I wanted to begin new medieval season by a quiet and nice picnic. May be two days picnic. So I persuaded my friend
Klaryssa to call our friendly farm if it was possible to pick up our tents there. The landlady was so excited that instead of calm picnic it will be a real fest with invited very important persons, press and gods know who else. I want to serve some medieval dishes and that means spending some time in the kitchen. As an innkeeper I need some apron.
Watching The Luttrell Psalter (an English illuminated psalter written and illustrated c. 1320–1340 by anonymous scribes and artists) I found several smocked aprons I liked.
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| A poor woman cultivating her field |
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| Some peasant working with sheeps |
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| A woman feeding chickens |
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| A spinner |
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| Harvesting women |
I used white linen to create my apron. Firstly I drew lines for chosen pattern, then I made so called honey comb.
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| The begining of a honey comb |
When the honey comb was ready I hemmed it by pale pink Egyptian cotton.
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| The honey comb is ready |
The second line of my pattern it is made of trellis stitch which let me achieve half diamond shape.
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| A half of diamond shape under the honey comb |
Under this part I made a chain using the same pink cotton.
In the end of the pattern I made a honey comb once again.
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| The whole pattern |
Then I added a belt, hemmed the whole apron and there it is, my apron for medieval innkeeper.
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| My apron in its magnificence |
The aprons in The Lutterell Psalter are more decorative. It was black thread used to make the patterns. But I think that one apron it is not enough for me, so next time I will create a black ornament.In the pictures you can also see a wonderful pincushion gifted me by
Klaryssa who made it by herself using the pattern of a cushion from XIV century (Victoria & Albert Museum).
