Medieval Fair in Leksand

The medieval fair in Leksand is one of the better ones, and me and two friends from the Cosplay Dalarna group decided to go there. Of course I wanted to dress the part, but I don't have anything medieval. I do have my undergown for my 16th century project though, and figured that would do. The evening before the fair I experimented with faking a suitable headdress, but when I looked around on pictures it was painfully clear that the gowns in all the original pictures had sleeves, while my undergown is sleeveless. As we all now the best time to start a project is a couple of hours before it starts...

So on the morning I decided to add some sleeves. I were lucky and found that I had enough fabrics left to make a set of sleeves.

 I used a modern standard pattern and added some extra seam allowance to it. I also decided to make the sleeves tied on, since I figured that would be easier and faster than setting the sleeves.

I did have to take in the sleeve quite a lot afterwards. As you can see I sewed the main seam on machine, but I handsewed the hems. Once that was done I cut the sleeve in half, since I wanted to have a slashed effect. Well that too enough time that I had to sew the ribbons to tie the sleeves on in the car going to Leksand.

For the hair, I didn't have time to take any more photos, but in order to create something similar to a wulsthaube I stuffed a pair of tights with some wadding and put them on my head. It worked as a charm, then I simply tied a very long and narrow triangular piece of fabric around the head, and the extra fabric was wound around the head.

We started off the fair by watching a medieval fashion show. The showed clothes from the Viking Age and up to the late 15th Century, and it was quite entertaining and informative.

Monika and Niklas from Cosplay Dalarna are historical reenactors and they have a camp there for the whole weekend. It was nice to sit there, and we could see the jousting from their table.

I also used their tent as a backdrop to finally take some photos of me in my gown, just before we left.

Having worn the gown for a day there are some things I need to fix. First of all the gown is a bit too big in the bust, not something that I will easily fix but I need to remember to make the eventual overgown smaller there. The tied on sleeves worked ok, but they pulled the straps down all the time, and made the upper slit too large, while the smaller one disappeared. I think I will try and sew the sleeves on at the top, to keep them in position.

All in all I am getting inspired to finally make a gown to wear over the undergown.