Fit for a queen

At least I hope so. (Her hands are small.)

Here is a picture of mittens I made for the upcoming queen. Her persona is from 12th century Denmark, so I based the  design on a medieval mitten found in Ribe. I used the Mammen stitch. The gauge of the stitches is closer to the actual artifact than my first attempt to reproduce it. The pattern isn't quire right yet, but I'm getting closer. The wool was spun on one of my 8th century reproduction spindles. The embroidery is based on a Viking design found on the Danish island of Soro.

Haste makes waste...

...or measure twice, cut once.

My barony is hosting Coronation in October, so after finishing my first pair of socks, I decided to make a new dress. I had some beautiful wool twill fabric of a color which can be made by natural dyes. I based the design of the dress on one I had made previously which fits me very well. That dress has rectangular sleeves, gathered at the wrist. I wanted the new dress to have tapered sleeves. My first problem was that I cut all four gores the same length, forgetting that the side gores are longer. So, I re-cut. That meant I had to cut one sleeve with the grain and one across the grain, in order to fit the pieces on the fabric. Well, not the end of the world, and I'm sure it has happened to someone before. Then, when I assembled the dress, I discovered that the sleeves were too tight. I had forgotten that tapering changes the dimensions at the upper arm as well as at the wrist. I had to take the sleeve apart and add larger gussets. If I had only checked my measurements first!

I decided that since I was using wool fabric I would spin my own sewing thread. I love sewing with my own thread, but there are a few tricks to it.

• Because dress fabric is usually densely woven, it is important to spin and ply with a high twist so that the thread will withstand being repeatedly pulled through the fabric. Period sewing thread is approximately 1 millimeter in diameter, plied. To make thread this size means spinning the thread tightly at 72 wraps per inch (28-30 wraps per centimeter). This is much finer than crewel thread. 
• Discard any pieces of thread that have pills or flaws. This thread is quickly damaged by sewing; it is a waste of time to try to use it.
• Keep your pieces of thread 12-15 inches long for best results. Too long, and they will break from abrasion.

Hunter's Moon

This weekend was the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, put on by our neighbors to the east, the Shire of Anglespur. It is one of my favorite events - a very relaxing way to end the summer. On Saturday I taught a spinning class - Spinning with Period Drop Spindles. I really wanted to give people who spin only with modern spindles a chance to touch and try and experience the difference between modern and ancient spinning.

We talked about period sheep breeds, combing vs. carding, using a distaff, and spinning for the intended use. We spun with both the antique spindle whorls and the reproductions. The class was small but enthusiastic, and I think we had a good time.

On Sunday I made glass beads. My first beads were made on the torch. I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

Then came the best part. Irene von Lassen had one of her Viking bead kilns there. She based it on the finds at Ribe. She taught me how to make beads in the kiln. It's completely different than making beads on the torch! It took a while to get the hang of it. The fire is made with charcoal, and is hotter than the torch flame. You begin by heating both the mandrel and a piece of glass in the fire. The glass sits on a little piece of clay so that it doesn't fall into the fire. But sometimes it does fall into the fire.

When the mandrel and glass are hot enough (the only way to know is practice), you touch the mandrel to the glass and it sticks. If the glass has become too hot, it sticks to the clay more than it sticks to the mandrel, and it is difficult to pick up. Once you have the glass on the mandrel, you hold it in the hottest part of the fire until the glass slumps all the way around. At that point you turn the mandrel until the bead becomes round.

It sounds simple, but it's not.

Here are the beads I made:

My first bead is the green one on the upper left. The mandrel was not centered on the glass when I picked it up, so there was much more glass on one side than the other. No matter how long I worked it, it was never going to get round. The broken blue bead was my second attempt. It, too, was misshapen. We suspect that it broke because of uneven heating in the kiln, or uneven cooling. Bead 3 is the transparent green bead on the left side of the picture. I was beginning to get the hang of it. Bead 4 turned out very round, but has bits of clay and charcoal stuck to it. The two beads on the right side of the picture are my "perfect" beads. They turned out round and I was steady enough with the long mandrel that I didn't get any unwanted bits stuck in the glass. I also found that I did better by starting with a smaller piece of glass. I am really looking forward to the next time Irene fires up her kiln!