Medieval Festival in Lund

Last weekend we went to an event in Lund, a two day festival. I had made one more shirt and two more bibs for B, and a simple, but slightly creepy looking cloth doll, which is a good and rather liked chewing toy. 

I also started on another cotte for him on Thursday, and finished it on Saturday, as he was taking a nap in my lap. It’s partially lined with linen as his other cotte, and closes with seven cloth buttons. It’s made from the little fabric left from making my yellow kirtle, and Tobias’ yellow liripipe hood.

The site for the event, a park in the town, was a rather nice one, large enough not to feel crowded, but small enough to not make the distances too great. It’s location in the town was good in that it made it easy for lots of people to come to the festival, but less good in that we had our night sleep disturbed by loud passers by once or twice (the most memorable being some kids shouting something about the Lord of the Rings when startled by stumbling on our camp). The park has plenty of beautiful old trees, and during the early morning and late evening hours, animals came out to graze. One very big hare in particular caught our interest.  

 Picture by my father in law, J.W.

The weather was good for the most part. The rain poured down just as we were driving to the sight, and a few drops fell as we pitched our tents, but up till the hour before the event closed, we hardly had any rain at all. The temperature was a bit tricky though. At times it was quite hot, at least in the sun, so B wore nothing but linens, but at other times, wool was very comfortable to wear. I put B in modern tights and/or needlebound socks when it was cooler, as well as his cotte and, occasionally, hood. 

 Picture by my father in law, J.W.

As with most medieval festivals in Sweden, it’s more of a children’s festival with a “medieval” theme than giving a good representation of how a medieval market might have looked like. The same is the case with the visitors. The majority is wearing modern clothes, of course, and most of the people dressed up look more like something escaped from a Disney movie than anything remotely medieval. Apparently, anything not glaringly mainstream 21^st century has got to be medieval. Ah well. Some people were doing a pretty good job, and a couple of times our eyes were gladdened by the sight of a few truly well dressed people. Tobias jokingly compared ours being the only group truly trying to be period with us being like the early Christian missionaries coming into the Nordic countries to convert the heathen. 

 Picture by my father in law, J.W.

 I don’t mind it being a children’s festival, but I do mind that the organizers claim they aim for everything to be as period as possible, when most things are not. A greater knowledge of history is clearly needed on their part.

We as a group had a good time though, as always with such lovely people; cooking, mending equipment, working on our different crafts, and in the case of me, Tobias and another couple of parents, tending to our babies. B was an angel, being in a good mood most of the time, sleeping well during the nights (warm and cosy in two layers of clothes, warm socks, mittens, a winter hat, sleeping with me on our big straw mattress, sharing my blankets, with Tobias on our narrow straw mattress right on his other side), and tolerably well during the days. He looked adorable in his little outfit, and he and the other baby must have been our best attractions, poor things. 

 Picture by my father in law, J.W.

Tobias took part in the weapon and fighting lectures, worked in the camp and was generally agreeable, which is more than what could be said for me.

 Picture by my father in law, J.W.

I was very tired, my back hurt like mad, and B wanted to be in my arms most of the time (not surprising with so many strangers and so many new things going on around him all day), so I missed quite a lot of what happened, couldn't help with the work in the camp, and all these things combined made me rather cross. On Saturday evening the tiredness and back ache was so bad I claimed I would stay at home from our next event, and never do living history again. Ever. Of course, by the following morning, after some sleep and subsiding of the pain, I thought living history the most charming hobby in the world. 

  Picture by my father in law, J.W.

There is something very agreeable about hearing wood being chopped, and smelling the smoke from the fire as you’re getting up. Wearing wool dresses in the cool morning hours as the sun is rising and drying the dew from the grass, conversing with friends – it really is a pleasure. I’m still ashamed of my bad temper and poor behaviour though.

 Lessons learned:

- Bring a baby sling next time, to save your back. I had planned to buy twill linen or hemp for one (the ones we have being far from period), but the trader didn’t have the fabric I wanted with them, but on another festival, in Norway. Too bad.

- Put B on a blanket more. I did this when possible, but as the weather had been less than fine all week, the ground was damp, and as we were using all of our blankets when sleeping, I didn’t want to get them wet. So, bring an extra blanket next time, and avoid back ache.

- Bibs are good (if we hadn’t had any, we’d have had to change B’s clothes a number of times), but having enough of them is better. We had to wash bibs several times, to make sure there was a clean and dry one when needed. I finished a new one yesterday.

- Something to cover the nappy is a good idea. Not necessary, but a good idea if there is time and energy to make it. With such a small child, the cotte or shirt rides up easily. Most visitors don’t mind (they’d probably have minded much more had we used period cloth nappies), but it would look better.

- Bring chocolate. Combating a bad mood is easier if your blood sugar is not too low. Raisins did a tolerable job, but chocolate being chocolate, it always cheers you up, no matter what the cause of your bad temper :)

- Don’t stress with last minute projects. Begin in good time, so you’re not stressed and tired as the event starts. Consider if the item you want to make really is essential, or would just be nice to have. If a project has you stressed from running out of time, drop it. It’ll make you more relaxed as the event starts. This one I’m not very good at…

Baby's Wool Hood

I have gotten far less sewing done than I had hoped lately, but quite as much as expected, as B is teething and thus rather clingy from time to time, my poor dear. Nothing for it but to give him a lot of attention (besides singing and playing, he likes reading – will he grow to be a bookworm like his parents?) and cuddles when he’s awake, and try to get house work and sewing done when he’s sleeping – which because of the aching teeth has been less than usual. Thank Heaven for modern pain medication when things are bad, or he’d hardly eat or sleep at all some days. I know all mothers (hopefully) feel like this about their little ones, but B really is the most adorable, lovable, beautiful and sweet baby boy in the world. I am so blessed to be his mother.

Anyway, this morning I finished B’s wool hood. It’s made of the same fabric and in the same style as my London hood. Now, buttoned hoods seem to have been more of a women’s fashion in the 14^th century, but after carefully weighing the pros and cons, I decided to make it buttoned anyway. A buttoned hood is much easier to put on and take of, especially if B should happen to sleep, and the clothes of very little children don’t seem to have been all that gender specific. 

I wanted to line the hood in wool, as linen gets cold and icky when damp, and our Swedish summers are chilly and wet as often as they are hot and dry. As the weather forecast for our event next weekend looks rather less than promising, warm, comfortable clothes are an absolute must. I wanted very soft, non itchy wool as lining for the hood, and ran into the perfect thing in a charity shop a while back. It was a fine, thin, soft, 100% wool scarf. 

 I sewed the lining to the hood in the same way as in my own hood, and as the scarf was brown, and the lining in my hood is brown, we will have a sort of Mummy and Baby fashion thing going on. That was certainly not the plan, but one uses what one has at hand.  

 

What I had at hand wasn’t all that much, so the hood is pieced here and there.

The hood closes with thirteen small, self fabric buttons and buttonholes. I didn’t feel like measuring where to place them, nor how big the buttonholes should be, I just wanted to get the hood over and done with, so I placed pins at roughly even spaces, cut and sewed. Neither did I care on witch side the buttons and buttonholes ended up - it wasn't a thing one seems to have thought about much at the time. Not my prettiest work ever (I doubt two buttonholes are the same size), but it’ll hardly show on a child in constant motion.

The whole hood is hand sewn, of course, using waxed linen thread. It is pretty large for B at the moment, so he ought to be able to use it for the next couple of years as well.

Some Old Footwear

Continuing the theme of footwear from my last post, today I'll show my two pairs of women's short hose and my pair of pattens. 

 The green hose were made years and years ago, from thin tabby wool, but being stitched with the wrong kind of thread, has been re-sewn and all seams felled with unbleached, waxed linen thread, my usual choice for 14^th century sewing. 

The soles wore out last summer, so I sewed on new ones in thicker greyish wool on top of the old - I think the look of the contrasting soles is rather nice.

 As I wrote about last year, I made a new pair of short hose, from melton wool left over from making Tobias' tunic. I did manage to sew them together on the morning of the event, but not to stitch down the seam allowances. I've now done so, but as the fabric doesn't fray, I've left the top of the hose raw. As I had a big belly in the way at the time, I didn't manage to make these fit as well as the green pair, but never mind. Should I ever attend a cold event I would probably be able to wear these over the green ones...

Both pairs of hose are cut on the bias and are held up by garters under the knees. As the garters are not to be seen, they are simple things made from wool finger loop braid. The fact that the braid is a bit stretchy make it very good for garters as one would not wish to have the circulation cut of. 

I also finished my pattens quite a while ago, probably close to two years. They are likely nothing a patten maker who had any sort of professional pride would have sold, but rather what a clumsy amateur or apprentice might have made. Wood work is not my best talent. I don't think the wood (pine?) is the best choice for pattens, but like so many times before, I've had to make do with what have been at hand. 

I've never tried their usefulness, as the events I've attended since finishing them has been sunny and dry for the most part, except for one, and then I forgot to bring them. Ah well. I think they might be a tad too low to offer good protection though.

And even if it rains I'm not sure I'll dare to use them as long as I have a baby to carry, it's likely to be very slippery with these on. On the other hand, so are leather soles... Hm. If I ever make new pattens I'll make them higher and with the "heels" closer together for ease of walking, but for now, these will do.

Needlebound Baby Socks

This morning I finished a pair of needlebound wool socks for B. They're not very pretty, I'm afraid (mostly because I was careless, watching movies at the same time and accidentally jumped a stitch here and there....), but they fit and will keep his little feet warm.

I took the pictures when he was taking a nap after his first morning meal, so he was still in his pyjamas.

They are slightly too long in the feet, so I don't think he'll outgrow them this season. Next item on his clothing list: a wool hood.

Medieval Baby Clothes

In a few weeks we’ll be attending our first event of the season. It’ll be a short one for us; we’ll just be there the one day. For that one day, I think what Tobias and I have will suffice (though we could both use a few items later), but B needs everything. 

So far I’ve made him a little linen shirt, the sleeves hemmed so deep I’ll be able to let them down for him to wear it next year. Hopefully it’s wide enough in the body and sleeves to still fit him then, and since it’s now down to his feet, it should be a good length for walking by next summer. The shirt is made from far finer fabric than Tobias’ and my linens, since I don’t want it to scratch. It has a deep slit down the front, which will have to be closed in some way. I made the slit as I don’t want the shirt to slip down his shoulders, so they’ll be exposed to the sun or cold. B will need more shirts for our longer events in the summer, but for just one day, I hope it’ll be enough. We’ll see; if there’s time I might make another one just in case.

I’ve also made him a linen bib, made from coarser linen than the shirt. As it is cut down from an old head scarf, it’s worn quite soft. The bib is based on a couple of 16^th century illustrations (waaaay to late for us, I know) and the fact that little B pukes. A lot. He’s also started to drool – we think he’s teething. I really need some protection for his wool cotes, so even if I haven’t seen any bibs in 14^th century art, I will use them. I asked the other members of the group, and they seemed to agree it was one of those rare occasions when “it is likely they….” is acceptable as a reason for doing something. Usually we try to find at least two independent sources from the right year frame and geographical area before making anything. Anyway, I’ll have to make more bibs, one isn’t enough by far.

A couple of coifs have also been made, both from scraps of linen. The first one is pieced at the right side of the head, but I wasn’t happy with how it fit, so I made a new one, which I’m happier with. 

The funny thing is, when researching children’s coifs, I couldn’t find a single picture from the 14^th century, or even the 13^th, and just one from the 15th. 

 French, ca 1475

I’m not saying there aren’t any just that I didn’t find them. If any of you know of any, please point me in the right direction! My research is probably not that thorough. Now, almost all the little children portrayed are shown indoors, and the one child I saw wearing a coif was playing outside – that might be a reason, but as I said, there are probably several pictures I haven’t seen. I think I'm so used to the idea that in the past almost everyone wore something on their heads most of the time, but in this case I couldn’t find much proof of it. But, as we’ll be outdoors for all of our events, B will have to have something on his head. A scaled down mans coif is plausible, I think.

And, lastly, I’ve made him a woollen cotte, cut down from an old skirt, and by necessity pieced in several places. 

I did not want the neck opening to be too wide over the shoulders for the same reason I didn’t want the shirt to be, so I made a slit in front. It closes with three cloth buttons.

The cotte is loosely based on several illustrations and sculptures of older babies and toddlers in floor or ankle length cotes. 

 German, ca 1325-50

The buttoned neck I also found some proof of, but except in men’s wear, only on one child, a sculpture of Jesus from Spain.

 Spanish, ca 1350-1400

As I don’t want B’s soft baby skin to itch from the slightly scratchy wool, I’ve lined the cotte around the neck and shoulders with worn, very soft linen. The rest of him should be protected by the linen shirt. As I don't want the lining to show from the outside, it's only attatched at the neck and armscye.

I’ve no idea if lining part of a garment like this is period or not, but in this case, I frankly don’t care. Living history is my and my husband’s hobby, and our child will not have to be uncomfortable because of it. I do however want his clothes to be or look as period correct as possible, so if I can cheat without it showing, great.

Speaking of period correctness – had we really lived in the Middle Ages, little B would still be in swaddling. (On a side note: how did babies have the opportunity to develop motor skills when swaddled? Sure, they were allowed some exercise when having nappies changed, and the arms were released after a couple of months, but still… B only turned around from tummy to back a few days ago, and he’s had over four months of freedom of arms and legs to develop strength. Hmm.) We’re already deviating from period correctness as we won’t let him suffer swaddling, unaccustomed to it as he is, but is putting him in toddler’s clothes a few months prematurely; sometimes, cheating is just the right thing to do.

Except more shirts and bibs, I plan to make him a pair of braies (or three) to cover his modern nappy, another cotte, a hood and a pair of needlebound socks. Good thing children’s clothes are small…

Stay at Home Mum... what did you do today?

I found this poem today, and though, for me, not correct in all it's tiny details, the overall air of it certainly is.

Today I left some dishes dirty,

The bed got made around 3:30.
The diapers soaked a little longer,
The odor grew a little stronger.
The crumbs I spilled the day before,
Are staring at me from the floor.
The fingerprints there on the wall,
Will likely be there still next fall.
The dirty streaks on those window panes,
Will still be there next time it rains.
Shame on you, you sit and say,
Just what did you do today?

I nursed a baby till he slept,
I held a toddler while he wept,
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.
I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess it’s true.

Unless you think that what I’ve done,
Might be important to someone,
With bright brown eyes and soft blond hair,
If that is true … I’ve done my share.

Author Unknown

This is the difference between a housewife and a stay at home Mum. As Tobias wisely said, "you're primarily at home as a mother, not a housekeeper". Something to keep in mind when the general mess is getting to you - it's all about priorities :)

Oh yeah, and my camera is working again, so there will be a sewing related post soon.

Technical Difficulties

My camera has decided to be uncooperative for a while, and we can’t find the battery charger for Tobias’. I have been sewing a bit (medieval baby clothes mostly), but I’ll wait to post about that until I can take pictures.

I can report that the nursing slits in the shift worn under my front lacing dresses work pretty well. Tobias and I gave a lecture on the Middle Ages (in 14^th century clothes, of course) to my sister in law and her classmates, 11-12 years old, a few days ago. Naturally, B came with us, and had to eat just before and after. I might have positioned the slits slightly wrong, but I’ll correct that on my next one, and it’s no problem using the one I have as it is. Good to know, as the re-enacting season starts soon :)