Elizabethan Sweatshop

Photo

Elizabethan Sweatshop Banner

Information

Founded:	1999
Status:	Active

Heraldry

Per bend sinister argent and argent goutty de larmes, on a bend sinister azure three roses argent, in chief a threaded needle bendwise sinister inverted sable

A little about the Sewing group called the Elizabethan Sweatshop……….

What's in a name?

We were so named by Master Wilhelus le Casse, when he was Baron of Sundragon. In a Baronial Court in 1999 he proclaimed in jest a certain well-dressed lord “Must getting all his garb from the Elizabethan Sweatshop!” and for, Tvoislava Michelovna and Aliannsa inghean uí Ríoghbhardáin, that had been making the clothes…the name just stuck.

History

Before 1999, and since then, the focus has been a collaboration on study of making clothes from the timeline set by the Society of Creative Anachronism- 600 BCE to 17th century. Fun and satisfaction on work well done, spurred the group to continue to not only make things for themselves, but for others as well. Clothes would be, and still are, made for those that may be attending their first SCA gathering, to those that have been in the SCA for decades.

Our longevity can be attributed to many reasons. A few examples would be that we let creativity be free flowing, our happiness and comfort in all times to be paramount, to teach and be taught to expand knowledge. Then there’s the great feeling of giving back, getting back balanced by what you put in, and making people happy by wearing custom fit clothes.

How to Get Clothes

The main requirement to get clothes from us is the highest proven gratefulness and appreciation for things received. We want our hard work to mean something in whatever form that it may take.

Membership

To join Elizabethan Sweatshop group you must have a sewing type skill, or have a wiliness to learn a sewing type skill to share. A potential member must have the unanimous vote of every member of the Elizabethan Sweatshop to join us. We strive to always have a comfortable and safe environment. We can and will not allow a person join us who is drama driven or more importantly cannot hold the confidence of the group.

Purpose

Our purpose is training everyone in how to do things in a proven quality style way as to make sure that if one person assists on a specific project and runs into a life issue, someone else from our group can easily pick up where they left off and continue to keep to the deadline without a noticeable hiccup.

Other Information

We have Planning meetings twice a year to discuss projects we would like to have for ourselves, what we would like to learn, what is currently on our docket for others who would like clothes from us, what is still on our to do list, and of course our overall happiness level. Fyi, our group never has a lull with projects.

We love traveling to different parts of the state to teach others how to do sewing things. Our hope is not only that we helped educate someone, but that maybe they can start their own sewing Group. If a sewing group does startup we do make ourselves available to answer questions about fabric or patterning etc.

These are just some of the things we do: for more than 160 people and counting so far.