Retail Ramblings

I realized that it's the middle of the month and I haven't done a single post yet. All I can say is that I've been busy getting ready for Harvest Court next week. I realize that in the big scheme of things, it's a relatively minor event, but with Antoine stepping up as Baron, I want to make a good showing of myself. So I've been engaging in the usual pre-event madness of making new garb, both for myself and my youngest son. Needless to say, his garb was a lot quicker than mine: why waste a lot of effort on something that he'll outgrow in 6 months? The project for myself, on the other hand, was 6 hours work (not counting shopping for the "perfect" fabric before finally realizing that I had good stuff already) for a single coat. But it's (mostly) done: all I have to do now is get the frogs for the front.

I realize it may come as a shock to anyone who's seen me the past few years that I can sew my own garb. After all, my entire current kit (with the exception of one rather worn tunic and a jacket) is store-bought. But that's actually a new situation for me. It's only been the last couple of years that I could afford to actually buy pre-made garb. Before that, it was all home-made (and, in a few cases, hand-made), and usually made from scraps or treasures found at Goodwill. And towards the end there, I was actually getting pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. Not that anything I made would have won an Arts and Sciences competition, but I'd graduated beyond t-tunics and was doing actual, fitted garb.

But then I joined the Army and got muscles. Suddenly, all of my nice garb was too fitted. So I made do with what loose-fitting garb I still had, and it worked pretty well. What few events I made it to were of the day-tripping variety, so I only needed one or two outfits. And all was good until I got out of the Army. You see, when I first got out, we ended up having to stay with my brother-in-law for a few months, so the majority of our stuff was in storage. Now, I thought I was being smart when I made sure all of my fencing gear (blades, mask, gorget) traveled with me, but I'd made one small mistake: my fencing tunic was with my garb, in storage.

And that's where my foray into retail began: I bought myself a commercially-made tunic/doublet combo. And that worked great: it even doubled as regular garb. At least until Uprising. There was no way I'd be able to wear one outfit for the entire event - including fighting. By that time, my stuff was out of storage, and I was able to cobble together two or three outfits (all either old, too small or ugly), so I began adding to my kit, a piece at a time.

Now, here it is two Uprisings later and I've gotten a decent set-up: a couple good tunics, a couple not-so-good tunics, honest-to-God pants, even a good doublet for court. But Schola showed me that a nice, thick wool doublet, although good for evenings at Estrella, is not the best choice for warm-weather events. Thus the new jacket. Yes, it's still wool, but it's much lighter and a looser weave. And no, it's not nearly as fitted as the work I used to do, but for a first attempt in over five years, it'll do, and it'll allow me to layer up for those bitterly cold events like Twilight in Valhalla.

And it does leave me thinking about the $1.79/yard muslin, and how it'd be nice to have another tunic or two. And pants, I need more pants...