We're doing Birka for Garb Wars, and I get to be the model! Which means I get to shop for the supplies.
I have most of what we'll need already, but my only linen is heavy. That's on purpose, I bought it for undergowns, and I don't want them see-through. But I needed some handkerchief weight linen for a veil. Off to G Street Fabrics! Linen acquired.
I wanted to buy silk brocade, but they had nothing appropriate. The brocades were mostly rayon and Orientalizing; the bridal silk twill was plain white and $100/yard! Lovely, but no. There's an ecclesiastical fabric vendor I may hit up, or we could skip this. The silk would be used only for binding the top of the smokkr and/or making a hanging strap for Stuff Hanging from Brooches. There are alternate ways to bind the smokkr, and alternate ways of making hanging straps (including making a bronze link chain).
We are planning on making a cloak/shawl, and in the interests of making it more interesting than a hemmed rectangle of fabric, I thought I'd look at the faux fur. ZOMG. This is not the fake fur I remember. It was so soft. Also, the remnant pieces were $40/yard, down from $60. I stared at the piece of... ermine? I dunno, it was white with a 1/2" pile, but I have no idea how it would work with the wool suiting we have for the cloak, or if there's any info on what fur was used for the Mammen cloak or... and it was a lot of money. Also, it's rare that a seriously heavy cloak is needed or packed for an SCA event. But so soft. I may try to come up with a project just to justify buying something. (Coverlet?) In the future, because I think I've spent all my fabric money for a while.
I also grabbed some diamond twill! Tiny diamonds - smaller even than the ones Alfrun ketta had at KASF that were to period scale. So maybe too small. But they were, if not monochrome, then only really really subtly two-color (I have to check more closely). And it's wool suiting again. Still! Yay diamond twill.
So I bought the linen because there's a Birka find that's interpreted as a brocaded band and linen veil. I have fine silk in the house, and maybe I should have just used that, but must be anal retentive. Although on second thought, I've been wanting a linen veil for a while. All my veils are currently either cotton or Random Modern Stuff from Target.
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