So I am curious what most people do with their garb in the off-season or when having to store it. Currently, I am just storing it in a treasure chest and various boxes (depending on the themed garb) during the off season. But I finally figured out what I am going to do with it so these beautiful pieces of clothing I have can be seen year round.
I am buying mannequins. I am going to put my garb on the mannequins and display it in my basement (for the time being) and even put placards with information about the garb on it. Sort of a "Museum of Alternate Me" if you will. After all: My very nice french pirate pants and custom pirate hats shouldn't just sit around in the off season. They should be admired.
I like this idea! If only I had the room for it. For now, the majority of my garb is stored in plastic bins under my bed. Although, I'm going to have to get creative with my storage space eventually, because I'm quickly running out of room! :P
A mannequin doesn't take as much room as you'd think. And they are cheap. Full bodied minor-poseable mannequinsa re between 80-130 bucks.
Off season?? WHAT off season??
It hangs in part of our sons large closet & some in my husbands closet & some just scattered around the rooms.
Most all of my garb hangs in the spare bedroom closet - taking up a little less than 24" of rod space. And the boxes with belts, pouches, hats, and accessories are on the shelf above. The shoes are in my bedroom closet, on the shelves with my regular shoes.
Take Care,
David Baldock
My garb takes up half of my closet space and over flows onto my dresser and then to other various rooms in my house. ::)
Not that I've used it yet, but trying to figure out what to do with that gigantic hoop! Not sure I like it shoved under the bed (especially now that I have a puppy who likes to hide under there when he's been scolded).
Quote from: Norfolk on May 18, 2013, 10:10:47 PM
Off season?? WHAT off season??
Touché, salesman.
I do believe I am going to start storing garb on mannequins. Here is hoping mannequins are graded to hold a full chainmaille shirt, leather pauldrons, breastplate, and hold a viking longsword or hand and a half sword...
The majority of our garb is stored in the closet and dresser. We also made an armor stand for George's chainmail and when not in use, my dressform wears some of my pieces.
wish I had any garb! haha I have one tunic.
LOL! Aderin, it always starts that way...next thing you know, you'll need a new annex on your house.
I see many of us in the same state of storage here...at the Elfwine estate, it is a combination of spare closets, multiple chests of drawers, shelf space, various containers in the basement...surprisingly, we know where everything is...
We have a four bedroom house. Three of the bedroom closets hold garb now that our daughter doesn't live here.
But most of one bedroom is taken up with storage shelves for belts, pouches, fabric bins, shoes, swords, daggers and other assorted weaponry.
But we have been accumulating garb and accessories since at least 1991.
We call ours the "Ren Room" or "the Dixieland Museum of Medieval History"..... ;)
And there is never an "Off Season" unless that's that small transitional period between changing garb appearances....
I have these steel rings that hang from the ceiling on one side of my basement. I *had* all our costumes there, with all the pieces to each (there are six of us here) with its own outfit, so that when Faire or parties come along, I know where everything is.
Then, my 13 yr old son decided to "start a band", and take over that half of the basement, needing for "the band room".
He swore to me that all our costumes/outfits went into ONE box (I had a hard time believing this), and now Faire time is here, we have two vending days coming up the first weekend in June, and pieces are missing! My 11 yr old is freaking out bc we can't find his pirate shirt, and who knows where the strings of beads for bandannas went. Grrrrr.
I like for it all to be in one place!
Most of our stuff gets stored in the closet in my office. We don't have anything else in there apart from a few jackets.
Some stuff has overflowed into my Music room/ Library tho (My Cavalier Hat, the rest is the Mrs stuff - several masks, parasol and a cheap pair of wings...)
I don't have a lot of garb and none of it is noble so everything fits pretty well in about 2 feet of the closet and 2 dresser drawers. I keep hats on the closet shelf above the hangers, shoes on the floor of the closet, and a bag for belts, pouches, etc.
Basically, my garb gets the same treatment as my mundane clothes!
I usually keep my garb tucked away in a drawer. For my bodices and corsets, I hang them up in a closet.
hehe, can't wait to have more garb outfits!
To be fair by off season I meant "for that garb". We all have warm, rainy, hot, cold, spring, foggy, etc garb.
The husband and I keep our garbsets in ye olde plastic bins under our hobby table in the living room. Once and awhile we have a " Ren Day " where we were our garb around the house, eat food that reminds us of faire, and watch movies. Usually we also try out something new on our garb, a way of hanging something, or tying something, and as we clean the house and move around see if it "holds up ". Not a perfect run for faire, but close enough.
I would totally wear my Saeed's wife garb out in the Dane world - that mess is cool and comfy!
I would totally dress in garb during off season if I wasn't 100% i'd be divorced <mundane wife :) :)>
100% sure that is haha
just got some garb from good-will, not the greatest and certainly not 100% period authentic but it looks well enough to me! :) :)
I found that when I come home from a faire, I like to strip down to my chemise and climb into bed. At the moment, the chemise that I have is very comfortable to wear, and I like wearing it to bed after a faire... maybe I have to wear it to bed more often lol. Has anyone else ever worn their faire clothes (undergarment faire clothes, or basic shirt/pants) to bed?
Quote from: Aderin on May 23, 2013, 10:56:06 AM
I would totally dress in garb during off season if I wasn't 100% i'd be divorced <mundane wife :) :)>
I had that problem, ONCE, a long time ago. I don't have that problem any more....
Just saying.
We have a 2 bedroom apartment, and it is just m'lord and I. Bedroom # 2 is known as the "craft" room, but in reality it is a combination work and storage room. Sewing machine and fabrics are in there, along with more craft supplies than anyone should have, plus all our garb, accessories, and such - and there is a fair amount as we can costume ourselves for about 5 different eras from Medieval to Victorian, with some fantasy & steampunk thrown in.
Garb - we have the closet full - but mostly of stuff we don't use that often. We have a rolling clothes rack that we inherited from a retail job m;lord used to work. It dissassembles, if we ever need to take it places (which we have done when we ran back to back medieval education days (Thurs / Fri) and ren faire (Sat / Sun)) but it is currently loaded with all manner of clothing. We also have hooks in the ceiling with a rod for longer pieces - cloaks, medieval gown, etc.
Accessories - in tubs by era - a few things will get transferred between tubs, but we try to keep them as self contained as possible.
Hoop skirt - someone was looking how to store them - I hang my farthingales (I have 3, currently) on a hook over the back of the door, or even on a hanger - a nail in the wall on the back of a clost will allow you to hang them flat - just try to rotate them from time to time to keep them from warping. I find a few days on the dress mannequin will allow them to hang true again - but it all depends on what they are stiffened with.
Quote from: Orphena on May 27, 2013, 11:09:00 AMHoop skirt - someone was looking how to store them - I hang my farthingales (I have 3, currently) on a hook over the back of the door, or even on a hanger - a nail in the wall on the back of a clost will allow you to hang them flat - just try to rotate them from time to time to keep them from warping. I find a few days on the dress mannequin will allow them to hang true again - but it all depends on what they are stiffened with.
I was going to say the same thing! I put mine against the wall in the back of the closest. The other garb holds it in place just fine.
I keep mine in a cedar chest.. Except for my fancy hat. I haven't found a place for that yet. I picked it up at Muskogee a few days ago. It's so pretty!
Quote from: Orphena on May 27, 2013, 11:09:00 AM
We have a 2 bedroom apartment, and it is just m'lord and I. Bedroom # 2 is known as the "craft" room, but in reality it is a combination work and storage room. Sewing machine and fabrics are in there, along with more craft supplies than anyone should have, plus all our garb, accessories, and such - and there is a fair amount as we can costume ourselves for about 5 different eras from Medieval to Victorian, with some fantasy & steampunk thrown in.
Garb - we have the closet full - but mostly of stuff we don't use that often. We have a rolling clothes rack that we inherited from a retail job m;lord used to work. It dissassembles, if we ever need to take it places (which we have done when we ran back to back medieval education days (Thurs / Fri) and ren faire (Sat / Sun)) but it is currently loaded with all manner of clothing. We also have hooks in the ceiling with a rod for longer pieces - cloaks, medieval gown, etc.
Accessories - in tubs by era - a few things will get transferred between tubs, but we try to keep them as self contained as possible.
Hoop skirt - someone was looking how to store them - I hang my farthingales (I have 3, currently) on a hook over the back of the door, or even on a hanger - a nail in the wall on the back of a clost will allow you to hang them flat - just try to rotate them from time to time to keep them from warping. I find a few days on the dress mannequin will allow them to hang true again - but it all depends on what they are stiffened with.
A talented lot! I'm envious all over!
Quote from: BLAKDUKE on May 27, 2013, 02:40:19 AM
Quote from: Aderin on May 23, 2013, 10:56:06 AM
I would totally dress in garb during off season if I wasn't 100% i'd be divorced <mundane wife :) :)>
I had that problem, ONCE, a long time ago. I don't have that problem any more....
Just saying.
I love your response! I'm happy for your freedom :)
Hi all,
I'm revivng this one a bit.
All of my stuff is in large plastic bins or duffle bags out in the garage. Not my ideal place to put it.But in Northern CA, the weather isn't too bad.All my leather items are in breathable bags. I try to keep certain characters together, but a few things carry over.
The worse part is I'm no where near my garb at the moment, and won't be till after the faire season here in Ohio. On the plus side, that means I get to make new costumes :) Unless I can convince family members to mail out three HUGE containers, 3,000 miles...hehhe
Quote from: genyferbelle on June 16, 2013, 11:02:33 PM
Hi all,
I'm revivng this one a bit.
All of my stuff is in large plastic bins or duffle bags out in the garage. Not my ideal place to put it.But in Northern CA, the weather isn't too bad.All my leather items are in breathable bags. I try to keep certain characters together, but a few things carry over.
The worse part is I'm no where near my garb at the moment, and won't be till after the faire season here in Ohio. On the plus side, that means I get to make new costumes :) Unless I can convince family members to mail out three HUGE containers, 3,000 miles...hehhe
Ahh.. The woes of garb! Sometimes you can never have it all on hand!!
I wear my clothes all year. We haven't made any winter garb yet so we mostly layer to fit the weather. But if it hangs it goings into my closet, if it folds it goes into my dresser I have.
At this point I'm in the process of moving from my parents house to my boyfriends apartment but the garb is still at the 'rents as I will be leaving from there to get to faire. Things that can hang are heaped on each other til the hangers are about the bust and hung on my door and a stand/cabinet thing has the boxes holding the corsets and boots and other trinkets like my mug and flask that didn't really work out on the hangers and of course my hat! I wish there was no off season, if I could walk around in garb 24/7 without being looked at like a freak of nature I would. But the neighborhood I'm moving into it would probably not go off well. They probably already think I'm weird enough if they've noticed my pet rats playing in the window at night or seeing me bringing them to or from the car in carriers when I brought them home or take them to the vet. ::)
Quote from: Tazjia Swiftsail on July 02, 2013, 01:48:48 PM
At this point I'm in the process of moving from my parents house to my boyfriends apartment but the garb is still at the 'rents as I will be leaving from there to get to faire. Things that can hang are heaped on each other til the hangers are about the bust and hung on my door and a stand/cabinet thing has the boxes holding the corsets and boots and other trinkets like my mug and flask that didn't really work out on the hangers and of course my hat! I wish there was no off season, if I could walk around in garb 24/7 without being looked at like a freak of nature I would. But the neighborhood I'm moving into it would probably not go off well. They probably already think I'm weird enough if they've noticed my pet rats playing in the window at night or seeing me bringing them to or from the car in carriers when I brought them home or take them to the vet. ::)
Pssh! A pirate's rat is a mundane's dog! Shame on thy neighbors! ;D
Gladto hear you have access to your garb in the midst of your move!
I have my great kilt and woolen hose in a Lane cedar chest, with the rest on closet shelves or boxes. My leather jerkin is kept in the hall closet.
I keep everything (which isn't much - maybe two or three outfits) locked away in an old black trunk. I look forward to having my own room so I can make it a Renaissance haven!
Quote from: Dinobabe on May 27, 2013, 11:23:49 AM
Quote from: Orphena on May 27, 2013, 11:09:00 AMHoop skirt - someone was looking how to store them - I hang my farthingales (I have 3, currently) on a hook over the back of the door, or even on a hanger - a nail in the wall on the back of a clost will allow you to hang them flat - just try to rotate them from time to time to keep them from warping. I find a few days on the dress mannequin will allow them to hang true again - but it all depends on what they are stiffened with.
I was going to say the same thing! I put mine against the wall in the back of the closest. The other garb holds it in place just fine.
It just occurred to me that one of those low profile garden hose hooks would be perfect for someone who had more than one farthingale (or just wanted a nice way to store it), since it has a curved upper surface, preventing that whole "single-point-of-contact" stress... which led me to do a search to see what kind of price was available. THIS (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Cast-Aluminum-Athens-Garden-Hose-Reel-Hanger-NIB-FOUR-SEASONS-COURTYARD-/271248848381) is what I stumbled upon... and I am now thinking I might need to upgrade my own garb to include something that should be stored this way, just so I can have this pretty pretty on my wall! :D
(http://thumbs2.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mrepplrs8kIeDMJDeeykxlg.jpg)
Oh, yes... as for our garb storage, I have an iron clothes rack made out of steel tie rods (so it is EXTRA heavy duty) that I can hang most of the corsets, bodices, chemises, skirts, bloomers, coats and cloaks on... and 2-3 of the medium/large (18-22 gal.) Rubbermaid storage totes for accessories. Most of our things are mixed and matched to the point where just about every piece is interchangeable for several different looks/characters/outfits... so trying to keep whole sets together isn't at all feasible. We just try to keep like pieces together, so we can look through each category of garb easily to put together whatever we want to wear for the day. All of the corsets/bodices are together, then the chemises, then the skirts, etc... so we just move from one group to the next, building the outfit as we go. It's never completely put away anywhere, though... because we would miss it if it wasn't able to be petted and admired, and tried on whenever a new piece is added, or when we are particularly missing Faire! :)