Washday blues. The Song of the Re-enactor.

[sister_raphael]

Hand-washing is annoying, yet here I am hand washing a silk veil and linen barbette which I loaned out and have been returned to me with make-up stains all over them. Everything I own that is hand stitched is hand washed and I prefer to hand wash for a really medieval experience.  It's slower, but it really looks after my things better! Less dye is sucked out of it too.

Hand washing my medieval clothes takes longer for sure, but it also lets me see and feel how fabric and clothes handle when wet too, and I feel there's value in that from a learning perspective.

While we are on the topic of washing medieval clothes, I sometimes feel that although medieval laundering techniques weren't completely dreadful, there is a tendency in re-enactment to bleach and starch the heck out of every piece of clothing, so a great many groups have every single person wearing brand-new and pristine colours and whites. I feel in my heart that this is not a terribly accurate portrayal of a camp. others have clothes that look like they've not been washed ever. Also not an accurate representation, I feel.

While I don't subscribe to the dirty mud-stained grime of medieval movies, it's obvious that women cooking in a camp might have clean but stained aprons and warn and well washed clothes which aren't bright as new. Their Sunday best is not what they are cooking in. The clothes should reflect that.

Comments

[siglinde999]

Patching and darning are well documented in the medieval period too. Cloth was valuable, and you didn’t just get something new whenever you liked. I suspect there should be a lot less colour for everyday, as well. It is much easier to bleach stains out of white linen or wool than it is to get those stains out of coloured cloth. And the dyes themselves could be expensive. For many people, a bit of coloured embroidery or a woven band of trim would be plenty fancy.