Athelyna of Oldenfeld

Shrewsbury Abbey, founded in 1023 (also home of beloved fictional character Brother Cadfael), has massive round Norman-style columns. Also this goofy little fox-like character!

It has come to the point in the making of the first kirtle where eyelets need to be made! Nothing makes a person feel thrifty like using up scraps of thread from the bottom of the workbasket to baste up a practice piece. Apparently some people love making eyelets, and some people don't. Today I learned that I'm one of the former :) which is lucky, since there are many in my future...

Le sigh. And just so you know this isn't like magic that works perfectly every time... The poulaine making has suffered multiple setbacks. After trying multiple workarounds and finally concluding the sole leather is not just obstreperous but downright completely unusable (meaning both soles need to be completely recut and prepped from different leather), after cutting, trimming, skiving, and tannin treating all the pieces for both uppers, after finishing the first of six total upper closing seams, it occurred to me that I had miscalculated and cut a bit too much off the lasting margins. 😭😭😭 All the pieces (except the straps) have to be remade. At least the patterning is done??

Content warning: murdering of innocent books. Unexplained poulaine-wearing... https://pin.it/5ANRkpZ

Greetings everyone! I have moved to a house instead of an apartment and it feels so good to be in a space that makes me want to MAKE again.
Here are some things to know:
• REGISTRATION IS OPEN!!
Introduction to Pattern Making-- April 2023 is available to register here: https://www.themodernmaker.co/schoolhouse-registration
• I'm excited that this weekend I will FINALLY be able to make a new video. I think I'm going to keep working on the peascod doublet series -- just to wrap that up. I have lost weight since that one was drafted too...I MIGHT get to show how to alter a garment after it has been completed...then again, I might not be as different in shape as I think -- We shall see!
• After the Peascod Doublet is complete, I am going to make a video about the piece of red fabric that I am about to weave. It will be fulled, napped and used to make a traditional Swedish waistcoat from Malung. I look forward to showing the process. For this piece of fabric, I will not be spinning the yarn myself.

Ferocious sleighs from the Schweizerisches Landesmuseum, Zurich.

What you cannot see here are the 1600+ pieces of leather that were removed from these two uppers.
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Was man hier nicht sieht, sind die 1600+ Lederstückchen, die das Muster dieser beiden Oberleder ausmachen.

What did medieval beekeepers wear? Click here to find out more...

No Bees in My Business As a beekeeper, I have been thinking about making a period bee suit for quite a while. This page describes the start of this journey, beginning with (and inspired by) a surprisingly atypical illustration of beekeepers, and how I began looking into the details of that image, through the current point...