Faire Treasures 2023 Events

Find us at the following events during 2023

Sherwood Forest Faire
1883 Old Hwy 20
McDade, TX
Weekends March 4 through April 23, including Friday, March 17
Iris Adornments & Corsetry, shoppe 120
www.sherwoodforestfaire.com

Scarborough Renaissance Festival
2511 FM 66
Waxahachie, TX 75167
Weekends April 8 through Monday, May 29 (Memorial Day)
Scarlett’s Corset, shoppe 109
www.srfestival.com

Sherwood Celtic Music Gathering
1883 Old Hwy 20
McDade, TX
September 8 – 9, 2023
Iris Adornments & Corsetry, shoppe 120
www.sherwoodforestfaire.com

Texas Renaissance Festival
21778 Farm to Market 1774
Todd Mission, TX 77363
Weekends October 7 through November 26, including Friday, November 24
Iris Adornments & Corsetry, shoppe 44
www.texrenfest.com

Steampunk November
Amber Inn
492 Cordes Dr.
Venus, TX
November 11-12
www.SteampunkNovember.com

How to Re-Lace Your Corset

I’ve just released a new video on how to re-lace your corset! While I do instruct how to do this in my Corset Care Instructions pamphlet, a video guide has been on my mind for the last several years. I’m excited to get back into a bit of video editing, and while I can say I’m definitely rusty on it, I’m proud of finally getting this video together just before we open for our Autumn festival season.

Check it out, give it a thumbs up, and keep an eye out for more videos in the near future!

Summer 2023 Updates

We’re back from our trip to visit our corset making team, and we have several new corset designs in the works! Getting to visit the Bangkok fabric market was an absolute dream–seeing so many beautiful brocades, more colors of linen than my stateside suppliers ever carry, and rolls upon rolls of cottons that I’d love to make more colors of chemises in. My list of new corset designs with the fabrics we saw ended up being far too large for what we’re able to currently do, so I whittled away until I had a more manageable list.

This autumn, we will be debuting thirteen new corset designs in both our classic and hourglass silhouettes. Since that is a large amount to commit to as a tiny business, we’ll be trying out something new: pre-orders for these new corsets. These pre-orders will begin just before Texas Renaissance Festival begins in October, and last through the end of the festival. I’ll have samples on-hand at our shoppe, Iris Adornments & Corsetry, so you can check out the colors and how the fabrics feel before ordering. All pre-orders placed at TRF will receive free shipping once they arrive, which will happen shortly after the new year of 2024.

These new corsets will include Floral Pastels, Lace Mesh, new colors of Leather, and new Stripe designs!

Come the Spring 2024 festival season, we will have our size runs of many of these new designs available for purchase at our shoppes at Sherwood Forest Faire and Scarborough Renaissance Festival!

In the meantime, Sherwood Celtic Music Festival and Highland Games is only a few weeks away, taking place September 8th & 9th! Come find us only on Saturday September 9th at Iris Adornments & Corsetry, shoppe #120 between the Seven Sisters Stone Circle and the Argosy Stage.

What to do with used Renaissance garb

I’m often enough asked what you can do with costuming that you’ve either outgrown or is a style that you’ve moved away from and want to try something different for the next few years. Fortunately, there are a number of online marketplaces where you can resell your used Renaissance costume pieces, allowing you to recoup some funds to put toward your next set of Ren Faire garb! Or, if you’re looking to get new-to-you pieces that don’t break the bank, opting for used costuming can help stretch your funds while still getting high quality pieces.

Here are some online marketplaces where you can resell or shop for used Renaissance costume pieces:

  1. Facebook Marketplace and Buy/Sell Groups: Facebook Marketplace is an online marketplace where people can buy and sell items both locally as well as with the option to ship. In addition to Facebook Marketplace, Facebook buy/sell groups are another space where you can list your used Renaissance costume pieces for sale and reach a targeted audience. Every group has its own rules for selling, so make sure to read the group rules and guidelines before posting your item for sale. I’ve included a short list of targeted Buy/Sell Facebook Groups below!
  2. eBay: eBay is one of the largest online marketplaces in the world, and it can be a great place to sell used Renaissance costume pieces. You have the option to ship, which is most common, but you can also give the option for local pick-ups. eBay charges fees for listing items and taking a percentage of the final sale price.
  3. Poshmark: Poshmark is a fashion-focused online marketplace where people can sell used clothing, shoes, and accessories. If you have a Renaissance costume piece that’s more on the “fashion” side than the historical side, Poshmark may be a good place to sell it. Poshmark takes a percentage of the final sale price as a fee.
  4. Mercari: Mercari is a popular online marketplace where people can sell used items. You can list your Renaissance costume pieces for sale on Mercari and reach a large audience. Mercari charges a fee for listing items and takes a percentage of the final sale price.
  5. Craigslist: Craigslist is another online marketplace where you can sell your used Renaissance costume pieces. You can list your items for sale in your local area and arrange for pick-up or shipping. It’s best used in areas with a larger festival close-by. Craigslist is a free service, but be aware of potential scams and always use caution when dealing with strangers.

Facebook Buy/Sell Groups for Costuming:
TRFF BUY,SELL&TRADE
Fantasy & Ren Garb For Sale
Renaissance, Medieval, SCA & Steampunk Buy & Sell
PIRATE’S BAZAAR BUY SELL TRADE GARB & GEAR
Know of an active FB resell group not listed here? Add it in the comments!

There are many online marketplaces where people can resell their used Renaissance costume pieces. No matter which online platform you choose to sell your used costuming through, be sure to take clear, high quality photos, disclose any defects and wear/tear, and provide accurate measurements to avoid the hassle of potential returns. Whether you choose Facebook Marketplace, eBay, Craigslist, Mercari, or Poshmark, you’ll need to set a fair price for your items to attract potential buyers. With a little effort, you can make some extra cash and help someone else build their perfect Renaissance outfit.

Hourglass Corsets 2023 Update

They’re here! They’re here! They’re finally here! Yes, the new Hourglass Underbust Corsets with hip ties are now available. And hey, there’s even one in PURPLE! (This is my most requested color, well, second to black.) While there are still more to come in the future, like the leather and lace overlay hourglass corsets, ten new hourglass designs have been added to the site.

I will fully admit I’m late making this update, because next week, I’ll be packing many of these up to take to our shop at Sherwood Forest Faire, which is opening this season as Iris Adornments & Corsetry. We’re still at the same location, just with an updated name now that we’ve sold through my sister’s oils and perfumery. I really want to thank everyone for supporting Stephanie’s business, Stephanie K Naturals, over the years, especially since she passed away in 2018. Those sales helped my family bridge the gap in dealing with her end of life expenses. If you would like to visit Stephanie’s memorial tree at Sherwood Forest Faire, it’s located in the grove of trees straight out from our shop, with ribbons strewn throughout its branches.

Our Sherwood location will now be dedicated to clothing and accessories, and my husband and I are spending the next weekend reworking the shoppe layout to accommodate more chemises, skirts, and capes! Which also means I need to make more strands of Pirate Hair Jewels. I started on a batch last year, and unfortunately got too overwhelmed with doing two Spring season festivals for the first time and didn’t finish creating that batch. Here’s hoping I can balance sewing clasps, sewing pixie skirts, and making Pirate Hair Jewels over the next few weeks!

New Cotton Petticoats

Many years ago, I saw a picture of someone’s petticoat project that they had done a solid color accent ruffle on the bottom to contrast with the natural toned cotton of the body. I fell in love with the look, while also wondering, “how would this look if the contrast accent were patterned instead?” It didn’t take long for me to test out my petticoat design with printed cotton as the ruffle, and I’ve been continuing the accented design since. This is the largest batch of cotton petticoats we’ve done thus far, and I’m excited to now have them available both here on FaireTreasures.com and in my Etsy shop!

A couple of these are restocks of designs I’d handmade in the past, while many are new designs that were sewn by my Dallas sewing team. The solid muslin and solid black cotton petticoats are also back in stock, and more designs will be coming later this year!

Iris A&A by FaireFreak

Tiffany was kind enough to forward this TikTok video to me from our 2022 season at Sherwood Forest Faire! It’s a great little look at our shoppe there. ^_^ Many thanks to FaireFreak for the video!

2022–It’s a wrap!

With 2021 being a year of maddening stress while making decisions that would effect the future of Faire Treasures for the foreseeable future with the merge with Scarlett’s Corset, 2022 has been a year of finding a new normal, new schedules, and opening up my workshop to appointments with local customers. I had the first year of juggling selling at two events running at the same time–twice during the course of the year! This past year has included our final season at Sherwood Forest Faire as Iris Adornments & Apothecary and our first season at Texas Renaissance Festival as Iris Adornments & Corsetry. I’ve started transitioning our corset designs to have hip ties to allow for more comfortable corset wear, and have gotten incredibly positive feedback on the new designs. And my husband and I reworked the layout at the TRF shoppe while it was incredibly hot, and I’m not sure I’ve ever sweat that much in my life!

It’s not easy being a small business owner with a ridiculous list of chronic health issues. Add the lingering effects of Covid that I caught at the end of the Autumn season, and my body is cooperating less than I’d like for it to considering my grandiose plans to update the website with new hourglass corsets, outfit listings, and new chemise and skirt colors! Those updates are still in the works, they’re just taking me longer than I would like for them to. I’m not sure I’ll have all of them done before we start into the Spring festival season, but if that happens, then the plan is they’ll happen in the summer months.

Now, there’s the awful reality of the inflation of material costs and travel expenses of 2022. I take pride in keeping my prices from my jewelry to my corsets as reasonable as possible. I’ve seen the trickle effect of slow increases over the years, and made the decision to keep my prices relatively the same because I know what it’s like to live on an incredibly tight budget and have to save for any and all little luxuries. But costs went up drastically, and I now have to do price increases to keep this little business moving forward. Of course, I’ll still keep everything as reasonably priced as I can, and I’ll be adding more clearance and lower cost items. (shhh… it’s a secret, but I’ll be working to bring back the Pre-Loved item section!)

So what does 2023 have in store here at Faire Treasures / Scarlett’s Corset / Iris Adornments & Corsetry? Currently planned, we’ll be at our usual festivals including Sherwood Forest Faire, Scarborough Renaissance Festival, Texas Renaissance Festival, and Steampunk November! My workshop in Arlington, Texas is open for appointments for shopping and corset fittings until I pack up for the Spring festival season. And I’ll be looking into some local weekend events outside of faire seasons to set up a small selection of my wares. I have a few ideas to work on this summer to improve existing designs, as well as dabbling in some prototypes to see if they’ll be something to add to my offerings.

I hope you all had a wonderful end of 2022 holiday season, and that your 2023 is off to an optimistic start!

Summer 2022: OMG it’s hot edition

It’s a write-a-blog-post kinda day for me today. From photo editing, to filling out forms, to deciding on the next colors of fabric to order for the fall, I’m doing everything I can to work from home and not have to leave my house. You see, here in DFW, Texas, the average high temp is about 105F. Last week, while taking orders from my workshop to the post office, I ended up with a touch of heat exhaustion that wore me out for the next day and a half. Yes, that was with my car’s AC going as cool as its poor little heart could churn out. Even after the sun sets, it’s in the 90s well into the night.

My typical June/July routine is to set up my dressform in my backyard, bring new product from the workshop to my home to photograph in front of the hedges, and spent at least a few weeks photographing as much as I can to list online before the Halloween rush hits. Unfortunately, it’s extremely dangerous to do that this year. In previous years, I’d attempted to make indoor photo studio sets that inconveniently blockaded the front door to our house, and then I hated how the pictures turned out anyway. And now, with our household having become a cat colony, I don’t feel comfortable bringing product into a cat-hair-heavy location. So indoor shoots at my home are out.

Which now leaves me with shooting at my workshop if I’m to stay indoors. There are very few good spots in my workshop to take pictures. When I say few, I mean one. I only take corset pictures in that spot. The lighting elsewhere in the place is bad, there’s not enough space to bring in my studio lights, and I’m still working toward having the front area of the workshop as a by-appointment-only shopping space. So I’d prefer not bringing anything extra into there, when I’m desperately trying to remove things that don’t need to be there any longer so I can organize better.

As such, my plans for having beautiful outdoor pictures of coordinated outfits to list here and on Etsy, or to post onto social media, have mostly come to a standstill. Additionally, I’m only making once or twice a week trips to the post office to ship orders out. (And taking an electrolyte drink mostly filled with ice along with me each time!) So while I would normally do up to four post office trips per week to ship your items out as quickly as I can, I now have to contend with my health in the heat. Orders are still being shipped in their 1-3 business day window, but I’m taking fewer trips overall.

So, for now, I’m making plans. Doing the things I can do from home. Redoing my former sewing room into a dedicated home office for me to have separation from my husband’s office space. Hoping the power grid doesn’t go down. So I leave you with a picture of one of our kittens, Little Miss Callie, napping in my computer chair.

Faire Treasures 2022 Events

Find us at the following events during 2022

Sherwood Forest Faire
1883 Old Hwy 20
McDade, TX
Weekends March 5 through April 24, including Friday, March 18
Iris Adornments & Apothecary, shoppe 120
www.sherwoodforestfaire.com

Scarborough Renaissance Festival
2511 FM 66
Waxahachie, TX 75167
Weekends April 9 through Monday, May 30 (Memorial Day)
Scarlett’s Corset, shoppe 109
www.srfestival.com

Sherwood Celtic Music Gathering
1883 Old Hwy 20
McDade, TX
September 10 & 11
Iris Adornments & Apothecary, shoppe 120
www.sherwoodforestfaire.com

Texas Renaissance Festival
21778 Farm to Market 1774
Todd Mission, TX 77363
Weekends October 8 through November 27, including Friday, November 25
Iris Adornments & Corsetry, shoppe 44
https://www.texrenfest.com

Steampunk November
Amber Inn
492 Cordes Dr.
Venus, TX
November 11, 12, & 13
www.SteampunkNovember.com