Costuming
So, what am I going to wear?
As they say, clothes maketh the man (or woman!) The only 'rule' to attending an SCA event is that you wear "an attempt at pre-17th century clothing". This leaves a lot of the history of fashion open for investigation, and many Society members spend huge amounts of time and energy making exquisite garments, commonly referred to as 'garb'.
Fear not if it's all a bit daunting: every SCA group has a supply of so-called 'hospit' garb, available to be borrowed by anyone who has need of it. But after coming to a few events, many people start thinking about how to make their own garb.
One of the main focuses of the Society is on allowing its members to learn new things, and for many people the first thing they learn is how to sew.
A simple starting point is a basic tunic, (see right) which involves only straight seams and is quite fabric-efficient. The College runs workshops in sewing and Basic Tunic Construction from time to time, and there are many talented sewers who attend the Stormhold craft hall on Tuesdays.
Once you're comfortable with sewing, there's a wide array of garb you could choose to make. Elizabethan gowns, Roman tunicas, hoods, hose and houpelandes - to name but a few.
Costume links
There are a huge number of SCA cosuming websites availabe. This is a list of sites recomended for usefulness and clarity.
Reconstructing history This is a blog written by Kass McGann, who is a profesional pattern maker for historical cosumes. Her online store is a good source for patterns if you want to order one.
Elizabethan Costume page This is a good resource if you are interested in making Elizabethan cosume. The site details instructions for making full Elizabethan outfits from the skin out and includes a quite nifty pattern generator for a custom smock.
The Renaissance Tailor has some very useful information of basic sewing techniques, as well as numerous demonstrations of period garment construction.
If you are interested in earlier clothing Marc Carlson has a very useful site, Clothing of the Middle Ages he also maintains the Footwear of the Middle ages site, which is possibly the best information source for period shoes on the net.
The SCA arts and sciences page also has an extensive listing of webpages, grouped by subject, for most of the activities practiced in the SCA.
Images courtesy of Nicolette Dufay, Heidi Vestergaard, Lady Clemens Gascoigne and Deense