Author: Greet Gijsberts

Greet Gijsberts is a persona created to play in the Society for Creative Anachronism. She authors this blog in order to document her projects and adventures, and share them with a wider audience.
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Gifted wool shawl

Greet Gijsberts

I did a bit of design work at MGT on my first real weaving project, a double-woven shawl out of various skeins of worsted wool that have been gifted to me.  Here’s the colors. I have approx. 408 yards of the taupe, 322 yards of lavender, 364 yards of rose, and 945 yards of rust. They are all 8 wraps/inch, but because I want the shawl to drape nicely, I think I’m going to weave at a sett of 4 ends/inch, remembering that double-woven fabric cuts its warp sett in half… Maybe I want a 36" wide shawl.  In that … Continue reading Gifted wool shawl

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Back from MGT – Award of Arms

Greet Gijsberts

That stands for Meridian Grand Tourney, where I was given an honorific.  It’s called an Award of Arms.  This is what the commemorative scroll looks like. (It was illuminated and calligraphed by Melbrigda, a friend in my shire, which is really nice.) This means you can call me Lady Greet, now.  I have a nice embossed copper circlet that King Maximillian had a bit of trouble getting on my head – those piles of braids, you know. My favorite part of being called up in court, was when I got myself knelt on the cushions, King Max said, “Hi, Greet!” … Continue reading Back from MGT – Award of Arms

Clothing and Equipment2 Comments

Thursday’s Child

Greet Gijsberts

Monday’s child is fair of face;Tuesday’s child is full of grace;Wednesday’s child is full of woe;Thursday’s child has far to go;Friday’s child is loving and giving.Saturday’s child works hard for a living.But the child that is born on the Sabbath Day,Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. I had that rhyme in a Mother Goose book as a girl, and I was born on a Thursday.  (Everyone out there is now shouting ‘OF COURSE YOU WERE!!’) For example: Since I have this new lovely loom, and I finished Debbie Redding Chandler’s recommended beginner sampler, and I went to weaver’s … Continue reading Thursday’s Child

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Device banner

Greet Gijsberts

I made a personal banner for Daggers & Hemlock, to help contribute to the festiveness of the room, even though my device hasn’t yet passed.  (The banner was easy and cheap to make, and if I have to change it, I will.) But when my banner was up with the others, I didn’t like how I’d made it.  I’d embroidered outlines of the bees on, because I wanted them to show on both sides equally, and I wasn’t sure about whether the outline would be important in identifying the insects as bees, and thought I might outline them in dark … Continue reading Device banner

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GFD sketch

Greet Gijsberts

Here’s my plan for the Gothic Fitted Dress. I’ve got the brown linen, 5+ yards, for the overdress.  Lavena likes to cast pewter buttons, and I have an offer from Melissa to carve the soapstone for skep shapes.  (We’re a bit wary of how much the buttons might weigh, and thus flop over, so we’re going to try out the concept this Project Night.) The brown dress will be embroidered with large green bees volante as in the dancing girl’s dragonfly dress here, in ‘The Allegory of Good Government’, 1340.  That’s the green I’m thinking.  The blue underdress is 5.3 … Continue reading GFD sketch

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New Dorset loom!

Greet Gijsberts

I have been so good.  I’ve had these pics for three weeks and sat on them, not sharing because I didn’t want to tempt Murphy.  But IT’S HERE NOW, and IT’S MINE, and obviously I’m very excited.  Here’s my new baby: So now I’m very anxious to get a warp on and weaving my first sample piece like Deborah Chandler shows in her DVD and book.  After that, I want to try a double-woven shawl – I have lovely Irish yarn from a co-worker, and after all, the weather is cooling. Oh, and its name is Francis.  Which is helpfully … Continue reading New Dorset loom!

Clothing and Equipment1 Comment

Wooden shoes!

Greet Gijsberts

I have been pondering wooden shoes for some time.  They’re in Aertsen’s paintings… Pieter Aertsen, Market Scene, 1561. And I’ve read that they’re still being produced and used in Holland and other places.  Our word ‘sabotage’ doesn’t really come from wooden  that were hurled into machinery in protest, breaking it, and causing grief to the new industrialists, as much fun as this is to imagine. So I’ve wanted my own pair to try out, to see if they are practical in the garden, and for my plaid kirtle and (someday) my green pleated kirtle.  They’re not very expensive to order, … Continue reading Wooden shoes!

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Skipping steps again.

Greet Gijsberts

Caught, again.  I have a bad habit of wanting to take on the very complicated project (remember the green pleated kirtle anyone?) without having done enough practicing of prerequisite skills. I blame skipping a grade in school – it inflated my confidence. I’ve been working on the shift for the Furleger portrait, and the gathers are being frustrating.  The ‘fitting on myself with no help and no figure dummy’ is being frustrating.  I’ve just figured out that I’ve sewn the front gathered panel an inch to the left on the neck yoke, and it will need to be ripped off … Continue reading Skipping steps again.

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Book Review – Clothing Culture

Greet Gijsberts

Have I mentioned before that I live at 30dN latitude?  Same latitude as Cairo, Egypt?  And that the sun is HOT? Those who saw my lobster-red back at fighter practice from a walk to the store know that we get rather an intense sunlight here.  No wonder Le Corbusier was entranced with the light on the Greek boxes built into the hillsides – and Santorini is at 36dN.  That’s like…Chattanooga, Tennesse. Anyway, Maudey told the Costume Guild after Pennsic that the book to get was Clothing Culture:Dress in Egypt in the First Millennium AD.   Amazon US doesn’t have it, though … Continue reading Book Review – Clothing Culture

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Viking garb!

Greet Gijsberts

  I finished the Viking garb this weekend. Some of you will be thinking – ‘since when is Greet interested in Vikings?’ I admit, I’m really not (yet!).  However, I had all this fabric that needed to be wearable and useful garb because for longer events I’m still woefully short of clothing. Also I’ve discovered that occasionally in the practice of SCA there are ‘theme’ events, and it’s helpful to have a Viking or MiddleEastern outfit even if your main interest is elsewhere. And I wanted an outfit my mother could wear for when we go to events together, though … Continue reading Viking garb!