Time to reduce my wardrobe

That is in quantity, not size!  For the past however many years, in the same way that we did when I was growing up, I have done a swap in May and October of the winter and summer clothes which are put in the camphor wood box while they aren’t in use.

This spring I was prompted to start early, and my aim was to reduce the (embarrassing) number of clothes I had so there would no longer be any need to keep the out of season ones separately.

So I took over the front bedroom for several days and emptied my wardrobe and drawers onto every available surface.  The beady eyed may also see the kirtle and coif in the foreground.

The shoes alone covered the bed!

I almost succeeded in my goal – there are only heavy winter coats in the camphor wood box now, and there are four bags waiting to go to the charity shop.  Furthermore, the clothes I do have are better organised.  Result!

 

Kirtle and Coif are finished!

Having finished the construction of the kirtle itself, I then had to deal with the lacing;  making the holes down the front was easy enough…

… but then the eyelets had to be hand stitched.  This was extremely fiddly!

They weren’t too bad when I had finished, but they were rather too small, so I had to lace them with embroidery thread rather than cord.  However, once it was waxed, as per instructions from Gemma, it was more or less acceptable.

Meanwhile, I began making a coif.  This was made out of unbleached calico, which was what I had, and entirely hand stitched, which I was rather proud of!

And so the medieval peasant costume is finished!

I will need to make a more appropriate undergarment at some point, rather than a 20th century thermal vest!!