With the world as it is today with covid outbreaks everywhere, a lot of us finds ourselves at home, more or less bored and without our usual friends and pastimes. I know it may feel uncertain and depressing to not know how the world will be in a few weeks, months or even half a year. But instead of feeling down, I will do my best to lighten your mood and as a handcrafter, I will shamelessly take this opportunity to inspire you all to more handcrafting!

I mean, lots of time (and internet) on our hands, and a season to look forward to with magical events, cosy markets, lots of friends… (Yes, I know it might be a late-season, but the world will rotate back sooner or later.)

So, look at these photos- don’t you get inspired? Longing for some summer vibes?

What are your goals for this season? Do you need to update or mend your wardrobe? Or make some practical changes to your camping gear? Here are all my shifts washed, mended and ironed. Ready for fun adventures! (Also, welcome to a photo of some sexy medieval lingerie. It is here you’ll get all the tastiness!)

I have a long list of things I need to do before buying fabric or planning new projects. As I wrote the list in New Years, I kind of felt that I would Never Get It Done. But now, being home full time without any extra jobs, markets and uh, well…income I have decided To Get Things Done. Yes, all the things! Some serious sewing will happen in this home in the coming weeks.

If you need more inspiration to get started or know what to make, here are some really good tips:

• Pinterest might be full of advertisement, photos and medieval-ish things but there’s really good inspiration too. My favourite is to search for different artists or painters from the period I want to know more about, or for earlier periods search for different finds, like “Birka graves Viking” and see what comes up. Pinterest will show you more of the things you click on and save, so as you go along you will find more and more. Check out where the sources come from, follow others with lots of good folders and get inspired!
• Go through your historical wardrobe and sort things out. Clean/air, mend and iron things to make them look neat. Try them on if you feel like it, play, get inspired! Think back to the previous season- did everything work? Were those shoes comfy? Need to make adjustments to any garment or sew a new warmer one?

Mending might be boring, but feels great when it is done!

• Sell things you don’t need or like. The second-hand market for reenactor wear is large and you can find lots of groups on Facebook for buying and selling things. Get rid of things from your wardrobe you don’t like, get some new money, use the money to make more things you really love!
• Get yourself outside! No, I didn’t mean exercise, but even if there are no historical events right now you can gear yourself up and bring a friend out for some fun playing time. Take photos of your outfit in the forest, go for a hike, or cook over an open fire for lunch. Share all those photos on social media and share the new energy! (also, going out with your gear makes you see if everything’s working well or if you need to make adjustments.)

Warm and comfortable Viking, ready for a cold event!

• Get yourself some new handcrafting things! With more time on your hands, you will have time for a really fun and inspirational project. (No, you don’t need to make all those boring things first, sometimes it is more important to get new joy before being practical.) Also, you purchasing new fabrics, threads, tools etc from small businesses will make all the difference for them now when many are struggling with survival due to cancelled markets etc.
• And if you don’t feel like sewing everything for the coming season- consider ordering a new garment (pick the one you felt would be boring to make yourself) from your favourite business. It will support them, you will get a new fun garment, and new inspiration for the coming season.

(Hey; remember that I have lots of free tutorials for you here on the blog? And also, on my Patreon you can access all my tutorials for a good deal that I also sell on Etsy. This is kind of a commercial for my own stuff you know. Buy some stuff!)

And remember that even if you can’t go out to fun meetings and events all those lovely people are just a few clicks away, so why not start a sewing circle with skype, join a fb group or facetime with your friends while handcrafting! Spread the joy and happiness- handcraft more!