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...
So last week the British Isles were battered by the worst snow storm for several years. Several railway lines were shut for days, buses were stopped, roads closed, and Tesco ran out of milk and bread because we can't survive two days without wholemeal bloomers (hah!). It was hell... Obviously, re-enactors went MAD. There are some awesome shots of people in their finest winter gear taking a trip out to show off. I decided, in a small way, to follow suit. My Viking kit is the warmest clothing I have, so I went for my wraparound jacket, a linen undertunic, leg wraps, Jorvik type shoes, and a pillbox cap. Nicely set off by my orange Mammen embroidered cloak. I also went armed, because it's dangerous out there! Enjoy! Glorious snow victory! Snow horse was a Good horse. As a note, my Merchant of Menace-built Jorvik shoes stayed pretty much waterproof, warm as anything, and quite dry internally all day. They also carried me without slipping on ice, packed snow, ...
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