More Wimple Wearing

After extolling the virtues of wimples last week, I was challenged by the author of A Quilter’s Journey (an awesome quilting blog you should go check out) to try wearing a wimple through airport security. Since I was flying out to Houston for the weekend, I thought I’d go ahead and do it.

Of course, I would’ve felt silly wearing a wimple with mundane clothes in public, so I wore full medieval garb. Here’s a picture of me just after passing through the security checkpoint (and putting my belt back on).

They were very respectful of my fashion choices and didn’t ask me to remove the wimple, although I did get a head-patting to check if I was hiding anything besides my hair under there.

Happy Yarning!

Wimples for the Win

We had a blast despite the searing sun at the North Sound Sergeantry Trials and Sable Rose Tournament. So much fun that we utterly failed to take any pictures. Here are some pictures of me in my new garb after the fact.

I finished the last of the eight long flat-felled seams in the car on the way to the event.

We made it our goal while there to meet new people, since playing in the SCA is much more fun with friends than without, and we made several new friends from all three baronies present.

We also enjoyed playing with our new equipment at the thrown weapons range and archery range (a hatchet for my lord and a recurve bow for me!). Going forward, I plan to practice more regularly with my bow to better my form and thus not require basic instruction every single time I attend an event.

My wimple was a complete success. Not only did it stay on my head through dancing, archery, and much walking, but it provided useful protection from the sun. My lord is still red about the face and neck thanks to my sieve of a brain (which resulted in a lack of necessaries such as sunscreen and matches–though forgetting matches is a great strategy if you want to force yourself to meet new people).

The only downside to my wimple is the fillet, which proved to be rather itchy. Since this one is made of acrylic yarn anyway, I shall feel no sorrow in speedily replacing it with a linen or silk fillet.

I am so sold on wimples. Mine was comfortable, practical, simple enough to put on without a mirror, never got in the way, and never stabbed anyone with its pins. Besides all that, it looks awesome.

Wimples for the win.

Happy Yarning!

Adventures with Linen: Simple Wimple

Good Christian women cover their heads. Or at least they did in Europe for a lot of the Medieval period. Headgear is the first part of medieval garb to be neglected by “noobs,” simply because it isn’t very important in modern western culture.

I am guilty of this–also guilty of wearing renaissance-esque snoods with early period dresses. But I’m learning.

For my new garb, I made a white linen wimple.

After spending some hours on research and coming repeatedly across the answer that “We really don’t know how wimples worked, but they looked like this,” I settled on the “circle with a hole” design for my first wimple. I was inspired by this handy page tucked away on rosieandglenn.co.uk, which made it look simple enough for everyday wear. However, in my research I read that the headband or fillet was worn under (not over) the wimple, so I made that adjustment for myself.

Of course, in my haste, I broke one of my cardinal rules of garb-making. When cutting any hole for your head, always start too small and increase the size. Oops. But it still works despite its mammoth hole.

I spun my own thread (see my earlier post about that) to sew the hems. Perhaps with future wimples I’ll do something fancier than these little rolled hems.

And with a fillet made from a piece of my serpent tablet-weave belt (from yet another earlier post), I have a wimple!

We’ll see how it does on its maiden voyage next weekend. I shan’t be surprised if it does go sailing off my head once or twice. All in the name of science–I mean, reenactment–of course.

Happy Yarning!