HANDCRAFTED HISTORY

Category Archives: 13th century


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Mending your hose

New and inproved!

I made love a new pair of summer hose, in really thin wool twill. The hose got some though love during the summer and come autumn the soles looked like this:

Not much left. When your soles are this worn, it is easier to just change them for a new pair. This round, I choose a thicker and more sturdy wool twill, hoping they would last more than one summer. I ripped the old soles out, and traced around them on a new piece of pre-washed fabric.

Tracing the old soles to new fabric. Remember to add seam allowance if that is worn away.
The top fabric was in pretty good condition, but worn thin in some places. I reinforced those spots with patches on the inside, sewn with running stitches and wool thread.
Soft fabric and a thin wool thread will make the mended areas comfortable. This is the right side of the hose.
All worn areas mended; horizontal and vertical running stitches to secure the patches to the hose, and backstitched soles in place. I did not bother felling the seams, I predict these will soon need to be ripped again…


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Medieval pattens (step-to-step)

Heh, see what I did there? Pattens- step to step, as you can step with them and this is also a guide and…

Yeah. Sorry, let us step to the actual content.

15th-century style pattens

I had been trying to get myself a really good pair of wooden pattens for a couple of years, only to discover that they didn’t fit very well. So I got my hands on a new pair of wooden soles, and this time I made the straps and fitted them myself. It is a little more work than ready-made, but Wow did this make all the difference!

This project was started over 3 years ago and along the way, I lost photos from the handcrafting process. This means that this tutorial is far from the best one I have made, but I decided to finish and publish it since some friends were asking for tips for making pattens.

If you want to know more about historical pattens, check out this blog post.

Good things to make medieval pattens.

Tools for this project:

  • hammer
  • scissor
  • pen
  • knife
  • ruler
  • awl
  • needle
  • leather clips

Materials you need:

  • wooden soles
  • thick leather 2,5-4 mm
  • thin leather 1-2 mm
  • waxed linen thread
  • nails
  • tape and regular paper
  • two buckles around 1-1,4 cm width (optional)

Wooden soles:

You need a pair of wooden soles first, and your medieval shoes. Measure your foot with your shoes on, so you know how long the wooden sole needs to be. I didn’t make my wooden soles so I won’t walk you through (hehe, walk…) how to do it, but if you have patience and a few woodworking tools just draw your foot on a piece of wood, and carve out something that looks like the historical pattens or my sole above. The joint is not a must but I find it really comfortable.

When you have a pair of wooden soles, it is time to connect the pieces with a joint of sturdy leather and nails.

Use a paper draft to fit in the joint, mark it and copy to leather. The leather should be as thick as the cut-out for the joint, between 2,5-4 mm.
Hammer the leather joint in place with nails, and then start working on your strap. Paper and some tape is a good way to test out the pattern and fit.
My goal was to make a strap that both looked plausible and was comfortable. I started by attaching my foot to the wooden sole with tape and then tried to move around. This was not the right fit.
But it was a good starting point to achieve something like this! I cut away the tape that was uncomfortable or in the way, until I got a fit that was working. Last, I taped the buckle in place to check the fit. Try to position the tape quite high on your foot, not over your toes.
When you are happy, cut off the tape and convert them to two pattern pieces, one for each side of the foot.
Next step is to cut them out in thin leather, 2 of each.
Thin leather needs some kind of reinforcement to last, so cut out strips of leather to sew on the edges.
Use an awl to make holes in the leather before stitching. Note that the strip should reach all the way up, this was just a test piece I made before doing my finished set.
Use a cobbler stitch and waxed linen thread to sew the leather strip in place.
Turn the piece to the inside, fold over the leather strip and sew it in place with a whip stitch. Don’t work through the leather piece, just enough to fasten the strip. To shape the edge and make it stay in place, you can hammer it down gently.
One piece is almost done, one to go. This was my finished pair, note how the strip goes all the way up and it is really narrow at the top to accommodate for the buckle.

After I made the reinforced pieces, I attached the buckle by sewing it in place, and made a hole in the other side for closing.

Trying out the fit of the finished pieces, by using a stapler to fasten the leather to the sole. You can also use some more tape. Love tape.
Hammering the leather in place with small nails. These are modern nails for roofing paper, but you can use any flat, shorter nails. It would be pretty to use historical nails, but I did not find any narrow enough.

That’s it! Give them some leather oil and then you are ready to go out adventuring.

Trying them outside in some water and grit.
There are lots of sources without buckles on your pattens. It is possible to just make a plain or decorated leather piece around the foot. The best part with buckles is not that they are pretty, but that you may adjust the fit to the shoes (or hose without shoes) that you are wearing.


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13th century France- the Maciejowski/Morgan bible Look

My yellow dress in thin wool with buttoned sleeves

After my project with the Luttrell Psalter, I got interested in earlier medieval times and clothing and fell for the Morgan/Maciejowski Bible. The illustrations are so awesome! Also, the 13th century really is quite fashinating with its garments and ideal style differing so much from the 15th century that I have been into the last years. So here’s a short fashion/garment summary based on my studies of some mid-late 13th century manuscript.

from https://commons.wikimedia.org

Quick caracteristics of the mid 13th century female dress:

  • Overlong dresses: Reach the ground even with belts. The wearer hold the skirt up with their hand or drape it over the belt when moving.
  • Loose fit: The folds created in artwork indicates a loosely draped dress with lots of fabric.
  • Large armholes: Loose armholes on garments both with the sleeves sewn on, with partially open armholes with the sleeve half attached, and with open armholes without sleeves.
  • Sleeves: Loose upper sleeve, with tightness around wrist. S-sleeves and regular sleeves are both represented in finds (Söderköpings kjortel/kirtle was constructed with S-sleeve)

Whole outfit:

Shift (probably in linen) wool dress and wool overdress/gown, silk for elite society. Hose or socks in wool, shoes in leather. Apron (probably linen) when working, doesn’t appear to be a fashionable item. Hood and cloak for warmth, as well as overdresses lined with another fabric layer or fur. Lots of different headstyles; loose hair, hairnets, caps, wimple and veils, fillets, barbettes etc. If you want to check out more sources, my SCA mentor wrote this Interesting blogpost about Isabella de Bruce’s wardrobe from the end of 13th century.

Before I started this project I collected notes on ways to achieve the correct look:

  • Make the dresses and gowns much longer than usual.
  • Make the garment wider than my usual simple dresses, but with a fitted neckhole, shoulders and sleeves. Or rather; make the front part wider to drape across the body, but keep the width of the back piece to avoid bulkiness over the shoulder area.
  • Add gores both in the sides, front and back of the skirt. Lots of width is needed for the upper class look.
  • Add width to the garment from the armhole, instead of starting at the waist.
  • Choose a thin, tightly woven fabric with a dramatic drape; the folds should be deep and clearly visible.
  • Make the armholes and sleeves wider than you need, and then finish them snugly by the wrist, or add buttons for tight closure.

Here is my construction adjustments; the drawn lines is the blue 14th century dress, and the dotted lines are the adjustments I made while drafting this dress. The sleeve hole is larger, the dress front piece wider, and the dress longer than full length while standing. To save on fabric, I decided to not widen the dress from the armholes but make the front and back panels straight. The width of skirt is made with the help of the 4 gores.

The silhouette is rather straight, without female curves or visible bust, and the easiest way to spot a woman is to look for the pooling dresses, My SCA mentor told me that women seldom show their feets in period artwork, while the men have gowns leaving the feet visible. I found that interesting and so far everything I have seen from this period fits with that description!

So far, I have mainly focused on the gown. I used my 14th century linen shift, wool hose and shoes to complete the outfit enough for wearing. I also made a belt from tablet woven silk and a buckle and belt end in brass. This was also made for the 14th century outfit, but it does well enough here. The brooch is made in brass and coloured glass, and the hair band is tablet woven in the same silk colours as the belt, backed with silk and decorated with small fittings in brass. The veils seen in the photos is my old ones from my 14th and 15th century looks. A future step would be to create a fun headwear typical for the period, if I want to explore it further. The belt bag is an old one in historical brocade from the late 11th- early 12th century if I remember correctly, with silk tassels and cord.

Aha, no feets!

To achieve the right silhouette a loose garment is the best, as well as wearing the belt below the natural waist and arrange the folds to drape nicely. If in need of a modern bra for support, choose one that doesn’t separate or enlarge the bust, but rather a soft bra.

A note on linings: Used in overdresses, gowns and cloaks. Fur, wool or linen are mentioned in sources, and also blends; wool/linen and cotton/linen which might be an option for cooler garments. The patterned linings in white and gray/blue is a representation of squirrel fur, the white being the stomach of the winter coat and the most expensive. (Actually, squirrel fur was so popular that the poor animal went extinct in areas during the medieval period.)

Would you like to check out more from this period? Kongshirden is a reenactment group focusing on the start of the 14th century in Norway, and they have some great clothing guides for free on their website! (in Norwegian, but there’s lots of pictures to check out).

photos taken by Elna /THFS at Oslo MF