Fantasy Court 2018

It was a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze. Eisirt dropped me and all my gear off at the Eindhoven University campus and I set up my tent, the new clothes racks and hung up all the garments. I had saved the mannequins, the huge green polyester tablecloth from way back in the day and of course the Dolle Griet banner from 2005, and they were back in action. The rest was all new: I rented a table, bought a 3 x 3 party tent, new garment racks as well. I was surprised at how much junk I can tetris into our tiny beat-up Nissan Micra.

Fantasy Court is a pretty small event, with booths set up around a bit of grass with some trees in the middle. There were quite a number of booths but not a lot of visitors. There was a balfolk dancing around the stage under the trees, and my nextdoor neighbours included people from Ravelry: Tudbspinster with her felt workshop and Yarncontaminated who was helping out at Heathen Mead.

Setting up solo took forever (Eisirt needed his only day off this week to recuperate at home, poor man works too hard!) mostly because everything was just tossed into big shopping bags and I needed to do a lot of sorting on the spot. That is a lesson for next time: plan all the haberdashery in display containers beforehand. I re-purposed an old steampunky small chest for some clasps and closures, set up the small table easel and was still putting stuff on the table when the first visitors came to have a look.

https://instagram.com/p/Bj16HgIAjyq

The day flew by, and because the costs of a booth were really low they were easily earned back, leaving me in the plus for this day. One man had actually cut the article from the Eindhoven Dagblad and came specifically to see what I had in my stall. A few others promised to make an appointment for custom costumes or clothes soon. All in all, it was good exposure! And because of the great atmosphere, I had a really great time.

The downside is that only one person showed actual interest in the clothes and tried something on, but in the end she didn't buy it. A lot of people admired the clothing and when they heard I had made it all myself, they said the prices were good. They can at least understand that a hand-made tunic with contrast facing and trim is € 112,50 -- but they won't buy it.

I'm sad I won't be going to Castlefest this year. I just can't seem to get a hold of the organisers and they aren't responding to their e-mail. Also, I don't have enough money on hand for a booth at the moment, so that's alright. The coming months I'll focus on custom orders first and my Patreon efforts second. Maybe the Midwinterfair is an option in December.
This was a good first run, in any case!

Subtle hue shift for Zaphira

While I was madly hopping up and down after the last Emphebion event going *squeeeeeeee* in a million ways, my poor character is feeling rather desolate. All Annet could think of was "I get a tiaaaaraaa!" while Zaphira was miserable under all the unwanted responsibility. Go Emotion Rollercoaster Ahoy!
This August will be my fourth Emphebion, and Zaphira has grown quite a bit. From looking desparately for her identity and voice, she has met with a servitar providing more questions than actual answers, regained her voice and chosen to remain unaware of her actual identity.

My woolen dresses really are quite hot for summer weather, as well. Plenty of excuses to sew a new dress! I've been in awe of A Damsel in This Dress's 12th century gown. I'm looking to create a similar style, bought the fake hair and all. I also promised Kat to stay away from tiara's for now.

And with the linen I picked up for a summer gown I am also shifting from the red and blue palette to something more muted:



This palette comes close to are Zaphira's current dress colours although one of my blues is much lighter. I wear a linen shift with a light blue sleeveless dress, and lace a 15th century burgundy kirtle in place over that and a darker blue hood. The colours all return in my awesome Kettle Valley shawl.



The blue linen for my new gown is exactly like the lavender blue (second of five) in this palette. I also plan to combine it with a powdered old pinkish red as neckline facing -- more muted than the pink on the right, but not as much as I think now. And of course the neckline will be embroidered by hand, although maybe not by the August event.

And while we had a moment to spare this afternoon, Sigunne draped a block onto my torso this afternoon. It will work perfectly with the instructions from Sarah Thursfield's the Medieval Tailor's assistant. I am all set to sew a pretty dress!
I'm glad my muse has returned. (Famous last words!)