Tutorial: One (more) way to dress a distaff

Having promised this for a long time, I have finally got round to photographing how I tend to dress my distaff. Read and enjoy!

The style of distaff dressing that we are aiming for.
(Luttrell Psalter, BL Add. MS 42130, f.166v - source).

Book review: Chaucer and Array

Book review: Medieval English Clothmaking

Book review: Popular Memory and Gender in Medieval England

The fourth book of this review series and the first that I do not recommend.

Book review: Women's Lives in Medieval Europe

The third book of this review series!

Book review: Family and Household in Medieval England

This is the second of the series! Here's the book:

Book review: Trinkets & Charms

For the first book review in what I hope to become a series, I will be discussing this book, Trinkets & Charms: The use, meaning and significance of dress accessories, 1300-1700.

Review: George Weil water-retted line flax, aka how to rescue snarled line flax

So, having got burnt by a previous flax fibre purchase, I tried once again to find some affordable line flax for sale. As you might guess from the title, once again this did not go entirely to plan. This is what I got:

A lower class tunic - Part 3: Drafting the Garment

It's been a while in coming, but I started feeling guilty about my terrible lack of blogging. Also, Emil has re-started blogging over here at Panzarsork, so I thought maybe I should re-start a bit of blogging, too. This series discusses making my husband a new tunic, which was done for Visby 2019, so nearly a year ago now (I said I'm awful at blogging -- this isn't even my most-delayed blog project.) Anyway, with no further ado, here is the next post.

Herjolfsnes errors: Norlund 88 (Museum No. D10613)

Following discussion on the Herjolfsnes Challenge, it was agreed that it would be useful to have a repository of the errors, inconsistencies and unclear statements in Woven Into the Earth and Medieval Garments Reconstructed, the two reference books about garments from Herjolfsnes, Greenland. These have been collated by members of the Herjolfsnes Challenge.

This blog post deals with errors that directly relate to Norlund 88 (aka D10613). As more errors are found, they will be added to this repository. If you have noticed any, please let us know and we will add them.

All page numbers refer to the English-language versions of either Woven Into the Earth (WitE-E) or Medieval Garments Reconstructed (MGR-E). When the Danish-language versions are referred to, they will be denoted as WitE-D (i.e. Som syet til jorden) and MGR-D (i.e. Nordbomønstre).

For the full repository of Herjolfsnes errors, see this page.

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Page 163 MGR - errors in scale drawing of original pattern.

Found by Miriam Griffiths.

The description of this garments says: "The stocking foot consists of six pieces, the two longest of which continue from midway below the foot around the heel up into the leg. Three pieces start from one and the same point under the sole. The fourth is a 'heel'." (WitE-E, p. 223-224). It also refers to the scale-drawing in this book on p. 297. This drawing clearly shows the six foot pieces. Two (the "two longest" from the description) consist of what would have been the two sides of the lower section of the leg piece, wrapping around the heel. Three (the "three pieces start from one") consist of a pieced foot-piece; one is cut on-grain rather than bias. The last is a slim oval-shape associated with the heel-area, which prevents the usual late medieval hose issue of having a seam running dead-centre on the underside of the foot. It did not extend into the foot-piece.

In contrast, the corresponding diagram on p. 136 of MGR-E is different. The three pieced bits that make up the foot-piece are shown as three separate pieces here, as in the WitE-E diagram. However, all three are shown as bias-cut. Additionally, the oval "heel" is depicted as being part of one side of the lower foot piece. In doing this, the cut of this piece has also been changed - in WitE-E it is bias-cut but in MGR-E it is almost on-grain.

Herjolfsnes errors: Norlund 33 (Museum No. D5674)

Following discussion on the Herjolfsnes Challenge, it was agreed that it would be useful to have a repository of the errors, inconsistencies and unclear statements in Woven Into the Earth and Medieval Garments Reconstructed, the two reference books about garments from Herjolfsnes, Greenland. These have been collated by members of the Herjolfsnes Challenge.

This blog post deals with errors that directly relate to Norlund 33 (aka D5674). As more errors are found, they will be added to this repository. If you have noticed any, please let us know and we will add them.

All page numbers refer to the English-language versions of either Woven Into the Earth (WitE-E) or Medieval Garments Reconstructed (MGR-E). When the Danish-language versions are referred to, they will be denoted as WitE-D (i.e. Som syet til jorden) and MGR-D (i.e. Nordbomønstre).

For the full repository of Herjolfsnes errors, see this page.

A linen belt for a peasant: or, the belt that wasn't

Every once and a while with this hobby, you end up making something -perhaps even putting a lot of effort into something- only to realise that it's actually completely wrong. Some people choose to just keep it anyway (after all, you did put a lot of effort into it). Some people chalk it up as a learning exercise - after all, you now know more about what people didn't do, which is sometimes as important as knowing what they did do.

This is a blogpost about one of those projects...

The culprit.

Drop spindles? Part 2 - Drop the drop! (or 'please stop calling them that!')

In Part 1 and Part 1b of this series, I documented the earliest uses of the term 'drop spindle' and theorised about how the term may have come about. In this, the final part of the series, I discuss why (in my opinion) the term 'drop spindle' is so problematic and should never be used, particularly in a reenactment or historic context.

Even the Met is at it, and they REALLY should know better. Source.

Things to do when self-isolating and social distancing

Self-isolation is now fast becoming the word of the year and most everyone is contemplating weeks if not months mostly shut inside with limited social contact. To make you feel a little less doleful than St Avia, pictured below, I have compiled some links of things to do whilst self-isolating and/or practicing social distancing.

St Avia in prison. French, c. 1480-85.
Source.

Drop spindles? Part 1b - where does the term come from? looking further back

In Part 1 of this series, I talked about when the term 'drop spindle' was introduced into the English language. I had managed to trace it back to at least 1957, in an academic context in the USA. However, when I shared this post on The Evangelical Church of Distaff Spinning I got lots of new suggestions for places to look for evidence.

Hence, a Part 1b was required!

Drop spindles? Part 1 - what are they? where does the term come from?

What is a drop spindle? For anyone who's familiar with textile crafts this is an easy question. They're a familiar tool and can be easily purchased online or elsewhere. Generally what people think when you say "drop spindle" looks something like this:

Selection of drop spindles, from the first page of an image search using a well-known search engine.

This is fine when talking about modern spinning. However, when we come to talk about historic spinning, this becomes problematic. (This is a pair of posts about terminology and may involve a fair bit of ranting. You have been warned...)

A lower class tunic - Part 2: Choosing a Pattern

As I discussed previously, my husband and I needed new head-to-toe outfits for our trip to the Battle of Wisby this year. This involved making my husband a new tunic. This series discusses that project.

Tutorial: creating Herjolfsnes-style garments using a ratio system

I've made a few Herjolfsnes-style garments in the last few years. All of these have been based on my or other's own measurements, rather than using a pattern (such as those in Medieval Garments Reconstructed). Obviously, using one's own measurements results in garments that are a different shape/size to those of the originals.

I felt it was important when doing this to try to preserve the proportions of the original garments. In particular, the proportions of the bottom hems (they are huge!) and the proportions of the side gores (they definitely do not form princess seams). Here's how I did it...

A lower class tunic - Part 1: Pictorial research

The last 12 months or so have been full of (increasingly frantic...) sewing as I and some of my friends prepared for our first visit to the Battle of Wisby. For those of you who don't know, this is a huge mid-14th Century event held in Sweden which is a bit of a Mecca for 14th Century reenactors who are of an authenticity bent (i.e. ME!).

My husband & I needed pretty much head-to-toe new outfits. One of the key items was a new tunic for my husband. Of course, that required research!

Historical Sew Monthly 2019: #2 - Linen/Linens

The Visby sewing continues! I've already completed two shifts for myself and a pair of braies for my husband (using the excellent loincloth-type pattern shared by Enes and Riku at Hibernaatio). Next on the list was a shirt for my husband. I continued using the delicious antique hand-woven hemp I bought last year to make something a bit like this:

Pierpoint Morgan MS G. 24, f. 19. N. France or Belgium,
possibly Tournai, c. 1350. Source.