The season starts

Next weekend will be the first, for this year, that we will be out living medieval camp life. When you have children, you need to make sure that their clothes fit and that shoes can still be worn with socks. Swedish weather in May is like a lottery. There may be summer days with + 20 degrees, or frost during the nights. I need to be prepared for everything!

Thomas, my husband, found his hose and discovered that they had a big hole that needed to be fixed. They had split where the fabric is under the most stress – the upper inside part, close to the groin. This is were his hose always break. Why? The leg piece of his armor ends there, and the steel edge tends to chafe the fabric. Even though he tried to avoid it the last time by tablet weaving the edges to get more wear out of them. Fabric vs metal 0-1.

A strong, handwoven linen fabric was selected to fill the hole.

Thomas did a classic ”up and down- stitch” all over the patch.

When he was done, I could barely see where the patch was placed.

I have been working on a new hood, a fur-lined wool hood with a lovely greenish/yellow twill-woven fabric on the outside. The hood will have buttons on the front so I can use it without having to remove my veil and wimple.

Here it is, under construction.

This time I wanted to sew with woolen thread instead of linen thread. And I have to say I really like it! But I must work on my technique, I tend to pull the thread too hard and break it..

This is the progress I’ve made with the hood so far.

Inside:

As you can see, there is more work to do before I can use it. Better hurry!

If you want to meet up, come to Ekenäs medeltidsdagar 10- 12 of May.
Don’t be a stranger!
/Maria

A washing guide for linen

I sometimes get questions about linen. I will try to answer those questions here, without getting too technical.
But here are some technical facts anyway

The linen fibers are straight (think of straight hair, the fibers look very much the same). This means they have almost zero flexibility and stretch. They contain natural glue. When spinning the thread, water is added to the fibers and the glue sticks them together, which makes the thread really strong.

1. When buying fabric. It’s preferable that you wash your linen before you make something out of it. Linen shrinks about 5% during the first washing. Some qualities may shrink as much as 10%.

2. To avoid permanent breakage of the fibers you need to pre-soak the fabric. This is easiest to do in a bath tub. Try to lay the fabric down as flat as possible. I always try to go from one side to the other of the tub with the fabric. After all the fabric is down, I fill the tub up with lukewarm water and leave the fabric to soak for 4-5 hours.
This allows the fibers to absorb as much water as possible. The first time linen fibers get wet (after spinning, that is) they will ”permanent” the shape they have when they come into contact with water. If you lay them out flat, they will more or less stay that way in the future. If you crumble them up into a pile in the washing machine, they will break – and get permanent breakage lines.

3. After the soaking you can wash the fabric in a washing machine. The natural glue in the fibers doesn’t like higher temperatures than 70 degrees Celsius. So just to be safe, use a washing program of no more than 60 degrees. If possible, avoid intense spin cycles at the end of the program.

4. Detergent – no optic whitener! Just use normal detergent. And NO softener! Softener ”coats” the fibers and will prevent the linen from absorbing water and cause it to lose its shine. (Softener is also highly allergenic and extremely bad for the environment!) ”But linen is so rough”, you might think. Well… If treated right, linen is soft. Or maybe you should get cotton instead.

5. Drying. A straight fiber wants to dry in a straight position. Drip drying is the best method. Clothespins are your best friends here. If possible, allow the fabric to dry in normal room temperature, or outdoors. If this is not possible, a room with a heating fan will do fine.
Tumble drying is a BIG NO-NO! Why? The heat will dissolve the glue and the fibers will separate – and when separated, they break easier. The fabric eventually becomes ”fluffy” on the surface, like flannel, and its ability to become smooth and shiny, like silk, will be gone forever.

6. A flat fiber is a happy fiber. After drying, mangling is highly recommended! If the drying is done right, the linen will get smooth and shiny like silk. Also, the life of the linen increases every time you do this. A mangle isn’t something that every person owns, and they can sometimes be hard to find. The important thing is that it’s NOT the kind with a heating aggregate attached to it.

In Birka, the archaeological finds tell us that people knew to treat their linen right. Among the finds are a shoulder blade from a moose and a glass smoother.  The latter is a round, smooth piece of glass, and when rubbed across the linen, using the hard shoulder blade for support underneath the fabric, the linen fibers flatten and become shiny.

A steaming iron can also be useful. Avoid the steam! Even if the iron often indicates that the highest temperature is for linen, you can turn down the heat a little bit to save the important glue in your fabric.

Use a spray bottle with lukewarm water to dampen your fabric before ironing. Wait until the water has soaked INTO the fabric, and isn’t just lying on top of it. Iron in the same direction as the warp and weft, not bias-wise. Use one hand to hold the edge and stretch the fabric, then work your way towards the hand. Ironing will make your fabric flat and smooth but not especially shiny.

6. Make yourself something nice out of your stunning fabric. Treated right, your fabric will live a long time.

Please tell me if there is something that I’ve missed, something I could explain better or if you would like to share something else concerning linen!

/Maria

A surcote for a young lady

When being eight years old one’s clothes tend to get very short from one year to another. Two years ago I made a sleeveless surcote for my daughter; it was pink with white rabbit fur decorations. Allis loves it! But this year it’s way to small. She ordered a new one from a red fabric she found in a pile at home. Always remember to have fabric at home to choose from

Here is the paper pattern, front side.

Gore. Had to make it with a wide top. Really handy when making a sleeveless surcote.

Side and front with marks for the embroidery.

Pearls

Silk flower with a pearl

All flowers done!

First try on the model.

Next step is to take in the ”wings” on the shoulders and decide what to do with the raw edges. Maybe some edge weaving? Or some dark brow fur lining around the armholes? Help me, what do you think? And of course pressing!

/Maria

Back to the brick stitch

Two weeks ago I went on holiday with my family to Gran Canaria. It was my first time on charter, ever. I thought I’d bring something to do on the flight so I put down a piece of linen, a round frame, some silk and needles in my hand luggage. The scissor had to go in a different bag, so I cut some threads in advance. Where can I get one of those tread cutters that can come with you on board? I didn’t want to make a 100% reproduction, cause I’ve kind of tried that all ready. I wanted to make something inspired by extant examples, to see if I am able to ”understand” the pattern style for the late 14th century.

When starting I realised that I had forgotten pen and paper so I couldn’t draw the pattern I was planning to make. I just had to make it more simple then the original plan
Anyway the 6 hours on the plane didn’t get me any time to make more then a thin line, cause my company was way to exited about the flying.

This is all I came up with:

This is my travelling kit:

When starting the way I did, free and with no paper pattern, I needed to start working from the middle and work my way out towards the edges. After a short while, I needed guidelines.

A concentrated Maria in the sun getting a tan at the same time as working.
My daughter took the photo.
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Then my son became ill and I had to give embroidery up for some days. But I was back on it on the flight home.

I’m still thinking about not being so repetitive but I kind of like the boring pattern too.

/Maria

Ps. Round frames suck!

I think I hate it…

The test weave became a proper weave, the fastest one ever. I put up a 4 meter long warp, 51 cm wide.
I had so little yarn of the same colour so I decided to make the warp striped in thin stripes. I had a light green dyed with something I can’t even remember. The yellow is dyed with onion skins. The brown is naturally brown. But the brown was a little bit thicker than the others so I misjudged how much I had. That meant I had to use some extra treads in reddish colour, madder, so the warp would be as long as I planned.

Here is a picture of the warp on the mill.

I wanted to get a thick and strong weave so I choose a tabby as a binding, just like the pieces at the museum.

Here is a picture on the weave in the loom.

As you can see I did use weft in different colours too. I had some old failed madder dyed yarn, nöthårsgarn, a mix of wool and cow hair yarn (I once made a rug out of it, really ugly!). The wool mix is a rough and hard yarn and it’s famous for it’s ability to keep out water and its ability to be itchy. I also had some old yarn in natural grey.

Here is another picture of the weave in the loom.

When weaving a weave with thick weft it is easy for the weft to ”crawl out” from the weave after the cutting down. I wanted to prevent that from happening so I tried a new trick. Sewing some stitches around the end edge before cutting the weave down.

Here it is outside, in the snow.

In daylight

When seeing it I feel seasick. I really need to dye it, it’s like a hungover and it makes me wanna close my eyes when I see it :-/

A little test weave

At my visit at Historiska museet I found some pieces that caught my eye. Thick tabby woven bits, containing probably a mix of wool and other animal fibres. The pieces are really thick and have few treads per centimeter in the warp and weft.

Here are some samples from different parts of Sweden. Söderköping, Kalmar and Klinthamn, Gotland.

These pieces are usually called ”packtextil” meaning textiles for packing (things). But what they were used for, we can’t really know when finding them in the ground after 630 years.

My plan is to go in a pilgrimage this spring and I really need something good to pack my sleeping things in. I can’t really enjoy linen around my things because its ability to suck up dampness will probably keep my sleeping gear a little bit damp *not so pleasant*.
Wool is a great material and mixed with, for example goat wool, it will repel water and dampness. My plan is to use some of my homeless wool. Wool with high twist, plant dyed and mixed fibres. Perfect I believe.

I made a small test weave. Here’s the result:

There is a life for ugly yarn too!

/Maria

On the bed

I just want to show you how it looks now when done.

Close up

When I have a picture of how it looks on my medieval bed I will let you see it.

I’m quite happy and I really feels that it came out the way I planned.
Here is my first, and only, sketch.

The purple changed to blue, and I’m happy that I changed.
/Maria

Loom action

The little piece from Historiska museet inspired me so much. I just had to weave something with the same feeling and the same look.

Here is the result.

Warping

Pre reeding. In the sofa at New Year’s Eve (I’m a proper nerd!)

A helping hand

Getting in there

In!

Close up

Fabric on the beam

765 cm of lovely wool

Well, as you can see weaving is easy and fast.

/Maria

New year, new projects

The 28th of December I had the chance to visit the textile collection at Statens historiska museum. It was fab! I looked at plenty of small fragments from Nyköping, Uppsala, Stockholm and Söderköping. For me, as a weaver, it was like being in heaven to be able to see so many finds so closely. To see the thickness and the weaving structure. And I fell madly in love with a small piece from Söderköping. I know that checked fabric is not the most common during the 14th century so it was a blast to find a piece. Striped fabric was more common in the drawers at Historiska; actually it was quite common, although not as common as plain. However, I have no idea what the fabrics have been used for; they could have been used for blankets, cushions, clothing or something else, which means they aren’t solid evidence for striped clothes, for example. The majority of the fabrics were, of course, brown because they were found in the earth.

I’ve promised myself to make some bed textiles. I have, for some reason, way to much yarn in a little thicker quality and it’s very suitable for things like a bed throw. My plan is to make a big throw, sewn together from 3 pieces (60*220cm/piece) , the total measurements will be approx. 180*220cm.

The piece from Söderköping. The plastic is ugly, I know, but I didn’t want to take the fabric out from the plastic. Old fabric tend to be a bit brittle.

The picture top left: As you can see it’s 4 squares.
The picture above: Close up in the middle, on the right side is the dark warp and left side light warp. Top weft is light and weft down is dark.
The picture down: Selvedge.

The fabric is woven on three shafts, a twill. The warp is a thread twisted from two treads. I haven’t looked any closer on the spinning of the tread. The weft is, as far as I can see, also twisted from two treads, and a little bit thicker than the warp. The issue with making something like this is that is tricky to get yarn with the same hard twist as the original, but I’ve nevertheless decided that the yarn I have is good enough. If I was to make a small piece I would have spun some yarn, but 180x220cm is a little bit to large for that…

Isn’t it lovely?

/ Maria

A pretty embroidery

At Nordiska museet in Stockholm they got a textile room with drawers packed with textiles from 1521 until today. It’s a lovely room!
The last time I was there I did search for older things and this little darling showed up.
It’s a tied net in silk with filled squares in a thicker silk tread. I don’t know the proper name for this technique. Do you? In Swedish it is called ”pinnspets” when it’s made in the traditional style from the county of Gästrikland. It means ”stíck lace” cause it’s tied around a small stick. Once can also call it fillét lace.

The dating is a bit vague, 15th century, but I think that this piece is so interesting that it can’t be hidden in that drawer at Nordiska. The world needs to know!

The pictures are taken with my HTC and I’m sorry for the poor quality.

I think the fringe is so pretty. The colors are still so bright and strong. Amazing!

”Probably from a medieval bed curtain”
That’s all for now.

Happy new year to all of you!
Hugs, Maria.