Making turnshoes from 200 AD. If I can do it, so can you!
I am not a fan of leather working. Until now I always bought my shoes for living history. For medieval periods there are some good off the shelve options with a turn shoe construction. For a new portrayal I needed shoes from…
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Getting dressed in the 14th century
This weekend I had the honour to re-enact at ‘t Huys Dever in Lisse. An old 14th century donjon. It was a small event at which we gave cooking demonstrations. In the morning I could not resist to make a small series…
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Gliding on ice – my first thoughts on bone runners
This starts about 5 years ago when I found bone runners on a website selling medieval replica’s. I instantly bought them with the idea that it would be really nice to glide on the ice in medieval attire. What I did not…
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2021 crafts
I just wanted to show all the garments I made this last year. Lots of lockdowns and almost no events. Still I managed to make 5 new looks. Hopefully I will be able to wear them at events this year! But here…
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Upping my sewing game – trossfrau
The fashion of the 13th century is my comfort zone. I am making garments of this period for 10 years now. The patterns are in my head and when I make something from that era I most of the time do not need…
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A simple dress part 1
Fashion in the early and high medieval period is quite simple. The pattern pieces are mostly made from squares and triangels. Today I will present a simple pattern for a dress that can be used for the 13th and beginning of the…
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Carolingian rush job
A week ago I got a mail if I wanted to be an extra for a child’s tv show in the Netherlands. They would be doing something Carolingian and I did not own anything for that period. The fact that I love…
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13th century headdress (part 1)
One of my pet peeves in re-enactment and living history is being a believable representation of the character you are portraying. Even when you are not actively acting a medieval persona, you are portraying the way people lived in your time period.…
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Madder Mysteries part 2
Some time ago I got a book in my mailbox about historical dyeing. The colourful past is an elaborate reference work about historical dye methods through the ages and analyzing them in a laboratory. In this book there is also an extant part about…
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Long dresses
Just a small blog this time. There are many projects running, but not yet ready to be published. I want to say something about dress length. When looking at manuscripts and effigies I see many long dresses in 13th and 14th century.…
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Mending clothing
If there is one thing I absolutely love doing it is mending my medieval clothing. Wearing my kit means it will wear. Medieval clothing was way more expensive than clothing nowadays. Taking care of your clothing and mending it when needed was…
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Weaving a seam.
While reading woven into the earth some years ago, I was really intrigued by the section on techniques used while sewing clothing. One of the techniques for finishing garments is the woven edge. By weaving a band on the edge of the fabric you…
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Yellow dresses.
There is one subject that keeps on getting my attention in medieval history. The colour yellow. The current view on the colour yellow in medieval times is that it is a colour used for heathens and many other negative subjects as can…
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Disapproving my past self
For some time now I wanted to improve my female viking outfit. I once started it and never really finished it. I only made an apron dress and sneaked my 13th century woolen dress under it. So it never was a finished project.…
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Madder mysteries part 2
Natural dyeing with plant materials is not an exact science. One batch of madder contains different amounts of dyestuff than another batch. Madder is one of the most elusive dyestuffs I know of. I am dyeing with madder for some years now…
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Madder mysteries part 1
Madder is one of the main dyes in the medieval period. It can give orange and pink tones as well as beautiful reds. I have dyed several times with madder and the thing that strikes me is that many modern sources give…
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Silk and Iron 