ANAHEIM : Family Spends Its Weekends in Past

To their Anaheim Hills neighbors, the Fellows family must seem straight out of the Middle Ages.

Maybe it’s the orchestra harp and Irish harp standing in the living room that make them seem a bit old-fashioned. Or maybe it’s the living room full of fresh wool for spinning, material for weaving and the loom in the garage--right next to the cars with the vanity plates “HARPY” and “HARP TRK.”

But the clincher probably is the way Sylvia Fellows, her husband and their two little girls dress nearly every weekend. On their days off away from work and school, the Fellowses don Medieval costumes for jaunts to cities that are the sites of re-creations of the Middle Ages.

“I’ve always loved play acting,” said Sylvia Fellows, showing off half a dozen homemade Medieval gowns in her crowded, eclectic living room. “It’s a lot of fun to go as far as possible.”

Aside from being members of the Society for Creative Anachronisms, a group that re-creates past times at weekend get-togethers, the family will also be a part of the Grand National Irish Fair and Music Festival this weekend at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank.

The foursome will portray members of Queen Madb’s encampment, a royal court within a medieval-style village, all re-enacted to show the splendor of Irish history and Celtic heritage.

Sylvia Fellows has been preparing for the occasion for weeks.

She’s putting the final trim--home woven, of course--on her white tunic-style dress, which she will adorn with a wimple, veil and circlet on her head. The children’s dresses are ready to go, and the costume for Bruce, her husband, is almost done, too.

“I’ve always been interested in knowing how to do things from scratch,” said Fellows, 44. “Knitting wasn’t enough. I wanted to make the yarn.”

Resurrecting forgotten medieval customs from her tract home in posh Anaheim Hills is just part of a Celtic-inspired night job-cum-hobby for Fellows. In addition to designing ancient haute couture , she gives harp lessons, writes Medieval Celtic sheet music, offers consultations for medieval-style weddings and plans parties.

Quite a departure from her day job as an animal handler at Disneyland.

Snatching a circling moth in her living room--moths are a “no-no” around such treasured garments and materials--she says balancing the two worlds is simple.

Her daughters, ages 4 and 6, enjoy dressing up and going away on the weekends, so they can play with other medieval-garbed children, Fellows said. Her husband, a computer programmer, has an appreciation of medieval history similar to her own.

“I lead a very interesting life,” she said, adjusting her big, purple-framed glasses. “It’s sort of escapism. When you’re doing all this you don’t think about what’s happening. You avoid the humdrum.”