For those of you who are interested in knowing how it came about that I started making garb, I'll tell you my story. Back in 1992, I was in college and just starting out in the Society for Creative Anachronism. I went to a few fairs as a "Mundane" and looked at the costumes available for sale. As a college student, I was, of course, more or less permanently low on funds. The costumes I found were beautiful. . . and prohibitively exprensive. I also discovered that finding anything that would fit me would be a challenge; the largest size I found was a Large--and I was not that size! So I found a book in the college library, and looked at the pictures until I found something that didn't look TOO hard to make (it was, by the way, 15th century Frisian) and hauled my mothers 22 year old Singer sewing machine out of the attic. With two commercial patterns and four old sheets, I made something that I thought might work, and attended my first fair as an actual participant. My first glimmering that I might have some talent at this whole sewing business was the fact that I had to tell people I was new; the most frequent comment I heard was, "So you're not from around here, huh? What kingdom are you from?"
From there I made other clothing, finally settling on Northern Ireland in the early 11th century for my time period. I got steadily better at sewing, and more confident in my abilities, and soon I was drafting my own patterns from pictures in books instead of buying costume patterns at the fabric store.
In the spring of 1994, one of my friends was getting married. The lady contracted to make the wedding garb had not been able to finish it in time, and so I made my first Renaissance outfit for the bride, and for the first time I was paid for my efforts. I began seriously drafting patterns, standing in front of a mirror with a pen and drawing on the muslin forms I had fitted to my own body. . . and eventually, I had developed the patterns that I still use today. Almost Arachne was launched in the summer of 1994, and has steadily grown over the last six years into a business that actually supports me (most of the time). In 1995 I added the mens' clothing, and in 1996 the Renaissance dress. Now, in the year 2000, the long-awaited website is up and functional.
I would like to thank everyone who helped me in my endeavors: Shaughnessy, who believed I could do it and sponsored me during the first two years; my parents, who have sacrificed half their house to my shop; House Inshallah, for reasons all the members know; the Highland Korsairs for all the assistance they have rendered--and for allowing their pictures to be posted to this site; Xenos the Butcher, long-time friend and business partner; and of course to all of my loyal customers, who keep coming back year after year--without you, there would be no Arachne.
Regan Wolfe, proprietress, Almost Arachne
