Cave Woman costume

Just for silliness...

I'm part of a historical recreation group, that studies the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Usually. But...um...in the written guidelines, they never actually put down a starting date for our recreation. So once a year my local chapter gets really really silly, and puts on a Caveman Tournament. Our warriors toss furs over their Shining Armor, scramble for weapons in a pile in the center of the ring, and beat each other with sticks and rocks. Ugh! (Rocks in this case means tennis balls that have been duct taped together.) Winners of each round are Smart Cavemen, and get to start the next round with a newly invented weapon instead of scrambling in the pile with everyone else. The spectators dress in their finest cave couture, and much silliness and fun is had by all.

I woke up this morning and realized that I wanted a New Cave Woman Dress. I've been using fake fur wound around me the past few years, and that is very very hot in September in Phoenix, AZ. We're still hitting triple digits on a daily basis. So this afternoon, between painting scarves, I trotted out to the shed and pulled out several soft leather hides from my stash of neat stuff. The hides are thin enough to fit through my sewing machine. I stitched two of them together into one long rectangle, snipped two rows of holes, and ran two leather thongs through the holes as a drawstring waistband. That made a wrap-around skirt.

Then I put my tank top down on another hide as a general pattern, and cut around it to make a halter top. I used some more leather thong to tie the straps around my neck, and to make a criss-cross lace up back.

This is how it turned out.

You know what? It was actually really secure and comfortable. Nice and cool in the desert night, and soft soft soft against the skin. I think I'll be a cave woman for Halloween, just to give myself a good excuse to wear it again!

Ugh!