In answer to one of your original questions - yes. The style of the whorl (not the stick!) is period specific. Check what is correct for your period before you buy. (size as well as material - wood, clay, glass, pewter ...) The method of spinning, whatever shape the whorl, is the same; but some are ...

I have a couple of sets and have used them on a Henrician gown (Thomas More family portrait stylee). They don't need any loops or holes as they are sharp and just push through the fabric. As they never go in exactly the same place any holes heal up. The tape/belt they are on just sits round the back...

Hi Miri difficult to know what to suggest as I'm not sure what you're starting with, but for most people clothes this early in the 1500s are still really like late medieval - long panels, very few waist seams, top half fitted, skirts flaring out from hips, no gathers. Pictures of different coloured ...

The main difference is that there is much, much more fabric in the skirts - especially by the time you get to the Elizabethan end of the century, and there is a waist seam. It gives a very different outline/silhouette. If you are prepared to go for an extra garment, the simplest solution is to make ...

it goes without saying, of course, that yours will do up properly

The problem with lucets is also that while it seems to disappear during mudieval and two-door period, it re-appears later. Sooo, the "discussion" is about whether it actually disappeared and became a C17th arts & crafts revival (!) or if it was just so common-place no one bothered writ...

Oh I was going to ask about inkle looms as there are a lot on eBay and I'd really like one to make tablet weaving more manageble (and put-downable). Is there a general consensus, or maybe I should search old threads? Either way I'll probably get one at least for at home. the new ones vary a lot in ...

lucy the tudor wrote:Lucets are debatable, very, but lovely too.
Mally, I take your lucet...
and raise you....

the inkle loom

Don't get me started - haven't used either of those 'in public' for years either ...

How about the influx of what looks like the Japanese kumihimo (? however it's spelled!) disc braiding? I've seen a lot of it about recently, from Viking to modern, and I was wondering is it actually authentic for any of it? Used to do it as a kid back in the 60s wusing a cotton reel with panel pins...

Do you think I should experiment with that toile and put a gore in for practice? What is the A-line toile a pattern for? It appears to be far too narrow for anything medieval. If it's for something modern and you're just practicing with techniques, putting gores in will add width around the hips an...

Can I ask a quick question. What is a 'gore', and what is 'burgundian'? A 'gore' is a triangular piece of fabric. If the main body of the kirtle or gown is cut with straight edges you don't have enough width around the hips or around the hem. This might be because you don't have a wide enough piece...

isnt that funny, that dress is on my long term 'to do' list as well, mine is going to be in purply grey linen when I eventually get round to it. It's on my list too - I've got a similar with-reflections style photo on my phone! ladydetemps, as teagirl and others say - take your time, it is enjoyabl...

If you read the TT page more closely, it says those outer garments would do an ordinary man for later part of C16th, and that the garments are based on some of the examples in Janet Arnold's book 1560 - 1620. NOT that the garments will cover all those years. Fashions lower down the social scale do n...

The events at Kentwell are organised by the owner. While people who belong to lots of different groups take part, individuals (and families) apply to the owner to take part. The process starts in Jan/Feb. There is an open day for potential participants in March, then another in May before the main e...

No probs. Sorry can't give chapter and verse, but I know it is talked about in Tudorbethan terms as a 'later thing'. Of course, that doesn't mean it wasn't about much earlier ... you can really tie yourself in knots with this sort of thing :roll: Would another possibility be buttons? I don't really ...

2 seams, one along the front one along the back of the sleeve, are, I believe a later thing - late C16th onwards (no, can't cite refs, sorry!)

All of these pictures are for short sleeves, proper sleeves, fitted like full length sleeves, but shorter. This is not what I picture if I think of a capped sleeve - which is not much bigger than the wings you get on shoulders of late C16-C17th doublets. I'm not aware of any capped sleeves, by this ...

You are asking people to prove a negative, which is tricky. Received opinion is that inkle looms are C20th, possibly appearing as part of the craft revival in the 1920s. I know of one trader who sells inkle looms (and I have one and I love it) on the understanding that their design can be used to pr...

Just to emphasize part of Jenn's answer - you wouldn't have a draw-string waist on the skirt. The skirt is either attached to a waistband or directly on to the bottom of the bodice. The part of the skirt at the front (only about 3-4" either side of the centre front) is flat, the pleats then goi...

Here is the article Sophia mentioned. Do not use knitting nancy type cord. This is wrong, besides which it makes a knitted tube and is not dense enough, so it will wear out very quickly. Lucet cord is good (we can ignore the small can of worms about lucets in the C16th) and it would take an expert ...

eh?
http://livinghistory.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=21870

They also get eaten by mice.
And if you don't keep the tallow pot out of the way, the tallow will be eaten by escapee piglets.

I was not happy that day

Candles can also be made from Tallow, which is rendered beef or mutton fat from the inner body cavity (think round the kidneys) which has been carefully clarified - can't remember any sources at the moment as brain full of Kentwell packing lists. Again Sweetness and Light can probably advise you, I...

Candle wicks would have been made of plant fibres - so flax, or nettle for example. I believe you if you say you've seen a source for cotton wicks, but <sound of can of worms being opened> I'd have thought it would have been too much of a luxury/expensive item to be used for candles on a day to day ...

Is it the same shape as linen coifs of the period? Might it just be a warmer version..?

Looks slightly odd, but I think that might be the un-naturally long neck of the mannequin (or is it just me?)

Wow, they are stunning

I'd say not coats - wear a gown.

Medicus Matt wrote:Entirely possible...

What's the difference between combing and carding then...in terms of the process of turning sheep into trousers?

<rushes off to look it up> . . . <or wait for someone more knowledgeable to answer>

Medicus Matt wrote:Do you do the early Anglo-Saxon ones, the ones that look like a load of six inch nails in a two blocks of wood with iron backing?

Those sound like combs, not carders - different animal.