Have you ever noticed that when you start gathering together images as “proof” of whatever historical things you’re planning to sew that suddenly you start seeing things in the images you’ve never seen before? Yeah, it’s like that. Here we go, I’m working on a 15th century kirtle (or cotehardie, whatever you want to call it) and I’m tickled at…Continue Reading→

This pattern will create a woman’s late 14th/15th century cotte/gown. Click here if you’re looking for the Men’s pattern. When drafted the pattern includes 1/2″ seam allowance on all edges. Because of the tight fit this will need some type of closure (rather than pulling it on over your head). For women, on a supportive layer I recommend you use…Continue Reading→

I sometimes portrait the wife of a high ranking nobleman in Sweden. In the late 14th century the movers and shakers of their time did have access to fancy fabrics of high quality, even silks, so I …

This article provides an overview of the roles and place of women in artisanal guilds in late medieval southern France

Hos återskapare idag ser man framförallt en frisyr – två flätor vid tinningarna. Om man jämför det med i manuskript från andra halvan av 1300-talet så kan man bland annat se mängder med kvinn…

end of the 13th century France Lausanne, Bibliothèque Cantonale et Universitaire, U 964 - Biblia Porta fol.178r http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bcul/U0964

Date: late 14th or early 15th century. Culture: South Netherlandish. Medium: Bronze; Quaternary copper alloy (approx. 72% copper, approx. 17% zinc,approx. 6...

Here's a lengthy post full of pictures of my new blue silk cotehardie worn over a gold silk kirtle. I started working on it about ten...

Clothing in the Middle Ages was another marker of a person’s status thanks to Sumptuary Laws imposed by rulers. Sumptuary Laws curbed the expenditure of people and in effect controlled behavior to …

The early 15th century seems to have had a dual personality when it came to skirt length. On the one hand, pooling skirts were quite vogue, and fashionable for any woman who could afford to have her gown made with the appropriate skirt length. On the other hand, this was an era in which many women performed any number of laborious tasks including housekeeping, artistic pursuits, weaving, and general labor. For these tasks, pooling skirts would have been ridiculous. But many of these women had a limited number of gowns in their possession, so it was not feasible to have gowns with pooling skirts and separate gowns with shorter working skirts.

It has often been said that women are hidden from history because it is, in the main, only men who figure prominently in historical narratives. So my post today contains images of Medieval women at their daily work – spinning wool. The modern term ‘spinster’ comes from this medieval female occupation but it is now used …

Please note: If you wish to reproduce this in any way please credit me. We all work very hard and share our knowledge freely in the SCA. It would be a shame to find my work in someone elses name. T…

Is it OK to call Modern Paganism "The Old Religion?" Are we really practicing "Ancient ways?" At Raise the Horns we say "yes!" to both of these questions.