Sorry for the hiatus, readers! It's been a whirlwind time at Chez LittleWelshViking. I've started a PhD, travelled across the sea to Canada, put on a play wot I wrote, and all the while been working on re-enactment clothes. Let's talk about the latest project for now, and I'll do some more catch-up posts later in the month. I'm doing a crazy mad embroidery. Like, properly insane. It's called the Llangorse textile, and it's a well-preserved piece of very fine linen (c63tpi) from the 10th century. It was burned and buried on a crannog (island castle) site in Llangors, near Brecon. The linen is embroidered with fine, unspun 2-ply silk thread, in imitation of the fine brocaded silks of the Middle East in the period. All the pictures below are courtesy of Amgueddfa Cymru (the Welsh National Museum) unless otherwise stated. Now this thing is fascinating for three main reasons: 1. We have very little early medieval textile evidence ...
Goodness me! Sorry about the hiatus there, everyone. I've got lots of news! As some will know, I've moved house to Scotland recently. That's pretty much taken life over for the last month or so, as it's a big move for me, and a stressful thing to do at the best of times. It's been made especially difficult because winter always gets a bit dark and cold and sad for me. The black dog is an infrequent, but vicious little visitor to my happy head, and takes up too much of it. Anyway, this blog is meant to be about old clothes, so let's talk sources, shall we? The Old English Hexateuch (AKA MS Cotton Claudius B) is an amazing resource, available for free on the British Library website. It has beautiful, full colour pictures of 11th century Saxon clothing for both the ladies and the gents. You want to see contemporary pictures of what C11th Saxons were wearing? Look here. Fabulous. Truly fabulous. Typical Saxon appearance: tunics, hose, dress and mantle, b...
The pink tunic has had a LOT of work done to it. The neckline was chopped a little too deep, so I decided to put a fairly typical 11th century facing on it. I used some pale blue linen for it because, as the wonderful Isabel Northwode suggested, linen is a bastard to dye deep colours. The eventual aim is to get this thing embroidered with pearls, silks, rich designs and the like, but for now, dearest interpeople, I just want it wearable! The drape of the tunic works nicely. It's a touch snug for my current under tunic, so I may need to wear it "commando" or make a more snug undershirt for it, which is OK, because I have a linen stash and itchy fingers! The bottom hem. Now the rub appears! Remember my last post about the Old English Hexateuch? Well, I kind of fell in love with those side-split, trimmed tunics, so this bad lad is going to be one! I know, I know, it's a bit of a fanciful piece of kit considering how much evidence we have for silk tun...
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