The event season is well underway and it's busy! ⚔️ In June our group attended the festivities of Danish Constitution Day in Ontario and set up camp. It's our traditional season opener where we invite our partner groups from Ontario and Quebec and enjoy a fun weekend together. 🇩🇰
#sigtryggring #viking

I actually have a blog and sometimes I do write something. This may be interesting for everyone portraying a female kit and makers of tortoise brooches. I had a learning experience regarding tortoise brooches:

The 2025 season has started! Our living history group had their first event this past weekend with 40 attending reenactors from Ontario and Quebec. We spent a fantastic weekend fighting, feasting and frolicking on the grounds of Sunset Villa in Puslinch for Danish Constitution Day. ⚔️

When the dog wants to help but the task at hand requires zero dogs. 🐶
#dogsky #dog #sewing #dogsarethebest #chihuahua #help #helping #dogmom

Crazy day today. Couldn't vote in the German federal election (didn't get the voting papers) but voted early in the ON provincial election. Needed to do something that's more straightforward to unwind. I often see gores in historical dress patterns attached the wrong way, so here's the correct one.

This is a reminder for myself to never attempt to sew gussets on the sewing machine again. 😆 Thought it would be faster but was quite the fight! Looks still good though. 😁 My first kit is 100% handsewn, but I realized that I have a job and other stuff to do in my life, so now I switch as convenient.

How I spent Superb Owl Night 🦉 #sewing #garmentsewing #pleating

Sewing clips are my latest discovery in the category of amazingly helpful things. They are not only great for pleating but also to hold fabric in place when measuring and cutting. #sewinghacks #garmentsewing #sewing

I did it! I can't count the number of times I redid the band, but I am finally at a point where I like what I created. The band to cover the hem was inspired by the Gnezdovo dress, the neckline form is supposed to resemble the oval Hedeby dresses. #pleating #neckline #garmentsewing #dressmaking

Learning of the day: Unless you cut the band "on the bias" your neckline band will never be nice and flat. These early medieval folks that had their dress neckline done this way surely could afford to waste a lot of fabric. Rich people... 😅 #neckline #sewing #pleating #howtheheckdoesthiswork

I spent a couple of days figuring out how to do nice pleats. Hint: I did not end up using the pleats created by the pinning in the previous picture. Next was sewing the band in place, which presented quite a challenge. This step creates (or breaks) the curve of the neckline. 38 pins later... 😅

Let the pleating begin! I never saw me pleating before I decided to do something completely random for fun, and now I am there. First step, secure the pleats with pins to sew them in place.
#pleating #handsewing #dressmaking

After a lot of thinking, measuring, and more thinking, the necklines for my dress have been cut. The straight part of the front neckline will now be pleated until the outer edge of the front neckline matches the back neckline. #sewingmagic #pleating #linendress

After weeks of working on mock fabric to learn the logistics of pleating and how much fabric I need for a front panel vs. the back panel to partially pleat the front neckline, I am here - both panels are cut thanks to the selfless help of the one and only @katewearsblue.bsky.social. Thank you dear!