OT Re: [Sca-cooks] ebay garb

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Laura C. Minnick:
>Depends on what you call a t-tunic, dear master. It is my experience that
>what many in the SCA call a t-tunic and the actual period model can be
>like... the difference between a pair of bedroom slippers and a good pair
>of loafers. The 'just-a-t-tunic' tends to be very simplified, two seams,
>and neck and hem- easy for beginning sewers, but also easy to mess up
>fit-wise, and not a construction model that I can support from documentary
>evidence. The period model, with the gores and gussets, can be a *little*
>more complicated until you grok the geometric construction model, is far
>more cost-effective in utilization of fabric (and I am the Queen of Making
>It From 'Not Enough' fabric) and wears really well.

True, especially when you consider that the earliest originals were
_woven_ in that shape, so there really is no fabric waste at all, and
no need for some of the hemming (neckline, sleeve cuffs, most
everything else are simple selvages) and you don't need gussets for
the armpits: just leave them open (okay, maybe this only works for
guys), and finish the edges in lieu of selvage for a cut-from-a-bolt
garment...

It really confuses the bejeezus outta people when I do that patented
Toshiro Mifune chin-scratch through the neckline ;-).

One of my pet peeves, though, is having people sneer at a good,
gored-and-gusseted shirt, and having them call it "just a T-tunic",
and on one notable occasion, referring to my clean, plainly-decorated
garb as "schmatas". It was worth the price of admission when, at that
moment, the guy turned to walk away and his badly-fitting houppelande
ripped, as if on cue.

Adamantius