Cupboards and more.

A very belated happy New Year. As you can see, posting updates hasn't been my top priority but I have not been idle.

As part of the renovation got (or are going to get) rid of some of our old cupboards and wardrobes. What you can see in the first picture is going to become our new wardrobes. Just as all the walls on the top floor it's just a dry-wall construction.

The niche between the wardrobes is where the ladder to the attic will be hidden. To the right of the niche (and in fact extending behind the niche as well) is what will become my wardrobe. Julia gets the slightly larger one on the left. There is another cupboard even further to the left, as can be seen in the second picture.

Originally the cabinet in the roof triangle is double that size but I used one half of it for the wardrobe. The other half will later hold my sewing tools as that's the part of the room where I'm going to have my hobby desk.

That's actually what the east wall looks today. What you cannot see, and of which I took no pictures, is the ceiling which is now partly tiled. Constructing the ceiling is actually the least fun. The panel's form factore is just unwieldy and they quickly get heavy when you have to hold them up to the wall before the first screw is in place.

Some more sewing

A couple of friends of ours got married two weeks ago and they decided to have the ceremony (and the party) in a medieval castle – Abenberg castle – and naturally we went there too.

That's us six in front of the car we rented.

The invitation clearly said that we could come garmented, so, naturally, most of us did.

The garments I wear in the picture are also my latest sewing project (not the boots though, I've bought those). The underwear is the male underwear from my 14th century project. The hosen I wear are made from wool.

As was customary in the middle ages the hosen were just tied to the braies. That's what the complete set of underwear looks like when worn.

The suckenie is made from wool, too (loden fabric), and lined with a blue-gayish linen. I didn't use a pattern for the suckenie nor the hosen. They are inspired by medieval illustrations (although the different colors per leg are quite unique). Sine I only started in the week prior to the ceremony I had to cheat a bit. Only the finishing touches to the lining of the suckenie are really hand-sewn.

At first I feared that I my garments could be too heavy for the weather, because it was quite hot and humid that day, but the wool-linen combination prooved a blessing. Linen dries fast and wool doesn't really get wet at all and just transports the humidity to the outside, thus keeping me quite cool naturally.

This ends here ... the year

The year is coming to an end and I haven't updated for a while. Unfortunately I also haven't done as much as I'd liked to, mostly because its winter and its getting dark so early that I don't have time to do really much after work. I did manage to finish the insulation in time and I have begun the electric installation.

If I find a working camera I might even post some pictures tomorrow.

A picture and some progress

I promised some pictures, here is at least one.

This is not what it looks like anymore. Half of the insulation is already mounted and I'm going to finish it next weekend at the latest. I then hope that we get a properly insulated window to replace that pentagonal one you see in the picture before winter comes. Otherwise I'll have to find some makeshift solution.

Under Construction

It's been a while since I have last posted anything here and I haven't really done much for my crafts projects, mostly because I had a lot of other work to do at the beginning of the year.

Then, in June, we decided to start renovating our appartment which turned into a major reconstruction. So, since I won't be able to work on my sewing projects for a while, I though I might as well keep you updated on the state of the construction site. The more so as what is a construction site now will, in part, become the workshop when it is finished.

When we started we had two rooms: the living room and, of about the same size right next to it, the guest room (which I had used as my workshop before). The two had originally been one until the previous owner decided to separate it in half.

The state now:
The two room has been reunited, the ceiling is gone (as is the floor of the attic above that room) the small room-like corner of the guest room has been made a proper room (future home office) via a dry wall.

What's next is that we have to put new insulation under the roof. And I'm going to post some pictures.

14th Century Project: Kirtle and Cotehardie Prototype

Since showing in just your underwear in public was seen as somewhat vulgar for a woman we also need some kind of real clothing. The complete dress will consist of a kirtle and a cotehardie.

The pattern is from a book, so I can't post it here for copyright reasons. Unfortunately I had to rescale it first which a video projector would have made much easier, but alas, I have none so I had to resort to pencil and ruler. It's tedious work and took me some five days for just the front and back pieces.

The picture shows the prototype I've made for fitting because I'll need the same pattern at least three times. First for the kirtle and later for the cotehardie and lining which has the same basic pattern with different sleves and a changed neckline.
The prototype will allow me to make a more durable pattern than the tissue paper you usually use for copying and it will also allow me to do the fitting with an inexpensive type of fabric like cotton and avoid spoiling some of the 30 Euro per meter wool.

The props I pinned to the front are just my tools – pincushion, ruler and tape. I had to hang them up there to protect them from the cats.

The 14th Century Project

A complete set of mid 14th century clothing for me and Julia is the goal of the project we started last December and hope to finish before June. So far we have finished a first set of undergarments.
These pieces here are all hand-sewn from linen, except for the woolen socks.

Women's underwear

The only attested kind of underwear for women is the chemise or smock. The pattern is very simple, based on the one found on www.familia-ministrialis.de.

These things were called hosen. Women probably wore knee-high versions like these which are fastened with a kind of fingerloop braided garter just below the knee. I couldn't find the garters though, because cats think they are great toys.

Men's underwear

Men's undertunics are basically just shorter smocks. I used a pattern I made by myself inspired by an undertunic found in France.

The basic men's underweare in the Middle Ages were braies. They look a bit like boxer shorts when worn but since there have never been any findings no pattern is known to be authentic. I decided on using the so-called Thursfield pattern. Judging by some of the images from that time the looks are pretty convincing. Yes, the leg openings are at the sides and no, I cannot do a split.