Happy SCA New Year

Well, lots happen at the beginning of May in 2023. Happy Sca New Year to those folks in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Since the society was created on May 1, 1966. As a themed birthday party that is pretty much the timeframe that they used to turn over the year within this group. 

Also, with that, the first weekend for many kingdoms is what they call Crown Tournament. Where the heirs to the SCA kingdom, the next king and queen are determined by right of arms. Many kingdoms operate on the same time frame where the new set of Royals are Prince and Princess for six months, and then our king and queen for six months. 

This is not exclusively a right to heterosexual couples, there are those folks that are dual kings and/or queens. Whoever wins the tournament would be the reigning monarch, and the spouse or significant other would be the consort. There is research into other methods of determining who would reign, besides the right of arms in a contest. I find that very fascinating as it opens up much more possibilities as not everybody does a martial focus in the SCA. I look forward to there being more discussion on this as a future option.

I have now been in the Society for Creative Anachronism for 18 years this year. Time flies when you’re having fun! Even though I don’t go to as many events as other folks do, I’m always making creating and researching in my free time. This is why this blog exist since 2009 and I have other social media like YouTube and Instagram to share my progress on projects. This activity is truly what you make of it, some folks go to many events throughout the year and travel to many. Other folks like me tend to have more of a social media presence and are creating behind the scenes.

Looking back, it was only a year or two after I started that I really began researching dolls and toys, and took that interest you a whole new level over the years.  I really do enjoy the Arts and Sciences and how we’ve been able to make the format much more beginner, friendly. For myself, I ended up normally entering the largest Arts and Sciences event called Feast of the Passing of Ice Dragon. And had done this over several years as a novice and then once winning the Novice Pentathlon, moving on to regular entrees. Fashion Dolls especially have now become much more of a dedicated research project, and I put them in that category just because of the nature of my deep dives. There are more Arts and Sciences related events now, and they focus on providing feedback that is valuable to improve your art. Well, that’s not every kingdom that has this setup. I’m hoping that it’s something that can catch on.

One of my goals here on my blog is to inspire others to be able to do the thing! I started out, not knowing anything about sewing in any real context. Previously,  I had made a jacket altered one for my Letterman for high school. I didn’t wanna spend the money that they were asking for the official one, but I had plenty of earned patches, so I made my own. The best part is in the yearbook it stands out because it’s not like anybody else’s! That was my first major sewing project, and that really set me on the path from just making purses or small little things to actually being willing to try something bigger.

I knew when I joined the SCA, I wanted to make beautiful gowns and accessories, I was interested in the 16th century from the start, nothing, like, jumping in on the deep end when it comes to the more complicated sewing. Having my art background did actually help, as I was not afraid to at least try something, and then learn the more historical way of doing the thing. I did know how to use a sewing machine but didn’t really have any experience with hand-sewing other than Embroidery. So in essence, I was starting with many skills from scratch. And while my stitches are not perfect, they are much more regulated and smaller than when I began. I am not going to do Victorian-related perfectionism on my sewing as it wouldn’t have really been a thing in the Elizabethan Tudor times.

Having recently learned that the Victorians completely changed the way that embroidery was done in order to make the backs of the pieces look more neat and tidy. This fact actually makes me upset. It means that we as modern artisans have lost the techniques that originally would have been used in the period and have to make extra effort to study how it was technically performed with the correct stitches technique. And while I expect there to be changes over time that happen, the reasoning that the backs of the items needed to look neater seems frivolous. 

I have to make woolen kirtles for myself, in my current size. I am also looking at revamping some of the gowns that are in my collection. I was lucky enough to have worn a gown made by a good friend and it fits beautifully. So I have some good references for my current size as well. Here is to hoping for some good sewing things for me to take my Sca garb to the next level.  

Good Things,

Maureen