Hand Stitched Split Finger Wool Mittens

While digging around in my basement looking for some wool for a Friar's outfit, I came across a bin of scrap material I had kept. Some years ago I created a hand stitched wool tunic. I washed the tunic one too many times while eating one too many dinners and I soon found the tunic no longer fit. I cut it apart and reused some of the wool for a mantle. The rest of the scrap sat in a bin in my basement. I decided to make a pair of three fingered mittens based on a pattern from the book Medieval Taylors Assistant. Each mitten was made from three pieces of wool and completely hand stitched using a combination of stab stitches and back stitching with 100% linen thread.

Hand Stitched Plaid Wool Cap

This wool cap was based on pattern from the book "Medieval Taylors Assistant". This project was a complete after thought. I used a plaid wool blanket to mock up a cassock for a Friar's robe I was making. After I finished the hood, I fell in love with the wool material and didn't want to waste any of it. I kept the scraps and had to create a project so that I could use the cabbage and not let it go to waste. The hat was made from four pieces of wool and completely hand stitched using a combination of stab stitches and back stitching with 100% linen thread.

Good and bad dice

Date: 2010-10: Wooden dice - Loaded (Breadth)

As part of a role that I intend to play at a local event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. To further that corruption, while running various games of chance I wanted to create a few sets of actual dice as well as these sets of "loaded" dice. I created 4 sets of corrupt dice. One set of dice has 2 fives on each die increasing the chance of rolling fives. The fives were drilled on opposite sides so as to decrease the chance that anyone would notice. Two other sets were made with a similar notion. One set only has 4s, 5s, and 6s and the other set rolls only 1s, 2s and 3s. Since at any one time onlty three sides are visible to any one person I put the matching numbers on opposite sides. The final set of dice was created by drilling out the number 1. I placed a 1/8th ounce lead weight in the 1 and then repainted it so that it would not be visible. The extra weight reduces the radomness and significantly reduces the occurance of a 1 being rolled.
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Date: 2010-10: Wooden dice - Regular (not loaded) (Breadth)
As part of a role that I intend to play at a local event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. To further that corruption, while running various games of chance I created a few sets of "loaded" dice. I also created this set of "correct" dice which look the same. I plan on using my large sleeves to hide the extra dice and occasionally swap between the loaded and regular dice so as to reducde detection.
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Wooden Cross (Breadth)

Date: 2010-10: Wooden Cross (Breadth)

As part of a role that I intend to play at an event I will be playing the part of a Monk.  This wooden cross was cut from a square dowel purchased from Home Depot. I cut a lap joint in two pieces and hand finished the joint with carving knives. I glued the cross and then stained it with some of my homemade black walnut stain. The cross is strung on a line of finger loop braded cotton string.

A Faux Relic - Bones Saint Brigid (Breadth)

Date: 2010-10: A Faux Relic - Bones Saint Brigid (Breadth)
As part of a role that I intend to play at an event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. While I travel the lands spreading the word of the one true Church I also sell indulgences and display the bones of my Patron Saint. Saint Brigid the patron Saint of blacksmiths as well as many Celts. I created this relic by taking a portion of a pig leg bone and cutting it down. I boiled it and bleached it. After all the flesh was cleaned from the bone and it was dried I aged it with a stain which I made from boiled black walnuts. The container I keep the relic in is a brass box purchsed from Salvation Army. The box is lined with a Burgundy wool pouch which I hand stiched using remnants from a woman's blazer I purchased from Salvation Army as well.

Plaid Wool Mantle (Depth)

As part of a role that I intend to play at an event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I needed to make a wool cassock as part of the costume which I was going to create using a grey wool blanket that I purchased at salvation army. I took another wool blanket I had which was a rather ugly plaid and planned to use it as a pattern mockup. After I finished sewing it I rather liked the way it turned out. My kids love it too. It was constructed using a straight stitch on the sewing machine, but all the seams were folded and hand finished so that there are no machine stiches visable inside or out. While the blanket was ugly the new head piece looks rather nice. It is 100% wool. I matched the plaid stripes in the front and it is now one of my favorite looking pieces.

I think it is much cuter on my little girl.  She loves cuddling in Daddys stuff.

Monks Robe (Depth and Breadth)

Date: 2010-10: Monks Robe (Depth and Breadth)

As part of a role that I intend to play at an event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. While I travel the lands spreading the word of the one true Church I also sell indulgences and display the bones of my Patron Saint. This portion of the costume was created using two grey wool blankets that I purchased at salvation army. As it turns out the blankets are actually 53 years old!!! They were military issue blankets and still had the original tags on them which had date of 1957. The tags indicated that they were 100% virgin wool. After a couple washings the old moth ball smell faded and the wool is wonderfully soft. The pattern is based on an extant monks robe. It was constructed using a straight stitch on the sewing machine, but all the seams were folded and hand finished so that there are no machine stiches visable inside or out. The robe was completed in about 11 hours which includes about 10 hours of hand sewing.

The following are not really related to the robes, but kind of funny.  I cut my hair for the event to look more like the part I was playing.  I didn't have the guts to go all the way, but the look was prettey effective.  That evening when the event was over I simply buzzed the rest of the hair off.

Prayer Beads (Breadth)

Date: 2010-10: Prayer Beads (Breadth)
As part of a role that I intend to play at an event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. This portion of the costume was created by using hemp line and wooden beads. I purchased the wooden beads as part of a random lot from Salvation Army. They were in a large clear plastic bag. When I bought them I wasn't sure what I'd do with them. They are about 1.25 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. I put 15 beads on the line with a knot betwen each on. I created a loop at the end to aid in hanging the beads from my belt or my wrist.

Monks Cassock (Breadth and Depth)

As part of a role that I intend to play at an event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. While I travel the lands spreading the word of the one true Church I also sell indulgences and display the bones of my Patron Saint. This portion of the costume was created using a grey wool blanket that I purchased at salvation army. As it turns out the blanket is actually 53 years old!!! It was a military issue blanket and still had the original tag on it which had date of 1957. It indicated that it was 100% virgin wool. After a couple washings the old moth ball smell faded and the wool is wonderfully soft. The pattern is based on a simply period mantel which was cut a little larger than normal. I mocked up a trial version using another salvation army blanket. Initial construction was done using a straight stitch on the sewing machine, but all the seams were folded and hand sewn so that there are no machine stiches visable inside or out.  In all I believe this item took about 4 hours to make.

The robe was based on the extant garment worn by Saint Francis.

Monks white under shirt to wear under Robes (Breadth and Depth)

As part of a role that I intend to play at an upcoming event I will be playing the part of a Monk. I will be serving as a corrupt member of the clergy. While I travel the lands spreading the word of the one true Church I also sell indulgences and display the bones of my Patron Saint. This shirt was based on a period smock. It was entirely machine stitched. The garment was constructed using recycled cotton table cloth which I collected from an SCA event.