This past weekend, I attended Aquaterra’s Good Yule event and entered my 16th-century Venetian-style gown in the barony’s Arts and Sciences Championship—and won! There was only one other competitor, so the competition wasn’t particularly fierce, but I’m still proud of myself for completing the entire process. From creating the gown last winter to putting together documentation and presentation at the last minute, I couldn’t have done it without the encouragement of the current Champion, Sigbjórg, who urged me to enter just a few days before the event.
The project wasn’t so much about my sewing skills, or an intricately finished gown, so much as engineering that style to fit my body as well as accomplishing parallel ladder lacing rungs with a new method using period techniques—while ensuring I could still dress myself without assistance. I believe other recreationists could benefit from these techniques, so I’ve always planned to write it up, I just needed the push of a deadline to finally get started! The judges gave me some great feedback on improving my documentation, which I plan to refine before sharing it more widely. If I don’t finish by Ursulmas, it will be done soon after. (edited 10/7/25 to note – life happened, and I learned more along the way, so this is taking longer than expected, but coming!)
Being a Champion comes with certain responsibilities, most of which align with my goal of leaning more into the arts. One of these is taking care of the A&S Champion’s regalia (the fancy drinking horn and tote bag) for a year, to pass on to the next Champion. I also received an Aquaterra Champion’s medallion and a lovely box to store it in, which are mine to keep!
In other news, this was my first event wearing my new, beautiful circlet, which I commissioned from my friend Tabby (Tabitta Eliza Longtail), who will soon become our next baroness. That just made it even more special! The design is meant to be worn more like a headband since it’s more in keeping with the styling of my persona and is a more flattering style for me to wear. I love how it turned out! Thank you so much, Tabby!
I also want to point out the beautiful site tokens created by Camilla. She made around 100 unique beaded necklaces for the event, which made for quite a display at gate!
And finally, I’ve included my purchase from the dessert auction. I just couldn’t pass up the Krampus cookies!
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