Post season clothes care

 Many people wonder why I go home a day early from Medieval week in Visby. The reason is pretty easy. Medieval week is my last week of holiday and travel time with both ferry and then driving home it takes a whole day. Then when I come home I need to take care of the clothes and equipment, and that takes a full day. I need to do it immediately, because after a week of working in the camp kitchen they stink of smoke.

Medieval week is the last big event of the reenactment season, some times smaller events pop up, that also means that I want to give the clothes some proper cleaning before packing them away for what can be several months until the next time we use them.

I live in a small apartment without a bathtub and without access to a balcony or garden so this is what I do with my historical clothes.

The first thing I did when we came home was to take out all the things of linen and cotton, so our shifts/shirts and kitchen textiles. I rubbed in some Galltvål on special stains and on the cuffs and collars where they linen had turned grey/yellowish. Galltvål is a brand but the kind of soap is also called "gall soap or bile soap" in English. Before going to bed I switched water, but didn't rinse the clothes, and this time I didn't rubb in extra soap, I just put some in the water.

As is common in Sweden our apartment has access to a washing room and I had made sure to book it before going to Visby. The linen and cottons were both put in a washing machine with regular washing powder and 60 degrees wash cycles.

For the wool I put the sweatiest pieces, that is our hoses, David's short hose and my underkirtle in the machine with a gentle wool washing liquid and on a wool cycle. I put the red pieces in a separate machine together with some paper that soaks up the extra dye that they are still shedding a lot of.

 Then I went into our common garder and occupied the patio. I put the white linen pieces in the sun, and on the grass, to get some extra bleaching. The wool was hung up to either dry, or in the case of our hats, gollars, double and overkirtle just air out the smoke. The non-white linen was simply hung over furniture and the like.

It was quite a windy day so I had to catch pieces that flew away from time to time, but it also made everything dry and fresh in a fairly short amount of time. When hanging the clohtes up it was also easy to spot holes and seams that had come undone. All those pieces go into my mending/fixing pile that I can take up in the coming months when I don't have anything else to do.

Then the clothes are all packed away in plastic boxes in my storage in the attic. I have never had problems with moths or the like but I am sure to put plenty of cedar wood pieces in the boxes to ward of any unwelcome guests.

1620's weekend in Vadstena

Every year Vadstena castle, which was finished in 1621, has a military weekend with and invites reenactors to recreate the 1620s. The focus is military, but there was a camp to show off the cooking and crafts as well. I had met some of the people organizing it last year and decided to go. The 17th century is a new era for me, even if I had dipped my toes into it, but for this event I felt that I had to up my game, since the other recreators are really good. 

I will post more about my clothes as individual posts, but this was the full ensemble.

I had brought things with me so that I could show what a table in a tavern, and the ingredients that they used, looked like. It is based on an archaeological excavation in Falun, and I have written more about it here. 

For my own main meal on Saturday I didn't cook anything but had brought with me a mix of pickled vegetables, greens and meats to make what was called a "grand sallet" in the time period in England.

What is really nice with the event is that we were allowed to be in the casle at night, and if you had the proper gear you could even sleep in one of the towers. I bought a modern airbed with me though so I slept in a modern part of the castle.

The focus was on the military though and there were people from Sweden, Finland, Poland and the Netherlands there, and it was impressive to see such a large group of infantry working together.

There were also some musketeers, and two horses but I didn't get any good photos of the cavalry.

It was a really nice experience going to an even that is so limited in time, and everyone were really dressed up in clothes from the same era, early 16th century.

Still I'm not a big fan of the 17th century, and I didn't go from the event inspired to make a lot of new clothes, except that it would be nice to have a nice apron and not the worn and dirty that I have. Still I will definitely try to make it to Vadstena if the event returns next year because it was a great weekend.

Post event-season costume care

 Yesterday we arrived home after Medieval Week in Visby. Medieval week is our main historical event of the year. I mostly spend time in the kitchen, and this year I hardly took any photos at all, also we didn't have any new clothes, even if I had fixed my husband's short hosen, so not much when it comes to costuming things to share here.

This was my look for most of the time, I wore my new under kirtle and then my giant apron, and as you can see, after a week cooking on an open hearth it was really dirty. The dirt doesn't come so much directly from the fire, but all the pots and pans that we need get very sooty, and even if they are cleaned on the inside on the outside they are dirty, and when you lift them and move the around, or brush against them, well the soot ends up on me.

We took the early morning ferry home from Gotland, which made me really tired, but coming home already around 3 pm meant that I had time to actually start caring for my things, and I had also taken today off from work for that. All our cutlery and kitchen stuff got in the dishwasher and could be packed away. I also prepared the linen and cotton clothing by putting them in a soak with water and some "galltvål" ( a brand of traditional washing soap). I had extra soap on all the major stains and the cuffs and collars as well. I don't have my own washing machine or balcony, but the shared washerroom in my building was free for the early morning pass. So I went up early, did some extra scrubbing on the stains and then put the linen and cottons in the machine. I also put our wool socks in the machine, on a wool program, to get them really clean.

Then I occupied the grass and patio area of my house block. The white linens were put on the grass to get bleached by the sun and grass, it was a bit cloudy so didn't get the best effect. The cottons and non-white linens were hung up to dry and the wools were aired. I kept everything there for a couple of hours, until my nose deemed that the wool didn't stink anymore and the linen stuff was dry. The beige underkirtle had some soot stains on it at the hem, but I spot cleaned that with spirit vinegar (ättika) and that was enough.

Then it was my husband's time to do his part, which is to care for the shoes before they are put away. The were cleaned and treated and the shoe blocks were put in. For his cowmule shoes he doesn't have shoe blocks that are square, but he uses regular shoe blocks and stuffs the toes with some scraps of fabric to fill them out.

Then it was up to the attic to sort everything into the storage. My system is that I keep on plastic box for each subtype of clothing, so one box for shirts, one for underkirltes, one for headwear and so on. His landsknecht outfit all gets into the same box though, to keep it all together. I also have cedar wood balls in all the boxes, to protect the clothes. Then I stack them on top of each other, but now I can't fit more boxes into the space so we will see what happens if I make new clothes.

And with that it was done, and I think this is a new record for me to get everything packed away after Medieval Week.

Leksand medieval fair

 Over Ascension day it was the Medieval fair in Leksand and me and my 16th century group in Dalarna were there. For the first time my husband also joined us and slept in a tent. I didn't bring any new clothes, instead this year the focus was on getting the interior of the tent more practical.

This is one half of the tent. The new addition was that I had bought a big basket, where you could put your clothes when undressing, that way they were all in the same spot instead of being spread all over the floor.

The other part of the tent and I am so happy with my new pantry/food storage.

It started out as this bathroom shelf (Råggrund from IKEA). I then covered the sides in a linen curtain. In the shelves I could have everything in plastic containers with good lids to keep bugs and other stuff out. The top pegs in the corners also worked great to hang aprons and handkerchiefs from. It's not historically correct in any way, more of a LARP standard, but it worked and I'm happy with it. I can't do carpentry work, but I am good at assembing IKEA furniture and sewing, so I used the skills I have to make something that cleared up a lot of floor space in the tent and that felt a lot more hygienic.

I was so happy that my husband enjoyed the experience, and he said that he slept like a baby. One thing is sure as much as I like my friend Emma, who I usually share the bed with, it was nice to have a husband (and a lot of wool blankets) to snuggle up to when the temperature dropped to around 4 degrees in the night. The trick to keep the heat was one duvet, four wool blankets a hot water bottle between us, and to sleep in a modern but warm hoodie and flanell trousers set.

Much of my time was spent cooking food. I usually use Leksand to try some medieval recipes that I've made in my modern kitchen, before I make them in a larger scale in Visby. This time there were some success - my homemade gnocchi, chicken in cumin sauce and the fish stew, and some total failures - when I tried to make cheese with rennet and it refused to curdle. 

Keep an eye out on my historical food blog for more information about the food.

Melisandre out at night

 This weekend the county museum, Dalarnas museum, organised "Dalarna fantasy and folklore festival" and for the Saturday evening the Cosplay Dalarna group was inviter to mingla in costumes that fit the theme.

I really just have one fantasy costume so of course I brought Melisandre. I even upgraded my torch with some red LED lighta that I simply hid at the base of the flames. 

The best indoor photo setting was the preserved library of Selma Lagerlöf, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. 

I did take a selfie with the best of Selma outside the room.

Most fun though was to take photos outside in the dark, even if it was quite cold in this costume.

After all the night is dark and filled with terrorn.

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

NärCon and the debut of winter Daisy

 After skipping it last year, of course I wanted to go to NärCon this year. After all it is the largest cosplay and nerd festival in Northern Europe. Me and my husband were originally invited to a party that would have made it impossible for me to visit more than one day, and when that party was cancelled due to some sad reasons I couldn't find a decently priced hotel. Then I realized that it only takes a bit more than an hour for me to drive from my parents-in-law's house to NärCon, and since we were visiting there for a week anyway it was an easy thing to drive back and forth for two days.

I of course was there with the Swedish Garrison, and could once again wear my Admiral Daala.

I am so happy that my gastric bypass has me fit into, and feel comfortable, in my old costumes again.

Twice a day we organized a Star Wars parade, where we started and then picked up Star Wars cosplayers alont the way, we also had a talk a day where we presented our costumes and organisations,  501st Legion, Rebel Legion, Mando Mercs, R2 builders and Galactic Academy.

I had great fun debuting my new Princess Daisy from Supermario at the Winter Olympics, or as I call it winter Daisy.

It was such a comfortable costume. I made it when my old computer had died that's why I haven't posted about it before. But it basically consists of a long sleeved t-shirt, that I patterned by simply tracing a t-shirt of my own, a pair of tights from a Burda Style Magazine pattern and a tunic that I frankenpatterend from free jersey dress pattern. The boots were a second hand find and then I just had to add a pair of thin gloves. The whole costume is made in think bamboo jersey, so it was like walking around in a cool set of pyjamas. I reused the crown and jewellery from my regular princess Daisy. The fake fur on the edges was actually from when I bought some fake hermine fur for medieval purposes, and I could carefully cut around the black parts to get strips that were long enough to edge the sleeves and tunic.

The most fun part was that I had found a pair of mini-skis in orange and a pair of ski poles with yellow ends on them, so I just painted the shafts orange, and then I had some fun taking photos on one of the grass hills at NärCon.

This is definitely a costume that will be my go to costume for comfy convention costume, but maybe I need to find something more to carry around instead of skis.

Leksand medieval fair

 This weekend it was time for the first medieval event, and the second largest for me outside of Medieval week. In fact me and Emma realized we actually have to pack more stuff for this event than Visby, simply because we have to bring all kitchen utensils and foodstuff ourselves.

The event started on Friday, but we went up to Leksand after work on Thursday to set up camp.

The tent went up and for the first time I also used my firestand. It was really nice that it was so high up that you didn't have to bend down to just stir in the pot.

After three years with the tent we have come close to a really nice living situation. The bed is 120x170, which is perfect for us short girls to share, and have some room at the end of the bed for storage.  One day I should probably share the story of the bed, but let's just say that it is of a common reenactor design and it's a good thing that Emma's fiancé is a woodworker that saved it after we had tried to make it ourselves. The tent is really a once person tent, but it works for two, and two persons warm the area pretty well just with body heat. I have never slept so well in a camp like I did this weekend.

We share our camp site with our friends in the 16th century guild, so this is our whole campl, with signs to tell who we are and what we are doing. 

A big part of being in a camp for me is of course cooking and me and Emma have our routine where she handles the fire and then I can cook.

It was really warm, but that meant that we didn't freeze in the night. -On Saturday it wa 25 degrees C, so it was nice going down to the river to cool down.

The water wasn't warm enough for a bath though, since it still contains a lot of meltwater from the mountains.

Saturday was the main cooking day, so I made fried cheese sticks for lunch/afternoon snacks.

Then we put up a whole piece of meat and had it roasting for hours.

Together with a cabbage sallad and spicy raspberry sauce it was a real feast, even if the heat had taken it's toll on us and we were quite tired and went to bed early.

I was worthy a tiny cocktail after all the cooking though.

For costume I wore my remade pink gown, it's too big though even after my alterations. And interesting thing is that I had taken it in to make it smaller, but it had also gotten too long, so there was definitely excess fabric, I will see if I have time to fix that before Visby, or if I let it stay like this and make the alterations a winter project. In the heat it was quite nice to have a dress that wasn't tight at all.