laundry day

 After the summer it is time for a big costuming laundry day. That means washing a lot of historical costumes and prewashing the fabrics that I have bought during the summer. In my apartment building with have a laundry room in the basement, and the best thing is the room for drying clothes, with an electric fan and heater.

kirtle, shift, wams/doublet and several meters of fabrics in the drying room

The shirts, shift, aprons and everything that is done in linen, cotton and hemp goes in the washing machine. That includes my blackwork shift. It is so old now that I don't consider it a "fine" shirt anymore. I wash them on a regular setting, but I hang them to dry instead of going into the tumbler. My experience is that the linen only gets softer with every wash. For my large apron, that had quite a few soot stains after cooking in Visby, I first sprayed it the stains with stain remover and that worked fine. The same goes for my wulsthaube that takes up red dye from my hair. For the wulsthaube I remove the wulst before washing, it is only tacked on in a few places, so I can simply wash the cap part of it.

Wool clothes are best taken care of by simply airing them. I live in an apartment without balcony though. I used to bring them home to my mother and hand them in her garden, but she is getting old and her short time memory is lapsing. That means that I am still missing some of my linen stuff from last year's airing that I had in her garden, I am pretty sure that some time in the future I will find them among her handkerchiefs or bedlinen, so I don't dare to do it any more. After shorter events I leave the clothes hanging in my living room, but now after the summer and a long event where I've been sweating and standing in smoke it is time to clean them. I simply use the wool setting on the washing machine together with a wool/silk detergent. I also only wash one item at the time. So far I have not had anything happen to the clothes.

For David's landsknecht outfit I was worried, the red fabric was bleeding a lot. His shirt that he had worn under it when it was raining had a lot of pink stains. That shirt was his cheap cotton shirt and it worked fine with stain remover and then a wash in the washing machine on the cotton setting. I was worried that the red would bleed and stain the pink part though. I did an experiment where I started with his socks, since one is red and one is pink. I threw them in the washing machine together with colour cather paper. 

When the socks came out fine, except for a slight stain on the heel, I decided to try the hose. For the hose I put stain remover on the pink stains on the lining and then I added three colour catcher papers to the wasching machine. I also removed all the loose ribbons and ties. When that worked fine I dared to do the same with the doublet/wams as well, adding four colour catcher papers.

The colour catcher paper after the doublet/wams washing

I was happy that I could wash the landsknecht outfit, and that means that I will probably do it at least once a year, after single day events I am happy with just airing the clothes. A reason why I dare use the washing machine is also that I have prewashed all fabrics, and if they survive the prewash they should survive washing as well. So during this washing day I also washed the wool that I bought at Medeltidsveckan and the fabrics that I am going to use for my female Tusken, so that they are ready to get some dye.

HSM24: stripes and dots - the landsknecht hose

The challenges: August: Stripes and Dots: Make something using striped or dotted material. The stripes or dots can be printed on the material, knitted/woven in to the material, or created with surface embellishment (ex: embroidery). Textural stripes or dots (i.e: those that are the same colour as the base fabric) are permitted!

For this challenge I will share the finished landsknecht hose that I made. The hose are not checkered since the pattern is elongated to form stripes of alternating red and pink. I made the stripes with alternating pieces of red and wool that were sewn together, and then the pattern for the hose were put on the new striped fabric. I have posted about the construction here: part 1 and part 2.

What the item is: a pair of landsknecht hose
How it fits the challenge: They are made from stripes of red and pink sewn together
Material: 1,5 m red wool, 1,5 m pink wool, 0,5 linen for lining
Pattern: my own with inspiration from the Alpirsbach hose
Year: 1520s
Notions: linen thread and silk ribbons to tie everything together
How historically accurate is it? 60%
Hours to complete: 1,5 months
First worn: at medieval week in Visby
Total cost: $150

HSM24: Up your sleeve - the landsknecht wams/doublet

The challenge: June: Up Your Sleeve: Level up your sleeve game by making a garment where the focus is on the sleeves.

For this challenge it is time to post photos of the finished doublet. I have made posts about the construction here, part 1, part 2 and part 3. Especially the third part is all about the construction of the sleeves. 

What the item is: A landsknecht doublet with huge sleeves
How it fits the challenge: The sleeves took the most time and fabric to make
Material: 2,5 m red wool, 2,5 pink wool, 0,2 m grey wool, 2,5 linen
Pattern: My own
Year: 1520s
Notions: line thread, braided ribbons with aiglets for closure
How historically accurate is it? 85%
Hours to complete: 1,5 months
First worn: at medieval week in Visby
Total cost: $150

HSM24 - all natural - a pair of socks

The challenge: April: Colours of Nature: Make something using undyed material, or material coloured with natural dyes

I have thought for a long time about making a pair of socks, what is normally called "trossfrau socks" if you google them. They are low cut socks made in linen and worn by women in the tross in the 16th century. There are several tutorials out there, I just haven't taken the time to make my own pattern. When I bought the docken barret pattern from Thimble&Plume I saw that they had a pattern for socks so I bought it.

They had a size guide, but since I bought it at work I couldn't measure my feet. I have quite normal feet (size 38) so I bought the medium pattern, but that was a mistake. Apparently I have small feet and should have gone with the pattern in small.

My feet were definitely smaller than the pattern. What I did was that I took in the upper part of the sock in the backseam, and then I pinned the sole piece until it fit. I sewed everything together using backstitch and then I used the time on the ferry to Gotland to fell all the seams and hem the opening.

A mistake that I made was that when I took the seam in of course made the opening smaller, and I didn't adjust that or make the slashes longer. Now they fit very well still, but I had to wiggle in the feet when I put them in. I also learnt that I had to be careful when putting the shoes on, if I just slid the feet with socks into the shoes the excess fabric bunched up at the heel and they felt tight at the toes. If I unlaced the shoes and put the feet down straight into the shoes they were really comfortable.

The linen that I used was a bit coarse, it was a scrap piece, but after having washed the socks once they were much softer and more comfortable. After having walked in them for almost a week I already have a small worn out hole in them that I will have to fix.

I will make more of these socks, so that I can change them more often during an event, but I think that when I make the next pair I will start with adjusting the sole, and then sew the backseam, and not other way around like I did with these. I also like that the pattern is not complicated when it comes to cutting them on the grain or bias, so it is easy to make them from scraps of linen.

What the item is: a pair of socks
How it fits the challenge: made from unbleached linen
Material: 20 cm of unbleached linen
Pattern: Thimble&Plume trossfrau sock
Year: early 16th century
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? 95%
Hours to complete: 5
First worn: at Medieval Week
Total cost: $5

HSM24: new clothes from old - the pink gown

 Back in 2022 I made a post proudly claiming that I would finally finished my pink trossfrau gown.  Well that never ended well. I got it into a wearable state, but I never finished the closure, instead I just pinned it together and I was so dissatisfied with it that I can't find a single photo of myself in it. It went into a bag to saved sometimes in the future.

With my weight loss journey the last year I decided that it was time to see if I could salvage it. I started with simply ripping off the bodice and the skirt. The bodice had always been a finished piece and the skirt were two lengths of fabric gathered together and whip stitched to the bodice. I also decided to see if I could change the cut of the skirt. I have more and more come to the conclusion that even if it's easier to just gather square pieces of fabric together, the more historically accurate way of making 16th century skirts is to make them as circle skirts. The two old pieces were enough to piece together an almost full circle, made up from gores. The end result is a skirt that is quite slim at the waist, but with a larger circumference at the hem compared to the first version. If I made a new skirt I would do gores, but I would like to make the skirt something like a 1,5 circle skirt and pleat in the excess at the waist. With the gores I had to cut the skirt shorter to fit them, so I haven't hemmed the skirt, just relying on the wool to not unravel to save a few cm in length.

The bodice was taken in quite a lot at the sides. For the sleeves I had to redo the upper part of the sleeve, thankfully the old parts were so big that I could cut the new part from them. They were to short though, but I added an extra strip of fabric to lenghten it, and then I added a decorative border over the seam to hide it. The lower parts could probably have been saved from the original, but I had lost one of them while they were in the stash, and there were enough fabric left from the recut skirt that I could make two new ones.

I also recut the neckline of the bodice, that was gaping on several places, but making it lower it fit much better. Finally the original gown had never gotten a finished closure so I made lacing holes to be able to close it at the front, and then I added more guards in a darker fabric at the neckline and sleeves. 

I wore the gown like this at Leksands medieval fair in May, and realised it was still way to big and bunching up a lot in the bodice.

So last week before leaving for medieval week in Visby I once again ripped off the skirt. I decided not to take in the width, that would have taken too much time to redo all the side and back seams. I big problem was that it was too long in the bodice though, so  I simply resewed the skirt on, but now 3 cm higher up to the bodice.

The new version worn without the lower sleeves.

I wore it like this in Visby. It is once again too big, I have lost more weight since May, but with the yellow kirtle under it it still looks nice. The bodice doesn't give any support, so when it was too warm to wear a kirtle, basically all the days, I wore it with my modern bra to get support for my breasts. I usually stay away from modern underwear to avoid a modern silhouette, but it was needed. I will probably take it apart and take it in again, and I need to make an underkirtle that isn't as warm as my yellow one.

What the item is: a pink trossfrau gown from 1510-1530
How it fits the challenge: The bodice was taken in and altered, the sleeves and skirt are totally recut from an older version of this gown that doesn't fit any more.
Material: and old pink wool gown
Pattern: my own
Year: 1510-1530
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? I actually think the cut of this version is more accurate, with a gored skirt instead of just gathered rectangles of fabric. I had to put some decorative bands on it to hide seams where I had pieced the sleeves together and that I haven't seen in sources, but somewhere around 75%. 
Hours to complete: it's been on and off during the last few months but probably around 20
First worn: Visby medieval week
Total cost: everything was made from the original gown, which probably cost around $150 for the fabrics originally

The HSM portrait

 I'm going to share my favorite photo from Visby, and also explain why I love the HSM, or Historical Sew Monthly, challenges.

I joined the HSF, or Historical Sew Forthnightly, as it was called then back in 2014. My first entry on this blog is from the 13th of January 2014. The challenge was "make do and mend" and I fixed the fraying edges of my 18th century Snow White. Back then there were 24 challenges to a year, but it was later changed into a more easily managed Monthly challenge with 12 challenges to year. Some time later it was also changed so that you didn't have to finish the challenges in the corresponding month but could do them any time of the year.

The HSM is great because it keeps med going all year with sewing projects, instead of just trying to finish something for an event. They have challenged me to both do more accurate things, and to do things that I wouldn't have done otherwise. I would definitely not have made as many accessories if it hadn't been for the HSM, especially in the end of the year when I try to challenge myself to finish more challenges I usually go for using scraps and left over fabrics to make something.

The HSM is a Facebook group, and it's also a great community to post about progress and comment on each other's projects. 

On this photo we are wearing the following challenges

David

HSM24: September - new stitch in town - the docken baret

HSM 24: June - up your sleeves - the doublet

HSM 24: August - stripes and dotes - the hose

HSM 24: November - worn by all - the socks

Johanna

HSM 24: May - new clothes from old - the pink gown
HSM 24: April - all natural - the linen socks

HSM 19: September - everyday wear - the mustard kirtle

HSM 15: February - tucks and pleats - the pleated shift and HSM 23: January - back to the beginnings - repairs and mending of the shift

HSM 18: October - fabric manipulation - the smocked apron

So basically everything except what I am wearing on my head has been an HSM challenge, pretty fun to go through it and see how productive the challenges have been for me.

This is also why I still prefer to keep this blog going and not just post things on Instagram and Facebook, it's so much easier to go back in time and look for old posts and what I have done even if it's many years old by now.

Medieval week in Visby 2024

 So I have just come home from Medieval week, and as usual, it has been a wonderful time. There were two things that made this week different though. The main thing was that for the first time I was there with my husband, David, and sharing it with him made it so much better. Since he refused to live in the camp we stayed in a cute 18th century loft in the town century instead. I forgot to take photos of it, but it was basically a small and cute wooden house, complete with a hedgehog in the bushes outside the door, and even if we had to walk to the neighbouring building to have access to the bathroom, since the 18th century building didn't have any running water, it was very private and cozy.

Here are an assortment of my favorite photos of the week.

Most of our time were spent in the camp, even if we didn't live there

On Friday David's niece was visiting and she could borrow my yellow kirtle and helped out in the camp

I spend most of my time cooking and preparing food

My new huge apron was so good in that I didn't have to worry about my gowns under it

My favorite photo of us by the wall

Once again the apron really covered my wool clothes

The pink ladies of Stockholmsfänikan

I was mostly wearing my pink gown, but two of the days I simply wore the yellow kirtle

HSM24: just peachy - a new gollar

The first HSM 24 challenge is: January: Just Peachy: “Peach Fuzz” is the Pantone colour for 2024! Make something in peach— or in the related colours of pink or orange

When I first saw the list of the HSM challenges I thought this would be the easiest challenge to finish, since my main projects this year (my husband's landsknecht and my remake of my pink trossfrau) involved pink. Then I felt that a lot of the projects fitted other challenges better. Well when I was finished with the landsknecht I still had some scraps of fabric left in the pink and red, and I decided to see if I could eek out a gollar from it.

Previously when I have made gollars I have based them on a circle pattern, now I decided ot make a more shaped and pieced garment. 

I first draped some pieces of scrap cotton on my dressform

Then I managed to get four pieces out of the last pink fabric. At this moment I didn't realize that I had forgotten to change the neck size so when I sewed these pieces together they were too big. I had to take them in at both the shoulder seams and back seam. The shoulder seams got a bit more shapingover the shoulders as well.

I added bias cut strips of red as decorations and the collar is also a strip of bias cut fabric. It is closed with a cloth button.

The backside was a bit more uneven.

I lined the gollar with a grey finer wool, to make sure that it was warm and nice, and to be able to make turn it inside out and wear it with my more simple clothes.

When I had finished the gollar I found that I still had scraps from the old furcoat left, the one I have used for a lot of garments by now, so I decided to edge the neck and opening in fur.

As I always do now when I add fur I first cut out the pieces that I wanted to have lined in another fabric, this time more of the pink wool. I then basted the fur to that fabric before I attached the fabric, with fur, to the gollar. 

With the fur on it's now quite as good looking on the inside to make it reversible, but it is really comfortable to have that feeling of fur around the neck on chilly nights.

I used it at Medieval Week in Visby, but most of the time it was warm so it was only at late nights that I used the gollar, and I didn't get any photos of it being worn.

What the item is: a wool gollar
How it fits the challenge: the base fabric is pink
Material: 0,5 pink wool, 0,5 grey wool, 10 cm of red wool, scraps of wool
Pattern: draped by me
Year: 1520s
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? around 75%
Hours to complete: 2 days
First worn: at medieval week in August
Total cost: $20