tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26702134865481238192024-03-18T15:01:08.263-04:00Loose Threads: Yet Another Costuming BlogThis blog is about historic costume, primarily Western costume, from the dawn of history until about 1600 C.E. Certain exceptions may apply.Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.comBlogger630125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-2613885723204869302024-01-28T17:49:00.003-05:002024-02-19T17:43:02.090-05:00An Excellent Lucet Article<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHmH9bNFaMUpQjHSemqdVmW6Z4FEkbrWo9g1nH7OWEqy7FD7x-4Rij_V-tKhyphenhyphenEhm8Cz7jNER7-t6qyS-RzFOgil9J4_U3Pa7tXG-7PdMHK6RPmnjBXw7ObQvQxZIgzZmW5LiWrhRqy2HWa2frRZAQ5Ddnlq85XE2-3OGNvXvc6VvYi4dg9x4d49m0wD8Q/s220/Lucet.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="165" data-original-width="220" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwHmH9bNFaMUpQjHSemqdVmW6Z4FEkbrWo9g1nH7OWEqy7FD7x-4Rij_V-tKhyphenhyphenEhm8Cz7jNER7-t6qyS-RzFOgil9J4_U3Pa7tXG-7PdMHK6RPmnjBXw7ObQvQxZIgzZmW5LiWrhRqy2HWa2frRZAQ5Ddnlq85XE2-3OGNvXvc6VvYi4dg9x4d49m0wD8Q/w200-h150/Lucet.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Common modern lucet.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Lucet" (or "lucette") is the name given, at least in English-language sources, to a type of device used to turn yarn into cord. The photograph to the right, from Wikipedia, shows a type of lucet that is common nowadays, but other forms have been proposed.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjiyFp_OThatNcaZTdNnQKeRUnwkEq0zzFmU_CBI2chGL4th_WsI8lltn0Ri97JUO9EMCIOUoSUkQP6B6hS1EFggHrsF_MJMVssk653pZs6AYSuD3MlpnjcQnMnGNJo-oj9fd-weJKuOZzoSvlUOH1qj-AtE4aQH41VJEb6VfklDaphyphenhyphen43EUjlZGuuQHq/s300/Lucet_from_the_Ark%C3%A9os_museum.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="172" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrjiyFp_OThatNcaZTdNnQKeRUnwkEq0zzFmU_CBI2chGL4th_WsI8lltn0Ri97JUO9EMCIOUoSUkQP6B6hS1EFggHrsF_MJMVssk653pZs6AYSuD3MlpnjcQnMnGNJo-oj9fd-weJKuOZzoSvlUOH1qj-AtE4aQH41VJEb6VfklDaphyphenhyphen43EUjlZGuuQHq/w114-h200/Lucet_from_the_Ark%C3%A9os_museum.JPG" width="114" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">10th c. "lucet" find</span><span style="font-size: x-small;">.</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I became interested in lucets because it has been often proposed (though not proven) that the Viking cultures used them to make cord. While fork-shaped finds of bone have been made in Viking contexts, none have been, to my knowledge, associated with cord production. The only type of device arguably linked to cord-making is a small tube with posts or prongs at the top (such as the second image from Wikipedia, a 10th century find from northern France). </span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today, I found a long article about lucets that was written by an archaeologist. The article is called "Brief History of the Lucet Braiding Tool." It can be found on the <a href="https://www.lrcrafts.it/">"LRCrafts website</a> and read <a href="https://www.lrcrafts.it/lucet-cordmaking-history/"> here.</a> It systematically discusses the evidence for lucets, complete with numerous photographs, some I have not seen before (including some from Southern Europe). It even includes an instructional video on how to use the fork-shaped lucet shown above!<br /><br />I am looking forward to reading this article in full, and I suggest that readers interested in the lucet, as well as in Viking and medieval clothing history read it as well. <br /></span></div>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-18921059077278033002023-12-11T14:25:00.032-05:002023-12-11T14:46:48.719-05:00New Wonders<p style="text-align: justify;">Now that our local election is over (don't ask) and I have less pressing law business, maybe I can resume at least posting about historical costume again.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Just today, I found a wonderful website; a collection of articles, in English and Czech, about various issues relating to Northern European culture and costume. It's called Project Forlǫg and you can find it <a href="https://sagy.vikingove.cz">here</a>. It's aimed at reenactors, but is of interest to historical costumers and is useful to anyone interested in the early medieval period in northern Europe. Further, it's possible to search for articles on particular topic. Topics that I have looked at so far include life expectancy; women's ages for first and last childbirths; notes on early medieval women's dress; and articles on period armor and weaponry. Some of the articles are bibliographies of articles about a particular issue.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Nor have the organizers limited their outreach to that website. The following text appears on the website's Editorial Board subpage, describing the resources they are making available to reenactors and researchers. I reproduce it here with its original links intact:</p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>"Hello.</blockquote></div><div class="elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix" style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>By this, we would like to thank you for visiting the project that tries to shed light on various topics connected with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Middle_Ages"><i>Early Medieval period</i></a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_reenactment"><i>historical reenactment</i></a>.
<blockquote>We are personally devoted to Viking Age studies for more than fifteen
years. Our internet journal is registered under ISSN 2788-3000, DOI: <a href="https://doi.org/10.59500/forlog">https://doi.org/10.59500/forlog</a> and is archived by the National Library of the Czech Republic as part of the <a href="https://www.webarchiv.cz/en/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Webarchiv.cz</a> project.</blockquote></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Articles
presented on the websites oscillate between scientific and educational
or popular style. Our priorities are plainness, factuality and humility
to sources. Our results are based on the combinations of different
sources. The primary goal of the project is the popularization,
myth-busting and constructive criticism. Secondly, we aim to create a
compendium of information about the Early Middle Ages. We hold the
opinion that the reenactment and science can cooperate and mutually
enrich each other. <a href="https://sagy.vikingove.cz/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/kodex-1.pdf" style="background-color: white; font-family: var( --e-global-typography-accent-font-family ), Sans-serif; font-weight: var( --e-global-typography-accent-font-weight ); letter-spacing: var( --e-global-typography-accent-letter-spacing );">You can read the code of this project by clicking on the link.</a></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>As we think it is important to discuss about the past and to find the consensus, we encourage you to write comments here<i> </i>or at <i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/422184364580661/">Viking Age</a> </i>Facebook group. The list of articles can be seen in <i><a href="https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/sitemap/">Sitemap</a></i>. In case you would like to support the project, please continue to <i><a href="https://sagy.vikingove.cz/en/sponsorship/">Sponsorship</a></i>. We also offer those interested the opportunity to use our physical library, the catalog of which can be found <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12Vu5MrFEnWf-y4i2SO-nBbv_9fR5PZAmmE9hSuCpbVE/edit#gid=0">here</a>.</blockquote></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> I plan to check their website for new material as often as I can, and urge those of my readers who are interested in the early medieval period to do likewise. Thanks to Alfrun of <a href="http://awanderingelf.weebly.com/blog-my-journey">A Wandering Elf</a> for posting about this website; that is how I learned about it. <br /></div>
Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-23292147372286879032023-09-10T16:43:00.002-04:002023-09-11T21:58:42.901-04:00Fashioning The Viking Age<p style="text-align: justify;">Happy September!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">During the summer I was too busy to think about historic costume, let alone blog about it. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So it was a delightful experience to learn from the University of Copenhagen's website, that the ongoing Center for Textile Research project on Viking Age clothing (called "Fashioning the Viking Age") has led to the publication of two books so far: "Fibres, Tools & Textiles," and "From Analysis to Reconstruction." Both are available for free download <a href="https://ctr.hum.ku.dk/research-programmes-and-projects/previous-programmes-and-projects/fashioning-the-viking-age/">on this website.</a> Alternatively, one can order paper copies of the books (though not for free). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I haven't had time to read either book yet, but they are wonderfully illustrated with full-color photographs of actual finds as well as reconstructions. Enjoy!<br /> </p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-18114728986601856622023-06-13T17:38:00.002-04:002023-06-13T17:41:55.998-04:00New Ancient Rome Channel<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MSVHtjYLXkY" width="656" youtube-src-id="MSVHtjYLXkY"></iframe></div><p style="text-align: justify;">The video embedded in this post is from a newish YouTube channel called <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@ImperiumRomanumYT/videos">Imperium Romanum</a>.
The presenters are based in the Netherlands, and plan to increase
their production of videos in both quantity and quality and to cover all
aspects of ancient Rome, including clothing and food. <br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;">Above, I have chosen to show you a short documentary-style video about the clothing of ancient Roman soldiers and gives a good
overview of the factors that drove Roman military clothing design. Check the channel out if you have any interest in ancient Rome; the videos are short and fun to watch and contain good information.<br /></div><p></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-8343880732385861682023-04-08T17:48:00.006-04:002023-04-15T01:35:18.961-04:00Stone Age Fabric<p style="text-align: justify;">Happy Easter! It's been a long time since I've had time to blog and the energy to blog at the same moment.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today I found an interesting article from phys.org about cloth specimens found at Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic (New Stone Age) cite located in the area now call Turkey. Çatalhöyük was inhabited about 8,000-9,000 years ago. Lise Bender Jørgensen, a respected textile archaeologist, recently published an article, along with other researchers, in <i>Antiquity, </i>an archaeological journal, about research into Çatalhöyük fabric finds, the oldest woven fabric finds currently known. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The research showed that the textiles found at Çatalhöyük were made from plant fiber. Interestingly, the plant fiber found turned out <u>not</u> to be flax or ramie. Instead, several of the specimens found turn out to have been woven from bast fiber from oak trees. Oak timber was used for building construction in Çatalhöyük, and apparently the inhabitants derived fiber from the oak bark for their clothing as well. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The phys.org article may be read <a href="https://phys.org/news/2021-11-unearthed-textiles-stone-age-settlement.html">here</a>. I commend it to my readers' attention. I do not know at present how to find the <i>Antiquity </i>article on the Internet, and I cannot afford to obtain the relevant issue. If I do locate the Jørgensen article I will revise this post.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">EDIT: No, it didn't take long to track down how to obtain a copy of the article. Cambridge University Press is making the <i>Antiquity</i> article available on line for $26.00 USD <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/use-of-local-fibres-for-textiles-at-neolithic-catalhoyuk/294D8367B55E0A752ACC1825035840FC">here</a>. I may wait until my finances improve to buy myself a copy.<br /></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-68580745214783218012022-10-16T23:40:00.002-04:002022-10-27T13:08:23.520-04:00One Afternoon Tutorials--Miscellaneous Accessories <p style="text-align: justify;">Today's collection of One Afternoon Tutorials focuses on a few specialized accessories, such as Victorian watch fobs. They are short projects mainly because they make small items <u>and</u> don't require a lot of expensive materials to create. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Cravats. </b>A cravat is a neckcloth used to give varying looks to suits, mostly during the Victorian periods. <a href="https://www.folkwear.com/blogs/news/cravat-free-pattern-plus-history-and-a-tutorial">The tutorial</a> on this item, by Folkwear, the pattern company, comes with a quick bit of history for the item. <br /></p><p><b>Ribbons for Victorian Shoes.</b> Try the link <a href="http://pourlavictoire.blogspot.com/2020/01/shoe-bow-tutorial-make-your-shoes-look.html">here.</a></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Suffragette Sashes.</b> It is possible to buy these from vendors on Etsy, but once of those vendors made a <a href="https://www.susannafrench.com/sash">nice tutorial</a> on how to make one for yourself.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Victorian Watch Fobs. </b>This is the kind of fob that consists of a
ribbon, in satin or velvet, that is about three-quarters of an inch
(about 1.9 cm) and about 3 inches (381 cm) long. They require
inexpensive metal fittings. Consult the blog of <a href="https://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/">The Pragmatic Costumer</a>, <a href="https://thepragmaticcostumer.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/victorian-watch-or-miniature-fob-easy-diy-historical-accessory-tutorial/">here</a>.</p>I have a few ideas for posts, but mostly I haven't had time to sit down and develop them. Hopefully, I can do that next month. <br />Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-38678177720004975412022-08-22T15:50:00.003-04:002022-08-22T16:40:51.927-04:00Shawls and cloaks, part 1<p style="text-align: justify;">Today, I discovered that Hilde Thunem has published the beginning of a new paper, this time on Viking era shawls and cloaks worn by women. That paper can be read and/or downloaded <a href="https://urd.priv.no/viking/skikkja.html">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The portion of the paper that Hilde has completed is a description of the various archaeological finds that appear to be pieces from a shawl or cloak, along with descriptions and pictures, and explanations of the reasons why they nave been so categorized. The harder part, picking through the known information to arrive at conclusions upon which to base clothing reconstructions, is not yet written. Based on Hilde's other articles, though, it will have been worth waiting for. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I am still reading through the completed parts of the paper and already have learned many things. Hilde's work should not be missed by anyone interested in Viking era clothing.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">--------------------------------------------------- <br /></p><div style="text-align: justify;">P.S.
Sorry to have fallen behind on updating this blog, but I had a good
reason: my husband was diagnosed in June with stomach cancer.
Fortunately, it was a type of tumor that is very slow growing, and had
not spread. He had surgery in July to remove the tumor, and is now
recovering well. </div>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-91006839216703724432022-06-30T20:01:00.003-04:002022-08-18T17:49:57.211-04:00Knitted Cord, Revisited<p style="text-align: justify;">Years ago, I wrote <a href="https://cathyscostumeblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/viking-lucets.html">more</a> <a href="https://cathyscostumeblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/more-on-lucets.html">than</a> <a href="https://cathyscostumeblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/another-reflection-on-viking-age-lucets.html">one</a> <a href="https://cathyscostumeblog.blogspot.com/2013/12/an-aside-on-viking-lucets-courtesy-of.html">post</a> on the subject of lucets, specifically oriented toward discussing the subject of whether the Vikings used lucets, or a similar knitting technology. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">This month, <i>Piecework</i> magazine has published an article on "knitting nancies," or knitting spools, spool knitters, or corkers, or any one of more than half-a-dozen other names for a simple device that makes square cord that is similar in appearance and structure to luceted cord. The <i>Piecework</i> article can be read <a href="https://pieceworkmagazine.com/knitting-spools/?utm_source=drip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Banjara+Dowry+Purse&utm_content=PW+06.29.22+Newsletter">here</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The author of the <i>Piecework </i>article, Mary Polityka Bush, does not discuss the Victorian lucet, or the controversy about whether the Vikings used lucets (and if so, what they might have looked like). She merely discusses what she was able to discover about the device from early modern times (i.e., late 16th century and later) onward. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">What Ms. Bush found isn't much! She found a suggestion that a kind of "knitting frame" might have been in use as early as 1535 and that such a device was permitted to be used by professional knitters. She also discusses modern variants of the two-peg knitter, and that such "spool" knitters could come with different (even) numbers of pegs. But most of her article is anecdotal evidence of the use of spool knitters by 20th century fiber artists, and lovely, full-color photographs of different modern spool knitters. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">So the evidence for the invention and development of modern "spool knitters," like the evidence for Viking-era lucets, is similarly anecdotal and inconclusive. It is even possible that the Vikings or another early people invented the "lucet" but that the invention was lost, and later reinvented--possibly more than once. That's one reason I keep posting my little articles on the subject of knitted cord. Maybe through collecting such snippets I may eventually locate enough information to make an attempt at solving the mystery.<br /></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-367938920730996612022-05-16T13:49:00.006-04:002023-02-01T22:09:54.153-05:00Costume History--on Quora?<p style="text-align: justify;">A few months ago, I read, on Quora, a piece about a historical costume fact of which I was ignorant, and which was genuinely interesting. The piece can be read <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-s-something-from-the-1960s-that-needs-to-make-a-comeback-in-the-2020s">here</a> (scroll down to the answer by Randy Long, former retired systems engineer; that's the piece I mean).<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The gist of the article is that, in the 30s, 40s, and 50s, when men in America and Europe typically wore suits as a everyday matter, suit jackets were cut differently. Specifically, they were cut with higher armholes that conformed to the torso much better, and as a result those jackets did not ride up when the wearer raised his arms, in the way that men's suit jackets (and women's suit jackets, for that matter) do today. So the earlier suit jackets looked nicer and, in addition, were more comfortable to wear.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Why the change? Because it was a lot cheaper to make ready-to-wear jackets with the low armholes--particularly for the ready-made clothing market. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">If I ever make enough money again, I will order one custom-made suit, I think, with proper armholes.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">EDIT (2/1/2023) I just found a blog called <a href="https://www.parisiangentleman.com/en/home">Parisian Gentleman</a> with the author's own take on the problem of modern suit jackets with armscyes (the correct word for "armholes") cut too low. You can read it <a href="https://www.parisiangentleman.com/blog/the-armscye-height-secret-a-crucial-detail">here in English</a> or <a href="https://www.parisiangentleman.com/">here in French.</a><br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-18152006586306874492022-04-10T00:03:00.007-04:002022-04-21T16:51:01.959-04:00April HSM Project<p>April already. Wow, has the time flown.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Between financial activities (work, taxes) and political (don't ask) activities, I have had little time to even think about this blog for the last two months. However, I do have a happy development; I have decided upon an HSM (Historical Sew Monthly) project for April! </p><p style="text-align: justify;">April's HSM theme is "Bags." I finally decided to buy myself a replica of the Great Bulgarian bronze mirror find, which is barely 2 inches (about 5 cm) across, for my birthday. Though it's not a "Viking" piece, it's not impossible that a Viking might have obtained such an item through trade. All I'd need to make a small drawstring bag to protect it is a small scrap of wool and a similarly sized scrap of linen, seamed together wrong side to wrong side in such a way that the seam allowances do not show, with a channel seamed in near the top for a closure. I think I still have a small amount of thin cord that I could use as a drawstring, but if not I could probably braid some from thread if need be. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It would be a very quick project, which is the sort of thing I need right now. Wish me luck in actually finishing it before May!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">P.S. The blue cord I use to close my bag of (speculative) Viking age toiletries is perfect in thickness for the little bag I have in mind, but is way too long. I might cut some of the extra length off and use it for the little mirror bag. <br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;"> </p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-52329867824006937572022-02-21T15:58:00.000-05:002022-02-21T15:58:04.614-05:00Archaeological Textiles Review No. 63<p style="text-align: justify;">At the beginning of this month, Issue No. 63 of ATR, <i>i.e., </i>the 2021 issue of the Archaeological Textiles Review (formerly Archaeological Textiles Newsletter, or ATN) was made available for free download. ATR is published by the Friends of ATN, and hosted by the Centre for Textile Research in Copenhagen.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As always, ATR has excellent professional research articles on clothing, textile, and related finds and research. The subject matter of its articles ranges throughout history and prehistory and is worldwide in scope. They consider themselves an "open source" journal and for years have made all of their back issues available, all the way back to ATN No. 1, <a href="https://www.atnfriends.com/">here</a>; just look at the left-hand side bar and select the link for "Download issue". </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But I'm writing about ATR again now because their latest issue has an amazing number of articles about Viking age textiles and/or clothing, and I thought that those of my readers interested in Viking age clothing would be interested in reading them. Here is the list, complete with the page in the current ATR issue on which each article starts. Judge for yourself. All articles in ATR come with bibliographies that are a gold mine for further research.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Julia Hopkin. <i>Raincoats or riches? Contextualising </i>vararfeldir<i> </i></b><i style="font-weight: bold;">through multi-perspective experiments. </i>(Page 31) The article describes the author's physical experiments involving making samples of different types of fabric, including <i>vararfeldir</i>, the shaggy "fake fur" exported by early Iceland, in an attempt to gain insight as to what qualities of <i>vararfeldir</i> made it valuable and desirable during the late Viking age.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Vedeler, Marianne. </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Golden textiles from Gokstad. </i>(Page 47) The author describes early textiles woven with precious metal thread, including two textiles found in the hollowed-out ridgepole of the burial chamber of the Gokstad Ship.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Jørgensen, Lise Bender, Moe, Dagfinn and Lukesova, Hana. </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Viking Age textiles and tapestries: drawings by Miranda Bødtker. </i>(Page 58) <i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>Miranda Bødtker worked for many decades making technical drawings for botanists, zoologists and archaeologists at the Bergen Museum in Norway. The article gives a brief account of her life (she passed away in 1996 at the age of 100!) along with excellent photographs of some of her drawings and of the textiles they depict.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Mannering, Ulla. </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Fashioning the Viking Age: status after the first three years. </i>(Page 138) Parts one and two of this project were concluded in 2021, and the article summarizes the results. They include full color photographs of two reconstructed outfits: a man's outfit based upon the Bjerringhøj grave find, and a woman's outfit based upon the Hvilehøj grave find. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">For readers whose clothing interests predate the Viking age, the following articles may be of interest as well.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Nørgård, Anna. <i>Reconstructions revived: a handweaver's personal perspective. </i></b>(Page 90)<i> </i>A long, well-illustrated essay about well-known reconstructions of ancient Scandinavian clothing by a woman personally responsible for many of them. With good photographic and sketch illustrations.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Grömer, Karina, Ungerechts, Silvia and Reschreiter, Hans. <i>Knowledge sharing: a newly found 2,700-year-old tablet-woven band from Hallstatt, Austria. </i></b>(Page 115) The article describes a newly-discovered tablet woven band, and provides a weaving diagram, in full color! The band itself is depicted on the cover of Issue No. 63, and a color photograph of the reconstructed band appears in the article. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Grömer, Karina, Saunderson, Kayleigh and Pomberger, Beate Maria. </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Metallic idiophones 800 BCE to 800 CE in Central Europe: their function and acoustic influence in daily life. </i>(Page 129) "Metallic idiophones" are metal ornaments fastened to clothing that make noise by jingling, rattling, or clinking. This article discusses some of them and discusses ways to discover how they sounded when worn. Well-illustrated with color photographs, sketches, and graphs.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Enjoy! </p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-16153998689270637762022-01-14T23:14:00.008-05:002022-06-30T16:39:04.095-04:00Historical Sew Monthly 2022!<p style="text-align: justify;">It's a new year, and the Historical Sew Monthly marches on!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">To be sure, I haven't done any costume projects for years, and still owe pictures for the last (small) one I completed. Moreover, in November I started a new, part-time job with weekly time expectations. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But I have not given up hope on actually doing costuming work again. And I'm finding the new HSM Challenges inspiring. The list is below: I have cut and pasted it from The Dreamstress's blog; my comments on each appear in bold after the text for each challenge.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>January: <i>Anniversary Choice:</i></b> It’s the 10th year of the HSM! Go back 10 years and choose any challenge from <a href="https://thedreamstress.com/the-historical-sew-fortnightly/">the 2013 HSF Challenge list</a>, and make something for it! In 2013 we tried to do this fortnightly, so there are 26 options! <b>I still have many projects for which I have at least bought the materials, though I'm pretty sure I won't manage this by the end of January.</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>February: <i>Neck & Shoulders</i>:</b> Make something to wear around your neck or on your shoulders. <b>There is my <i>volva </i>cloak, though to trim that completely may take me a while. The lambskin hood is better; I started mocking up a pattern. Perhaps I can finally nerve myself to save up for and buy the necessary materials....</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>March: <i>Non-Woven</i>.</b> Make something not based
on woven materials. <b>There’s a whole world of possibilities. Braiding,
carving, crocheting, felting, knitting, knotting, naalbinding…and…felting! </b>Felting has always interested me. Perhaps a fez-like hat, to accompany an Assyrian outfit (see December reference below). Or maybe start again to learn <i>sprang</i> by making a bag or a hood? A <i>sprang </i>bag could fit under the challenge for March or April! </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>April: <i>Bags</i>:</b> Make a bag! <b>Easy-peasy, if uninspiring. If I had not made a Viking-style bag with wooden handles, that might have been an option. I need to think about this one. </b>EDIT: 2/19/2022 I will make a small, drawstring bag, to hold a small polished bronze mirror, 1 and 9/16ths of an inch (4 cm) across. The Fairy Tales Chest on Etsy sells such mirrors, a replica of a find from Great Bulgaria during the right time period (8th-10th c. CE), and I've almost decided to get myself one as a birthday gift. Sprang would be fun but I'll probably just sew a little bag instead; heaven knows I have enough scrap wool and linen lying about. It will probably be a wool bag with a linen lining.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>May: <i>Protection</i>:</b> Create a garment that protects you from something: weather, dirt, wear, weapons, etc. <b>The <i>volva's</i> cloak, it haunts me....</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>June:</b><i><b> At the Museum:</b></i> Be inspired by the items and research available in museums and archives. <b>Need to think about this one. Possibilities abound. Perhaps my long-planned Kostrup-style apron dress?</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>July: <i>Geometry</i>:</b> Make something with pattern pieces based on basic geometry, or that somehow incorporates geometric design elements. <b>I still have the white wool that was going to be the <i>volva's </i>tunic; maybe this is the year to get that done! Like most pre-medieval and medieval garments, it's assembled from geometric shapes based on the measurements of the intended wearer. </b>EDIT: 2/19/2022 This should be simple enough to do, even if I sew it entirely by hand, as I plan to do. </p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>August: <i>As Seen On Screen</i>:</b> Make something inspired by something you’ve seen on screen, whether it’s film, TV, or YouTube. <b>There are plenty of YouTubers demonstrating constructing of historical styles, many incorporating authentic techniques. Need to think about this one too. </b></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>September:<i> Colour Challenge: Blue:</i></b> Make something in any shade of blue. <b>My planned Vendel apron dress leaps to mind. The fabric for it is a deep blue, and making it will be simple; a line of sewing down the side, and at least a hem around top and bottom would do it. </b>EDIT: 2/19/2022 Also simple. In fact, simpler than the volva's underdress; it would simply be a hemmed tube sewn closed along one long side.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>October: <i>A Perfect 10</i>:</b> It’s the HSM’s 10th
anniversary, so make something 10 themed. 10th century, the
something-10s, something that incorporates 10 of something? Be creative
with it! <b>Perhaps revive a project that I've had pending since 2010?</b></p><p><b>November: <i>Fitting</i></b>: Make something that focuses on fit. <b>Socks? Or the <i>volva's</i> hood?</b></p><p>
</p><p><b>December: <i>New Era</i>:</b> Make something from a
decade or century you’ve never made from before, or make something that
represented a new era in fashion in its time. <b> I've been admiring Angela Costello's forays into ancient Assyrian costume. Perhaps an Assyrian tunic?</b> <b>Wow. That would be quite a leap! </b></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-38581833439720389012021-12-31T16:15:00.003-05:002022-01-02T00:17:57.415-05:00Sponged Wool and Hard Times<p style="text-align: justify;">Recently, I learned about a kind of fabric called "sponged wool." Sponging was, and is, a technique used to pre-shrink wool and give it a more luxurious texture. It commanded premium prices because it can't be used on industrial-sized lengths of fabric; an explanation as to why can be found <a href="https://fashion-incubator.com/what-is-sponged-wool/">here</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sponged wool is still being made (check out <a href="https://promenadefinefabrics.com/product/100-double-crepe-wool-knit-stretch-in-classic-red/">this page</a> for one such fabric being sold), but in the early years of the 20th century, it was particularly fashionable--and many European immigrants to the United States earned a steady, if low, income sponging wool.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://quillette.com/2021/12/23/b-s-moss-and-the-dawn-of-the-movie-palace-era/">This article</a> talks about how early 20th century immigrants ended up in the sponged wool business. In particular, it describes the career of one such immigrant, B.S. Moss, who went from working as a sponger to running his own wool sponging business and finally to making a successful career for himself in the budding motion picture industry.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This isn't the type of post I usually write, but I wanted one more post to go up here before we start the year 2022, in which I hope to devote more attention to learning about clothing history and making my own projects again. Happy New Year!<br /></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-66007669376477221732021-11-19T00:25:00.015-05:002022-06-30T20:47:00.754-04:00And Then There Were Two....<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fHov305b4So/YZc0GcOd0zI/AAAAAAAALHs/7th6jYl-3gESC85YVmoBZmAj-CVZ5WyZwCPcBGAsYHg/s1444/IMG_20210911_133444387_BURST000_COVER%257E2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1444" height="228" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fHov305b4So/YZc0GcOd0zI/AAAAAAAALHs/7th6jYl-3gESC85YVmoBZmAj-CVZ5WyZwCPcBGAsYHg/s320/IMG_20210911_133444387_BURST000_COVER%257E2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-egk3bAnV6JY/YZczw9DGGhI/AAAAAAAALHg/Jo0he3DkyK8OE4_GJJ2uG5wIWHPoP9ZcACPcBGAsYHg/s3059/IMG_20210914_124554554%257E2.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3059" data-original-width="2353" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-egk3bAnV6JY/YZczw9DGGhI/AAAAAAAALHg/Jo0he3DkyK8OE4_GJJ2uG5wIWHPoP9ZcACPcBGAsYHg/w246-h320/IMG_20210914_124554554%257E2.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Loyal readers will recall my posts about Zola, my wonderful orange cat who I lost to heart disease at the beginning of this year, and Empire, the cheerful black and brown tabby we adopted to fill the hole in our home (and hearts).</div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Then, in the summer, we learned that the adoption of Crispin, Empire's brother, had come unstuck and that Crispin needed a new home. Would we take him? When we learned that he had gone into rut (because his prior adopter never got him neutered) and was fighting intestinal parasites, we couldn't say no. Especially when he was so nice to us despite his health problems. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">It wasn't easy at first, and he still has some issues, but Crispin is slowly coming to believe that we love him and that our home is now his forever home. And, to the surprise of everyone but my husband, the boys apparently recognize each other as brothers. Or, at least they have never been hostile to each other and now spend a lot of time playing together and hanging out together. So it makes sense for me to show the two of them together. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the kitchen photograph, Crispin is the one on the floor. In the other, he's the one facing the camera. As always, click on the picture for a larger more detailed image. I have taken better photographs of these two, but I couldn't resist the symbolism (bookends!) of the doorway shot.<br /></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-52541656529096757932021-10-08T16:37:00.006-04:002021-10-11T15:50:21.012-04:00What About NESAT XIII?<p>A few weeks ago, I wrote about my success at obtaining a PDF copy of NESAT XII, <i>Aspects of the Design, Production and Use of Textiles and Clothing from the Bronze Age to the Early Modern Era </i>(Karina Grömer and Frances Pritchard, eds.) from the publisher, <a href="http://www.archaeolingua.hu/">Archaeolingua</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today, I thought it might be worthwhile to make an effort to find NESAT XIII, <i>Links Between Past and Present </i>(Milena Bravermanová, Helena Březinová, and Jane Malcolm-Davies, eds.), which was published by Verlag Beier & Beran Archäologische Fachliteratur.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Abebooks appears to still have the book in soft cover for $70.25 USD plus $18.48 USD shipping. I wasn't able to navigate the publisher site, which is written mostly in German. Perhaps the PDF option will be adopted after they run out of soft cover copies of the book.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">As for NESAT XIV, the conference was only recently held (online) this summer; the volume has not been published yet. But abstracts for the presentations may be found <a href="https://www.nesatxiv.org/abstracts">here</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">EDIT: (10/11/2021) As the commenter noted, there are a few publicly available videos of NESAT XIV talks. You can find them <a href="https://www.nesatxiv.org/public-videos">here</a>. <br /></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-87834958850240573962021-09-06T15:55:00.003-04:002021-09-06T20:15:08.902-04:00Pssst! Want to buy a copy of NESAT XII?<p style="text-align: justify;">The North European Symposium on Archaeological Textiles, or "NESAT", is a symposium that is held about every three years. Each NESAT has produced a symposium volume of papers on archaeological finds relating to textiles and costume that are eagerly sought after by people, like me, who are interested in the history of costume (especially early period European costume). But the print runs are small, and the volumes remaining after the conference participants have received their copies tend to be expensive.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">When I was making a lot more money, the expense was not as much of a problem. But now I find the typical $70 USD price of the newer NESAT volumes prohibitive. My collection of NESAT volumes ends with NESAT XI. I have not been able to purchase NESAT XII and NESAT XIII, which were published after NESAT XI came out in 2013.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Recently, I began looking for the NESAT volumes I lacked at reduced prices. To my dismay, I could not find a seller of NESAT XII that had the volume in stock for any price. So I checked the webpage of the publisher of NESAT XII, <a href="https://www.archaeolingua.hu/">Archaeolingua</a>. Archaeolingua is based in Budapest, and all transactions in its webshop must be made in either Hungarian forints or Euros, but I figured if anyone would still have the book available, it would be them.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">To my surprise, I was able to obtain a copy for 20 Euros (a bit less than $24 USD)! The copy was an e-book, of course (a PDF, to be exact), but that was an advantage, since I was able to download it immediately as soon as my payment (via credit card) was accepted. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">NOTE: I was not able to find the book's page via the search function, but if you choose the category "Archaeolingua Series Maior" you can page through the four pages worth of books to find it. Be aware that the site can be balky.</p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-71851002387851092192021-09-02T21:35:00.008-04:002021-09-02T22:03:04.992-04:00Tidbits from NESAT XIV<p style="text-align: justify;">Didn't make it to NESAT (North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles) XIV a few weeks ago, in mid August? Me either. But today (now that the symposium is over), I found some wonderful summaries, and photographs, of presentations from NESAT XIV on the symposium's Instagram account. The list of posters featured on the Instagram account may be found on the NESAT XIV website <a href="https://www.nesatxiv.org/posters">here</a>, and the NESAT XIV Instagram account is <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nesat_xiv_finland/">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Among the most fascinating presentations on the Instagram account are those about an early medieval textile finds in Finland. The find, at Ravattula, is going to be the subject of a head-to-toe reconstruction project, starting with weaving the wool for the garments as well as making the jewelry and characteristic bronze spiral clothing decoration. It dates to approximately 1200 CE. One of the Instagram posts features grave find diagrams as well as photographs of the Ravattula textile and jewelry finds, including woven garters. I cannot wait to see the results of the reconstruction project! </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Also fascinating to those of us interested in early costume is a post about the braided armband found in Dartmoor, United Kingdom, dating to about 1730-1600 BCE. This armband is now believed to have been made by fingerloop braiding, though the horsehair used was stiff and springy enough that the strands needed to be manipulated with "handles" of yarn instead of directly by the fingers. A reconstruction apparently was made using fingerloop braiding techniques. (Andy M. Jones published a book in 2017 about the Dartmoor find called <a href="https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/preserved-in-the-peat.html"><i>Preserved in the Peat</i></a> which is available, and currently on sale, from its publisher Oxbow Books.)</p><p style="text-align: justify;">It will be several years before the printed NESAT XIV volume is published, but these Instagram posts are a wonderful taste of what to expect from that volume.</p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-20217382251345239292021-08-10T16:45:00.009-04:002022-07-01T16:53:40.402-04:00Another Regency Dress with a Net Overlay<p style="text-align: justify;">From Kate Strasdin's Instagram account comes three lovely photographs of a Regency gown with a lovely coordinating net jacket or overlay. The outfit shown on Kate's Instagram account is in the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. You can see the photographs <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYmyy9qGlS/">here</a> (click the arrow on the right side to see the other photos, or swipe left to see them if you're viewing the Instagram account on a tablet or smartphone). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Not<span style="text-align: left;"> too long ago, Stella, of Historical Living with Hvitr, showed off a similar netted creation in blue </span><a href="http://hvitr.blogspot.com/2018/07/opus-reticulum.html" style="text-align: left;">here</a><span style="text-align: left;">. It's a marvelous fashion that I had not known about before I saw Stella's post back in 2018, and if I had the time or patience to do the netting, I'd make one for myself too and worry about where I could wear it later! </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">If any of my readers know of any other instances of this style, please let me know in the comments (with a link to the image, if possible).</span></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-85529272380353502442021-07-03T21:15:00.007-04:002021-12-24T16:38:39.338-05:00One Afternoon Tutorials--Underwear<p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WmotSnw3hIM48RBeoT8XwyLoQP0ZcldNmKMEDQLzWZW1W0oj9-E4h0KNLrtS-GmNKZpjn771JyQhl3Jq_pukf6rWsdYljInaPEbvow7Onl35abc2OIMZw1GlwgqK5zRWwYYW3osxXNDG/s600/429px-Chemise_dress.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="429" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WmotSnw3hIM48RBeoT8XwyLoQP0ZcldNmKMEDQLzWZW1W0oj9-E4h0KNLrtS-GmNKZpjn771JyQhl3Jq_pukf6rWsdYljInaPEbvow7Onl35abc2OIMZw1GlwgqK5zRWwYYW3osxXNDG/s320/429px-Chemise_dress.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sketch of a <i>chemise, </i>by David Ring.<br />Found on Wikimedia Commons</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Having covered almost every other type of quick costuming project, I come to what is perhaps the most basic category of all: one-afternoon projects about underwear. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Underwear is the layer of clothing closest to the body. It includes shifts for women (also called chemises), breast bands and bras, men's shirts, loincloths (wearable by either sex though usually associated with men) and equivalents of what Americans now call "panties" for women. Before the 20th century, underwear was most often made of linen in Europe and America, but in modern times it's usually made from cotton or cheap synthetic fabric worldwide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Until at least the end of the medieval period, stockings and socks arguably qualified as underwear under the above definition, because they typically were not made to be seen. However, stockings and socks require special fitting and design, which is why they are not included here, though some stocking projects can be as quick to make as the items discussed below. Corsets are also underwear, but because they require way too much detail work to be a one-afternoon project, I will not include them here either.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NOTE: A man's shirt or woman's shift likely will take longer than a single afternoon to make (even during the summer) if completely handsewn. If one cheats by using a sewing machine, it should be doable in one afternoon, as it involves mostly long straight seams. For that reason, I have included shifts and shirts here.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As always, unless I have said otherwise here, I have not made any of the items in this collection of tutorials myself. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Breast Support:</i><b><i> </i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li><b><i>Mammilare</i> or <i>Strophium</i>:</b><b> </b>These are Roman terms for a simple band to constrain and support the breasts. The simplest form is a long, narrow rectangular piece of fabric, ripped along the grain to provide a straight though unhemmed edge. This website shows a very basic one made from wool, whose natural stretch would make it a good choice for folk who do not get an allergic reaction after wearing wool against the skin. See it <a href=" https://redsbragbook.livejournal.com/8518.html ">here</a>. (Frankly, I'm surprised to find this post still available on the Internet, since I first discovered it more than two decades ago.) <br /></li><li><b>Late Medieval "Supportive" Smock: </b>This is a kind of smock that is cut to provide some support for the breasts. Elena of Neulakko explains its use, as well as how to make one, <a href=" http://www.neulakko.net/?page_id=17585">here</a>.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div> </div></div><p>
<i>Men's Shirts:</i><b> </b></p><ul><li><b>Early Modern Shirt: </b>The Costume Historian provides <a href="https://costumehistorian.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-early-modern-shirt-c1530-c1660.html">this tutorial</a>, which is suitable for the period from roughly 1530 to 1660 CE. <br /></li><li><b>Regency Era Shirt: </b> The Tea In A Teacup blog provides an illustrated tutorial as to how to make a shirt from the Regency (roughly, the early 1810s to the early 1820s). <b> </b>You can find that tutorial <a href="https://teainateacup.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/my-mr-knightley-making-a-shirt/">here</a>. </li> <li><b>18th Century Shirt: </b>From <i>La couturière française</i> comes a genuine <a href="https://www.marquise.de/en/1700/howto/maenner/18hemd.shtml">shirt tutorial and pattern</a> from the mid-18th century, with clarifying text from the owner of the web site. Potentially a lot of fun, if you have the right mindset and skills. </li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Women's Shifts and Petticoats: </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i> </i></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Shifts did change in design, slowly, over time. Early medieval shifts were fairly wide through the body, with long sleeves and a neckline matching the neckline of the gown under which they were worn. Later medieval shifts could be sleeveless as they were often worn under form-fitting gowns. Renaissance shifts (such as the Venetian <i>camisia </i>below) were extremely wide, both in the body and sleeves, and were gathered with tiny gathers into a band that usually matched the neckline of the gown with which they were to be worn. 18th century shifts could have three-quarter-length sleeves and were quite short. 19th century shifts were short-sleeved or sleeveless, about knee-length or came just below the knee, and were finally replaced with "combinations"--which were closed with loose legs on the bottom. Below are some examples of tutorial on how to make a sampling of female undergarments through the ages:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li><b>Viking/Early Medieval: </b>It is believed that these garments were shaped just like an ordinary gown or robe, but were often made of linen and worn underneath one or more garments. (The Viborg shirt, a male equivalent, is too complicated to be a one afternoon job.) They can be made quickly if done anachronistically with a sewing machine; handsewing them, though a simple matter of making many long straight seams, takes much longer. Handsewing History has a well-illustrated tutorial about how to make such a garment, <a href="https://handcraftedhistory.blog/2017/12/24/tutorial-viking-medieval-shift-or-underdress/">here</a>. </li><li><b>Byzantine (10th century): </b><a href="http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/manazan_shirt/manazan_instructions.htm ">Peter Beatson's pattern</a> for a Byzantine undershirt is based upon an actual archaeological find, the Manazan shirt, on display in a Turkish museum. This style may have been worn by both men and women; the gender of the wearer of the Manazan shirt is, to my knowledge, still debated. NOTE: My Manazan shirt, which I wrote about in several different posts starting <a href="https://cathyscostumeblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/sewing-to-byzantium-manazan-shirt.html">here</a>, used Beatson's original proposed pattern, which his page now explains was probably erroneous.</li><li><b>Venetian </b><i style="font-weight: bold;">Camisia </i><span style="font-weight: bold;">(16th century)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>Shown for informational purposes, though handling the fine gathering is more easily done by hand and probably takes the end result out of the range of a one-afternoon project. Bella's Realm of Venus site includes a tutorial <a href=" http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/library/camiciahowto.htm ">here</a>. </span> I have also found an <a href="https://ladyesa.wordpress.com/2021/05/08/a-camicia-italian-undergarments-competition/">"easy to wear" version</a> that's a bit less thoroughly historical, where the construction seams were sewn by machine, though the gathering was still done by hand. </li><li><b>18th Century Shift: </b>Like medieval shifts, these are made from geometrically shaped pieces of fabric and connected with straight seams. Mara Riley's tutorial explains the technique and gives supporting sources and suggestions for obtaining needed supplies as well. Find it <a href="http://www.marariley.net/shift/shift.htm">here</a>. <b> </b></li><li><b>18th Century Petticoat: </b>Petticoats were worn from the Renaissance through the end of the 19th century. Construction does not change much; these are essentially a quantity of fabric pleated or gathered onto a waistband. Since the waistband is never when the garment is worn, how you make the petticoat matters less than the type of fabric you use and the length of the garment. Try <a href="https://blog.americanduchess.com/2011/02/how-to-make-18th-century-petticoat.html">this tutorial</a> from the American Duchess website. </li></ul><i>Men's Underpants:</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div><ul><li><b>Loincloths: </b>People living in cultures who do not wear any other clothing often wear loincloths. The simplest form of these requires a cloth about 18 inches wide, which is wrapped around the man's waist at least twice. The hanging end is then brought between his legs, from back to front, tucked into the wrapped portion, and allowed to hang over the wrapped portion in front. This website, which discusses loincloths worn in Borneo, also gives a surprisingly good tutorial on how to wrap a "generic" loincloth, <a href="http://www.ikanlundu.com/literary/borneo_loincloth.html">here</a>. </li><li><b>Dhoti: </b>The <i>dhoti </i>is a wrapped, lower body garment worn in India. It may be short or long. It's essentially a loincloth with pleats used to control the extra fabric, and thus comes farther down the legs than a loincloth does. <a href="https://historia-moda.comocubriruncuerpo.org/dhoti-2/">This page</a> provides a useful tutorial, with sketches, in how to shape and drape a <i>dhoti</i>. NOTE: The page is not in English, but the drawings are clear and easy to understand. It even includes a video! </li><li><b>Braies: </b><a href="https://hibernaatio.blogspot.com/2014/04/nain-se-tehdaan-lannevaatteen.html">This article</a> (in both Finnish and English) suggests that the type of knee-length underpants shown on men in European medieval art could have been made by draping, belting and tying a suitably-sized piece of cloth. The technique is speculative, but would make for a very quick project indeed!</li><li><b>Civil War (Men's) Drawers: </b>More complicated than a loincloth, but still reasonably simple. <a href="http://adayin1862.blogspot.com/2008/10/gents-drawers-original-pattern.html">This link</a> will take you to a blog which explains the construction and includes an image of the original pattern, which should be sufficient for some people to reproduce such a garment, though it's not a project for a beginner.</li></ul></div><div><i>Women's Underpants: </i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Until the Renaissance, women do not seem to have worn underpants, at least not after Rome fell. There is some evidence for the use of a garment by Ancient Roman women called a <i>subligaculum. </i>(However, it's possible that the bikini-type garment shown in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_bikini">this ancient Roman mosaic</a> by women engaging in physical exercise was not worn anywhere other than in a physical exercise context.) </div><div><br /></div><div>From <a href="http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/library/drawers.htm">the Realm of Venus page</a> we have an illustrated discussion of the evidence for long (knee-length) drawers being worn by at least some Italian women during the Renaissance. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have not hunted for free tutorials in this category because there is no consensus about the shape of Renaissance-era underpants, and commercial patterns are easily available for many later period undergarments. If I find additional tutorials on female undergarments, I will write another post on this subject. </div><div><br /></div><div>Do your own research if the maximum possible historical correctness is your aim, but whatever else you do, have fun!</div></div><p></p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-52213875355325995122021-06-06T20:19:00.006-04:002021-06-06T20:21:11.723-04:00A Real Folk Treasure<p style="text-align: justify;">Sharp-eyed readers will find a new blog in my "Costume Blogs" list in the left-hand margin: <a href="http://folkcostume.blogspot.com/">FolkCostume&Embroidery</a> (the title is written without spaces on the blog's home page). </p><p style="text-align: justify;">FolkCostume&Embroidery consists of hundreds of article-length posts showing folk costumes from different parts of Europe and Asia. Each is illustrated almost entirely with color photographs of costumes, diagrams, maps, and other useful illustrations. Best of all, the articles often cite source material at the end. The author embroiders and sews costumes himself, and the blog states that he is "open to requests to research and transmit information on particular Costumes for dance groups, choirs, etc." </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Readers of the blog who are interested in folk costume should come and explore. Chances are that the area you need information on will be featured, and there is a search box for the blog you can use. I suspect I don't have enough time just to read all of the wonderful articles that are here, but that won't stop me from trying! </p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-31729238127600703442021-05-23T15:55:00.005-04:002021-06-24T21:19:18.506-04:00Mystery Solved?<div style="text-align: justify;">Many of us who are interested in Viking era Scandinavian costume have heard of, or seen pictures of, the amazing Mammen find; remains of an embroidered garment that may have been a tunic; the padded cloth cuffs, adorned with metal brocaded tablet weaving; and other signs that a wealthy and powerful person/s had been buried there.<span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">What I hadn't known before now is that bones from this grave were originally discovered, but have been missing for over 100 years. </span><span style="text-align: left;">The bones from this find, also known to archaeologists as the Bjerringhøj find (the actual find location, which is near the village of Mammen) had gotten stored with bones from a find at Slotsbjergby, in Zeeland. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">Now, the bones have been rediscovered in the storage area of the National Museum of Denmark, where they apparently had been stored with another find. Charlotte Rimstad, along with other researchers, wrote a report describing how the bones were lost and found. That article was published online by Cambridge University Press, accessible free of charge: it can be read and downloaded </span><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/lost-and-found-viking-age-human-bones-and-textiles-from-bjerringhoj-denmark/93F058994BBEC7A02C81221B90D84856#" style="text-align: left;">here</a><span style="text-align: left;">. In short, the Rimstad article notes that the newly-re-discovered bones were re-connected to the</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">Bjerringhøj finds by analyzing the textiles that remained on them, and those textiles appear to be the remains of a set of ornamented pants cuffs similar to the ornamented wristlets associated with the "Mammen" find!</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">This story of mislaid bones is relevant to this blog because being able to study the bones, and not just the textiles that had been found with them, will provide (indeed, have already provided!) a greater amount of knowledge about the textiles than the textiles alone could provide. </span></div>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-88454503526761548782021-04-17T18:43:00.001-04:002021-04-17T18:43:42.714-04:00Follow-Up on Hestnes Burial<p style="text-align: justify;">A few weeks ago, I wrote a brief post about an unusual recent archaeological find at Hestnes, which is located in central Norway. That post can be read <a href="https://cathyscostumeblog.blogspot.com/2020/12/newly-discovered-viking-burial-in.html">here</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Today, on Alexandra Makin's textile <a href="https://alexandramakin.com/">blog</a> I discovered a link to a video about a textile specimen from the Hestnes find. <span style="text-align: justify;">The video can be found on the NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet's Facebook page, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2594935650811198" style="text-align: justify;">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">NTNU Vitenskapsmuseet, <i>i.e.,</i> the NTNU Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, is located in Trondheim, Norway, and the video is in Norwegian. However, the visuals themselves are instructive; they include a schematic showing various items in the woman's grave at Hestnes. Judging from the video, the specimen in question was found on a tortoise brooch. There are also images of textile bits from the grave, some of which appear, even to my unpracticed eyes, to bear traces of long stitches in different colors. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">I commend the video to your attention, even if you don't understand Norwegian. You may be certain that i will be on the lookout for additional information about this find. If any of my readers see any articles with additional information on textiles from Hestnes, please let me know!</p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-3068110149855253272021-04-12T22:40:00.002-04:002021-04-23T17:06:24.891-04:00New Source of Information About Early Textiles<p style="text-align: justify;">This week, courtesy of Katrin Kania, I learned about a free, searchable database of scholarly publications. It's called <a href="https://info.diva-portal.org/?languageId=1">Digital Vetenskapliga Arkivet</a>, or DiVA, and it allows one to search for books, dissertations, and articles published by scholars at nearly 50 different universities in Scandinavia. (The above link goes to the English language version of the home page; for the Swedish version of the home page, go <a href="https://info.diva-portal.org/">here</a>.) Best of all, DiVA is absolutely free to use. You can go directly to the DiVA search page from <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/search.jsf?dswid=-7543">here</a>. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Naturally, DiVA includes dissertations, articles, and other works that are not related to textiles, clothing or the Vendel and Viking Ages. In addition, many of the works findable via DiVA are not in English. However, I still found an excellent work relevant to textile-related Vendel period studies with my first search: </p>
<blockquote style="text-align: justify;">Malmius, Anita. <i>Burial textiles: Textile bits and pieces in central Sweden, AD 500–800 </i>Doctoral Dissertation, Stockholm University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies (2020 (English))</blockquote><p style="text-align: justify;">I am really looking forward to reading this volume of Anita Malmius's work, which on first glance appears very comprehensive. I look forward to further searching on DiVA for other useful papers when I have more time (and brain energy!) to invest. In the meantime, by means of this post I hope to make DiVA available to more costume researchers, and perhaps to people with different reenactment-related interests as well.</p>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-63578207786069629472021-03-17T18:27:00.000-04:002021-03-17T18:27:04.952-04:00A very old basket<p style="text-align: justify;">Today, I came across a <a href="https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/oldest-woven-basket-in-the-world-found-in-israel-dates-back-10000-years-662183">news article from the Jerusalem Post</a>. The article is about an archaeological find of a basket, with a lid, in a cave in the Judean Desert. The picture with the article shows the basket, looking not only complete, but in good condition with only a little visible damage. One might buy such a thing for a few dollars or Euros at a yard sale or a used goods shop. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">But this basket is no thrift store find. It is 10,500 years old, made during the Neolithic period, and believed to be the world's oldest surviving basket. The dry climate of the Judean Desert likely is responsible for preserving the basket so well. It is still remarkable that it survived because there was evidence that looters had come within 10 cm of the basket, when they stopped digging for some unknown reason.<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify;">The basket is also very large. Its capacity has been measured at 92 liters. It was empty and closed when found, but a small quantity of soil was found inside. The researchers hope that analyzing this soil will help identify the basket's original contents. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Basket weaving is the cousin of, and believed to be the forerunner of, cloth weaving. As such, it belongs to the chain of handwork that includes the history of cloth and of costume.</p><div style="background-color: #f7f7f7; box-sizing: border-box; color: #212121; font-family: Khula, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; max-width: 100%;"></div>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2670213486548123819.post-80412428969257788752021-02-10T14:19:00.013-05:002021-11-19T00:26:56.509-05:00A New Prince<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ah3pGbmn490/YCQwTxYEC1I/AAAAAAAAI58/DOxpjsIMDO8hAMCem2C6Ks_iOFQZyJXuwCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/EmpyAwake3.png" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="374" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ah3pGbmn490/YCQwTxYEC1I/AAAAAAAAI58/DOxpjsIMDO8hAMCem2C6Ks_iOFQZyJXuwCLcBGAsYHQ/w149-h200/EmpyAwake3.png" width="149" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Empire awake. </span></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vHqNneiL8lk/YCQwSKIlN7I/AAAAAAAAI54/d_ab0fTQezYfnAVaCe9UOtBCW6Uo2y9HwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/sleepingEmpy.png" style="clear: right; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vHqNneiL8lk/YCQwSKIlN7I/AAAAAAAAI54/d_ab0fTQezYfnAVaCe9UOtBCW6Uo2y9HwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/sleepingEmpy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Empire, at rest on a sofa at the rescue place.</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Meet Empire! (He's named after the apple variety, not the governmental entity, because his mother's name is Apple; his siblings also have apple variety names.) We are bringing him to live with us on Friday--the pictures with this post were taken by the woman who runs Fosterlings, the cat rescue operation that has made it possible for him to survive and begin to thrive, and for us to adopt him. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Empire (or "Empy" for short) is only a bit over 4 months old He's younger than the other cats I have adopted, but he has a combination of playfulness and an odd maturity for his age that is appealing to me. He is also willing to be petted, and tolerates being picked up. Like Zola, he is part Maine Coon, as the pictures demonstrate (the large, tuft-filled ears, the larger-than-average paws). Clicking on the photo should get you a much larger, detailed version of the same photo.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;">EDIT: (2/15/2021) I learned when I got his file after the adoption papers had been signed that Empy was born 9/20/2020 (like Sugar, he was born in a rescue facility to a mother who had been rescued). That means he'll be exactly 5 months old this Saturday. Unlike Sugar, the woman who placed him with us knows who his father is. He is a large Maine Coon she describes as "25 pounds of solid muscle." </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br />2ND EDIT: (2/19/2021) After checking his records, I can confirm that Empire will be 5 months old exactly tomorrow, February 20, 2021; he was born on September 20, 2020.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;">3RD EDIT: (3/10/2021) I misread the form containing Empy's birthdate: It's actually September 16, 2020. Close enough, though, to confirm that he'll be 6 months old next week!</div></div>Cathy Raymondhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04580681386443534011noreply@blogger.com4