What I've been working on

 This summer I knew that I was going to go to Medieval Week in Visby, and that I needed some stuff. I'm leaving on Saturday, and to be honest I have not finished anything, but I have things that are in various states of completion.

The most finished thing is this simple kirtle. It's a standard square pieces with gores, and I'm mostly using the 14th century as inspiration. I have not had time to fell the seams or hem it though, I'm still bringing it with me to use as a nightgown so I don't have to worry about freezing.

I wanted a new hood to wear over my wulsthaube, but I also found an embroidery challenge that I wanted to do. I have a long way to go until I have finished the blackwork, but I'm bringing it with me to work on during the week. I will have to stick with my old hood or just a a veil over the wulst.

I have also cut up an old shift that I'm hoping to sew together in a new version. This one I'm actually hoping to finish until I leave on Saturday.

I will also try to make separate posts about all the projects once they are totally finished.

HSM challenge 5 - a 14th century night cap

The May Historial Sew Monthly challenge was set as "Specific to a Time [of Day or Year]". This was a challenge I really had no inspiration for, and I'm also stressed about finishing my 16th century gown for an event next weekend. I had more or less given up, because all of my (limited) searches for 16th century nightcaps or nightgowns ended up with these beautiful embroidered pieces, not something I would have time for.

Then I found this blog post from Eva Andersson where she made a 14th century night cap. She has provided photos that shows nightcaps in her blog, so I'm not going to copy them here. The general thing seemed to be a round cap with a brim in contrasting colour. 

I decided to use some of my red wool, the same that I used for my gollar, and a cotton-linen blend fabric that I use for scraps and small projects.

I started with cutting out two half ovals in the cotton-linen and sewing them together. I flattened the top of the cap, to make it more fitted to the head.

I used the lining as a pattern for cutting out the wool, but made the wool cap shorter. I used my sewing machine for both the wool and the lining layer.

I pressed up the edge of the lining.

Then I slipstitched the folded edge of the lining to the wool.

Tadaa, a finished night cap.

A good thing with having a fairly loose lining is of course that I can take it off and wash it, if it gets dirty. I'm planning on bringing the nightcap to an event next weekend, but at the moment the temperatures in Sweden are ridiculously high, more like high summer than spring, so I'm not sure if I'm going to get a chance to use it. Of course this current heatwave can disappear and it's not uncommon for a frost night or so in June.

The Challenge: 5 "Specific to a Time [of Day or Year]
Material: 0,1 m of red wool, 0,51m of linen blend
Pattern: My own with inspiration from Eva Andersson's research http://evashistoricalcostumes.blogspot.se/2018/04/a-14th-century-night-cap.html
Year: 14th century
Notions: TPoly sewing thread, linen thread for slipstitching
How historically accurate is it? 30%
Hours to complete: 30 min (it took me longer to write the blogpost than to sew)
First worn: Planned for Leksand's medieval market June 1-3
Total cost: All the materials were scraps from my stash

Book advice for September

There are still some days left of September so I want to tell you about the September free e-book from Aarhus University.

It's Medieval Garments Reconstructed by Lilli Fransen, Anna Nørgård and Else Østergård, and basically it's a book that tells you everything you need to know about the finds from Herjolfsnes, Greenland. The finds were done when a cemetery from the Norse colony on Greenland was excavataed. The cold climate had preserved the clothes that people had been buried in, and it is one of the riches sources of medieval clothing, as worn by people in the North in the 14th century. The book contains both the history of the finds, analysis of everything from which kind of wool was use to spin the thread, the loom and not the least patterns on a grid scale. I also found it very nice that they have photos of the reconstructed garments, as well as the original one.

If you are the least interested in medieval clothing, or even just fantasy in a medieval setting, I definitely recommend to use this chance and get a free and legal copy of the book.

Medieval Garments Reconstructed