About Fancloth: Fancloth (in addition to being a moderately odious pun) is named for the semi-legendary material that makes up the cloaks of Warders. Created in the Age of Legends, it shifts its color to help its wearer blend into their environment. While this blog is intended to help you create legendary Wheel of Time costumes, I hope that in using what you learn here, you'll find yourself standing out, rather than blending in (unless you are a Warder, or an Aiel, or a Bloodknife, or.... well, you get the picture).
About Kimberly: Fancloth is written and maintained by me, Kimberly. I'm a WoT fan and costumer based in Kansas City, MO. I made my first attempts at WoT costuming for Dragon*Con in 2006, and, while I am not and probably will never be a professional costumer, I've learned a lot since those days, and I want to share what I know. I'm also nursing a mild obsession with the costumes and cultures of the Westlands, Seanchan, the Waste, and and all the rest, and this blog gives me an outlet for that interest.
About Spoilers: The Wheel of Time world is described in a very long series of very long books. Although I expect that most readers of this blog will be more or less caught up with the current publications, I don't want to spoil anything for those of you who aren't. In fact, if you are halfway through Eye of the World and have decided you absolutely must have Moiraine's blue dress and keisiera or Thom's gleeman's cloak, I think you are pretty awesome, and I certainly don't want to alienate you or make your experience of the series suffer. On the other hand, much of the costuming information I'll be posting won't be spoilerific. At this point in the series (with a few notable exceptions) the general dress style of various groups has been pretty consistent. Aiel warriors will always wear cadin'sor. Aes Sedai will always need shawls and rings. So, if I'm posting about a general characteristic of a nation or group's dress, no spoiler protection should be needed. However, if I'm posting about a specific character's costume from a particular scene or point in the story, I will include in the title of the post the name and number of the book in which the scene occurs, and you can skip it if you're not there yet and really don't want to know what's coming up. This may be even more important to you if I'm including quotes from the text to support my costuming choices, which will happen probably quite often.
About Costuming: Again, since I am not a professional tailor, costumer, armorer, milliner, cobbler, or any other practitioner of a skilled trade involved in making costume happen, I'm not always going to make a particular costume piece "the right way". I will generally try to include information about how to make a thing "the right way", but also I will often talk about how to fake it, or at least, how to do it with modern materials. I want my costumes to be sturdy and to look good, but they are not intended for everyday wear.
Got a question? Got a request? Want to see a particular costume, or information on a particular quality? Drop me a line at kimberly.gier@gmail.com.
