Category Archives: Galleries

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Quick Hat and Sorguç for HRM Anna II

Pennsic Queen’s Tea themed Mad Hatter Party

I had the privilege of making a tarpuş (hat) for Her Royal Majesty Anna the II of the Outlands to wear at the 2022 Pennsic War 49 on the way to Her Coronation. The theme of this year’s Queen’s Tea is the Mad Hatter’s Party. I made her one of my favorite “quick and dirty” hats using a lampshade of all things. I do this because it’s the best base I’ve found for how rough and tumble we are on our headgear in the SCA. Hat forms often just don’t stand a chance. And, I also get quite a kick saying, “It’s not a party until someone has a lampshade on their head!”

For various miniatures of this style of hat, and many others, please see my Ottoman Hats Pinterest Board

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Glassworks Album

I’ve found a love of working with lava that is pure joy! There’s something so peaceful about how my mind just completely STOPS thinking about anything else except for the 2600-2800 degree blob I’m working. Instincts kick in and everything else goes away. It’s the most zen art form I’ve ever done.

My Google Glassworks Album

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Queen’s Prize- Beatrice I

I had the pleasure of traveling down to the Shire of Nahrun Kabirun to compete in Her Royal Majesty, Beatrice’s Queen’s Prize Artisan showcase in the theme of Whimsy. I used the opportunity to complete a full 16th Century Ottoman Turkish headdress including my Outlandish Turkish “boot” hat aka Arakçin as well as an eye veil and small triangular veil.

Arakçin ile makrame ve peçe (Turkish Hat with small veil and eye veil)

Pronounced ah-rahk-chin eel-ay mahk-ra-may peh-chay

eliyle Ekselansları Hanim Sabiha al-Nahdiya (by the hand of Her Excellency Mistress Sabiha al-Nahdiya)

A complete 16th Century Ottoman Turkish headdress including:

Super short documentation, per the QP entry rules, can be found HERE.

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Garments Fit for a Queen- Outlands Style!

I had the privilege of making a Turkish ensemble for a dear friend who has been a life raft during the pandemic. Our Forever Queen, Nerissa, is a joy of an individual and was so much fun to sew for. I created an Entari with archer sleeves, military braiding and Tiraz bands (Bela Kos); the “napkin veil” headdress complete with Sorguç and braid case. I also altered a gifted long sleeved crossover style Yelek to fit Her. I learned a LOT about how difficult it is to sew for the Crowns here. I never realized just how very much I rely on multiple fittings and a plethora of great fabric options within immediate driving distance. My hat’s off to the Outlands Clothiers! I plan to go visit her to make some fit adjustments but I consider this one in the books.

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Turkish BOOT hat!

This project was completed as part of my entry for

Queen’s Prize- Beatrice I

I have a project I’m noodling on that I’ve wanted to do for YEARS. With the pandemic, we’re all going to be wearing masks for some time at events. So now is the time to create all of the Outlandish hats (you see what I did there?)

The Ottoman Turks were the undisputed masters at outrageous headdresses. There’s one that sort of looks like wearing an upside down boot on the head. It’s so funky that I just can’t help but love it.

In 20+ years of research, I’ve never been able to find a name for it, so it’s just going to be called THE BOOT HAT!

I’m finally starting to purchase supplies to build this wee kooky beastie. And I’m very excited about it!

Progress photos

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Turkish Armor Design & Decoration

My husband is a Master of the Laurel in metalworking/armor. So to say it’s both an honor and a daunting prospect that he’s allowed me to design and add the decoration to his Turkish Breastplate pieces is putting it mildly.

Using a salt water etching bath on the aluminum pieces limits the designs I’m going to feel comfortable with. We’re currently deciding whether we want to use asphaltum or spray paint as the resist medium that I will carve/scratch the designs out of. Lots of ideas floating around at this point. Looking at stencils or clay cutters to ensure at least part of the designs have a common thematic point, with hand designs incorporated as well. Considering the idea of transferring a design from a wood block onto asphaltum as well. So MANY options!

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Köçek Dancer’s Outfit

I’m working on a new project that has always fascinated me.

At several points in the history of the Middle East women danced to build community. However, there were often long periods where they were only allowed to do so in the privacy of their own homes, often they were relegated to dancing in the Seraglio/Harem with other women only.

During these times in history, a new art form developed wherein male dancers took the place of the women during celebrations. Their ensembles consisted of two layered gathered skirts, one long and one short belted on top of the standard hirka (fitted coat).

I’d previously been inspired by the Köçek ensemble Mistress Safiye, OL An Tir put together. Now I’m making my own, that I’ll be wearing lower on my hips (which I can document). I can’t wait to dance in those skirts!

This is complete, but I need to get better photographs of the final look.

Beginnings of the shorter dance skirt
Decorative short skirt banding
Progress! In October, LOL! I layered incorrectly. The purple coat needs to go under the black skirt and I have so much more to go to finish it up. But It’s moving along again! Only been six months since I started it
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Sorguç – a Queen’s Prize Entry

Upon arriving in the Outlands, I found that the Arts Community here was a joy to participate in. The competitions are fun, the rules are clear and they have RUBRICS that make it so very easy to score well.

I had the absolute joy of competing in Her Majesty Nerissa’s AS 55 Queen’s Prize Tournament. The format is very approachable and simple, with limited documentation required. I unexpectedly ended up winning the Arts category for Try Something New with my 16th Century Turkish Sorguç (a jeweled and feathered turban ornament).

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A new coat for me

I honestly can’t remember the last time I made myself a new garment from scratch. After losing a ton of weight via bariatric surgery in 2015, I was daunted by the herculean task of rebuilding an Ottoman Turkish wardrobe. I did a LOT of resizing of previous garments. But in 2018, just before Estrella, I got a bug and made this reversible coat (I opened the coat so that you can just see the reverse side at the bottom of the full length photo). It was the first garment I’d built skin tight on my new frame and a lot of lessons were learned.

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Garments Fit for a Queen (Damiana Regina II) Completed Ensemble

Completing a full Turkish Ensemble for Her Majesty (now Her Grace) Damiana was both an unmitigated pleasure and a personal challenge on many the artistic front.  I had a variety of goals in mind when I set out to complete these garments for Her.

  1. A flattering fit- Damiana has narrow shoulders roughly half the size of her bust measurement.  This made fitting rectangular constructed garments quite the interesting challenge as I wanted to showcase her curvy figure.
  2. A materials palette that complimented her skin tone- I feel like I succeeded here in colors and tones that many don’t typically wear but conveyed beautifully on Her. (and She agreed!)
  3. Utilizing very sumptuous but comfortable materials for the desert heat- I utilized printed cotton, two different linens, a glorious cross woven dupioin silk, raw silk and another cotton blend.  I wanted the overall look to be one of elegant harem lounge-wear and I am very happy with the results.
  4. Sportswear separates- I wanted both the Yelek and Entari to be completely reversible so that Damiana had a variety of options for Turkish wear in the future.

I created 16 Turkish woven buttons and 16 five-finger braid loops to create the beautiful military style braiding on the front of the Entari (with a little help from the hubby and cousin-in-law near the end of the project- THANK YOU!!!) These were done with cotton dmc flosses and wooden beads.

You will also note the machine embroidery on the Kameez.  Embroidery on the front seam of the kameez is extremely common and was almost always done with gold thread in period.

Things I learned:

  1. Turkish woven buttons are the DEBBIL!!! Each one takes nearly an hour (you do the math) to complete and they are NEVER even close to perfect. They are pretty bad-ass but I will definitely schedule more time for them in the future.
  2. Silk does NOT like to be lined with silk….Oh- and I forgot just how slippery silk is when sewing with it!
  3. I always forget how much I absolutely adore the look of “archer sleeves”.  This is the Entari (grand coat) sleeve with the cut out.  They just LOOK middle eastern!
  4. There is no such thing as too many fittings!
  5. I love love love fingerloop braiding and must learn more patterns!