Why I will NEVER make SCA garb out of ANY synthetic material....

Okay...I admit it. I started my SCA life with a poly-cotton dress made from a Simplicity 'Maid Marion' pattern that ended up looking like a cheesy 1970's prom dress, complete with an off the shoulder flounce. To cap off this synthetic, out of period nightmare, my first cloak was polyester velvet and I didn't have enough to match the nap, so it ended up looking two-toned.

As I matured in my SCA lifestyle, I remember hearing the oft repeated phrase "NEVER use polyester or synthetic fibers to make garb".


At first I thought this was just because synthetic fibers would clearly not have been used in the SCA time-period (500-1600). Eventually Her Excellency Constanzia Moralaz y Zamora set me straight and explained that it wasn't so much the OOP (out of period) aspect, as much as the 'burny-ouchy' aspect. That is to say, if a campfire spark or candle wax hits a natural fiber, it will burn and or smoulder. If the same spark or wax hits a synthetic fiber, the fiber melts to whatever it rests against -- a surefire recipe to a bad SCA event if it happens to something you are WEARING.

So along I went, although after awhile, since I was never around a campfire and rarely a candle, I started to flirt with the idea of cotton/synthetic materials for garb. However, after my experience with Ken this afternoon, that thought will NEVER cross my mind again.

For the past few months I have been collecting a variety of remnants from the JoAnn's remnant bin. In checking out my stash for something Ken could use to make his fencing hood, I discovered a bunch of pieces of stuff labeled black linen. So, I gave Ken enough to make a hood and on we went on our merry way. Merry that is, until I happened to pick up a piece of it and compare it to the other pieces. Lo and behold, it felt glossy and looked faintly shiny...uh oh! There's something rotten in the state of Denmark (or so I've been told).

Thanks to my years under the tutelege of Mistress Constanzia, I knew that if it looks shiny and feels slick, 'it ain't good'! So, I grabbed Ken and armed with some of the threads that came off the edges in the wash, we went into the bathroom, turned on the fan and prepared to light the threads (there is a no candle rule in our apartment complex and we didn't want to run the risk of setting off the sprinklers).

Ken lit the match and I held the threads in. They caught fire and burned fast. I went to blow them out, which did indeed extinguish the flame. The bad news is, in blowing on the threads, they landed against my finger and STUCK!. OW OW OW...HOT HOT HOT...OWIE OWIE!!

So two things were learned today....

1. The pretty black material is synthetic -- bummer. Luckily I had enough of REAL linen (yup...we did the match test again and it just turned to ash!) for Ken to cut out and getl halfway done sewing his hood.
   
2. Garb made of synthetic material is a REALLLLLLLLLY BAD IDEA!!!

Of course, now I want to grab all the SCA newbies (and a few 'oldies' I've seen) who wear garb of synthetic materials and warn them that they are just ASKING for trouble!!

But I'm afraid I'd been seen as a rabid 'authenticity maven' and member of the 'garb police' -- and really, that is not me. (Mind you, I still think that the garb that 'won' as best themed outfit for a recent event was a JOKE. An Elizabethan made of SYNTHETIC material (you could tell that from 50 feet away!), the sleeves matched the forepart, not the dress, her hair wasn't even up, the waistline was wrong, and there were several other problems that I noticed but can't remember now)....

Hmm...okay....so I am starting to become something of an authenticity maven...is that really so bad??