I am busy doing garb updates and repairs for GWW (Great Western War), and my grand plan also includes sewing a new long-sleeved chemise and gown. Bright cherry red, one of my favorite garb colors. I always wear sleeveless linen shifts underneath my clothes as for some reason I really hate long chemise sleeves. Who knows why? I like layers otherwise. But so many of the Anglo Saxon and early Norman styles display chemise hems at wrist and bottom edges, and wide-sleeved and/or shorter gowns must have them. So I ordered linen last night and will bite the bullet. To be perfectly honest I cheat with warm weather gowns. I’ll either just wear the sleeveless shift* underneath them or add bands of linen to peek out wrists and hems. But for temperate or cold weather — or as I said, wide-sleeved or shorter gowns — I really need more long-sleeved and instep-length chemises.

*BTW, sleeveless shifts are perfectly appropriate for some period garb. (The infamous Bohemian Bathhouse Babes and other period art shows them.) But I rather doubt that they’re right for late 11th/early 12th centuries in France and England, which is the period I portray.

Repairs include taking in the powder pink dress (which seriously needs a belt regardless), fixing a wonky sleevehead on the fuchsia linen, and adding trim borders to the green wool blend. I’ll also experiment some more with attaching my braids for war. I love my braids but have not felt completely secure in them as yet. So I will try sewing them to my real braids that come a couple of inches past my shoulders. I’m motivated to sew them in so I don’t have to attach the bloody things again each morning. This way I have new headwear options open because I’m not so worried about the braid joins showing or slipping. My favorite headdress is the Anglo Saxon headwrap but I’ll also experiment with the more Norman-like veil pinned to neck and forehead bands. I’m one of the people that is fairly appalled when someone wears a lovely dress and then has a bare head. Even in late period Italian styles they did amazing fancy things with their hairstyles, and the vast majority of women in SCA periods wear something on their heads.