Bycocket, I Think She's Got It!

Ever since I joined the SCA, I've wanted a bycocket. I especially wanted one when I found out what they were called. It's just too much fun to say!

The original pattern found on Honor before Victory

I remember seeing someone wearing it so nicely with a simple veil and a cotehardie many years ago at an event. The combination itself was enough to have me intrigued. It would be some time before I made the attempt, but always had the vision in my head.

The opportune moment came at this year's Market Day at Birka when Queen Anna issued an "Accessories" challenge for the fashion show. House Strangewayes also had a personal challenge of "Tips and Toes". This was my "excuse" to try something I always wanted to, and finally had the courage to do so.

I ended up going with a pattern found on "Honor before Victory" - another SCAdian blog showcasing a GORGEOUS bycocket made for an elevation. The pattern itself seemed simple enough so it was the one I decided to go with. I didn't use the split loop seem method as suggested in my reference, but I used the basic pattern included with it.

I decided on linen and silk in contrasting colors for my first attempt. Most of the bycockets I had seen were primarily made with wool felt, and sturdier cloth - so I used canvas as an interlining to give it more support.

The tip of linen layer needed to be trimmed later on.

I started by measuring around my head, to make sure it fit, and measuring the "height" the crest of the hat would be. Make sure you measure the width of your head, so your hat closes at the top (I have a pretty big noggin, so this is important).

Once I had those measurements I followed the diagram I had found, and tested out the fit. It was perfect. After that step was taken care of I cut out the layers of silk and linen. I ended up making the linen layer longer than the silk, since this would form the rim of the hat. I wanted to give it a little more space to make sure it'd be long enough to sew up the brim of the hat without issue.

The completed bycocket! (sans feathers)

I did initially serge the pieces together, and used a machine to construct the two pieces individually. The rest of the hat was completed by hand. Because the silk had a diamond pattern to it, I decided to use a small blanket stitch down the center of the hat, and an invisible stitch along the brim. The total amount of time I would say it took would be about 4-6 hours total.

I would definitely recommend trying your hand at one of these if you've ever wanted one. This ended up being much easier than I had originally anticipated. You don't necessarily have to do the finishing by hand, but I preferred doing that to go with the outfit overall. I think I'll try to make another one eventually, but for now I'm still very pleased with this one and how it came out.

Thanks for stopping by (cocket)!

Quite a Pickle We're in: Radish Edition

A person walks into the doctor's office. 

A banana stuck in one of their ears, a radish in the other ear, and a carrot stuck in one nostril. 

The person says, "Doc, this is terrible. What's wrong with me?" 

The doctor says, "Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly." 

Radishes are far from everyone's favorite vegetable. They're bitter, tough, and not pleasing to many palettes. I'm personally a lover of radishes in most any form. One form I had never tried before was pickling. I love pickles. I love radishes. What better way to enjoy my two favorite things than by joining them together?

Both pickling and radishes date back quite a bit so this is all prospectively period (other than keeping it in a mason jar, of course). Radishes are documented back during the Roman Empire and were said to have come in a variety of tastes, sizes, and colors - much like they are today. Pickles were believed to be made by Mesopotamians in 2400B.C. - and thus a very period, and pioneer food discovery.

It only takes 24 hours for radishes to pickle. So cut them up on a Friday afternoon, and they're ready by the time you have lunch at that camping event on Saturday.

I cheated a little and used pickling spices in this mixture. My next attempt will utilize something a little less easy, but I'm sure they'll still be easy to make nonetheless.

I started with a 32 oz mason jar and filled it with thinly sliced radishes. Every few radishes I placed a smashed clove of garlic, and at the end I topped it all of with white vinegar and pickling spices. That was it. There is indeed a recipe below for your use. I'll also have an upcoming post as well regarding a variation of this same recipe. It's something easier to document ingredients for and seems it might be even tastier, and more period.

Elvira's Pickled Radishes

1 32 oz. Mason Jar

2 Bundles of Radishes

3 Large cloves of Garlic

Handful of Pickling Spice *

Vinegar to Fill

Slice your radishes thinly and place in the mason jar.

Every in to 2 inches place a smash garlic clove in the jar.

Once full, place your pickling spice in the jar.

Fill with vinegar.

Let sit for 12-24 hours.

Viola!

Mead! The Adventure Begins...

Mead has had a long history alongside men during their stay on Earth. It has fantastical stories where it's held in the highest regard among kings and gods.It was once said by Vikings that the mead made from the blood of a god, and honey would turn a man  into a scholar.

Mead, or honey-wine is still a beverage that graces tables to this day.It may not hold as high a covetous repertoire, but still is enjoyed by many.

The earliest surviving description of mead is in the hymns of the Rigveda, a sacred book of Hinduism.

In Ancient Greece, mead was said to be the preferred drink. Aristotle discussed mead in his Meteorologica and elsewhere. The Spanish-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about AD 60.

"Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius* of this water with a pound] of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water."

*- A sextarius is the equivalent to one pint.

What sort of re-enactor would I be if I didn't try my hand at mead at least once? Not to say everyone should try it, but I like medieval food... and I dare say.. LOVE mead and beer. So I asked the help of a friend who had experience, and told me what I'd need.

3 - 5 lbs of honey

1 gallon carboy

1 airlock

1 package of yeast ( I got a champagne yeast)

Water

I had everything I needed... now I just needed to put it all together. Admittedly it took much longer to get everything assembled than originally planned, but it's now fermenting away in a friend's closet.

So we dissolved the honey with water and let it come to temperature. About 120 degrees. Once it reached that point we took a small amount of it and let it cool. We then added the yeast to that and let it sit for about 10 minutes.

While the yeast sat, my cohort peeled and chopped apples. We began placing them in the carboy with the contents of one full vanilla bean and a dash or orange water (because it's period!)

Here it is! Ready to ferment and become alcoholic and delicious...

We then put the honey and water mixture in the carboy over the apples we already added. Once that was in, we added the pitch (yeast mixture). Once it was added we gave it a nice jostle to make sure everything was incorporated well.

Now a few notes: We probably should've pureed the apples or made them a lot smaller chunks. This make it easier for the yeast to digest and break down. It also takes up less volume in the carboy - therefore giving you more mead when it's done.

It's been sitting for a little over two weeks now! And it's bubbling away. In about two more weeks, we'll strain it into another carboy without apples, and let it sit for about 6 months!

Here's a short video of it bubbling away! This is what we're calling our "first born" until we taste it...

Once we start our next steps, I'll be sure to try and update. Leave comments below on your own experiences, and thoughts. This is very new, so any and all feedback is very very welcome. Thanks for reading!

An "Offal" Meal Indeed

Over this past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit with some friends in Maine. This just so happened to be the same friends that helped me run the dayboard for EKU. Since Neville and I obviously both share a fondness for food, as soon as we set a weekend we started planning a menu.

We came to the conclusion to go with something obscure. I like the opportunity to work with ingredients I don't normally use, and this time we did just that.

Neville was able to get some ham-hocks at the grocery store for a very reasonable price. We also had bacon to supplement and add bacon fat to the dish. Ham-hocks are a very tough meat, and to prep them we needed a few steps. First, we boiled them for about 20 minutes. Then we placed them in the oven with some spices for about 30-45 minutes. This gave the ham-hocks a much better texture and really made them easier to eat and enjoy.

Now, you might be asking... "What did you do with the ham-hocks?!". What any good medieval reenactor would do... I put it in a pie!! Of course, it was accompanied by some regularly used period ingredients - onions, carrots, peas, milk, and bacon!

We didn't just make the pie, though. I also threw in my favorite side dish from Libra de Cocina, Bacon and Leeks. I also used another recipe from the same book - Cheese Fritters. These three things together made for a very well rounded, delicious and very medieval feeling meal. I also made a few condiments for the table as well, although slightly less period - still delicious.

From left: Our ham hock pie, a spicy mustard, rice with leeks and bacon, tomato butter, bread, the last cheese fritter! (the other were eaten before I got the photo), and the second pie.

It was a full dinner for about 6 people, with some of the second pie leftover. I was very happy to cook for these great people, and would gladly do it again. I'm slowly learning more and more about period cooking and recipes and hope to continue to hone these skills. My next adventure will be mead! Definitely stay tuned for that if it's your thing... I'm thinking a vanilla bean and orange water combination - sort of a medieval creamsicle?

For now - enjoy my "Offal" Pie recipe!!

"Elvira's Offal Pie"

Feeds 6-8 (Makes 2 pies)

4 Ham hocks
1/4 lb of bacon - chopped
1 c peas
1 1/2 c carrots - diced
1 c onions - diced
1/4 c of cream
5 egg yolks - whisked
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp of pepper
Salt to taste (the pork should have enough salt - additional shouldn't be needed)

Preheat your oven to 350

Take your ham hocks and boil them in about 6 cups of water (as much as you need to cover the ham hocks) for about 30 minutes. KEEP THE WATER FROM THE HAM HOCKS! You can use it to cook rice in as a side dish if you so choose, but you'll need about 3 cups leftover to make the rue, and bake the ham hocks in.

Once they have boiled, place them in a shallow baking dish. Add 1-2 cups of water to the dish. Add seasonings to your taste. I used tarragon, thyme, sage, and bay leaves. Once you've added your spices, place the ham hocks in the over for 30 minutes.

While the ham hocks cook, place 1 cup of the leftover water in a saute pan. Let it come to a simmer and add your flour. I added a small amount of butter here as well, but it's not necessary. Once you have your desired consistency, add your onions.

If you're using pre-made pie crusts - take them out of the fridge if you haven't already. Otherwise they'll be hard to work with when it's time to fill them with this offal mixture (*snerk*).

Once the onions have cooked, add your bacon to the pan.

Once the bacon is almost fully cooked, add your carrots, and peas. By this point, you will need more liquid, so here's where you add that 1/4 c of cream.

Bring this all to a boil and let it simmer while you wait for the ham hocks to finish in the oven.

Once the ham hocks are done, chop the mean into bite sized pieces. We had about 3 cups worth once it was all cooked and chopped. Add the chopped ham hocks to the saute pan and cook for about 5 more minutes.

Lay your pie crusts out, in your pie pans. And then ladle in a few cups of the offal mixture. Pinch your crust around the filling, and fold over on any gaps. This makes for a pretty presentation. Once your pies are filled, pour the egg yolk mixture evenly over it. Bake this for 20 minutes at 425.

Once your oven can no longer contain it's excitement and dings at you, remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes.

Then enjoy!!!

Thank you so much for reading, and please - comment below if you try this and let me know what you think!!!

14th Century Hood Part 1 - Constructing the Lining

In the SCA, some folks really like to go all out and create a lot of their pieces (or all of their pieces) by hand. I am all for it, but in most cases just personally don’t have the time or patience. Most of my work right now is indeed, machine sewn. I’m not against doing hand sewing from time to time however.

I’ve only been in the SCA for 3 years, and have just recently gotten my AoA (Award of Arms). I’m merely trying to find what skills suit me best, and trying to hone those skills to get the most out of my experience.

To enhance said experience, and really make an attempt at period construction of a garment I decided to try hand sewing a 14th century hood. It’s not an uncommon piece of clothing in the middle ages, and was quite popular from at least the 1300s to the 1600s. The Viking version of the same garment is a little different, but the same basic idea and functionality.

Worn by both men and women, hoods were a common head covering for people. Most examples

Period Illumination featuring two hood wearing people.

found are merely one layer of fabric, but for more affluent people during the time it bet it wouldn't be unheard of to have a lining fabric to offer added stability and warmth during colder months. I don’t have any documentation for this. If there isn’t, this is just a theory. If there is, well… I stand by my statement.

I decided to use a heavy black linen for the main body of the hood, and a salmon colored cotton blend for lining and buttons. Now, you might be asking yourself - “How is the color salmon historically accurate?”. Great question! I asked myself the same thing. Apparently madder root (Rubia Tinctorum) offered many colors in the red spectrum during the middle ages. My fabric wasn’t naturally dyed in this case, but the color is indeed accurate.

I conveniently had the matching thread (because I usually buy a matching spool when I buy fabric), and decided to get to work. My friend, and teacher within the SCA draped my pattern fabric (a thin white cotton) and fitted it properly. As she has some background in fashion design she had no trouble getting it to drape as it should. In no time at all I had my hood pattern cut out, and was laying it on my fabric. 

Forgive my fabric weights, and cutting table. I have limited space to work on. First I cut out the parts of the pattern in the lining fabric. As you can see in the middle image above, an extension was added to the original pattern. This addition is what is known as a liripipe. A liripipe was common on hoods, and varied in length from modest to floor length. Not all hoods had a liripipe attached, such as those in the Viking version. No evidence has been found that liripipe length related to a status of a person or anything of the like. It just seems to be a fashion choice. In the event of a longer liripipe it could be worn around the neck as a scarf for extra warmth.

Once the pieces were cut out, I started working on the lining. A blanket stitch was done around all the edges, and on the seams. Once that was done it was easier to see what the hood would look like when finished.

Once that was constructed, I started constructing the black outer piece. It seemed a little much to put it all in one blog post, though. Please stay tuned for the second half of the blog post! I'll be finishing it up, and providing a button and button hole tutorial. Thanks again for stopping by!

My first Italian gown...

   So the East Kingdom hosts a large event every year known as Birka, named for the Viking trading town from the middle ages. The event hosts a huge merchant area filled with the most wonderful fineries, a bear pit and fencing tournament where heavy list fighters and fencers test their mettle (and metal). After court is held there is also a ball, and a hafla. Not to mention there is an Arts and Sciences exhibit, and classes for people to take part in. The event has a little something for everyone.

   Our household, House Strangewayes strives to dress our best at this event every year. We pick a household theme, and each of us create attire based in our chosen time period.Our household's chosen time period run the gamut from early period Viking, to late period Italian. We have a little bit of everything. Below, is a wonderful family photo taken by our household member, and my friend Heather. Her SCA name is Bianca Angoussola.

Photo Credit: Heather Fitzpatrick

From left (Back Row): Lady Syele von Heidelberg, Lady Simona bat Leon, Lord Thothreker Ogaefa, Erdene Qadajin, Lord Fearghas MacGreggoure, Lord Hermankyn, Master Ekk, and Hongo Ryotaro Mitsuyoshi
Front Row, from left: Lady Cecily Windham, Lady Bianca Angoussola, Maestra Julia Agriccola, Lady Fortune St. Keyne, Lady Elvira Violante Ballesteros, and Lady Lysken die Waeyer.
Front (with the awesome hat): Jacquemine Van Bel

   What you're looking at is a late period Italian gown with detachable sleeves. A white linen chemise underneath. Accessories are a black snood with pearls and gold beading, a circlet adorned with a bee. Earrings and necklace both made by me. The earrings are a pearl drop earring with a gold cap on them. The closures aren't quite period, but I was working with what I had. The necklace was a redesign of a previous blog post I had done. I changed the sizing of the pearls, and I adjusted the spacers. The belt was a chain belt made from long bronze clearance necklaces at Charming Charlie, and a bee pendant I found last minute at Michaels.

   If you look closely you can see a cross hanging from my belt as well. This was semi common during this time in Spain and Italy. My persona is more attuned to the religious side of things so I felt it appropriate.

A great side view of the dress. Photo credit to Jason Taylor.

   Here you get a little glimpse of the cording I had made for the side lacing. This was done via finger loop braiding and serves the same basic purpose as lucet cord. I have to redo this part, and add more rings but I was quite pleased with this. At each end of the cord is an aiglet sewn onto it. They're gold colored aiglets, and add a little shimmer (and who doesn't love that?).

   I certainly have quite a ways to go in getting that perfect dress but believe me when I say I've come a long way, baby. Hopefully next Birka will be even fancier!

   Thanks again for reading!

Pelicon: The Begining

So I was perusing Pinterest recently, and I came across a pin from one of my favorite SCA Pinners, Fortune St. Keyne. She had pinned an image I had never seen before:

I'm not certain of the origin of this image, but the garment this woman is wearing is quite interesting. It's called a pelicon (pronounced with a soft c), and Google is less than helpful when trying to research it. Pinterest however, gave me at least a little more to sink my teeth into.

I came across this image as well when searching Pinterest, and it only helped confirm a few theories I had on how it was worn and constructed.

The image led me to this site, that gave a little blurb about the garment and its styling and construction.

"At the end of the 13th century the Pelicon, a feminine version of the Garde-corps, makes its appearance. This is made of a large elliptical piece of fabric, measuring approximately three and a half metres on its longer axis. Worn, the fabric falls softly from the shoulders to the feet and forms a train at the back. Like the Garde-corps, the Pelicon is made from a heavy fabric bordered with fur and completed with a hood. The head opening is cut at approximately three-quarters of the length of the ellipse, where the separately cut hood is buttoned up to the collar."

Upon reading that description I felt comfortable in my assumption that is was an odd hybrid of a surcoat and a houppelande... but with a hood. The hooded aspect is whats really grabbing me, and the contrasting lining fabric that shows when the hood is left to hang off the shoulders. It also doesn't help that the trim in some of the examples is fur, and I happen to LOVE fur on everything.

A fellow household member is making one for Birka so it'll be interesting to see what she comes up with. I've seen a few variations without the hood, and just a very high buttoned neckline - much more similar to that of a houppelande, without the sleeves.

I'll be doing my own interpretation of it at some point. I've got some red silk that is dying to be made into a cotehardie, and I think this would be the perfect addition to that dress for those cold, wintery events *cough* Crown Tourney *cough*.

Adventures in Jewelry

When creating garb, some often think of accessories as well and want to complete their looks with different time appropriate fineries. I'm no different in that sentiment. I've only just recently started to dabble in the fancier garb of late period Spain and Italy. I wouldn't say it's something I want to wear all the time, but having something beautiful for court is important. To complete the look I'm going for, I decided to make some matching jewelry that represents my household. So here's a little background...

House Strangewayes has a household heraldry of a bee on an oak leaf, in black and gold. This is our household badge, a way to identify ourselves at events. We have silk banners we use, and have many items in our encampment decorated with bees. This year our Birka theme just so happens to be household heraldry. Wearing black and gold of course is a given, but incorporating the bees is something I also wanted to do; so I did a little perusing on the internet for examples of Italian renaissance jewelry.

These are the three examples I went with. From the right, Francesco Pietro Bissolo - Portrait of a Young Woman, circa 1500. Ambrogio de Predis - Portrait of a Woman, circa 1490, and Andrea Solario - Salome with the head of John the Baptist, circa 1506-7.

In all of these, you can see pearls. Lucky for me I had a ton of them sitting in my jewelry making kit, just waiting to be put to use. In the first painting, Portrait of a Young Woman you see small pearls, and another alternating small gem. I liked this detail of the necklace and kept that in mind.

In the second painting,   Portrait of a Woman the use of larger pearls caught my eye. As I'm not too fond of the simple pearl strand (as elegant and timeless as it may be), I moved on for a little more inspiration.

I then found Salome with the head of John the Baptist. The alternating bead size, and the pendant in the center are what really caught my eye. Looking closely, the black beads are oddly shaped but from afar it looks like small black beads between larger pearls. As I didn't have any beads shaped like the ones shown on Salome, I let the creative part of creative anachronism do the rest.

With what I had available, and using the design aspects I observed in the paintings, I came up with the following piece:

This was my attempt, and my reasoning behind designing it this way was due to a few different design aspects I had discovered in my, albeit limited research. The shape and length of the necklace was easy. Most of the paintings I had seen all had a close fitted pearl strand as the necklace, so that wasn't difficult to decide on.

The alternating colored gems in Portrait of a Young Woman inspired me to do the same with some red, imitation beads I also had available.

The alternating pearl size wasn't something I could easily document, but in Salome with the head of John the Baptist the pearls are larger, and the pearl above the pendant is larger than the other pearls. I just reinterpreted that in my own way, and thus the necklace you see if what I came up with.

Instead of making a pendant, I used a gold enamel bee I had bought at the craft store, to officially tie in the household heraldry. I showed it to my household and they all seem to like it too. So with a little anachronism, and a little creativity I present to you, my Italian Renaissance jewelry.

Thanks for reading!