Guys… Guys… grad school is killing me. For real, I might be dying.

However, I did recently (four months ago… whatever) start a challenge that I actually managed to finish. A friend convinced me to sign up for the Calontir Clothing Challenge which was a pretty low key challenge to develop a full outfit made of four layers, at least one of which had to be completely different from the rest.  As we all know, I am obsessed with the Kievan Rus’ period and the culture of all the different tribes and peoples that made it up.  I wanted to talk about the challenge here because I did some things that I have never done before and made some clothes that I have been talking about for years.

Lets start with Layer #1.  The ciasnoche.

It’s no big secret that I have been searching high and low for definitive information on what folks in this area and period used for undergarments.  I suspended my disbelief for the lengberg bra and made one (that is another post that is almost done and will hopefully be posted soon) and don’t get me wrong, it’s real nice, but I wanted something specific to Slavic culture.  Eventually, through literal dumb luck, I came across the ciasnoche/a. An arguably weird tube-like dress with one awkward little strap that goes from center back to center front. I won’t go too deep into it because I plan on giving this garment its own post, but I will say that I have some serious doubts that this was actually an undergarment. It is weird to me that there is not more info on this thing and that I had to just stumble upon it, because it has apparently been a garment for as long as there has been any idea of a unified Slavic nation. Examples of it date at least from early Kievan Rus’ all the way to modern day.  I made this one out of silk noile but they were made out of just about anything from thin linen to elaborate brocade. I sewed and eyelet in the front to tie the strap but they could also have loops sewn on the front and back.

The next layer #2: The Rubahkah, my least favourite layer to make for this challenge…

Guys, I don’t know what happened but when I transferred all my pattern measurements to my book, I got my own measurements WAY wrong. Like, so wrong I originally looked like a stuffed sausage in this dress and not in a good way.  I was off by about four inches and let me tell you, that makes a difference.  I added some panels to the to sides, under the arms to make it fit. But you can see the bunching even with my arms trying to cover it up. That is not just from the unsupportive ciasnoche underneath.

The star of the show on this piece is the decadent brocade on the sleeves.  While polyester this brocade is based on a Scandinavian find (which I’d be lying at this point if I said I remembered which one, only that it is NOT from the Osberg find).  It was supposed to also go on the lower hemline, but I got so frustrated with the cut that I decided to scrap that plan and save this beautiful fabric for a dress that I don’t hate.  The body of the dress is very thin, soft silk and I was actually colder in it in the snow than I was in just the ciasnoche. Silk gets warmer as it layers though so by the third layer I was quite toasty.

Side note: you can’t see it here but the silver scarf I’m wearing is made of the most beautiful teeny-tiny diamond twill as is the green scarf in the next layer.

Next up is Layer #3: My baby, the hand stamped silk Letnik.

If you haven’t read it already, you can learn all about letniks on my post dedicated to them here.  Basically, they are just a long tunic with bell shaped sleeves. Some are shorter like here and some have sleeves that sweep the ground. They are in so many illuminations of the period and were worn by both men and women.  Anyway, this layer was absolutely the most work but it was also a lot of fun.

I enjoy stamping but I have less than zero desire to ever carve my own stamps so luckily I know people who like me enough to let me commission from them.  I wanted this outfit to be a mashup.  I wanted Kievan Rus’ and I wanted Slytherin (they are the best house, I don’t want to hear it. And fuck TERFs). So anyway… I found this motif from a brocade of the period and commissioned it as a stamp with the birds replaced by the snakes. I also used two other stamps.  One made by the same

artisan and another that I had picked up along my travels.

 

I am still very much a novice when it comes to fabric stamping. This is actually only my fourth project involving the art but I can tell you that I personally find it to be much more difficult to get a nice even stamp the larger the stamp is. Which is super irritating. There are some of the snake stamps that came out absolutely perfect, but most of them have quite a bit of “naivete” to them.  Art is a process though and I’m excited to get better. My tiny edging stamp though? Super clean.  Like I was a professional or something.  Still, overall, it passes the 10ft rule and I had fun.  I wish that I had enough fabric to have cut the edging on the bias for the bottom hem, but I mostly left the garment pretty flat on the bottom so it didn’t it actually ended up laying pretty well.

During the construction process I managed to get some kind of unidentified stain on the collar of the letnik but I have been given a guide and so hopefully I’ll be able to get it out before this makes its public debut.  Silk man… never even worn and already an eyesore stain… I also plan to add some buttons and loops to the neckline but a brooch works just fine for now.

Finally! Layer 4: Silver Novgorod-Slovene temple rings.

If you don’t know my unhealthy obsession with temple rings, we need to hang out more. These are sterling silver and silver plate. The original had a bell on the end of the chain, but I didn’t have a silver bell, the right shape is actually pretty hard to source and I am definitely not in a stage of my jewelry making where I am going to attempt a bell. Maybe someday, but today is not that day (or a week ago… you know). So… I used a sterling silver Slavic button. And honestly, I think it looks pretty good and these make the most lovely gentle tinkling sound. I also really just love stamping metal too. This design was pretty simple and I followed the extant below but figuring out placement and everything is always interesting. I don’t do a ton of metal jewelry making so it always feels overwhelming until I do it and then I realize I’m just getting in my own way.

 

So that was my whole project. Not a ton, but enough new stuff that I feel reinvigorated and it has also incentivized me with stuff to update here so I’m going to do my best to get a move on that. I have two other partially finished posts that just need some editing.  Between motivation and IT issues they’ve been sitting there for months but I think both issues have been resolved enough to roll them out for you guys as well as some new stuff like a ‘How-To’ for the ciasnoche.

Anyway, thanks for letting me show off this project to you guys and as always, if you have any questions on anything or advice, please feel free to hit me up!