - the witches travel 

to Blåkulla to feast with the devil. That is of course rubbish, 

a story made up by Muggles to explain something they fear

 and don't understand. There are in fact lots of brooms in 

the air around Easter, as the annual (and mostly friendly) 

Quidditch match between Sweden and Finland takes place 

Easter weekend, a tradition going back to the late 1700's. 

One would hope that not too many brooms are spotted* though, 

what with the International Statue of Secrecy and all that..."

The post led to discussions on how it began as a national game (Finland had long been a part of Sweden by the late 18th century), and when Finland became Russian, the match was kept as a way to preserve friendliness despite the Muggle wars and politics. By now it's been going on for so long it's unthinkable to stop. Whether or not a certain 18th century Muggle war was the horrid result of arguments over World Cup tickets, or are nothing but slander, also came up.

My outfit was inspired by the way in which Swedish Easter withes (påskärringar) are often depicted, like lower class women from about the turn of the last century. Of course witches don't wear such styles today, but you know I like to dress up historically. I wore my insanely pieced dress, a quilted petticoat, knitted mitts and stockings, a headkerchief, an apron from my kitchen, and a piece of fabric for a small shawl. Besides the broom I also carried a copper coffee pot, often seen in images of Easter witches. One needs a refresher if the Quidditch game gets long, and April in the North is often cold.

*Especially important as Swedish Muggle Police said they'd be keeping a lookout for airborne nuisance and other nasty things this weekend. Just a head's up ;)

A Classic Witch Hat in Green Wool

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, but, well, things happened. I’ll post it now anyway, as I’m emotionally recovered enough to begin to find my usual pursuits interesting again.

I’ve always been a master of beginning new projects, but not as good at finishing them. I have worked hard at fixing this flaw of character, and I’m getting better. Still, I sometimes stumble on sewing projects that have been in the Limbo of Unfinished Objects for years and years. One such I now saved from its sad state. I had, when I was in my very early 20s, made what I intended to be a 16^th Century German flat hat. It didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped, so a few years later, after having seen the wonderful scene of Diagon Alley in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, I cut out pieces to make the crown of a witch hat, intending the failed flat hat to become the brim. And then life distracted me.

But now that witch hat is done! It took only a couple of days’ worth of sewing now and then to finish it, using only stash materials. It’s made from a beautiful deep green wool, stiffened with ironed on interfacing. It’s lined with a cotton fabric checked in white and greens. 

The brim is decorated with quilting in a swirling pattern, which also adds stability. A wire (two overlapping wires actually – I didn’t have one long enough) stiffens the edge of the brim. 

The crown is stitched down in permanent creases, to give it that iconic witchy look. It’s decorated with a strip of lighter green wool and a simple buckle. I had hoped to trim it with plumes and feathers for the photo shoot, but they all seemed to have got lost in my stash. Ah well. A couple of ostrich feathers fell out of my feather duster when the kids were playing with it a week or so later, so I took them to temporarily trim the hat with for an additional photo. Sadly, the hat came out just a bit too small, so I’m going to sell it on, and let the new owner add trim, if they wish it. 

This was such a fun project, and I’d love to make more hats for witches and wizards. They would look great for our annual Harry Potter Halloween party. Only problem will be to fit the making of them in between everything else… The boys have already requested wizard’s hats for their dress up box – they loved wearing this one. But any hats I make for them will be in a simpler, more easily washed, materials.

Medieval Inspired Prettiness

Since I recently weaned Little One I can suddenly fit into dresses that didn’t fit in the bust area before. I managed to wriggle into the embroidered dark blue medieval-ish wool dress I made about 15 years ago (it even laced shut!), but never had nice pictures of myself wearing it. 

 I had also planned to have my hair cut, but first I wanted to take pictures of it long, so with these pictures I killed two birds with one stone.

I wore my hair in two long plaits, with ribbons braided into them, inspired by the 12^th century fashion. I also wore a linen veil for the start of the photo shoot, but later ditched it, and in the end unbraided the hair too. 

The whole photo series have a rather Pre-Raphaelite medieval-ish feeling to it, which I confess I’m rather partial to, even though I’m usually all for historical accuracy. This is all about pretty, but I think that can sometimes be an object in itself. To accentuate the fairy tale feeling I edited the photos to be really vibrant.

 It is nice to finally have pretty pictures of myself in this lovely dress, but now I hope to sell it. It would look better on a slimmer figure, and I don’t really have any use for it.

 

And I did cut my hair that same afternoon; 40 cm (15 ¾”) was chopped off, so now it only reaches to below my shoulders. Much easier to care for, if harder to put up in fun hairstyles.

A Peter Pan Costume

My Eldest just turned four. Before I had children I never really considered how important birthdays are to the parents, but now I couldn’t help but reflect on what have happened these four years, how sweet and adorable he was as a baby and toddler, and what a special little person he is today. I wonder what kind of man he will grow up to be, and hope I can guide and inspire him to always strive to be his best self.

Last week he had his first ever birthday party for others than family members, and a handful of children were invited. Having seen it on Peppa Pig (a huge favourite with both boys at the moment), he wanted a fancy dress party. He wished to dress as Peter Pan, and who am I to refuse a request on a costume?

I wanted to work from my stash, but had very little green fabric there. After considering for a bit I realised I had a green worn out knit top that had seen a lot of wear the past four years, as it provided easy access for breastfeeding babies.

I cut off the sleeves and turned them into trouser legs, with a gusset between them. In the end they reminded me a little of the Thorsbjerg trousers, but without feet. 

 

They are held up by an elastic at the waist.

For the tunic and cap I recycled an old cotton blend half circle skirt. The whole outfit was made with the measure-and-cut method, using one of Eldest’s t-shirts as a cutting guide for the tunic. As my sewing machine seem to have given up on life, I had to stitch the cap and tunic by hand, something I've been trying to stop doing, except with historical clothing. 

The cap is self-fabric lined for a bit of body. It has a “feather” made from some polyester-y fabric scraps, remains from when I made cushion covers a few years back. It’s stiffened with a piece of zip tie, and the edges of the two layers of fabric was then molten together over a candle. It makes a much more play friendly and endurable feather than a real one would have been, plus I already had the materials for it. The cap sits so well on the head that my boy can hold his head upside down without it falling off.

The tunic is cut on the bias, with pointed edges on both hem and sleeves. The collar is pretty standard, being made from two layers of fabric, and then top stitched. 

All the edges of the tunic were faced with narrow self-fabric bias tape, and all seam allowances folded in on themselves and neatly whip stitched.

When the costume was finished and it was time to try it on, Eldest said that he needed a belt, like Peter Pan has. I didn’t have one short enough for him, but a thin braided belt wrapped twice around his waist worked well. For the pictures he also wore his medieval shoes – they are already on the small side, he’ll need new ones next year. The costume on the other hand is a bit too large, so he can use it for a long time.

He was really happy with how the costume came out (though pretending to be angry in the above picture), and I couldn’t have been given greater praise than his happy and excited face when he tried it on.

A Harry Potter Halloween II: My Costume – Sort Of

Despite having started working on the Halloween decorations several months before, I was still running out of time before the party started. Little One has really been hanging in my skirts for the past couple of weeks, and often been sitting in the wrap on my back, and it does slow you down, and prevent you doing some things, like climbing on chairs to put up decorations. When the first guests arrived I had only just changed, and not even put on any make-up yet. My hair was up in an unexciting bun on the back of my head. I didn’t get any pictures of myself either (maybe just as well), so the other day I dressed up as I would have wanted to look, and went out to take pictures. 

With hubby away for thesis work, and with the kids in tow, the self-timer had to do. I had to work quickly before the children got entirely fed up, especially Little One, who for most of the time was confined to his pram, so as not to get himself into trouble. We did go for a picnic in the play park when I was finished, so they were rewarded for their patience.

As I’d been putting so much focus on the decorations, I had to improvise my costume a bit – how disappointing is that for someone who loves costuming like I do?? Tut-tut... I wore my fuchsia dress combined with the Cinderella dress, new sleeves and all. I accessorised it with the witches’ bonnet I made last year, but have since given a minor makeover, and my wand. For the pictures I added a necklace I made years ago, and the old Jane Porter boots. 

The weather was misty, which created a nice backdrop for the pictures. I like mist, unless I have to travel by car. I suppose it might be an introvert thing, to appreciate being hidden from the gaze of the rest of the world... Which might seem ironic, as I post pictures here - but they have all been carefully chosen, and don't really reflect my private life :)

A Harry Potter Halloween Party II: Wands

The Harry Potter Halloween party we hosted last year was so fun that I plan to make it an annual thing. I’ve been working on the preparations since the summer in the hope that by adding a little each year, sometime in the future I’ll be able to transform our whole home into that of a common wizarding family in the Harry Potter universe. Here is the first post on what I’ve made this year.
 
As wands are such basic things for witches and wizards, I wanted hubby and me to have one each, though it’s unlikely we’ll be carrying them with us very much at the party. I tried the hot-glue-on-a-stick method, but didn’t like it much. I wanted neater wands, made from real wood.

 I got wooden dowels (10 millimetre diameter) from the local craft store, and as they were too short to make nice wands on their own, I searched my stash of craft supplies for the other things I needed. I found wooden beads and other turned wood shapes – if anyone have a good name for them, please share. I meant to assemble these different elements with a combination of screws and glue.

First I played around with the materials a bit, deciding how I wanted our wands to look. I didn’t want them to look identical, but a as I had a limited choice of materials, I had to work with what I had. I decided that the wand with the larger handle would be hubby's, as he has larger hands than me. I also chose wooden beads of different colours, as I thought that could be a nice touch.

 

After I had decided on the basic design, I whittled patterns on the dowels. They are similar, but not identical. As I’ve said before, I’m not very good with woodwork, but all in all, I’m happy with how these turned out. After the carving was done it was time for sanding. I used round objects of different diameters (knitting needles and a round building block borrowed from the kids) to wrap the sandpaper round, to help get a nice, even finish to the carved areas. I also sanded the dowels to taper towards the tip, and made mine a smidge thinner than hubby’s, for a more feminine look. Unfortunately I only remembered to take a picture of one of the dowels at this step.

 

I drilled holes in the “handle” ends, and drilled corresponding holes in the turned-wood-things.

With a screw I then attached the wooden bead and the turned-wood-thing to the dowel of what would become hubby’s wand, adding a bit of hot glue for strength. I would have preferred wood glue for this, but we didn’t have any. With hot glue I attached the other turned-wood-thing, and the first wand was assembled.

For mine, I screwed the turned wood thing to the dowel, again securing it with hot glue, and then added the bead and small peg with more hot glue.

After that I painted the wands with acrylic paint that I had diluted with water for more of a stained than painted effect. 

When they had dried I sealed them with two coats of a semi glossy varnish. Ta-da! 

 The different coloured beads worked out well, especially as I painted the wands in shades to compliment them.

 The finished wands are rather pretty, and comfortable to handle - a very important feature, I would think, for objects that are allegedly used countless times every day, and are always within reach of their owners. Hubby's wand is 12 5/8" long and mine is 11 3/4". What wood type and core they are supposed to be made from is still undetermined.

 Sometime I’ll need to make wand boxes for storage (or display – I plan a very nerdy curiosity cabinet with "souvenirs" from books and films I like), with the Ollivander label on them, of course.

One Bodice, Two Looks

A while ago I took out an old UFO, and decided to finish it. It is a hand stitched wool bodice lined with linen, fully interlined, and boned in front. It also laces in front over a half boned stomacher. (Meanwhile, that was a good invention – so easy to adjust to size!) The bodice is of good quality, but not quite historical. For other costuming adventures it would be perfectly fine though. As I don’t see myself having much use of it, I mean to sell it. Still, it is nice to have good pictures of the things you’ve made, and I hope that good pictures will make the bodice more desirable for potential buyers. To show that this simple bodice can work for a variety of characters, I've had two little photo shoots this week.

The Washerwoman

In Sweden there is a popular LARP series called Krigshjärta (War Heart). It has several different cultures, with very different religions/ideologies, social life, politics, and, of course, dress. Though I’ve never attended a LARP in my life (though I have lots of friends who do so frequently), I have always been a bit intrigued by one of the peoples, the Jorgaler. This people are a highly religious group, who see it as a severe faux pas to outshine what their god has created, and thus dress in a very simple way, keeping trim and decorations to a minimum, almost glorying in what is lowly as it where. Bodices and skirts/dresses are worn by the women, as are some form of kerchief on their heads. Tobias and I considered going to one of the Krigshjärta LARPs and play a couple of Jorgaler when we were newly-weds, but what with pregnancies, babies and life in general, that never happened. I was still interested in composing such an outfit though, to see if I could make plain look pretty.

So I had the bodice. The rest I was pretty sure I could dig out from my historical clothing and fantasy costume wardrobes, and my fabric stash. It worked rather well I think. I used the same old hobbit shift, an 18^th century linen petticoat, a raw silk skirt for the apron, and a piece of fabric for the kerchief. Medieval wool hose and leather shoes completed the outfit.

As props I used an old laundry basket that usually holds toys, an even older washing bat, an inherited copper tub, and several historical linen shirts, shifts, braies and aprons. I lugged it all out in the garden and took pictures using the trusty self timer, a dear friend when documenting my costuming adventures. 

I like how the bodice looks very plain and… almost boring really, when laced with a neutral cord. It doesn’t attract any notice at all worn like this. Actually, I love this outfit! It would have looked better with a wool skirt though, and a larger kerchief.

The Hobbit Larder

I keep exploring different ways to dress hobbit women. I have liked both the styles I’ve tried so far (the bodice/skirt and the dress), but as I have a skirt trimmed with the same fabric this bodice is madefrom, I just had to combine them for a hobbit to wear. My hair actually did get curly this time round – rolling it up on rags for more than 24 hours did the trick. I don’t think I like this hobbit look as much as the others I’ve tried, but it still looks nice. I think it’s the hair – I didn’t manage to get it quite hobbity, even though it was properly curly. It actually looks too frivolous, if that is possible for one of the merry little people. More experimenting is needed! (EDIT: I think I figured it out: the rest of the outfit has a vague 17th century feel to it, but the hair is more 1790's. A bun in the back and curls framing the sides of the face would have been the very thing here, I think.)

I wore an 18th century-ish shift, two petticoats that are hardly seen, the wool skirt, and some fabric from the stash in my hair.

For these pictures I transformed a corner of my sewing room to a larder – a very suitable setting for a hobbit. Good thing we have lots of appropriate bowls, jars, jugs, cups and baskets to use as props… 
 

Using a cord that matched the skirt made a really nice look for this outfit; it became a decoration in itself. It also makes the bodice quite versatile - get cords in the same colours as your skirts, and you have a bodice that will match pretty much anything :)

Conclusions: colours make a lot of difference; it transformed this simple bodice from being dreary to being delightful.

Winter in the Shire

The blog has moved and this post can now be found HERE.

Looking back on 2014

This year has flown past! So many things have happened, but as most of them have concerned my personal and family life, not that much of it has been said on the blog. So what have happened….

We moved to a new town, a year ago Friday. Amongst other nice things (such as good friends only a one minute walk away) it also meant I got a sewing room – what a luxury! As we don’t have money to spend on storage at the moment, it’s a bit of a mess, with fabrics, notions, period clothing, etc. everywhere, but still - happy me!

 The mirror still on the floor, parts of my folk costume and some 

14th century hoods hanging on the door, lots of white linen and plain cotton in the shelf.

 Hats, some fabric (coarse linen for a gambeson, wool for period clothing, fabrics for contemporary projects), 

a loom for weaving tapes and ribbons, boxes with UFO:s, my seldom used sewing machine, 

this and that.... The cupboard is filled with striped, checked, and reproduction print fabrics.

I was pregnant and very tired for the first half of the year, and so didn’t get all rhat much sewing done, but I did manage to sew:

 an early19th century shortgown

 a sewing roll inspired by local folk costumes

 a babynest for the baby to sleep in

 a patchwork quilt for the baby

I also, thanks to a cousin and a sister who modelled them for me, got pictures of a couple of dresses (the Pre-Raphaelite Medieval, and the Elvish Maiden) I made years and years ago, but never had decent pictures of.

Then little baby H arrived, and pretty much everything had to adapt to his needs, and economy was still a factor. Being a student family with two young children, that is not surprising. We didn’t go to any events this summer, at least not any that we bothered to dress in historical clothes for. One can still take pictures though, and when the baby was a week old I swaddled him, dressed myself and B in our 14th century clothes and took some pictures.

I also got some sewing done:

 I finished my Hobbit outfit UFO

 got a lot done on an 1840’s outfit; a shift, bum pad, cap, collar and dress

 made some 1840’s baby clothes; a petticoat and a dress

 and a witches bonnet for Halloween – I don’t mind spending time in more than one fantasy world ;)

I’ve also hosted a sewing class with a friend (in the green silk dress), sponsored by the event Thomanders Jul i Lund: eight women with varying experience in historical sewing made 1840’s style shifts, stays, petticoats and dresses. It was an educational experience for me, who never taught a sewing class before. Some of the ladies (as well as little H and I) are in this picture. The styles of their dresses cover pretty much all of the 1840's - don’t they look wonderful? Unfortunately I don't have a picture with my friend/co-teacher Maja also in it, as she had a pet emergency that morning.

Picture (c) Lena Birgersson.

Not my most productive year, sewing wise, but not the least so either. Even when I wasn't sewing myself, I was kept busy being a co-moderator in the Historical Sew Fortnightly (HSF) Facebook group, and will continue being so next year, though of course, the challenges will be monthly now (HSM). Hopefully I'll be able to complete more challenges myself now :) 

 

For Christmas Tobias gave me this book that I’ve wanted for a few years. The title can roughly translate to “The Tailor, the Seamstress and the Fashion” and is all about how the making of women’s clothing in Sweden changed from being a men’s business to gradually becoming a women’s business. It also has diagrams of stitches, seams and patterns taken from period clothes.

This year have been very much 19^th century for me, as I’ve felt a bit burned out on the 14^th century – last year I sewed like mad to get ready for the season, and never got to attend a single event with my group, and that just made me sick of it all. Now though, I’m beginning to feel the pull again, so hopefully there will be more medieval things in the coming year.

Thank you for reading my blog this past year - I hope you are all well, and will have a Happy New Year!