Life in the Land of Dreamy Dreams

I took my notebook along to PirateCon; I was originally going to take the laptop and liveblog it, but I decided that wasn’t very piratey.

I knew from perusing the website that there were some really intense people involved in PyrateCon, but…oh, I just had no idea.

Notes from “The Devil’s in the Details:”

(9AM, Friday)

-I am the only person not in full on pirate garb. I thought that surely there would be some sort of more modest pirate day wear. Accordingly, I’m wearing black jeans and a lacey blouse that’s only semi-pirate-ish, but the most pirate-y thing I own.

-Seminar largely about how to sew your own pirate clothes in the most authentic ways possible

-Lively discussion about what should go on the inside of jacket sleeves so as to allow free movement of arms for slashing, wenching, etc.

-Speaker has convinced a friend of hers to knit her a pair of period stockings: “It’s not going well.”

-”It’s all about the bits:” you can get away with having an improper waist coat if you have a lot of fun details. Weaponry of all types, grog tankards, purses all good items.

-I am sitting toward the back and am being snubbed, clearly an outsider. When the speaker’s “perfectly weighted ax” was passed along, they didn’t give it to me.

-No metal grommets, dammit!

-Also, no silk shirts. Impractical in a wet environment.

-She made her own buttons.

-Everything also should be hand sewn- a machine is a copout. If it’s an inside seam that won’t show, okay…if you absolutely have to. She doesn’t, of course, but if you have to…

-There were no left and rights in shoes??

-There’s a very serious guy who’s spending what sounds like thousands of dollars to look like “an average pirate.” None of this fancy captain stuff. An argument ensues about how/which threads would rot at sea. Wants to use rivets, which are very un-period, even if they look cool. Wax covered linen thread is what would be appropriate.

When the seminar was over, I returned to the office, and started reworking some things for my return with Charlie later in the day. It was abundantly clear that there was nothing I have in stock, costume-wise, was going to cut it. When you make your own freaking buttons, a mass produced polyester dress just isn’t going to work.

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