15th century kirtle no. II

I have had a bit of a slump going on with my medieval reenactment. The excitement of making new things and do research slowly faded to almost nothing some two years ago, and over the course of the last couple of years I’ve only made two new pieces of clothing. One hood for 14th century reenactment and my red 15th century kirtle for Glimmingehus. Other than that, my main crafting focus has been on knitting and my folk costume – both are areas that I hae been giving lots of love and attention.

Thus, the year of 2020 was very welcomed by me in terms of not going to any events, or to feel the pressure to produce things for my 14th century personas. To be honest, the whole year of being at home was rather relieving for me in many ways. Of course I would have rather it to be a normal year without a pandemic, without all the hardships that has followed in its footsteps, but to make the most out of the situation I felt like I really needed that break.

So, the result was that I was going into 2021 with a little bit more energy than before. Early in the year I was invited to join the local version of Company of Saint George’s event Pilgrimage 2021. A distanced 15th century pilgrimage taking place at the same time all over Europe (the world?). It felt like the perfect event. Hiking along the pilgrim trail in Kinnekulle, Sweden, together with some friends. I even felt like I had everything I needed, save for a pilgrim’s staff, which I was able to order early on, so – no extra pressure there. There is something very soothing in knowing that you are prepared, and can focus on only having a good time. I felt very good in the whole situation, with no stress at all.

Then, just shy of a month before the event I got that feeling again. That longing to produce something. To craft something new. I felt that I needed a simpler kirtle to go with my pilgrim’s outfit, as well as I kind of needed it for my kitchen worker impression at Glimmingehus. I scowered my fabric boxes for a suitable fabric and found three meters of a thin woolen twill in dark forest green. Maybe not the most suitable colour in terms of my goals of keeping it simpler, as I think the dye truly would have required overdying a yellow with woad/indigo, but it might pass as a grey fabric being dyed with birch leaves and iron to darken the colour to this green. I am no expert in plant dyes, so you tell me. What do you think?

My goal was to have a wearable, but perhaps not finished dress, by the time of the event. That is, a dress with maybe not all seams felled, that needed to be closed with pins rather than lacing. I could use the same pattern as for my red kirtle, which made things super easy. I did some changes to the sleeves in order to make it more of a working garment, which includes changing the sleeve head to have a little less of a difference in the curve to allow for more movement as well as giving the sleeve some more ease. I also made it a full sleeve, with wide ‘cuffs’, to allow it to be able to be rolled up when doing dirtier works.

With as few seams as this the sewing was fast. Really fast. I decided early that I would fell al the seams as I went to make sure that the job was done and not left undone for eternity, as is the case in some of my other dresses. The reason for this is mainly that the thin twill frays quite easily, so I wanted to protect the raw edges. This I did by felling both seam allowences to one side and covering it with filler thread as I was sewing it down with whip stitches. I am not perfectly sure that the technique with filling threads was used in the period, but it was a step I considered necessary as I didn’t want to add the extra bulk that would come with me folding the seam allowences over.

This time I made sure to not stress. I made sure to enjoy every single stitch in sewing the kirtle. Everytime I stuck that needle into the fabric it would be with a sense of calm and happiness. And so it was. In the first time in many, many years, I was sewing a medieval garment and enjoying the whole process. A huge step forward, in my opinion.

The result? I finished the dress in less than two weeks. Not to a wearable extent, but all finished. I’m very proud of myself! Do you think it will look nice at the pilgrimage?

Livstycke

Two years ago I took a short course in the sewing of the Blekingedräkt at Blekinge Folkhögskola, taught by Lina Odell who is part of Blekingelivet. As one of the parts of the course we went to Karlshamns Museum to look at preserved originals in their collection. What a treat that was, and what lovely pieces they had in the collection!

One of my favourite pieces in the collection is a livstycke, a waistcoat, in blue silk damask – KN 6656. There are some similar livstycken preserved in different museums, that all show off the beautiful pattern of the fabric on the back. I’ve posted some of my pictures of this particular livstycke below.

Livstycke from Nordiska Museet, beginning of the 19th century. NM.0061899

Already when seeing these beautiful pieces I felt the urge to recreate one for myself, so when my mum Annette and I went to Gotland in 2019 to attend Battle of Wisby we took half a day off to go to Sidengården and buy ourselves some fabric. Annette also made the incredible effort of weaving the lining fabric for both of us, which is a linen/cotton blend. I dyed a white silk ribbon with onionskins and oakleaves to get the golden orange colour below. Many extant pieces are edged with silk ribbon in contrasting colour, and I thought this combination would work beautifully.

*Damask from Sidengården*, plantdyed silk ribbon and handwoven linen/cotton

To assemble it all I used the way the extant pieces I’ve seen was sewn, which I noted in a little journal I keep for my Blekingedräkt. The outer fabric and lining was basted together, then the side and shoulder seams of the outer fabric was sewn together with backstitches and pressed down, and the lining was folded over itself over the seams and then sewn down with hemming stitches. Some of the pictures of the first original piece above show this beautifully. Then, all edges were folded in and sewn together with a whip stitch, except for the bottom which was lined with the outher fabric after the little gores were sewn in. The bottom instead was covered with the golden silk ribbon. Lastly, a couple of rows of stab stitching was sewn along the two mid front panels, and hooks and eyes were fastened. A good press later, and my new livstycke was done.

This is one of the pieces I’ve made that I’m the most proud of. I think it turned out beautifully, and I can’t wait to get to use it more!

Luvtallrik

One of the more fascinating and beautiful pieces of the Blekinge folk costume is the Luvtallrik. It is a piece of headwear that was worn under the scarves, or by itself if you were a youngster. It is said that the bride should put it on on the third day of wedding, but it is not really clear in what way they were actually used.

If you are able to read in Swedish, or comfortable with using Google Translate, I suggest you head over to Blekingelivet and read their post on the Luvtallrik to get even more information as well as a short tutorial on how to put it on. You can find it here.

There are several luvtallrikar preserved in the museum archives, both at Nordiska Museet, the local museum in Karlshamn as well as Blekinge Museum. They basically consist of an embroidered circle of red woolen fabric, quite often decorated with metal lace, sequins and other shiny things. To keep its shape it is most often stabilised with a wooden plate, which could be a reason for the name, as tallrik is the Swedish word for plate (as in plate for food). Sometimes they are seen with bands hanging from the bottom of the piece, and it is thought by some that the bands only were attached when the headpiece was worn by itself. Most often they were covered with a thin white scarf, a scarf that would be a little bit transparent so the bright red would be seen through it. Kerstin shows a couple of ways to tie the scarf over her luvtallrik in the link above.

My luvtallrik is embroidered with silk from DeVere Yarns, which originally was intended for some brick stitch-embroidery, but I’m way happier with this. The addition of the gold thread is based of a luvtallrik at Nordiska Museet that can be seen both in the pictures above and on this page, and the flower in the middle draws inspiration from this piece, also at Nordiska Museet.

*A picture of my luvtallrik in the making together with my recently finished apron.*

*A close-up of the gold thread and gold lace.*

I rushed to finish it late at night, on the evening before I went out and took the photos in the snow that I showed in my last post. Here are some of the photos again that show of the luvtallrik a little bit extra!

Blekingedräkt: An apron and a skirt

For many years I’ve had two fabrics in my stash. One meter of a wonderful, white, printed cotton lawn, and a couple of metres of a vividly red, handwoven and plant dyed, woolen twill. Both fabrics has kind of a story to them. The cotton lawn I got as thanks/payment for allowing some of my photos to be shown on an exhibition, and the wool twill I bought on an online auction. The seller lived up north in Sweden and had wrote in the item description that the fabric was woven by her grandmother, and after a little email correnspondance I was told by the seller that her grandmother had lived in Blekinge – the county I grew up in! A wonderful coincidence.

I had always had a plan for the cotton lawn to become an apron, and the wool twill to become a skirt, but it wasn’t really until this year I properly decided that I was going to make an apron and a skirt for my folk costume of it. As always, I find a lot of inspiration in original garments and items, as well as from the amazing women who run Blekingelivet.

Högtidsdräkt – Festive wear
In the mid 19th century – as today – people would dress up for special occasions. . Church on Sundays had its own particular dress, and everyday wear was something different. Weddings, some Christian festivals, etc., meant to dress up in the absolute finest.

See more images on **my Pinterest board on Blekingedräkt**

The skirt
Looking at what’s in the museums collections and in paintings from the time, it looks like red skirts are common for the absolute finest clothing. Often red skirts with woven patterns (i.e. this one that is seen to the left below), or with silk mixed in, but also some less fancy with just a plain weave, barely fulled wool (like this, seen to the right below). In written and/or oral sources, it is said that the red skirt could have been used by the bride, and otherwise when you wanted to look your best (Swe: “annars till fint”). (Nordlinder, E. 1987)

I have mainly based my skirt off of the left one in the photos above, with the exception of the fabric. My fabric is, as I wrote before, is a handwoven wool twill, with no pattern what so ever. The original has quite a big piece of linen fabric at the front – in Swedish called sparvåd, or djäknalapp. It is there to save the precious fabric, since it is not visible when you wear your apron on top – as you always should. In some instances they have also saved on some of the silk ribbon following along the hem in the same fashion. Smart right? Since I had a limited amount of fabric, I decided to do the same with my skirt. I picked out some handwoven linen scraps from my stash to act as the sparvåd, and sewed my skirt.

**A bridal skirt from Blekinge**. Notice the linen piece, and also that the fabric below it isn’t the same as the rest of the skirt.

My skirt is entirely handsewn, as I prefer to sew things by hand. It has a waistband, and the skirt is sewn to this. In the front it is flat, with knife pleats going inwards over the hipbones. Over the rest of the skirt the fabric is gathered with what was supposed to be parallell gathers, but the gathering thread broke as I was fixing the gathers. Ah well, such things that happens – we’ll see if I ever get around to fix it. On the left side of the linen piece there is a slit, to get in and out of the skirt, which closes with hooks and eyes. In the future I plan to put a silk ribbon along the bottom, but otherwise it is now done.

The apron
The fabric of my apron might not be perfect. Historically it would have been in a fabric called linong, a thin cotton weave with woven in pattern, as the gorgeous apron that is this museum piece, or this one that is held in the collections of Blekinge Museum – both pictured below. Mine is, as I stated above, a printed cotton lawn, but it gives the same expression as the woven one would.

Here the bride is wearing a red skirt and a white, see-through apron in the painting “Church-wedding in Blekinge”, by Bengt Nordenberg.

My apron is quite simple. It is hemmed with narrow hems in the side, and a wide one at the bottom. The wide hem at the bottom is also mentioned in passing in Nordlinder, 1987, when an oral source tells about the aprons used at the Christian confirmationm, and also in Dahlin’s writing from 1937. My apron is gathered to a waistband that continues out from the skirt of the apron for 15 cm, and is then finished with ties. Much like the apron I made in 2015, except that this one is gathered all the way, and that the ties are different in length.

Now, I’ve been thinking a bit about the pairing of specifically these two items. I don’t really think that a see-through apron like this one would have been worn with skirt with a linen piecing, since part of the point of wearing it over a dark skirt is to have the pattern of the apron shine through. So, they don’t quite match in the end. I’m not sad though – I see it as a reason to make new skirts and aprons. Lucky me! 😉

Literature
Dahlin, I. Blekingedräkten. Blekingeboken (1937). – New print from 1987 by Blekinge Läns Museum

Nordlinder, E. (1987). Kvinnligt dräktskick i Jämshögs socken i Blekinge. Stockholm

An 18th century shortgown

Happy 2019!

This year I have a lot happening – both reenactment and in my personal life. Many, many years of studying is coming to its end and this spring I will graduate with a Masters exam in Geology and start to work a normal day job. In fact, I’ve already been hired by a consultant company to work hours until my graduation, to then start working full time there. I’m very proud of myself, and excited for this year!

Reenactment-wise I will attend several events, with at least four different time periods. The usual 14th century with Carnis, with the big event being Battle of Wisby, hopefully 15th century at Glimmingehus again if the event will be on this year as well. Then, around autumn, it will be time for my first 17th century event. If I’m lucky I’ll even be going to Grolle in October.

Now, my first event of the year will be an 18th century pub-event called “Den Sprängda Husaren” – The Blasted Hussar. It is an event that I have wanted to attend the other times that it has been held, but never had the possibility to. This time around I decided that I would have to make it, and as it seems I will be going to the event now in February! Happy Andrea!

What do I want to wear for the evening? Something simple, something wooly – something that is not too far up on the social ladder. I already have stays, two skirts, half-mittens, a cap, and stockings. What I need for my outfit is something to wear as my outer layer on the upper body. I have some lovely striped wool that I’ve had for several years, without a project in mind for, which now presented itself when I was cleaning my sewing room. Looking through Pinterest for inspiration I found several Swedish short-gowns (tröja), many of them striped. I’m not entirely sure about translating the Swedish word tröja to short-gown – I’m not certain enough about the terms for this period, but I found the word translated to short-gown in a newsletter I linked below.

While striped fabrics are very poplular in the 18th century, the stripe in my wool isn’t really perfect. I have seen it here and there, in one or two fabric samples (e.g. in this sample book from 1771), so while it exists, it is not representative at all. I decided that it was okay for me, since this isn’t a time period that I really prioritise in my reenactment – though it is a beautiful period!

nm1390 — *A Swedish short-gown with a similar stripe as my gown. Now at Nordiska Museet. NM.0001390*

According to the book “Möte med mode” by Berit Eldvik, the style of these short-gowns were in fashion at the high society during the middle of the 18th century, after which the style wandered down in levels to be popular among common people at the end of the century. The earlier gowns were made up of silk, and the later ones mostly of different kinds of wool or wool blends. Many of the Swedish short-gowns were quilted, but not all.

tvärärmatröja2 — What do you do with a not so fancy background? Remove it 😉

My short-gown is inspired in particular by two extant pieces. The pattern is taken from a printed cotton short-gown from Källfors, Sweden, and has been written about on the Durán Textiles Newsletter in 2007. It is made up of two pieces, with the sleeves cut as one with the body without shoulder seams. In the newsletter there is a drawing of the pattern of this short-gown, which I scaled up and made a toile of. Trying it on with my stays I realised that it was a perfect fit, but I still decided to add 1 cm to the width of the sleeves to get a little more room to move.

20190110_224301 — *A work-in-progress image from my Instagram from when I was scaling up the pattern.*

The second short-gown that inspired my gown is featured in the same book as I wrote about before, Möte med mode, and it also features a simple construction. It had one feature in particular that I wanted to carry over to my gown – a printed cotton band sewn to the neckline of the gown. I had a long cut out piece of a printed cotton that I used to create a ball gown for my highschool graduation ball, that is a reprint from a late 18th century print block. This piece was perfect to put along the neckline of my gown.

nm90398 — *Swedish short-gown, c. 1750-1775. Now at Nordiska museet. NM.0090398*

My gown has two layers, the striped wool and a plain linen tabby as lining. I stitched the three main seams on the machine after tacking the pieces together to be able to treat lining and outer fabric as one piece. After that I sewed the rest of the dress by hand. I trimmed the lining’s seam allowances and split and felled the wool over those, thereby covering the only machine seams in the garment. To attach the lining to the outer fabric at the hem and centre front, I used a technique that was used on the Källfors short-gown, hiding the raw edges by sewing the lining down with slanting stitches that left ‘dotted stitches’ at the right side. On the Källfors gown this technique also was used to finish the neckline, but I instead covered the raw edge with the cotton fabric as I sewed it to the neckline. This is the same way the cotton is attached to the striped woolen gown.

To finish everything up I needed four ties to be able to close the gown. I decided to use an orange silk from my stash that I dyed with madder a couple of years ago, and cut it with a special pair of scissors to get the zig-zag pattern (I pressume that those scissors have a specific name, but I don’t know it). To use cut strips of fabric rather than narrow ware, I based on another Swedish short-gown, which has white silk ties with this cut zig-zag pattern. Using orange silk I think looks very nice with my historical eyes, but my modern self must say that it is not the prettiest next to the burgundy red in the cotton print.

nm158631 — *Swedish short-gown, c. 1770-1790. Now at Nordiska Museet, NM.0158631*

From start to finish this project took me about 9 hours. It was a very fun project and I’m very happy with the result! When I’m wearing the gown it very much reminds me of a painting of an 18th century girl called Smultronflickan (Smultron translates to Wild Strawberries and flicka is girl, giving the English title of the Strawberry Girl). The stripes are different, but the way the gown falls is much the same.

smultronflickan — *Smultronflickan, by Nils Schillmark, c.1782. Now at the Finnish museum Ateneum.*

Now I can’t wait to wear it at the event, and get some nice photos of it! I still have some minor things to make for the outfit, like a new rump or a quilted petticoat, because the one I have now doesnt really give me the silhouette that I would want, but it should be no problem to finish it on time.

D10584: Den färdiga klänningen – The finished dress

There is quite a lot of fabric at the hem

Äntligen är min Herjolfsnesutmaningsklänning färdig! Jag har använt den i ofärdigt skick sedan sista helgen i maj då vi var på Ekenäs Riddarspel, men nu efter Middelaldercentret har jag tillsist tagit mig i kragen och faktiskt gjort färdigt den helt och hållet.

Om ni inte läst mitt inlägg med den forskning jag gjorde inför sömnaden av klänningen så gör det! Ni hittar det här.

Now at last my Herjolfsnes Challenge dress is finished! I’ve been using it since the last weekend of May in an unfinished state, but now after Middelaldercentret I’ve finally got around to actually finish it completely.

I’ve written a blog post about my research and thoughts prior to cutting the fabric. You can read it here!

This is from the last post where it didn’t have pocket slits yet

Photo: Christine Carnie. Here, at Middelaldercentret, the dress have pocket slits, though not visible in the photo

Jag är väldigt glad för min klänning. Den har redan lyckats med allt den var tänkt för. Jag ville ha en klänning som lätt kunde dras över huvudet, med fickslitsar, som man kan ha ensam när man behöver ta en tur på toaletten på morgonen och inte vill fippla med snörning på en tajt klänning, eller som ett extra lager för värme och skydd mot regn under råa dagar. Till sist ville jag ha en surcote som en lägre-stånds-persona kan ha och fortfarande ser sådär supersnygg ut. Den här klänningen gör allt det och lite till.

I am very happy with my dress! It’s already served its purpose well – I wanted a pullover dress with pocket slits, for chilly mornings when you need to go to the loo and doesn’t want to fiddle with lacing and tight dresses, for cold and rainy days to warm you, and to be able to wear as an outer layer for a lower class persona and still look fabolous! It can do all these things and more.

Vilka ändringar har gjorts från originalplanen?
De största skillnaderna från min plan är framförallt två saker. Jag ville handspinna all sytråd jag skulle använda till klänningen, men av olika anledningar blev det inte så – framförallt på grund av tidsbrist. Istället har jag kompromissat och använt handspunnen tråd och garn till synliga sömmar. Det är alltså de bindande sömmarna som sytts från utsidan, den brickvävda fållen, pricksömmen/stickningarna och ögleflätan. Jag använde ett maskinspunnet, men väldigt trevligt, tunt, kamgarn till att fälla sömmarna med.

What changes to my original plan has been made?
The main differences from what I set out to do are two things. I wanted to spin all the sewing thread for the project, but I realised that I wouldn’t have the time. Instead I compromised, and I did so by “only” using hand spun yarn and thread for the visible seams, i.e. the binding seams which were sewn from the right side, the tabletwoven hem, the stabstitches and the fingerloop braid. Then I used a nice and thin, worsted, yarn to fell the seams.

Two rows of stab stitches along the sleeve hem and slit

Fingerloop braid along neckline

Close-up of the braid

Inside and outside of pocket slit. It’s first hemmed, then has one row of stabstitches and then the braid to reinforce it

Tablet-woven hem and felled seams

Den andra skillnaden har mest att göra med tygbrist. Jag fick skarva en av ärmarna i höjd med armbågen. Det ser dock inte dumt ut, och nummer 63 har en söm på ungefär samma ställe.

The second of the differences has to do with me not having enough fabric. I had to piece one of the sleeves at the height of the elbow. It doesn’t look bad though, and number 63 has a seam at about the same place.

Here the piecing is visible. You can also see it in the photo above

Vad skiljer från originalet?
Utöver den extra ärmsömmen är det framförallt en sak som skiljer. Det kanske inte är så uppenbart vid första anblick, men det står ut för mig. Sömmarna som delar mitt fram- och mitt bak-kilarna verkar inte vara fällda enligt SStJ (åtminstone ser det ut så på illustrationerna). Likaså den falska sömmen i ena sidostycket är inte heller fälld enligt SStJ. Jag har läst båda böckerna flera gånger, noggrant som bara den, men jag har ändå lyckats missa det. Om jag ska skylla på något så skulle det vara att den informationen inte står under sidorna om just det plagget utan i den allmänna sektionen om sömmar, men jag har egentligen bara missat det. Det innebär alltså att jag har fällt alla sömmar. Ingen jätteförlust – jag är fortfarande glad.

What differs from the original?
Other than the additional sleeve seam there is one obvious thing that differs from the original. Or perhaps not that obvious or even that visible, but to me it stands out. The seams in the middle thats separating the front and back gores is described in WitE as not felled (at least when you look at the illustration). Likewise for the false seam in one of the side gores. I’ve read the book several times and have somehow missed that specifik feature (if I were to blame something it would be that it’s not written in the section about the garment, but I really don’t have anything to blame for me missing it). That means that I’ve felled all the seams. Not a big loss – I’m still very happy.

Utöver det är det bara ett par saker som skiljer från originalet. Tyget är maskinvävt och har inte samma tråd/cm som originalet. Jag har förlängt min klänning, vilket jag skrev om i mitt forskningsinlägg. Sen är det säkert några smågrejer till som inte stämmer, saker som inte skrivits med i någon av böckerna – sånt som man bara vet om man kan studera originalen själv (förutsatt att det bevarats). Jag anser att jag har gjort ett välgjort plagg som uppfyller min krav på mig själv som hantverkare och reenactor. Jag tror att min klänning hade passerat utan större chock om den flyttades bak i tiden.

Other than that there’s a few things that differs from the orignal. The fabric being machine woven and not weft faced, for one, the lenghtened hem which I wrote about in the research post and some other minor things, together with those things that haven’t made themselves into any of the books about the Herjolfsnes garments. Things you would only know if you’ve examined the garment yourself. I believe that I have made a really nice garment, true to my standards as a reenactor and a craftsman, and I do think that it would pass well if I was transported back in time.

Side panels

Close-up of the tablet woven hem

Slutsatser
Det här projektet har fått mig att inse att vissa detaljer på Herjolfsnesplaggen finns där av fler än de uppenbara anledningarna. Ta ögleflätan som är ditsydd på fickslitsarna som exempel. Innan jag gjorde mitt plagg hade jag antagit att den fanns där som förstärkning. Förstärkning i form av skydd mot slitage för kanterna – ungefär som den brickvävda nederkanten – men det var visst inte så enkelt skulle det visa sig. Jag gjorde mina fickslitsar innan jag åkte till Middelaldercentret och fållade dem och förstärkte med pricksöm. Anledningen till att jag inte satte dit flätorna på en gång var för att jag skulle göra dem på eventet. Sen en kväll när jag tog av mig klänningen råkade jag dra i fickslitsen och den sprack. Panik! Eftersom slitsen är skuren mitt i panelen och tyget är hyfsat lösvävt så var det inte tillräckligt att fålla och pricksömma. Det är därför ögleflätan behövs som förstärkning. Den gör det i princip omöjligt att ta sönder tyget på samma sätt som jag gjorde!

Conclusions
This project have made me realise that some of the details on the Herjolfsnes garments have more than obvious reasons for being there. Like the fingerloop braid sewn to the pocket slits. Before making my garment I understood that it was there as a reinforcement, but I thought that it was mostly to protect the edges – like the tablet-woven hem – but life proved me otherwise. I made the pocketslits before going to Middelaldercentret; cutting them, hemming and reinforcing them with stab stitches. I didn’t attatch the braid because I was supposed to make it during the event. Then one night when I undressed I accidently pulled in the pocket slit, leading it to rip… Panic moment there for sure! Since the slit was cut in the middle of the panel and the fabric was a bit too loosely woven it wasn’t enough to just hem it and reinforce with stab stitches. That is why the fingerloop braid is very much needed as a reinforcement. It makes it almost impossible to break the same way as I ripped mine.

A tear in my not even finished dress 😦

Det resulterade i att jag hastigt lagade revan och sydde på förstärkningsflätan. Jag är inte så ledsen egentligen – det har gett mig möjligheten att förstå varför förstärkningen finns där och så har jag fått en cool lagning. Varför den är cool? För det ger mer liv till plagget.

This resulted in a mend and me hastily sewing the fingerloop braid to the slits. Actually I’m not that sad – it has given me the opportunity to see why the reinforcement would be needed and I have an awesome mend. Why is it awesome? Because it gives more life to the garment!

And now it’s mended.

Som jag skrev tidigare – jag tror att den här klänningen inte skulle vara allt för uppseendeväckande om den hamnade på 1300-talet. Åtminstone med den kunskap vi har om perioden nu. Jag kommer vara nöjd och glad för den här ett långt tag framöver.

As I wrote earlier – I think that this would pass well if I was transported back to the 14th century, at least with the knowledge we have about the period now. I will be happy with this one a long time.

Till sist vill jag bara dela med mig av Annettes fina klänning! Den är gjord efter samma mönster som min, men i ett annat (handvävt!) tyg. Den är så himla fin!

And I just wanted to show you Annette’s wonderful dress too. It’s made after the same pattern as mine but in another (handwoven!) fabric. It’s so beautiful!

Look how nicely it’s folding!

So beautiful. Both dress and you, mum!

Tre gånger krapp – Three times madder

Jag är inte så bra på växtfärgning. Tvärt om – jag är verkligen en nybörjare. Jag tycker det är roligt att se hur färgen fäster på tyget och det är kul att testa olika växter och färger. Mitt senaste färgningsäventyr var med krapp. Jag hade ett vitt tyg som var tanken att det skulle färgas och bli till hosor, och efter jag klippt ut bitar till hosor insåg jag att jag hade tillräckligt mycket tyg kvar för att kunna göra en liten hätta med. Lyckligt ögonblick!

I’m not a very accomplished plant dyer. On the contrary – I’m quite the beginner. I think it’s fun to see the dye stick to the fabric, and I like to try different dyes. My latest adventure was with madder. I had some white fabric intended for a pair of hoses, and after I cut them before dyeing I realised that I had enough for a small hood, too! Lucky moment.

Hättor är så enkla att göra. Jag tycker verkligen om att göra dem och man känner sig bra efter att man slutfört ett projekt. Och förresten – när vi ändå pratar om att slutföra projekt så kan jag berätta att jag fortfarande inte är färdig med min Herjolfsnesklänning. Det är fortfarande fickslitsar som saknas. Jag har gjort massor av andra saker istället, som att sy yllemuslin slöja och haklin, växtfärgat och sytt grejer av resultatet från färgningen. Tiden börjar dock rinna iväg och jag vill verkligen att klänningen ska vara färdig till nästa vecka då det är 25-årsfirandet för Middelaldercentret i Danmark.

Hoods are so simple to make. I really like it and you feel good after finishing projects. By the way (on the matter of finishing projects) – I’ve still not completed the Herjolfsnes Challenge dress. It still lacks pocket slits. I’ve been doing lots of stuff instead, like sewing a thin wool veil and wimple, madder dyeing and sewing from the resulting fabric from the dye. Time is getting short though, and next week I wan’t it to be finished because then it’s the 25th anniversary of the Medieval Center in Denmark.

Istället för att göra fickslitsar färgade jag alltså tyg. Jag hade 100 gram pulveriserad krapp och totalt ungefär 420 gram material. Jag ville ha den starkaste färgen på plagget som kommer synast mest- hättan alltså – så den fick gå i första badet. Materialet till hättan vägde ungefär 170 gram. Tyget till hosorna åkte i nästa bad. Efter det hade jag inte tänkt färga något mer, men jag ville inte slösa på färgen som fanns kvar i grytan så jag la ner två små bitar tyg som kommer räcka till två små tofsväskor.

So, instead of making pocket slits I dyed some fabric. I had 100g of powdered madder, and in total about 420g material. I wanted the strongest dye on the item that would be seen the most – the hood – so that went into the first bath. The material for the hood weighed about 170g. The fabric for the hoses went in second. Then I didn’t really plan to dye anything more, but I didn’t want to waste the last of the dye so I put in two squares of fabric, enough for two small purses.

Resultatet? Tre nyanser av rött och orange!

The result? Three different shades of red and orange.

Första badet blev riktigt bra, det andra är inte så jämnt i färgen (mest för att jag hade alldeles för mycket tyg mot vad jag borde i den grytan jag hade). Det sista badet resulterade i en fin aprikosfärgad tygbit.

The first bath is really nice, the second isn’t that even (mainly because I used too much material in a too small pot).The last one is a lovely peach shade that I like.

Hosorna är inte så himla intressanta, men jag tog några bilder på dem ändå. Det som jag är mest nöjd med är hättan. Den är baserad på en av hättorna från London; nummer 246.

The hoses are not really interesting, but I took some photos of them anyway. The real deal here is the hood. It is based on one of the hoods from London, number 246.

London hood no 246, Image: Marc Carlson “Some Clothing of the Middle Ages”

Jag gjorde mönstret baserat på informationen om 246 i Textiles and Clothing och ändrade det efter mina egna mått. Jag ville ha en liten, tajt hätta med knappar och strut. Jag känner att jag i princip fått till det på pricken.

I made the pattern using the information in Textiles and Clothing and mixed it with my own measurments. I wanted a small, tight hood with buttons and a liripipe. I think I more or less nailed it.

Jag fick skarva lite för att få det som jag ville, men det syns knappt. Både färg och passform blev riktigt bra!

I had to piece it a bit to get it the way I wanted it, but it’s barely visible. I think that both the colour and fit turned out really nice!

Barely visible, but it’s pieced on this side.

Om jag skulle ändra något så skulle det i så fall vara kilplaceringen. Som ni kan se på bilden ovan så är den placerad ganska långt framåt istället för i mitten. Fast det är nog inte nödvändigt att ändra egentligen. Den passar ju bra ändå.

If there’s one thing I’d possibly change it’s the placement of the gores. As you see here they lie a bit to the front and not centered. But perhaps it’s not neccesary. It fits really well anyway.

Hättan är helt handsydd. De bindande sömmarna är sydda med lintråd och alla detaljer samt kilarna är sydda med sysilke. Alla sömmar är nedsydda med förstygn från utsidan, och nederkanten har en rad pricksöm (förstygnversionen) och ansiktsöppningen har två rader pricksöm. Knapparna är sydda av tyget med lintråd, knapphålen är också sydda med lintråd och backade med ett handvävt linne.

The hood is all hand sewn. The binding seams with linen thread and all details and the gores with silk thread. The seams are sewn down with running stitches from the outside, and the hem has one row of stab stitches (running stitch way). The face opening has two rows of stab stitches to reinforce it. There are ten self fabric buttons, sewn with linen thread. The buttonholes are sewn with linen thread and are faced with a handwoven linen.

Här är några detaljbilder på hättan. Om du trycker på bilderna så förstoras de.

Here are som detail shots of the hood. If you click the images they will be enlarged.

Och som en avslutning – ett foto på de tre baden, två av dem redan färdiga plagg!

And to end this – a photo of the three baths, two of them already made into garments!

Thanks to Maria Neijman and Linda Clarin for help with method and materials! You rock!

Minnen av 2015 – Memories of 2015

Jag vill bara dela med mig av mina bästa (och sämsta) minnen från mitt 2015. Jag åkte inte på så många event, men ett av de jag lyckades åka på var rätt stort. Årets första halvår var mest fokuserat på textilt hantverk. Andra halvan av året hade fokus på studier, men jag hann ändå få några saker gjorda,

I just wanted to share some of my best (and worst) memories from my 2015. I didn’t attend a great number of events, but one of the events I got a chance to attend was really big. The first six months were rather focused on textile crafts. The other six months were focused on studies, but I still managed to get some things done.

Året började med en hel del blogginlägg. I januari publicerades flest inlägg och jag skrev bland annat om kjollängd och jag brickvävde ett hårband. Årets första blogginlägg var dock den färdiga Bärnstensklänningen, vilken blev ordentligt använd under 2015.

The year started with a lot of blog posts. January was the busiest and I wrote about skirt lengths and finished a tablet woven filet. The first blog post of the year was the finished Amber dress, which was much used during 2015.

The Amber dress, finished in January

Resten av våren spenderades främst med att göra accessoarer till mig själv, som radband och en 1700-talshätta. Jag gjorde också lite prylar till andra som en del av en klapplek. Det var dock inte bara accessoarer som blev gjorda – jag sydde mig själv en rosa överklänning och skrev en liten artikel om medeltida frisyrer som fick ganska stor uppmärksamhet. Min tanke är att jag under 2016 ska fortsätta titta på medeltida frisyrer och kanske utveckla all kunskap till något mer.

The rest of the spring was focused on making accessories for myself, like Prayer Beads and an 18th century cap. I also made some things for others as a part of Pay-it-Forward-game. It was not only accessories that were made – I sewed myself a pink surcote and wrote an article on medieval hairstyles which got a lot of attention. I intend to research more about 14th century hairstyle and possibly develop it even further.

One of the 14th century hairstyles from April

Sedan kom sommaren och med det startade eventsäsongen. Jag åkte totalt på fyra event. Ekenäs Riddarspel, Varbergs Medeltidsdagar, The Battle of Azincourt och Anno på Bohus Fästning.

Then summer came and with that the event season started. I went to four events during the summer. Ekenäs Riddarspel, Varberg Medeltidsdagar, The Battle of Azincourt and Anno at Bohus Fortress.

Slaget vid Azincourt var ett stort event. Det var riktigt roligt att åka dit och bilresan dit och tillbaka är det bästa jag gjort hittils. Jag fick träffa massor av underbara människor och hade jättetrevligt, men samtidigt var det ett av de värsta event jag varit på rent vädermässigt. Det var kallt, blött, lerigt och ganska miserabelt i stunder, men ändå ett häftigt event att ha varit på. Jag har försökt att bara välja några av favoritfoton till det här inlägget, men det blev ganska många foton ändå. Jag hoppas att ni tycker de är lika fina som jag tycker!

The Battle of Azincourt was a massive event. It was really fun to go there, and I had the best roadtrip ever. I met lots of lovely people and had a great time, but at the same time it was kind of the worst event I’ve been to weather-wise. It was cold, wet, and muddy, and rather miserable at times, but still a great event. I’ve tried to choose only my favourite photos from these events to share here, but it’s still a lot of photos. I hope you find them as lovely as I do!

Ekenäs Riddarspel

Varberg Medeltidsdagar

The Battle of Azincourt

När sommaren var över återgick jag till att sy accessoarer och mindre plagg. Man kan aldrig ha för många hättor har jag hört, så jag sydde ytterligare en Herjolfsneshätta. Jag gjorde också en väldigt fin tofspåse i silke som jag stormförtjust i. Resten av hösten gick till att sy mer moderna plagg, som en 1700-talskjol och en modern underkjol.

After the summer was over I went back to making smaller items of clothing and accessories. One can never have too many hoods – I sewed another Herjolfsnes hood. I also made a very pretty, tasseled, silk purse, which I am very much in love with. For the rest of the autumn I made more modern items, like an 18th century skirt and a modern wear petticoat.

The tasseled silk purse.

Året avslutades med spånad, något som jag hållit på med hela året. Jag älskar att spinna med mina medeltida sländor och spinnpinne (distaff). Tills nu har jag använt ett kvastskaft som spinnpinne, men min fantastiska mamma gav mig en handtäljd spinnpinne i julklapp som hon täljt själv. Jag är så tacksam för den! De sista härvorna jag spann under 2015 var till Herjolfsnesutmaningen. Nu ser jag verkligen fram emot att börja sy på min Herjolfsnesklänning!

The year ended with spindle spinning, something that has been present during the whole year. I love to spin with my medieval spindles and distaff. Up until now I’ve been using a broomstick handle as a distaff, but this Christmas my dear mother gave me a proper, handcarved distaff which she had made herself. I’m so grateful! The last skeins to be spun during 2015 was for the Herjolfsnes Challenge. Now I look forward to start sewing my Herjolfsnes dress!

Two skeins of yarn for the Herjolfsnes Challenge

Vad kommer 2016 innehålla? Jag vet inte. Jag ska försöka att bara använda tyger jag redan har hemma, istället för att hela tiden köpa nya. Redan nu kan jag säga att det kommer bli en väldigt svår uppgift för jag har redan planerade inköp, men faktum är att mitt förråd svämmar över av tyger som redan har specifika projekt knutna till sig. Även om jag inte skulle köpa några nya tyger har jag projekt för hela året redan…

What does 2016 hold for me? I don’t know. I will try to only use fabrics from stash, rather than buying new fabrics all the time. I guess that will be a hard task, because I already know that I will have to buy some more fabrics, but the fact is that my storage is full of fabrics bought for specified projects. I’ll have project for the whole year even if I won’t buy new fabrics…

Spånad till Herjolfsnesutmaningen – Spinning for the Herjolfsnes Challenge

I mitt senaste blogginlägg skrev jag att mitt mål var att handspinna så mycket garn och tråd som möjligt till Herjolfsnesutmaningen. Jag skrev också att jag har haft fullt upp med mina studier och det är inget som har förändrats. Jag har knappt haft någon tid över för annat. Förra helgen var jag dock på kurs för Lena Hammarlund i vikinga- och medeltida spånad. Det gav mig massvis av energi att spinna färdigt det garn som fanns på sländorna.

As I wrote in my last post my aim is to handspin as much as possible for the Herjolfsnes Challenge. I also wrote that I’ve been extremely busy studiyng and I haven’t had much time left for spinning or sewing for the most of this course. Then I went to a spinning course in Medieval and Viking spinning for Lena Hammarlund last weekend. It gave me lots of energy to finish the yarn that was on my spindles.

The spindles as they looked in the last blog post.

Spånadskursen var fantastiskt rolig och vi hade det väldigt trevligt ihop. Tack Iduna för ett trevligt arrangemang! Mervi skrev om när hon gick på samma kurs fast i Stockholm på sin blogg. Jag har bara ett par foton från helgen – mina tankar låg helt på att spinna. Vi diskuterade flera intressanta saker, som vad man ska tänka på när man rekonstruerar historiska textilier. Vi fick också höra berättelsen om rekonstruktionen av Gunnistermannens kläder, vilken Lena var med och gjorde. Sen provade vi olika sländor, jag visade hur jag spinner på medeltidsvis med ullstav/distaff och vi gick igenom olika ulltyper. Vi provade också olika ullkammar och diskuterade vad skillnaden var och vilka som var bättre för vilken typ av ull. Det var en bra, nördig, helg med många roliga stunder.

The spinning course was great and we had a really nice time together. Mervi wrote about when she attended the same course in Stockholm on her blog. I only have a few photos from the weekend – my mind was mainly set on spinning. We discussed lots of interesting topics, like what to think of when reconstructing historical textiles. We also got to hear the lovely story of how it was to reconstruct the Gunnister man’s clothing, which Lena was part of. Then we tried different spindels, I showed how I spin medival-wise with a distaff and we sorted through different wool types. We also tried different wool combs, discussed which pair was better for which wool. In all it was a good, nerdy, weekend with lots of fun.

Some of Lena’s wool combs, yarn, spindles and wool

Garnet jag spunnit nu blev färdig för ett par kvällar sen och det är spunnit med mina medeltidssländor tillsammans med ullstav/distaff. Det är verkligen det sätt som funkar bäst för mig att spinna på. Det går fortare, är enklare att hantera och ger mig bättre kontroll, bland annat. Jag började spinna det här garnet innan Herjolfsnesutmaningen kom till, så det var inte spunnet med det projektet i åtanke till en början. Nu kommer det användas till mitt utmaningsplagg, men på grund av den anledningen skiljer det sig lite från originalen.

The yarn I finished a couple of nights ago is spun on my medieval spindles with a distaff. It is really the best way to spin for me. Goes quicker, is easier to handle and gives me more control, among other things. I started to spin this yarn before the Herjolfsnes Challenge came alive, so it wasn’t really spun with the purpose that it later got – to be used in my challenge garment. Now it will, but because of that reason it differs some from the original.

The two skeins of yarn

Garnet är spunnet av kardad ull, 50% gute och 50% finull. Det är den största skillnaden. På tiden jag återskapar så hade man kardor, men det finns inget som tyder på att det fanns kardor i de grönländska bosättningarna. Ullen jag spinner av borde varit kammad istället, men eftersom jag redan hade den här ullen kardad och jag började spinna garnet innan jag bestämt vad jag skulle göra av det så får det bli så. Den andra saken som skiljer lite är grovleken på garnet. Den är kanske något tjockare än de man använt i Herjolfsnes. Men! Det är handspunnet på slända och jag tänker använda det. Det är väldigt fint med.

The yarn is spun of carded wool, with 50% gute and 50% finull (two Swedish breeds). That is the main deviation. At the time that I reenact they had carders, but there is no evidence of any carders being found at Greenland. The wool should have been combed instead, but this wool I’d got already prepared and I, as I said, started to spin it before I’d decided what to make of it. The other thing that perhaps deviates a bit is the thickness of the yarn. It might be too thick compared to the yarns at Herjolfsnes. But! It is handspun on a spindle and I intend to use it. It is very pretty, too.

I nuläget är garnet något övertvinnat – det snurrar sig lite när jag håller upp det. Det är dock inget problem då meningen var att det skulle bli lite övertvinnat. Jag ska använda det till viss vävning och flätning så då vill man inte ha ett för löst spunnet eller tvinnat garn som går av enklare. Om ni vill läsa mer om tråd och garn under medeltiden – läs artiken “Den viktiga tråden” på Historical Textiles.

At the moment the yarn is slightly over-plied. It twists a bit when I hang it on its own. That is not a problem though. I meant to spin it that way since I’m going to use it for some weaving and braiding. A too losely spun yarn would break more easily. For more on yarn and threads during the medieval times, read the article “The crucial thread” on Historical Textiles.

I slutändan är jag glad för mitt garn. Den större härvan väger 52 gram och den mindre väger 11 gram. De är båda Z-spunna och sen S-tvinnade. Nu kommer jag behöva studera ett tag till, sen är det dags att spinna sytråden! Det ser jag fram emot – jag har till och med kammat och klätt ullstaven så jag kan börja spinna när som helst!

In the end I’m happy with it. The larger skein weighs 52 grams and the smaller one 11 grams. They are both Z-spun, then S-plied. Now I’ll study some more and then it’s time to spin the sewing thread! I’m very much looking forward to that – I’ve already dressed the distaff so that I can begin at any time!

Combed Swedish Rya wool, ready to be spun into sewing thread!

En underkjol till vardagen – A petticoat for everyday wear

Two tucks and lace at the bottom. Much like my 1840’s petticoat.

Som jag skrev i slutet av det förra blogginlägget så har jag faktiskt lyckats ta mig i kragen och sy ett plagg som ska användas till vardags! Jag är inte jätteglad i att sy moderna saker, än mindre att sy dem på maskin, men jag kan definitivt se fördelarna med ett snabbare sömnadsförlopp.

As I wrote at the end of my last post I have actually made something for modern wear! I’m not overly fond of sewing modern clothing or sewing on the machine for that matter, but I see the advantage of it being fast.

An Instagram photo from the sewing process.
I’m @addelej there if you’d like to follow me!

Det finns en bra anledning till att jag sydde denna. Nu när hösten kommer hit med temperaturer från strax över nollan till runt tio grader så är det dags att plocka fram resten av yllet! En av mina favoritgrupper av plagg är långa yllekjolar. De håller en varm och är väldigt mysiga. Förra julen fick jag dessutom en hel hög med sådana av min mormor och de är fantastiska! Det finns dock ett problem… Jag kan verkligen inte stå ut med känslan av ylle mot vanliga “nylonstrumpbyxor”. Jag skulle aldrig gå utan strumpbyxor och jag antar att ett sätt att lösa problemet vore att istället använda strumpbyxor av ylle eller bomull, men jag kom fram till att den enklaste lösning vore att sy en underkjol.

There is a good reason for making this one. Now that autumn is coming to Sweden with temperatures between 0-10 degrees Celcius I’m starting to wear more wool clothing. One group of garments I love most are long wool skirts. They keep you warm and are very cosy and last Christmas I got a whole bunch from my grandmother. Lovely things! There is one problem though – I can’t stand the feeling of wool against nylon tights (ok, I guess that they aren’t nylon anymore, but you get the idea). I wouldn’t go without tights and I could of course wear woolen or cotton ones, but I found that the easiest solution would be to make a petticoat.

Here the petticoat has been worn for a whole day with lots of wrinkels as result.

Konstruktionen är enkel. Kjolen består av två rektanglar som rynkats mot en linning som stängs med en knapp. Jag hämtade inspiration från de 1800-talsunderkjolar jag tittade på när jag sydde min 1840-talsunderkjol. Visst skulle jag sy ett plagg att bära i modern tid, men det betyder inte att jag måste göra det modernt. Om jag skulle köpa något så skulle jag troligtvis köpa moderna grejer, men det är inte riktigt jag att inte sy med åtminstone lite bas i det historiska. Min underkjol är sydd i enkel lakansväv av bomull, har två smala veck längs med fållen och är kantad med brodyrspets.

The construction is simple. Two straight panels gathered to a self fabric waistband which buttons closed. I gathered inspiration from the 19th century petticoats that I researched for my 1840’s petticoat. Sure – I was about to make a petticoat for modern wear, but would a totally non-historically-inspired garment be me? Maybe if I bought it but not if I’d make one. It is made of plain cotton and it has two narrow tucks close to the hem and is hemmed with broderie anglaise lace.

Jag är verkligen kär i den! Jag använde den för första gången igår och den fungerade utmärkt. Nu när jag märkte hur lätt det faktiskt var att sy en kanske jag syr ytterligare en eller två att ha under mina mer tajta yllekjolar. Att sy på maskin gick mycket smidigare än vad jag någonsin trott. Jag hade förväntat mig mycket mer krångel. Den är nästan helt maskinsydd. Det enda som är handsytt är knapphålet – dels för att handsydda knapphål är mycket (!) snyggare än maskinsydda och dels för att jag faktiskt inte vet hur man syr knapphål på min maskin…

I’m totally in love with it! I used it for the first time yesterday and it worked splendidly. I might even make one or two more to go under my more slimmed skirts. Now I know that I can do it, right? And I’m pleasantly surprised of how easy it was to sew it on the machine. I had expected a lot more fuzz really. It is almost entirely sewed on machine – the only thing that I handsewed was the button hole. Both because I like the look of handsewed button holes much better than machine ones and because I don’t know how to make them on my machine…

Here is the petticoat in action together with a wool skirt that
my grandmother sewed and used before she gave it to me.