Little Welsh Viking

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 ...

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, ...

It's made of linen, I sewed it by hand, and it's the simplest, shortest piece of kit I've made in YEARS. Hot. Make a coif: it's fantastic!

And it is good trouser news... So, I went to Toronto last month (hence the brief hiatus. Sorry), and managed to get some serious, serious  fabric bargains. There are a few shops on and around Queen Street which offer incredible prices on genuinely lovely fabric. Wools, silks, linens, even some thread and notions, and they were CHEAP. One of the bargains I got was some gorgeous superfine wool tabby, for the equivalent of £7.50 per metre. The lady at the shop even burn tested it without prompting, and was very helpful to me and Madame while we were having a poorly day. Shout out to Fabric By Designers for their helpfulness! So nice. So soft. So wool. This stuff is beautifully soft, drapes gorgeously, and I grabbed a yard and a half of it to make my Viking trousers, because it's ideal! I wish I'd bought more now...ah well! I measured them based off my housemate's pair, as I mentioned in an earlier post, as they're ideal in terms of the look they provide. ...

Right, time for some later stuff than last time. This post is about my late 14th century cotehardie. Basically it's a big wool coat to go over your tunic. Speculum Humanae Salvationis. Cotehardies all over! The design is going to be based on mostly manuscript depictions, such as "The Romance of Alexander", and "Speculum Humanae Salvationis". It will also be based on some memorials, and on the experience of other re-enactors. As far as I can tell, these things were pretty simple. I'm not bothering with the grand assiette sleeves ,as they're not necessary for the period, so this will essentially be a tunic, slightly shaped to hug the body, with narrow, button closure sleeves. Ho hum. Let's liven this bad boy up a bit...PARTI-COLOUR! Speculum Humanae Salvationis. Cotes! Yes! A half-and-half! This will be a silly coat! Sorry: "cote". I love parti-colour. It's a silly idea, it's extra work, and it's amazing! The...