sister_raphael | Recent Entries

Progress is hard when you've mad sad discoveries about the thing you're working on. It kind of takes the will to do nice work and finish it.

I'm now sewing like mad on a green cloak. I unpicked the machine stitching to hand sew it and have discovered 9 tiny holes in the fabric. I knew it was recycled wool when I bought it, but hadn't seen all the holes until I started draping it and sewing on it, so now I'm sad that I paid a good price for a cloak that has holes in it already.

I had plans to put fancy jewelled brooches on it but I won't bother now, and it's already been dropped down to Not A Good Cloak already before it's even finished.

Sigh.

Photo to follow.

I've finished the grey hood except the buttons and buttonholes, but since they can be worn open anyway, that's it for now.

The liripipe (tail) is stitched on and I'm pretty pleased with it. It's a little patchy looking in some lights because the wool cloth was secondhand to start with. I'm still very happy with it.

Photo to follow.

This year at the Abbey Medieval Festival, my talk in the University Pavilion "Single Medieval Women: Who Were They And What Did They Do?" will have an Auslan interpreter, so I'm making some adjustments to my new talk to make it easier for our sign language person!

I was asked to provide a script of my talk, but often I don't stick to the actual notes. I made a version with more common language, rewording some academic speak into other words. I have made bold some phrases and quotes so the interpreter knows that these are specifically important.

It's not dumbing the talk down, but thoughtful rephrasing.

It also gives the interpreter a chance to ask questions beforehand if something seems unclear.

After a slow start to the day, I did manage to get a lot of computer work done today. I like to make a stash of social media posts preplanned to advertise our activities at the next event we have coming up mid July.

I've made a heap of separate ones for all of our activities and some same-but-different ones with my Medieval Woman banner instead of the Ex Libris Living History banner.

Our activites this year are:

Friday July 11
10am - 2pm Medieval Paper Doll Making (camp)
10am - 2pm Medieval Medicine Preparation (camp)

Saturday July 12
8.00am Medical Display opens (all day in camp)
9.30am Bath & Hygiene display opens (after Grand parade all day in camp)
10.30am Surgical Arrowhead Removal (camp)
1.30pm Bath & Beauty Show & Tell (camp)
2.30pm Medieval Q&A (Ask An Expert at the Pageant wagon)

Sunday July 13
8am onwards Medical Display opens (all day in camp)
9.30am onwards Bath & Hygiene display opens (after Grand Parade all day in camp)
10am Single Women: Who were they and what did they do? (University pavilion)
10.30am Surgical Arrowhead Removal (camp)
1.30pm Bath & Beauty Show & Tell (camp)
2.25pm Sickness In The Middle Ages: More Than The Black Death (University pavilion)
2.45pm Medieval Q&A (Ask An Expert at the University pavilion)

This is a pretty decent amount of activity considering it's essentially two of us doing all of it. Michelle does the medical things, and I do the lady things. We both have someone to mind our displays while we are off doing talks in other places, and we both have an in camp formal demonstration which we host in our displays. I'm very fortunate that my helper has learned a lot about my display and is able to speak well and answer questions in my absence.

This year, my sister and her two teens are joining us, so there will be a few extra hands. The down side of this is that because it's the first year after an extended break (and a lot has changed in the world of re-enactment in Australia and festivals) I am supplying everything the three of them need: clothes, eating utensils and a place to stay and camp. If it turns out that things have changed so much and she doesn't want to do it next year, my sister won't have spent a lot of money kitting herself and two teens out. If she has a great time and is keen to come again, she will want to sew her own clothes. She is a skilled seamstress and has been involved in costuming for a dance school for years.

It also means I have a lot of extra infrastructure to bring this year as well and managing the logistics of where beds will go along with other needed supplies. It's challenging. I could just cut my display back a notch for this year, but I really want to have a great display so my sister and the kids can see what it is I've been doing and how much work it is, but how nice the results are. I also need quiet spaces for the neuro spicy.

There are compromises for this year, but all in all, I think I'm heading in the right direction. There's no way it will all go up in one trip though, so it will be multiple trips to the site for setting up, and it's an hour from home in good traffic. More like two in peak hour, which is when I'll be travelling.

Anyway, wish me luck. I'm a ball of stress and my brain won't turn off at night like I really need it to. I'll be posting about my activities and more information about them specifically (with the lovely blue Medieval Woman banners too) over the next few weeks.

Another small job before the next event!

I bought this leaf green wool cloak which will be re stitched by hand, but I also will be sewing these jewelled brooches onto it. I had a mustard cloak I was going to use but it seemed like too much brown. Green is better, yes?

The brooches themselves were a very generous gift, and I absolutely can't believe they are for me! Here's what they will look like on the cloak:

Hey Book Lovers! Big special for the next 2 weeks!! You can score yourself a Kindle Copy of my book for a measly $2.99 and add it to your digital, treeless library!

The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women is a non-fiction book and was released by Mango Publishing a few years ago but continues to surprise new readers. Available in several languages and in the Braille Lending Library of Australia, you too can peek behind the image presented in Hollywood movies and mainstream medieval history.

A few people have asked what my stitching, the stab and flat fell, look like on the right side. This is what it looks like unwashed and unironed, which tends to make the sewing disappear just that little bit more. It shouldn't be done in a contrasting colour to decorate or pretty it up. Stitches were not a pretty feature.

This week I found this sweet 15th century manuscript image of what is almost exactly my roses curtains (which I based on two 14th century images) Isn't it just great? The manuscript is a German book of chess dated at between 1450 and 1500. Leipzig, UB, Ms 1595 for those who'd like to see more! Some historians try very hard to read a lot into the roses, citing that white or red denotes loyalty to a particular political side, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say not ALL roses represented the houses of York or Lancaster. Sometimes they were legitimately just a decorative feature.

It's very interesting that her cloak joiner seems to attach under the cloak, rather than with two external brooches like we usually see in both manuscripts and statues, although this could be an artistic representation rather that how it was worn in real time, which is one of the things about medieval art and clothing research which is tricky! When sources conflict, it may be an actual thing or just an artist who didn't know better..

Also a great looking settle she's sitting on. With a striped cushion (not a lambswool). And cute stripey rug, although it's quite possible that the rug is actually a large, striped cushion, which would be consistent with other artworks of women sitting in chairs. Again, the lack of tassels might indicate a rug, or just a cushion without tassels. An enormous amount of cushions in medieval art have tassels or Turk's head knots at the terminating corners.

Anyway, it's pretty nice for me to see my curtains represented in more art of the middle ages.

I know I should be doing a multitude of other things, but while I was sorting out some clothing for my sister's kids to wear to the big medieval event of the year, I thought that it might be nice to adjust some things I bought earlier in the year- a green wool, hedeby style hood and a generic leaf green cloak.

Both have aspects which aren't correct, historically, and the plan always was to use the wool and upgrade them when I had time in the future for use in my century, even if they aren't quite right for that. Extant items have gores in some of the same places, but smaller.

Since they were out and I had a movie on and didn't want to tackle anything really big, I started unpicking the machine-finished seams with a view to seeing how much work there was to upgrading sooner rather than later. So now those are on the potential horizon. I still have a number of other jobs to do before Abbey Medieval Festival but maybe the green hood will become my next work lunchtime sewing project after I finish the grey hood.

I'm still finishing the Polish kontusz which is so very, very long overdue but MUST be done by July, (and would be a surprise for next weekend if I could manage it.)

I have a lot of social media to do for my publisher, and have been slowed down with cleaning for house inspections and falling off a ladder which resulted in a lot of swelling and pain but no broken bones or internal organ injury according to the X-Rays and CT scan I had in Emergency.

It's bitterly cold here at the moment and my little kitty has become a heater hog. Wherever it is, so she goes. I can't afford to have it on all the time, of course, and usually it's just to warm up the space before bed, but I've had it on a number of times through the day while I sew. Other times working with a hot water bottle on my lap seems to be nice.

Update of the new grey wool hood.

It's coming along quite nicely now. I have buttonholes to add, buttons themselves and the liripipe tail, but the inside seams are stitched down and it's partially hemmed.

I've been working on a grey wool hood based on the London finds. It's been a lunchtime and on the bus sewing project as it's small and portable. I bought the hood with a canvas lining, but it was an earlier time period for me, so I have had a bit of an unpick and reshape.

Here's the stab stitching of the linen facing band for the buttons (above) and the sewing down of the seams with a flat fell stitch below.

Single medieval women in the form of new widows were often in a position to travel. In fact, one particular widow was told by her husband on his deathbed that as soon as he dies, she was to make all haste and not wait, and visit five shrines in holy places for the good of his soul. He not only named the places she was to go, but pre-paid her expenses for all the trips.

Our widow was instructed to not wait at home and observe the usual grieving practices, she was to leave right away! He felt that he hadn't made amends for his sins at these places personally, and so it was very urgent that his widow was to go post haste.

What could she do but pack her bags and comply? ... and here she was, a newly single woman out seeing the world and not a person could censure her for it. It was her husband's wish. She absolutely could not refuse.

Medieval ampulla like this one from my collection, which you can see here in The Gilbert Collection, were favourite pilgrimage souvenirs. They contained water blessed from shrines and it was hoped that the water would have protective qualities and cure sickness for those at home who could not travel to the shrines themselves.

In the case that a widow loved her husband dearly, forced travel at the time when she would have preferred to be at home surrounded by her loved ones and family, would perhaps have been just awful. In the case that it was an arranged marriage or the husband had not been a kind man, perhaps a trip away might have saved her the effort of pretending to grieve.

False grieving was commented on by clergymen who wrote that some widows force pretend tears at the funeral whilst at the same time looking for a new husband before the old is in the ground or, and this is a double edged sword here, wailing extensively because the husband has died and the widow and children have no source of income and no means to live without him.

Honestly, this is a legitimate concern, but was interpreted by some as being selfish. Thoughts should be firmly directed on the deceased, not on herself, was the feeling.

Without a doubt, one of the most famous of single medieval women who travelled is our literary Prioress, a creation of 14th century writer, Chaucer. An illumination of her can be seen here.

Her character inspired by a actual historical person, and the description of her lavish personal accoutrements and love of the finer things in life, and we find her in visiting dioces records where the nuns are furiously complaining about Eglentyne.

Whilst Chaucer's Madame Eglantine was a composite figure of some of the best and worst things associated with nuns at this time, our Eglentyne, the third daughter of a well-to-do person, became a nun at the tender age of fifteen and lived a reasonably civil life for ten years or so before being promoted to Prioress.

And this is where she got unruly.

The nuns under her were very unhappy. She was selling wood to outsiders, selling off the best silver spoons, dressing like a secular women, wearing far too much jewellery and taking so many trips outside their cloistered walls, that it was sending the establishment broke.

For more information about single medieval women who travelled, there's a chapter in my book, the Secret Lives of Single Medieval Women, out in most countries now or available directly from Mango Publishing in the USA.

Another small job for the big festival this year is making a few more little stools for use around the camp. I have some very nice little chest chairs I am bringing also, but a couple of spare stools are needed as well.

So far I've got the stools put together, and just need to stain and wax them, so that's this afternoons job!

The little linen early 14th century gowne is finished.

I stayed up late and after completing the side seams and hem, pinned in the reinforcing strip around the neck, stitched it into place and made two little eyelets for a brooch closure. I'm very happy with it.

I have cut a gore for the back of the gowne, but since it's being worn by a slender young lady in a few months, I feel it isn't really needed. Before I was it, I will split up the back and put the gore in, as the amount of growing likely to happen before next year and the next wear will be substantial. The extra gore will make a nice flow over her shape, whereas this year, the young lady is still quite slender.

Anyway, it's finished, and I'll post up a photo of it soonish.

I bought a tent this week!

My sister and the twins are coming along to the Abbey Medieval Festival this year and I needed some sleeping options for them, the best of which was putting them all in my large pavilion and making a change room to the side there and filling the rest with beds.

The biggest issue with this is that my display would then need to go into my round tent, which is possible but produces a sub-standard display. The inside walls of the "room" being rounded offer a lot of wasted space, so after a lot of hard thought, I decided what I really needed was a square marquee with walls of the same size and the round tent. The corners and flat walls echo an inside room rather than a tent, which better fits the display.

Tents aren't cheap, especially ones suited to re-enactment. I know what you're thinking, square tents aren't really right anyway. They do turn up extremely scarcely in some manuscripts, but even then, they have a different roof line and are rectangular, like the pattern I based by big pavilion on. My round tent (which is perfectly normal for re-enactment) will be used not this year, but in future years for any number of things, but I decided that having the options of a square one for interstate displays where there is little room, and the roof can be used without walls for shading an eating area, if needed.

It's a Past Tents tent, which I bought from Medieval Fight Club, as it was already on Australian soil and therefore guaranteed to arrive well before time. The canvas is very thick and it looks very waterproof! I have yet to erect the tent, but today I'm busy cutting and painting a new centre pole from hardwood to help support the weight of the canvas.

More simple running stitching makes for a boring photo, but it gets things done!

A question in this week about the lines of stitching often seen on the outside of medieval re-enactors' clothing. It's not decorative, it's the reverse of the seam being stitched down.

Whether you fold an extra time to encase the raw edge, or not, you will see a faint line on the good side. Two lines indicate wool or a thicker fabric where the seam is opened and laid flat before stitching down.

My photo shows the seam in progress, unironed, with the stitching almost invisible from the good side. Stitching seams down affects the drape of the garment, as overlocked seams encourage the fabric to fold inwards along the seams whereas stitched down seams encourage the fabric to continue the flow of the fabric.

Later this week, stitching a hem! Who knew sewing was THIS exciting?!

Marking out some decorative daggues on the bottom of a man's surcote. Time consuming, but the result will be worth it!

and here's the finished result...

Looks like tonight will be another long night of catching up here. I've got a few things to do today and I'm planning to add some lovely oak leaf cut outs to the bottom of a navy-blue surcote for my nephew to wear.

Includes hose, shoes, circlets and brooches, veils, pouches, belts. If I wear it, it's counted.

My advice, guess high! (I don't have the number yet, but I have a LOT of stuff.) World wide. I will contact you directly, if you are a winner!

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Rosalie's Medieval Woman

Author Things, Medieval Website & Sewing Tutorials

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1: It's not easy being green...
2: Brooch bling!
3: Progress is hard.
4: Single Medieval Women talk in Auslan!
5: Productivity
6: Stitching views of both sides of the hood
7: Roses curtains in art!
8: Wool hood continues
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10: Tent

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Rosalie Gilbert

Author & Medieval History Enthusiast

Recent Entries

Progress is hard.

Wool hood progress.

Single Medieval Women talk in Auslan!

Productivity

Brooch bling!

EOFY Kindle Sale!

Stitching views of both sides of the hood

Roses curtains in art!

It's not easy being green...

Grey Wool Hood

Wool hood continues

Single Medieval Widows Travelled

Stools

Mauve linen gowne finished!

Tent

Stand up.

Mauve linen kirtle stitches inside and out.

Daggues on a surcote

Tonight

Birthday Competition Book Giveaway!