Ren Fair and Pirate Fair 2011

Well, the two festivals I've mentioned previously have come and gone. I did, in fact, complete one outfit to wear (and a slight variation so that it wasn't identical for both). The basic outfit was the skirt, the blouse, and the bodice. The Pirate Festival got a hitched-up overskirt and the Renaissance Faire got a white apron.

The Ren Faire was earlier in the summer, and so the bodice was made to fit me at that point -- at least 10-15 pounds heavier and a couple of sizes bigger, as you can clearly see in this picture:

That lineup I'm in is the bodice competition, which I won:

 (Basically it tied into the plot this way: Lord Farthingale's wife needed to choose an apprentice, I believe, so those of us that were wearing appropriate bodices were chosen to be the 'models' for the candidates' pieces, and the King ended up being the one to break a tie between two pieces. He chose me. :D)

The costume is all natural fibres. I learned my lesson before. The skirt, overskirt, and apron were made of linen and ramie, which is a fibre I'd never heard of before, despite the fact that I worked in a fabric store for two years. The care instructions suggested they ought not to be washed, which I laughed at. If it's a natural fibre 'just like linen', as they described it, it's perfectly washable. And so it was, which was good, as the Ren Faire happened in the middle of what felt like a hurricane at the time, and my skirt was 6 inches of mud at the hem.

I made it with a button closure at the back as I just couldn't bring myself to put a zipper in what was otherwise a very convincing peasant skirt (yes, the skirt currently needs some serious ironing):

Here's a closeup of the skirt hikes and the tankard strap (always bring a tankard to a faire. You'll feel left out otherwise).

So, we got to the Pirate festival at the Dry Bluffs.

After wandering around and being tempted by various artisans, I decided to attempt climbing up a ladder/bridge/hammock-thing for some reason:

It is not a dignified practice. Thankfully I was wearing bloomers, so tumbling head over heels did not provide the park with a display of my underwear.

Jon managed it handily, of course. You will note that his costume here is not all that impressive. I did not manage to make him a costume in time. You may remember that I've mentioned that costume here before, and so here is the still in-progress costume as of halloween:

A little more impressive. In actual fact, all I've done here is finish the vest and buy some accessories. I still have a shirt to sew and a sensational pirate coat to alter and construct. Stay tuned.