The Moorish Maiden

Those of you who know me, know I take the Spanishness of my persona very seriously.

I mean, really. My Laureling qaba (kaftan, basically) has tiraz on it which read in Arabic "Not Spain, not interested!"

Today, I spent some time reflecting on two of the reasons why I am so passionate about being Spanish in the SCA.

1) Very rarely does one find another Spaniard with a casual attitude towards their persona. Being Spanish is hard work! It's not like the "typical" SCA personas which are very accessible for a newbie because there are so many people who already do it and so many sources available in English. Tracking down sources for 14th century women's clothing (to use today's example) is MUCH harder for Spain than for England or France. It's not for the faint of heart! ¿Se habla español?

2) Because being Spanish is so bleeping hard, those with Spanish personas are much more open about sharing research than some of the other people in the SCA I have seen. When one of us gets ahead, we all get ahead. I have yet to come across a case of someone who hoarded information or otherwise insisted that they got credit for what they found because they needed to be "known" for something. We are Spanish. We are known.

As I type this, I realize there is a third reason, closely related to 1) and 2): there is ALWAYS something new to find, no matter what your topic is. I keep thinking I have exhausted the sources for Moorish costume in the 13th century, and then lo! I notice in a miniature a new type of sleeve that I have never seen before. I have barely even touched the text sources. As long as I have something for it, researching medieval Spanish stuff will always have something for me.

PS, for those of you who didn't catch this earlier, here's the link I found today for extant 14th century Spanish women's clothing.

I had to go 'web only' on Atlantia's new A&S list because I just didn't have time to keep up with all the traffic. Now I have freed up some bandwidth for more important things. Like posting to LJ. Ha, ha.

But seriously, I'm trying to cut back on things which don't help me get ready for Pennsic. 

Like sleep, eating, and my job. ;-)

*sigh*

The linen for my supportive kirtle should get here tomorrow from fabrics-store.com, so I'm trying to make some final design decisions. The second mock up came out fabulously (although I do wonder whether it ought to be tighter still).

I have started drafting a sleeve, and have decided conclusively that I have the arms of an alien. Following Mathilde's directions , the gusset to make up the difference between my bicep measurement and the armscye needs to be the size of oh, say, Rhode Island. 

In the interest of preserving fabric (oh yeah, and sanity) I looked at my inspiration picture again. Hmmm. Looks like I have a decision to make. See, girlfriend's sleeves are rolled up. And there is no sign of an underdress sleeve. So far I've come up with five possible interpretations: feel free to chime in if you think of another.
 
1) She's not wearing an underdress. (Possible, yet I've already committed to making an underdress since I don't want the bias dress taking the strain of supporting my (admittedly modest) endowment.) 

2) She is wearing an underdress but it has elbow-length sleeves or 3) no sleeves. 

4) The cuff actually should have been white, as the underdress sleeve and dress sleeve were rolled up together, and the painter mistakenly went through all that extra work to paint the cuff consistent with the rest of the dress. Or, 5) the sleeves on the underdress are identical to the sleeves of the bias dress.

I am not a 14th century clothing specialist (although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once). My inclination is towards a elbow-length sleeve, but I'd be interested in hearing other people's thoughts as well.