There’s no division between entertainment and education: my recreational talks are based on the same strict historical accuracy as my short courses on garment making.
I’ll sit and sew in historic buildings; I’ll adress any interested audience from an infants’ school to a Costume Society meeting, via National Trust volunteers and Women’s Institutes.
I can go into detail, such as explaining the textile and clothing terminology of sixteenth-century wills for a local research group, or discussing the development of the armhole in the fourteenth century for a MEDATS conference.
I can advise on designs and suppliers, or present a short course at any level of prior skill and knowledge.
What can I do for you? Just ask!
Historical Interpretation
I can demonstrate plain sewing at public events from about 1100 to 1700 ce, appearing with appropriate goods and a suitable back story; and if a few people go home knowing that they did have needles then, and it wasn’t all made at home, my day’s been well spent.
You can see me in character at Kentwell Hall’s Great Annual Tudor Re-creation and at some Burgh Household events – but please note that only for these do I appear in return for a free lunch!
Recreational talks
‘Off-the-peg’ talks include: The prehistoric origins of dress; Early Medieval dress; Lady Burgh’s seamstress (women’s clothing in 1470); Tudor dress.
Or, for more specialist audiences: Of Seamstresses and Shirts (a history of linen sewing); Replicas and Fakes (recreating embroidery); The Tailoring Revolution of 1340. These are normally limited to a fifty-mile radius from North Shropshire.
Tailor-made Talks
Where entertainment merges with information, typically for groups wanting the background clothing to a specific date such as the anniversary of the church roof or the local fair. An evening talk can be followed by a day class for those people actually making the clothes.
Consultancy
The next phone call might be no more than a request for the title of a book or the name of a supplier, or it might be someone wanting to discuss dressing an entire twelfth-century Welsh royal court.
I aim to give the right level of advice. The local Brownies planning a medieval party don’t want precisely-dated designs, and the Fayre organisers aren’t going to buy handmade shoes; but I know where to get the quality goods and services for those who need them.
My objective is always to start from the best available information on the clothing and accessories of your period, and to help you interpret it in a convincing and appropriate manner for your purpose.
Sometimes the advice may not be what the audience wants to hear. I don’t believe we can do anything ‘totally authentic’, because we start from the wrong place: we don’t have all the information, and we don’t have the know-how or the skills that produced the originals. The real question is not ‘how authentic is it?’ but ‘What are you trying to achieve?’
Teaching
When you’ve seen the demonstration, and heard the talk, the next step is to sit down and learn the methods. I’m willing to start from where you are now: do you know woollen cloth from worsted? Can you thread a needle? Or have you been sewing for years, but want to cut out Napoleonic shirts as they should be?
- You can book me to visit your group with your choice of topics
- You can attend any of my winter programme of my weekend courses
- You can book a visit to my workroom for a practical session.
Write and Publish
I’m best known as the author of ‘The Medieval Tailor’s Assistant’– it may well be that book which brought you to this site. Despite requests I didn’t feel confident enough to follow on with a ‘Tudor Tailor’, and fortunately the job has now been admirably done by Ninya Mikhaila.
A follow-up volume of studies in medieval tailoring is a definite possibility. In the meantime there have been many practical pamphlets and articles for members’ magazines; the two which appear below are available for reproduction on request.
Articles Free for Download:
Seamstresses and Shirts. [FlashPaper and Adobe PDF fomats.]
"One thing most re-enactors have in common is the shirt on your back; but how much do you really know about it? Did you know that the shirt you wear during the week is the direct descendant, with an unbroken pedigree, of the Saxon version? Here’s a brief account of the evolutionary process."
Lacing [FlashPaper and Adobe PDF formats.]
"Like many details of historical clothing, lacing is widely abused by people who fail to understand its functional origins or who have simply watched too many historical movies. This brief guide is intended to help you avoid the worst mistakes."
