Discover Why Every Maker Needs This Book: Craeft Book Review

What does it mean to be a maker? What does it mean to be crafty? Where did the word craft come from in the English language? In Craeft, Alexander Langlands deep dives into these topics. Langlands is a Welsh archeologist that many reenactors might know from BBC programs like Tudor Monastery Farm, Tales from the Valley Green, or Victorian Farm. I read this book last year when I was taking some personal time to try and recharge and found it absolutely gets to the heart and soul of why I research and make things. The book also speaks to macro economics in a way that I had not really considered before as a maker of items and how a global disruption of trade can cut people off from goods, leaving them to be craefty like our ancestors to use local items and survive. Ya know, like we were all doing in 2020. This book was published in 2017. Langlands also dives into how our choices as makers can impact the environment around us and how it adapts and changes based on the car we give it as humans. Other Book Reviews: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-n8YRaQqPMGji_INFPAHRcAgXWQ_2W5Y Amazon Affiliate Links Craeft by Alexander Langlands https://amzn.to/3vLStOj Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (indigenous perspectives that are similar for makers and relationships with the land in the Americas) https://amzn.to/3JeuCcY Canon M50 for Filming: https://amzn.to/4aK9Cqt

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Pockets in the 16th Century?

So if you are new to my blog, Hello! I took July off to focus on work and realities of covid life. Thanks for hanging in there. This week we are doing to cover 16th Soccocia and their role toward the origin of pockets. People need a place to carry and keep their small items as they walk around. In the middle ages you might have a pilgrim satchel or a belt pouch. Some women in the middle ages had the brilliant idea to stop wearing their money purses outside of their over gowns and instead would wear them between their kirtle/sottona layer and over gowns. This arrangement still gave you access to the purse, but made it harder for thieves to cut your purse strings and run. Fast forward to the 16th century and we find the heirs to this practice in socaccia. We have some visual evidence of these in mid to late 16th century art out of Italy. This is a detail of Alessandro Allori's, Woman at her toilet, ca 1575-78. Currently in Florence, Church of Santa Maria Novella, Gaddi ...

Costumes in Wolf Hall

Many of us who love historical costume were completely smitten with the production shots we saw before Wolf Hall aired earlier this year. Now the series is available for sale through PBS, BBC, and even national retailers like Target. With the popularity of this series I want to take a moment and give those new to Tudor fashions a few notes before you take everything in the series as gospel. This is one of the most accurately costumed historical dramas that I have seen in years. The color palate, cuts, underwear, and fabrics are impeccable. But don't forget to do your own research into the clothing as you make your own ensembles. Odd Piece #1: French Hoods I appreciate the costume designer here for acknowledging French hoods need veils. I doubt though that you will find a single portrait from the 1520's or 30's in England or France that uses fine silk chiffon. Typically you will see a solid black veil on the French and English hoods. Medals done in profile from the time...

Making my Viking Apron Dress

This Week's vlog is the follow up to my Viking Age Tunic dress which I posted last week. When discussing the clothing of Birka and other Norse cultures, a woolen dress is an iconic look which is functional while tending a fire or many other activities. My apron dress is inspired by the finds out of Birka. The wool I used was a light weight suiting with a 2:2 twill weave. The long seams of this dress were finished with a machine for speed, and all of the seam finishings were hand sewn. I used a woolen finishing technique I learned about while flipping through Woven into the Earth by Else Ostergard. The technique involves using wool yarn and a couching stich of sorts to encase the raw edges of the wool. The end result is a low profile and durable seam around the neck and hem of my apron dress. I love that all of the hand sewn elements of this dress start to create a decorative finish on the outside of the dress and the only extra embellishment I added was a herringbone stitch over...

The Tudor Revolution

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