medievalrosalie | Entries tagged with makingthings

I'm very excited to be prepping for a Mother's Day market this year! I don't do many markets, but this one raises funds for a cat rescue here in Brisbane, Best Friends Felines, and since I have a rescue kitty myself, I'm all for helping them out. They assured me they will have a lot of pet related stalls and wanted some other stalls to balance it out but also be something a little different, so that's me! I've been accepted already and I've made a little ad using their own promo colours and style, and I think it's come together well.

I'll have all three books and a range of other stuff which I can't take all of to other events: medieval stickers, little cosmetic bags, leather pouches in fun colours paternosters and prayer beads (in wood, stone, and semi-precious stones), some tote bags, perhaps some medieval "No Touchy Touchy!" coffee mugs as well.

I have a medieval weekend on the same time, but will do the markets and if it's not raining, will go for the rest of the long weekend on site. It almost always rains that weekend, and last year a lot of people had a lot of modern stuff out and blasted modern music for hours whilst sitting in their modern camp chairs under their pop up gazebos, which really did spoil it. None of the organisers said anything, so I'm expecting more of the same this year, sadly.

The Mother's Day Markets sound like fun!

Well, I made calendars and they've arrived and I've sold half of the stock already. My after thought was that I had a huge number of quotes and ladies from the first book which weren't used and I should have used them to supplement the book. Instead I used ones from the book, so it's more of an "instead-of" than an "also" purchase. For the next book in the series, I will do extra pictures and not the same.

The printing is really nice and I'm very pleased with them. I ordered more for the Xmas market I'm going to and since they've been produced before, they are arriving in record time rather than the usual amount of time for a new item, so I'll have plenty!

Here's a little look at what they look like inside...

The ladies in it who have seen the calendars are really delighted, so that's pretty nice. An unexpected catastrophe which occurred is that because there's a spiral binding, they can't be posted overseas as a Large Letter at cheap postage rates. I can post them cheaply in Australia, but not overseas, so that's a huge disappointment to me.

Apart from that, everything is perfect with them!

If you want one, you can order here at my new Square store.

Do you need a book to recommend people new to living history or to people asking you to explain medieval women's clothing to them? Yes? This is your book.

I was extremely delighted to find A Handbook for Women's Clothing- Northern Europe 1360-1415- Historical Clothing From The Inside Out by Peter Ahlqvist and Maria Neijman ticked an extraordinary number of boxes for me. It includes the essential information required to explain how the clothing and dress accessories of this period are made and go together in an easy to understand text with illustrations and photos to visually demonstrate what is meant.

This page is typical of the style of the book. It gives precise information about the garment (without bogging the reader down with too much technical jargon which can, quite frankly, terrify the sewer with limited skills,) includes a contemporary medieval reference, a large line drawing with helpful notes, photos of real people with an actual made item so the reader can see how it looks on a real person and it explains how to achieve the right fit for a proper medieval look for each layer.

I particularly like how it walks the reader through the layers of clothing, again giving the right amount of assistance to the novice who is putting together an outfit for the first time. The tone is both practical and encouraging. Dress accessories and instructions are included.

Sewing techniques themselves are discussed and practical tips are included. Backstitch here. Use the selvedge there. Seams go here.

This is a great book.

medieval baths with tent-style, white curtains

I've been looking at bath curtains, and I've been surprised at what I've found.

I had an assumption, you know the kind, the everyone knows thing, where I was completely convinced that medieval baths, when they had curtains at all (and a great many of them just show a tub, sans curtaining) and I was a little bit shocked to learn that I really knew nothing about medieval bath curtains. This is of critical importance right now, because for my medieval woman displays this year, my Medieval Lady's Chamber will have a bath. One can't get sexy unless one is adequately clean and fragrant!

Bath curtains are a great idea. They keep the warmth in and provide privacy. I expected to see image after image of white bath curtains which hung from a circular support, quite like a mosquito net. There were none. I found two with white curtains which were very tent-like but did not have a circular frame.

I found coloured curtains- striped and decorated fabrics, those also rising, tent-like.

bath curtains of other design
Astonishingly, there were some on frames. Rectangular, on a pole, with the canopy and possible circular support, and domed. Interesting!

May other images show baths in buildings with integral curtaining which are brothels. These are 15th century. Other bathhouses are indoors but do not show the interior. So, only one with a possible circular support and only one with a bath sheet and 15th century, which is later than my period of interest- the 14th century.

I was also surprised at the lack of bath sheets, because everyone knows baths had sheets in them.

Armed with these thoughts, I've decided to make my bath close to my period. White sheets, supported tent-like on a pole and with a knop on top, as seen more represented than not, although the sample spectrum is very small. My bath has a bathsheet in it, but looking at other images, it really isn't the popular thing to do. Hmm.

Finally the Rosalie's Medieval Woman website's new look is loaded and live!

I'm very happy with the look and I was excited to discover that this year marks the 10th anniversary of unlimited bandwidth with my current server, and 20 years of the website in one form or another since it's conception.

Originally, it was more of a place for me to put information for myself so I could access it online, and since then, it's become a place for people dipping their toe into the world of medieval women to start. It's not an encyclopedia, and I don't want it to be. There's a huge amount of in-depth information out there, so I wanted to make a starting point with the highlights of the world of the medieval woman for the general person and I think it does that.

Where has the time gone?

Every year I have trouble finding calendars I like, so this year, I'm making some of my own. The first one, above, is a 12 months of things I've made. All my favourite things!

And because I was having a lot of fun with them, I also made a 12 months of my favourite artifacts from my collection which also has details about them and a front and back view! I've ordered a couple of these since a few people have expressed an interest in getting one as well.

I really love a lot of things about living in the digital age, and making personalised things is definitely one of my favourites!

A medieval woman just can't have too many dress accessories in the form of tasseled pouches! I have another in progress!

The wool is a beautiful madder red and although it's commercially dyed, it is colour matched to hand-dyed wool that I have. The tassels are hand dyed wool from hand-spun wool with both processes being done the traditional medieval way. I have made the tassels myself.

The style is based on the illumination shown here, the Maastricht Hours, from the Netherlands dated between 1300 and 1325. There's nothing too fancy about it, and it will be worn with my simple wool gowne.

At this point, I have the drawstring eyelets to sew and the drawstring cord to make and attach.

Linen, that is. And not just any blue, but the prettiest grey-mauve in the softest, pure linen.

I had enough of this set aside for an entire 14th century kirtle, but in the end, I've gone with an early 14th century overgowne so I can wear it with a barbette. As an overgowne, it'll be more voluminous and have a few buttons at the wrists which my other ones don't have. This style persists into the 15th century where it's seen as a loose over-garment which is pulled up around the waist, and it's usually seen in a domestic setting rather than the more formal ones.

I've long struggled with the war on linen versus wool and in the end, I feel in hot summers in some countries, there is enough evidence to justify linen. Light wool is my preference, but I feel linen is appropriate at times. I have a page on my website about sources for using linen as an outer garment in the 14th century here. I have another to add which I've found recently.

This will also double as a mid layer for a garment also still on my To Do list- a Manesse Codex surcote. I have a pattern for that already standing by.

I'm making good headway on this project. Tonight I've patterned, cut out the entire gowne and sewn one and a bit side seams from forearm to floor.

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MEDIEVAL WOMEN'S THINGS

Rosalie Gilbert. Author & History Enthusiast.

Entries tagged with makingthings

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Mother's day Markets

Calendar girls

A Handbook for Women's Clothing- Northern Europe 1360-1415.

The Art of Bathing in Medieval Times

A shiny new look for the Medieval Woman website!

Making things: Calendars for 2022

Work in Progress: early 14th century medieval tasseled pouch

Historical sewing

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April 2026

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