How to stay warm in Medieval Clothing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
- Proper layering techniques and materials for medieval clothing so you can stay warm in cold weather.
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00:00-6:01 Proper layers and materials
6:01-7:57 Modern Underlayers...
7:57-8:46 Layer over, not under
8:46-14:06 Extremities
14:06-15:56 Gambesons
15:56-17:45 Regulating Temperature
17:45-20:21 Fur
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18:36 I am a journeyman leather/fur smith, and I specialize in historical garments. Fur-in or fur-out depends entirely on the kind of fur you are using.
Rabbit or sheared beaver is good for inside linings. Bison, for example, you want on the outside because they have multiple layers of hair on the hide that function exactly like the layers of clothes you would wear. Turning these kinds of skins fur-in would be like wearing your base layer on the outside and your shell layer against your skin.
So make sure to know how to use the fur properly before you pay an arm and leg for it.
Also depends if it's common fur or precious fur. You won't wear sable fur-in - you wear it to express your wealth and status and also stay warm in the process.
One safety tip for those using leather footwear that LA didn't mention (either forgot or doesn't know), is that leather tends to be very slow to dry out once it gets wet, and early WW1 boots were made of leather and were a leading cause of Trench Feet among soldiers in WW1. While having fun in a winter reenactment, or LARP session, you don't want to let your feet stay wet for a day or worse, several days, only to find you need to be rushed to the emergency room with a bad case of trench feet. Be aware of this hazard with leather and plan accordingly with ways to deal with your boots getting wet and keeping the moisture the skin of your feet.
Don't forget about waterproofing the leather, I use sno-seal on all of my leather boots and gloves.
Also, if you are out for multiple days bring too many socks and wear clean dry socks every day, possibly even change part way through the day if things are really wet.
Mind, the type of leather matters. Chrome versus veg-tanned have different properties, as does the animal the skin is from. Eg, pigskin has a high degree of water resistance naturally, whereas the most prevalent leather in commercial American products (cow) is one of the types that will more easily absorb and retain water. Leather can also itself by coated in materials (eg certain plant oils or waxes) to be more water repellent.
The majority of people I know involved in rendezvous and F&I reenactment tend to wear moccasins, and have at least two pair. One for the mornings until the dew soaks them through, and one for after that. Between that they get dried out over the fire.
Period correct footwear would have been soaked in either oil or wax to avoid this. Sno-seal is a good modern solution but nothing beats a real hot beeswax treatment.
Oh yes, I've had trench foot (not from a LARP but from climate inappropriate footwear for working in Florida in July) and that's NOT something I ever want to get again!
Great video. The biggest difference for me between my modern bad weather gear and my medieval stuff is the length of the clothing. All my medieval kit is wool and linen, but it is usually at least knee length, and the top most layer, a tight fitting woolen hood with mantle over the shoulders. It needs to be practical for handling and riding horses too.
Personally I prefer longer garments a lot! Even when I am going out with modern gear, I always try to wear a longer coat.
Now that’s a topic I’d love hear more about. Length of clothing! Why was it long for so long, why is it short now? Pros and cons, practical considerations that led to the development…and the ever controversial topic of pockets.
@@dawsonehlke1290I wonder if the ubiquitous use of the car triggered the shortening of clothing. Or one of the reasons anyway.
I know that years ago when catching the bus to the city a knee length trench coat was so useful walking in rain and bus seats were big enough that it wasn't difficult.......but trying to sit in a car with a trench coat on is really annoying.
@@dawsonehlke1290 A few factors:
-Modern controlled environments. Weather-proof clothes are far less important than the have been for much of history.
-Manufacturing. Certain design elements cost more to produce en masse, or do not sell well enough to be worth the opportunity cost.
-Ease. Minimal clothing is easier to put on and take off. Longer clothes get stuck on things and weigh more. Most also find casualware more physically comfortable, environment aside.
-Aesthetic. Cotton and synthetics dye more easily for most colors than wool, hemp, and especially linen.
-Cleaning. Modern washing and drying machines are very new.
-Socio-economic indication. The more expensive or more obtrusive apparel is to what is considered low or working class labor (thus usually manual labor), the higher the implied socio-economic staus.
@@dawsonehlke1290 Honestly I think pockets are kind of a factor. I have a long shirt and wearing it makes pants pockets a pain to reach, because you have to lift the shirt to get at them
Side note: If you stuff your shoes with grass, use STRAW, not hay. Straw is bedding; hay is food. You use straw to make insulated cat shelters because hay will absorb moisture.
To explain a bit, straw is the stems of a grain like wheat whereas hay is either the leaves of a tall grass like Timothy or else a legume like alfalfa and be very leafy. Straw will be much more golden hues and look a bit like flattened drinking straws whereas hay usually greener, bushier, and a duller light brown rather than golden when it gets overly old.
Hope that helps some people a bit
Eyy. Just came here to say this
I'm not a reenactor (anymore) but I do a lot of out door adventure sports. I just wanted to point out that if you are very active out in the cold and have a moisture wicking base layer, weather it's a modern material or a historical one, it's important to hydrate. Even if you don't think you need to. You won't notice how much you sweat and how much water you lose until it's too late. This can cause dizziness, confusion, and muscle cramps.
So true!
Very true. But sweat is not only losing water it is also losing salt. So the best way to hydrate is with a warm soup or an isotonic drink. To low salt content in your blood can dehydrate your cells .
In the Canadian army reserves we were taught the acronym COLDE - Clean- Overheating is bad - Loose layers - Dry - Eat. Easy way to remember most of your points - you skipped eat, gotta feed the furnace
"Sometimes you may need to go on an adventure when it's cold outside."
Cut to: one of the many historical paintings of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow captioned simply: DON'T.
A point of emphasis for the base layer; a snug fit is preferrable to a loose fit. The base layer's job is simply to facilitate the moisture to the next outer layer away from the skin. If the base layer is loose fitting it cannot perform this task as quickly or efficiently. For this reason, as well, a thicker base layer is not typically more beneficial. And, as pointed out in the video, avoid cotton as much as possible. There is a very old and wise saying, "cotton kills" when it comes to damp and cold weather. Great video. Thanks
For those in dresses: take advantage of split pants as an undergarment. You don't have to fight or fuss with your clothes, you can simply squat over a hole or commode, and if you have a modern toilet you just hike your skirts and sit backwards(good practice for wearing a wedding dress, btw). Women have done it that way for centuries so it must work well!
Seconding this. Closed-crotch undergarments for women are a pretty recent clothing innovation, anyway.
I use split drawers and they are a life-saver. I make them in linen so they are cool and sweat-wicking in the heat, and warm in the cold. They also provide an additional layer between me and anything nasty on the porta potty seat; plus I don't sit directly on the cold seat. I highly recommend them.
An excellent camp shoe when your boots are drying and you know there won't be any goblins attacking anymore are simple wooden clogs! Think dutch clogs, you wear them in camp with some thick socks or felted booties, and the wood insulates sooo good from the cold of the ground. They are rather cheap around 30 bucks, absolutely period and very good to just slip on when going to the bathroom at night. And also very easy to clean and by far the best solution in muddy situations (you can also put shoe nails for better grip).
I've always wanted a pair of clogs. And definitely period, they essentially had wooden flip clops they'd slide over their regular shows for muddy conditions.
@@LivingAnachronismNot for muddy situations, medieval "Trippen" (I constantly forget the English word) aren't good for deeper mud. Fine to protect your leather shoes from moisture and wear when walking through the city, but deeper mud would just pull them off your feet.
Ötzi (the stone age/copper age glacier mummy) had leather boots too, plus basically stone age moon boots too put over them. With lots of room to stuff them with hay, as you mentioned.
There's a German documentaries where they crossed the Alpes from lake constance to Italy in Ötzi wear. They used the boots on snow, which worked fantastically. But they had to take them off immediately after getting off snow and onto wet ground, as they were pretty much immediately wet and took ages to dry
@@LivingAnachronism Pattens! I want to try some out. I've made "geta", the medieval japanese equivalent and they work well on soft ground
I have a pair of Dutch wooden clogs and so do my children. They're an excellent as a simple work shoe, easy to put on and wear thicker socks in. Wood chopping for instance is great, no danger of falling logs hurting your toes. But! We've had rain these last 2 weeks and our chicken coop ground turned to mud. The clogs, which are completely flat underneath, don't handle that well. As Glimmlampe mentioned above, they'll get stuck in the mud because of suction and you'll be barefoot. I've also had multiple occasions where I could only barely keep my footing as the clogs slid out from under me, and my daughter fell on arms and knees just yesterday. These days I make sure to hold on to something before entering.😅
So, for a fresh campsite on the forest floor they would be fine, but not for mud puddled busy travelled village roads, or you know, wet LARP fields that have been trampled for 2 days.
(In the Netherlands you can buy a pair for 10-20€)
Similar to rhe japanese geta, there was flip-on mudwalker in Kazakstan made out of horse hoofs😅
For cold and snowy weather in Eastern Europe and Siberia people used to use felt boots. Eather in themself or over their regular boots.
Also with long hair (specifically with hair to mid-back and lower) braids pinned/tied around your head can create air pockets underneath a hat/hood and help with warmth! (Plus then your hair gets less sweaty and messy.)
Oh loose long hair in winter IS such a mess. Get's tangled really easily under a hat and/or hood.
Had to learn how to do a basic braid to keep mine from tangling, it eventually becomes second nature and it's growing out to the point where I can use it as a scarf.
Somehow all my hair ends up in my mouth by the end of a long day outside in winter. Nice tip. Than you
If you try to wax a cape, make sure you are useing the right kind of wax and that you reserch how it's done first. your not wanting the turn the cape into something like a cardbord statue.
Look up Tin Pants. Make a wax / oil / mineral spirits solution, and treat the garment with that. It's not breathable, but it should be durable.
Silk is another natural material to use to help with temperature regulation. Soft to go against your skin. Woven tight enough it can stop wind flow through your clothes. It can also be woven in such a way that it is insulative or thin enough to stay cool in the warm weather. It is an excellent lining material to pair with wool.
I literally always forget about silk, thank you!
I was just coming over to comment the same thing. In the West, we tend to associate silk with an expensive 'show off' outer layer, but it's got great insulation properties.
I have a pair of mittens lined with silk that’s been woven so that it’s a bit fuzzy and they are incredibly warm and comfortable
I came here to say this. I have a long silk veil I made from a 12-momme silk twill - that means it's tightly woven and is dress-weight even though you'd want an underlayer because it's white. If I fold and wrap it so it looks like I'm wearing a veil and wimple, my head is warm even in freezing weather. If there's wind or precipitation - or if I'll be outside for an extended period, I add a windbreak layer - my favorite is a hood made of wool melton (coat-weight wool) lined with linen. The silk keeps air trapped around my head so I stay warm.
Except. I tried that. Silk was a disaster. It absorbs your BO and does not release. You cannot wash it without it disintegrating. I had high hopes for silk base layer but wound up losing a bunch of money as they disintegrated when washed
For gloves, I grew up with fingerless mittens. They were basically fingerless gloves, but had a mitten flap buttoned at the tip to the back of your hand. You could unbutton it to pull the pocket over your fingers, or keep it back to use your hands. Quick, effective, and my favorite glove design to this day.
I've also seen fingerless gloves that have a small slit near the fingertip. This allows you to keep the fingers for your glove, but then pull back the tips if you really need to.
Despite their similarities to the fingerless mittens, I wouldn't recommend these ones. You need to wrestle with each and every finger rather than pulling back a single flap. Worse, the tips aren't even big enough to button, so they constantly get in the way.
Not even to mention, they also look very modern.
Viking hood is amazing piece of clothing.
Also, practiced nalbinding and so far I have created few beanies and mittens. Right now making socks. I recommend giving it a try, it's thousands of years old knitting style!
Omg I’m still trying to get the hang of this. I don’t know what it is, but I’m struggling.
Frankly, though, I tend to just spin yarn and then give it to my roommate who knits, so that I can have something if I’m not gonna crochet it. 😂
But I will keep trying!
How does nalbinding compare to knit or crochet? If I wear a knit cap how close would you have to get to tell the difference?
@@hanelyp1 as long as you don’t do any tall stitches (like the crochet 3 that leaves you with a tall tower of loops) it’s pretty similar. The result is all knotted/looped yarn that is made into something. The biggest benefit to nalbinding in my opinion is it’s mostly individual knots. So if something gets pulled out or cut it’s a lot easier to fix and isn’t going to run like a laddered pair of pantyhose.
IMO it’s similar to knitting and short crochet stitches, enough to pass, as long as you’re not trying to be too historically accurate or telling someone it’s nalbinding. In my opinion. Ymmv.
@@kitdubhran2968 I recommend checking out video titled "Nalbinding, To start at wrist, Part 1/2". It is in english and shows how to get started. Starting is a struggle for me each time but the basic stitch goes well once I get started :)
@@hanelyp1 I don't have much experience of other styles but nalbinded beanie is thicker I think.
Don't forget your snowshoes to walk on and not in the snow. They don't weigh much and easy to mount on your backpack. You sweat less, consume fewer calories and your feet stay a lot drier. It is a must have for winter excursions.
(And they look great on your backpack)
That's a very good idea. Had an incident while walking in the mountains during winter were I sunk into a snow drift. I'm 6ft4in, my party only saw the top of my head
One caveat on wearing fur- while.most times animal pelts were worn with the fur on the outside as decoration instead of protection, some pelts have water resistance due to the layering of the fur and work well as additional barriers against snow or even rain. So while you want fur inverted on the interior layers, caribou, reindeer, and similar fur is also handy as an outer snow barrier wrapped around the outer part of the legs or as a supplementary mantle.
Thank you for the caveat, this is good to know!
We see a lot of that up here in Alaska with Inuit and similar sealskin coats from back in the day, and the Sami people in Finland do double-layered fur coats with insulating fur on the inside and snow-resistant reindeer layers on the outer shell. Sheepskin with a lot of lanolin would probably be a cheaper alternative for leg wrappings, not too sure how it would hold up as a mantle, though. I use caribou and it works really well.
A tip on footwear, mukluks are pretty traditional. In Russia, they're called valenki. One or two stockings, then a heavy felted or quilted bootie, with a waxed wool or leather over wrap. You'd have a couple of the over wraps, changing them when you go inside so they can thaw and dry. If it works in Finland or Russia, it works in in what you think is cold.
Valenki were great. They seem flimsy but were surprisingly warm and dry. When I did an outside zoo tour in northern Finland, your boots were checked snd if they deemed inadequate, then they gave valenki to wear on the tour.
I'm finally going to Learn how to be warm!
This is finally the weather that i actually enjoy being outside in. BRING ON THE SNOW
What do you call a Medieval spy?
Sir Veillance.
What do you call a Medieval who is obese?
Sir Cumference.
For foot insulation, put sheep wool in your shoe. It will keep your toes warm and relativ dry.
Oh and a little bonus, afoid wear platte armor in sub zero tempretures.
Agree. Sheep wool the best insulation
This winter is predicted to be more intense than average across much of the U.S., with a good bit of snowfall. Looking forward to getting out there in my cloak and gambeson!
Made a Halloween costume one year, one of the pieces was a velour cloak. Ended up wearing it all winter and termed it "my wearable blanket". Cloaks (even non-garb, cheap, costumy things) are absolutely fantastic! Wore the same one to a local festival and it started to pour. My cloak ended up soaked (velour is NOT water proof in the least lol) but "I" stayed warm and relatively dry under it.
Cold weather boots, made of shearling (sheep hides with the hair on, that has been sheared short) various leather suppliers have deals on less than perfect hides, which work well for boots, mittens and hats! Faux fur, like synthetic materials, are highly flammable! wool is naturally very flame retardant, hearth rugs are wool for this reason
Thank you for another high quality video!
Dead air space and adjustability are important concepts for anyone going out in the elements.
I have fond* memories of building snow shelters and immediately going from freezing to sweating.
I am a big fan of super thin gloves under a big thick mitten, but I'm also partial to the army "glitten." I also knew a guy who made himself those weird 3 fingered things and it seemed to work well for him.
When it comes to keeping feet warm, getting into the habit of squeezing your toes with every step can do wonders for circulation. It's really unnatural at first.
A lot of my students fail to keep their hair dry and then get very cold, so that's worth keeping in mind for those of us with wet hair.
As someone who works out side all year round in Idaho, I have a couple recommendations. First there are fingerless glove with mitten cap attached, I enjoy them, but I also recommend mixing and match gloves
I use a fingerless mitten for my main hand and a more grip oriented warm glove for my off hand. This works for me as I use an iPad outside, adjust my layers, and grab things. For jackets make sure they open up front zipper or button up, that will help you regulate your temperature, absolutely avoid slip on jackets. Lastly scarves or handkerchief, wrapping around your neck. These are very adjustable, and the handkerchief is better then nothing.
As someone that lives by tve polar circle in scandinavia, for modern day strying warm most people still opt for merino-wool baselayers during the winter. And though this is only about 60 years ago, my grandma had hay in her shoes and then thick knitted socks on her feet as a barrier to keep her feet warm
Merino is one of 200 sheep breeds. It is merely a fine wool. Alternatives Rambouillet. Cormo. Non sheep: alpaca.
Merino is a marketing thing. Merino sheep are trying to destroy all the other historic, wonderful, biodiversity of sheep genetics. I use other sheep wool so that world does not lose biodiversity.
Side note from the backpacker side: Backpackers say, "Cotton kills." Cotton, as you pointed out takes a long time to dry. If you are in a situation where getting wet can kill you (via hypothermia) it is a very poor choice. Modern backpackers do use synthetic materials, but they also use wool (alpaca wool is especially nice).
For shoes, you can get wool fleece insoles to keep your feet warmer from the bottom! With thick wool socks and a leather boot that can keep you very warm
Great video. Very informative. I write fantasy part time for fun and your videos help me with how my characters might move around in their environment. This has got to be to most informative for me yet. As I have my characters traveling around in the middle of winter. I live in AZ and snow and sub-zero temperatures is a foreign concept to me. This has given me great ideas on how they would attempt to keep warm.
A lot of good advice for dressing in "regular" clothing, too. 🙂
A mostly overlooked cloak option from 11th/12th century Iceland is the röggvarfeldir, a pile woven (shaggy faux fur), most suggested uses I’ve seen are with the “fur” out though, I think the idea being wool with the lanolin helps waterproof as well as trapping heat
Thanks for that. I knit extensively with lopi. The Icelanders got cold wear garb down pat.
Lanolin is also makes felted wool garment repel water better.
i inherited this very cool, long leather coat from my grandmother, i wear it a lot, but also i always wondered why it seemed less warm that i thought it supposed to in winter, now it makes sense. (yes, i wasn't wearing any well thought layers underneath in a -15C weather)
Cloaks work great for warmth snow and rain/I’ve been in snow and wore only a cloak and everyday clothes(no snow stuff like jacket)and stayed warm
Truth is generally the best vindication against slander.
If anyone's deeply interested in Medieval society I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos series
I love all of your videos, and I just want to say that this one actually caused me to rethink my packing for a non-medieval trip to Alaska! I was thinking of bringing my silk thermals which are lightweight and supposedly keep you warm when it's cold but aren't too warm if it's mild. But after watching this video I think I'll focus more on outer layers instead. Temps will be in the upper 40's-50's Fahrenheit with some rain. It will make for slightly bulkier packing, but I think it's best to have a base layer that isn't completely sheer and unwearable on its own if I need to remove layers! :) If you or any of your fellow adventurers read this and have successfully incorporated silk thermals into their kit, I welcome your comments! What I love about the silk thermals is that I can wear a lovely outfit uncovered by bulky outerwear and still be comfortable. This is more important at a Renaissance Faire than it is on a 4-hour cruise to view a local nature preserve. :) As I will be indoors and outdoors on this adventure, I'm thinking it would be best to simply use outerwear to adjust to the fluctuating temperatures. Thank you again for your videos! Happy Adventuring!
I stuff my viking age shoe (all made from one piece of leather, so the sole is rather thin) with raw sheep skin. The lanolin in it keeps additionaly moisture out and adds a great layer to the ground.
My I use rabbit fur in my viking shoes with my wool socks.
Tip for your shell layer, even in modern garb. Go bigger. Your shell must fit over your insulation, and if it crushes it then you lose out on a large chunkc of insulating air.
11:10 Patten were also used historically in many cultures, essentially giving you a tie on wooden soles to your shoe, that also keeps the damp out.
Can confirm all of this. I use many of these principles in the winter, to begin with.
Now we need a video for staying cool while also looking.. cool. And medieval.
19:07 This specific topic, of one wearing too many layers, reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon from the 50s where Charlie Brown had put on his winter clothing complete with a big fur hat.
He couldn't move because he had on too much.
Which led Schulz to do a follow-up joke where Charlie was like a turtle 🐢 laying on his back incapable of getting up because of the incredible bulk of his outfit.
Lol i remember that one!
I was going to say, "Don't get wet!". I got wet, today, as I keep forgetting the garden recliner has been rained on :( . All my layers.. It soaked through. I couldn't get warm. I brought all that water indoors. Now it's in here. I had to take everything off and get into bed with the electric blanket on - just to get my core temperature up again. You bring water indoors, this time of year, it stays indoors!
So I appreciate this video! It's ultra relevant to old women, living in cottages, as well as live action role playing. Resting seventy percent humidity in here - it doesn't need any more. I dare say that, in Medieval times, if somebody tried to enter the hovel with wet clothes they'd be ordered back out.
Period woven stockings would do a better job of protection from hay than knit socks. Also, hay comes in different grades, and some are softer than others. You want a very leafy hay, not a stemmy one.
True! Personally, I'd still avoid it if possible. Hay has a nasty habit of getting where it's not wanted, and even the leafiest hay is going to have some prickles.
Honestly, when it comes to foot warmth, I think this is where you'd want to use your fur. If your shoes are lined with it, that's going to make them warmer by default, and it wouldn't take as much fur to line shoes as it would to line a jacket.
Might people have used bracken (?ferns)? I think mattresses were, sometimes, bracken stuffed sacks. And some people would have put mullein leaves in their shoes as the mullein is also antibacterial (I think).
I love this content as it helps me better understand what period appropriate things I can do with my characters in my medieval fantasy storytelling to have them handle conditions like cold, wet and traveling in inclement weather.
Ponchos are a nice top layer. traps a bit of heat and can be nice at element protection.
#1 rule for keeping warm is to cover your head, hands, and feet. A scarf is a good idea, but be careful of the tails, if you are at risk of them catching on things, or it is really cold, it is best to keep the tails of your scarf crossed over your chest inside your coat. Personally, it is cold where I am so I have scarves that are long enough to wrap around my face when need be.
Thank you for mentioning the insulating properties of wool. I used to run the 'wool pool' in my county (it's a thing; the US government supports wool producers because of the value of wool in military uniforms, and 'wool pools' let wool producers come together to get their wool rated and purchased.) Also, the movie "Titanic." If you didn't know about the insulating properties of wool even when wet, you'd miss the significance of Cal giving Rose his overcoat.
On the volunteer Security Team at the local Ren Faire, I was looking for ideas for layering during my night shift during February. Thanks for the tips!
Commenting for the algorithm now, I’ll watch after church.
FOR THE ALGORITHM!!!
All sounds like good advice. I can't stress enough how valuable it is to have your shell layer *not* wrapped around every part of your body, like in modern winter clothing, because this traps moisture on the inside of that layer and can turn to ice that gradually infiltrates every layer until you're freezing inside your clothes (I have a pair of insulated rubber gloves that I use sometimes for shoveling snow, but they quickly become hot and humid, then start to freeze, and have to be turned inside out to have any chance of drying). Jim Phillips, an engineer from Utah who likes midwinter camping above the arctic circle, advocates not even including a shell layer, but simply using a thicker insulative layer made of open-cell foam, specifically to avoid trapping any moisture inside. Personally I think he underestimates the value of a shell layer in rainy conditions, seeing as how his experience is one of such intense cold that humidity levels approach zero, and I'm not fond of how his all-synthetic solution feels, so I've been looking into how to make the most of more historical designs and natural materials. In this search, the amazing thing I've found about cloaks is that when closed off, the natural bell-shape traps a beautiful bubble of reasonably stable air that your body can warm up with ease to keep everything warm, even the hands and legs that are often neglected in modern gear. Even a single layer of unsealed cotton flannel can provide far more warmth and wind resistance than you would expect, which makes me excited to finally find some good wool material with higher wind and rain resistance. For this reason, I'm planning to build a semi-circle cloak with a back flap (like you find in many modern winter coats) that can be tied, buttoned, velcroed, or even attached magnetically, but also with a draw-string channel through the shoulders that allows the cloak to be drawn back quite far to cool off. I'm sorry to say the Ruana design does not lend itself well to this goal (but I have found it very airy for summer wear, and hope to adapt it to a sun shield design).
If your body is warm, your feet can tolerate far more cold than you might think, especially while you're moving around. I walk dogs at -20 F in the inter-mountain region and my feet stay plenty warm in cowboy boots with a single layer of cotton socks, provided my boots don't get wet and the rest of my garb is sufficient. But if you're sitting a lot or your garb is inadequate and you need more warmth, don't use feed hay to stuff your boots. Use straw instead. Straw stems are wide, hollow, and fragile, breaking down easily into a cozy chaff, rather than staying intact and sharp like a feed hay. Moss, lichen, dried autumn leaves, and cattail down (just collect cattail heads and twist to release the down) are good historic alternatives. And if you have pets who shed, you can collect their fur for stuffing, or if you know a sheep farmer or hand spinner you can clean raw wool and use that.
In theory at least, a deep hood is better than a hat for warmth, as it can provide that air pocket over your face. Practically speaking, I'm not sure the usual costume-hood pattern we're all familiar with is the best design for it, and I haven't found a better one just yet. I'm guessing the tube hood would do better but I get very uncomfortable even with a tee that barely brushes my throat, so I've never tried. In the meantime, I've found that a 15 inch deep square hood does okay in still weather, particularly if keeping your head down, but mine is far too light and blows off in the slightest breeze. My theory is that the ideal would be a similar size hood of heavy wool, reinforced if necessary to keep it from flopping, with a sort of veil across the bottom.
A beanie - aka Monmouth Cap - is indeed a time-honored piece of headgear.
wool felt or basic felt is wonderful to use try it, I use it as a blanket and cloak etc
I almost thought you had lost it for a moment there through the intro, but what you describe in the video is how I think when getting dressed for winter in Norway. Layers with purpose and room for air, and also to be able to switch from being inside to outside. I switched over to wool socks a few weeks ago and will wear them until spring.
But one piece I wear a lot that I think could be easily included in garb is a thin huge scarf. It’s just a piece of thin wool and mine is about 1 meter each side. I’ve used as all from a makeshift hood for snow and rain, as well as an inner layer wrapped around my shoulders and body under a coat. When not in use it’s easy to store as it takes almost no space.
I went on a 2-week packing adventure and a cougar actually stocking us for part of it and it was like 70 75° and then a freak snow storm blew in, obviously the temperature drop and it snowed 2 ft of snow we had to sleep in a cave!!! It's was pretty awesome cut the trip short tho, but actually I'm glad I have simple but very affective skills and gear.
Even a knight or paladin in full plate armor can be warm with minimal additional layers. There's normally a linen undergarment and a quilted arming jacket, with the armor over it. You only need 2 things for winter, a woolen union suit or longjohns between the linen undergarment and the arming jacket and a heavy greatcloak or bear fur over the armor. I had a shemagh wrapped around my head under the helmet and was fine while the outside of the armor was literally growing frost.
I live in Sweden(obviously) and winters here can get really cold. Like 20-25 minus degrees celsius or more. I always use a linen shirt, woolen tunic, a suede vest, and a thick wool cloak. For pants I always go with a pair of longjohns and woolen pants(from Burgschneider, actually). As for boots, in the winter I usually cheat a little bit and wear modern, warmer hiking or military boots. They kinda stay hidden in the deep snow anyway, so it's no big deal, and I don't feel like it takes away anything from my adventure.
I've always liked the cold, so being cold doesn't really bother me. It kinda.. makes me feel more "authentic" if that's a proper word. I'm not sure. Anyway great video as always!
Fellow freezing cold area inhabitant here! Just to add a couple of things: wool is a game changer and all that stuff, yeah. But as soon as the temperature drops below 20, natural furs might come in handy. All the native people of my land wore fur head to toe, and it's great as an outer layer providing a lot of warmth effortlessly. Very unethical and cruel in terms of making clothes, but that's why modern people invent crazy complex materials and technologies to make winter jackets warm enough to stand against -40 C.
I'm sure it made a lot more sense when those animals were already being hunted for other resources. At that point, it's a matter of survival, and that's no more cruel than the rest of nature.
My viking reenactment group recently was at a Christmas Market, in -10 °c
I'm a really cold person but I managed both days with my mostly HK getup!
I started with modern merino wool base layers, then put on merino wool trousers and legwraps, then I put on an a-line wool skirt and over that I I'd my peplos dress as a skirt reminiscent of Huldermose find from Denmark. Next was a wool kirtle, wool tunic and a nalbound wool neck warmer. Next was my wool jacket that surprisingly fit over all these layers without beeng tight! On my feet I had modern wool socks and modern winter shoes. To top it all up I had my nalbind had and leather mittens with sheepswool insides and my Sholdenhamn hood.
The only places I was cold was my feet and face.
Woolen leg wraps/winingas/puttees are a great way of keeping your legs warm and have been used on and off for centuries
I want those high tech socks, but seriously there's some really good advice here on how to dress during the winter.
Minnesotan here who had to walk/bike/bus in the winters for 20+ years, a leather 'shell' (in my case a trench coat if walking/bussing or a normal coat/jacket if riding a bike) works pretty well. It's not going to keep you warm by itself, but wind won't get through. One thing we like to say is, "It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the wind." Mine always had somewhat high collars that blocked the wind from my neck until my other layers/headwear was able to block the wind above the collar. Between a decent shirt, hoodie, and leather trench coat (for upper layers) I had no problem walking for hours and miles through high snow (especially drifts), blizzards, and/or temperatures of under -20F (with and without windchill). It was pretty easy to unbutton the top 1 or 2 buttons on the coat and/or unzip the hoodie a bit, if I needed to release a bit of heat. I'm a short guy, so my trench coat went quite low, leaving only a few inches between it and the tops of my boots, which definitely helped cut the wind out there.
Wanna chime in as someone who's done both nålbinding and knitting along with historical recreation...
There is one nålbinding stitch that looks just like a regular stockinette stitch. There's some ancient Egyptian socks made with that stitch.
Knitting, iirc, didn't come about until about the 11th century in the Middle East before traveling to Europe.
About the differences... Nålbinding is when you knot your yarn, knitting is looping together. Say you get a hole in your sock. For a sock made with nålbinding, the hole may grow a little, but the yarn will end up knotting on itself. For a knitted sock (unless felted), a hole will grow. Think a run in modern-day hose, same thing.
Educational spew done. Thanks for the video!
It was unexpectedly 20 degrees colder at my last LARP than anyone planned for, so this was fantastic timing while I'm revamping my winter kit. Great vid as always!
So I am very new to all this kind of stuff, I found this cool linin baggy shirt I liked and purchased it, I quickly fund out just how warm a simple shirt like that keeps you and have started regularly wearing it Lol
At least you have your base layer covered!
@@jmoneyjoshkinion4576 Lol true enough actually
I used to have a thin leather coat. I loved it. It blocked the sun and trapped air inside, when I closed it. It even kept me relatively dry when I got surprised by rain, but leather and moisture is a bit of an iffy topic...
Very true about the length of your garments. I wore my Medieval clothing for a Christmas fair in super cold weather once (well below freezing) and the only part of me that got cold were my shoulders, where the fabrics were close to the skin. My legs were toasty warm due to several layers of wool and lots of trapped air. Dresses FTW. 👍
I knit socks and gloves...happy to make a pair of either if you fancy trying them
That would be amazing! Shoot me an email at livinganachronism@gmail . c o m or if you are on instagram I'm @livinganachronismofficial
New viewer here! Awesome video.
I started to wear barefoot style shoes that are made of leather, and wow! They're cold. This began in May (it is now the end of November, temperate climate and wet) and now that it's late autumn, I realize my feet are cold.
Wearing multiple socks doesn't work, wearing tight socks works the least. Big loose socks works, even if it's two layers. My everyday wear shoes begin with the socks, and I alternate between two types! The first one is the one you also came to: a modern calve sock, with a very loose, woven wool sock. There's still empty space, so they're not that warm. The other, and warmer solution is to wear these funny calve-height(synthetic polyester fleece inside and woven fleece outside) stockings with the leather shoes. This works the best. The stocking provides a lot of loft to fill the voids, isnt tight and let's my foot move, without it being too tight and still comfortable with a looser tied lacing. I'm so glad, so stockings with loose ribbons of wool should work the best 😂 imagine if the people used wool scraps to stuff into their leather shoes! I have down feathers, so I'm not sure how id contain them in a layer for my boots.
I will definitely try the straw, next. I might also try: moss (the spongey kind) wool ribbon scraps, dried leaves of bamboo, Aspen tree bark ribbons, or even fine flakes of dried wood, like pencil shavings.
It would be lovely to see you make a similar video for summer and really hot environments!
I had a job for 8 years sitting in the back of a van in grocery store parking lots accepting donations of used clothing and household items. For Halloween I made garb. Halloween has variable weather and I had to shift from sitting for hours to loading and unloading trucks. I made three mid-calf tunics. Next to my skin I wore fine linen. Then a tunic or a rougher cotton that leans towards canvas. Over that was a tunic made of a wool blanket. Mine is only half wool. It's lighter than the wool blankets I have. Over that I put a hood made of Harris tweed with a liripipe long enough to wrap around my head three times like a turban. Sleeves of the outer tunic can be long enough to stick the hands in like a muff but short enough to handle loading the truck. A belt holds an old sporran for ID and keys, etc. Under the tunics I wear cotton long john bottoms, for both warmth and modesty. From bagpipes I know inappropriate women will try to go under a man's garment to see what they can find and I needed to stop them. I use bright red wool knee socks over the long johns and tie them with old bagpipe kilt gaiters and low cut dress boots with very low heels with pointed toes. Something a 70-yo black man wears to church. Those are the right shoes for the garb. It's all really comfortable and appropriate and I've been asked if it was a costume or did I belong to a monastic sect of some sort? The outer tunic is pale blue and the hood is madder colored. Not monastic colors. 13th century shopkeeper like in the paintings is what I was going for.
I wore the garb to a city-wide Solstice party once where there were a lot of SCA people and I'll never do that again. Those people dress as "lords" and "ladies" and "knights" and they see me as "Peasant" and feel they can push me around. Or ask me to load their trucks. They also freaked out to catch me smoking. I still can work in this garb and it's comfortable enough I have plenty of it. The linen wore out years ago but that was the most comfortable shirt I think I've ever worn. Compared to linen an old T-shirt feel like it's made of steel wool.
When you mention “sausage in a zip lock bag” the word popped in my head is “sous vide”, which is pretty conductive.😂
Point clear and point taken.
"Each layer accomplishes something" is kind of what I tell people when I explain medieval armor. Plate protects against blades, mail protects again (most) piercing weapons while filling the gaps plate leaves. Gambeson softens blunt force (and is surprisingly warm in the colder months). Your tunic or doublet keeps all that from rubbing on your bare skin.
If you can sew, you could get your own fur and make a jacket. All that’s necessary is a knife and salt to clean and cure the skin. It doesn’t have to be perfect with no holes like if it was being sold to the market; it’s a learning experience. Most anyone could start off with a deer’s skin, then get more advanced from there.
Now, a hood sounds the perfect item to use that piece of wool sitting in my stash and I don't know what to do with it. Might even line it with the old fur coat that belonged to my grandmother and nobody wants to think about. Anyways, thanks for this video. I am planning to go to a medieval event in December and, even though it doesn't snow in this place it's super damp and cold since the location is literally on a lake, and I'll need some good insulating clothes to protect my poor, aching joints from the humidity.
Great video that I will save to to show that it is absolutely possible to do medieval inspired larps in cold weather. I am looking forward to the camp follow up.
This reminds me of the larp of the autumn larp when we had below freazing temperature in the nights. I was so called in my too tight modern sleeping bag. Ended up opening the bag up and sleeping beneath my cloak and a wollen blanket. That worked well!
Re: cold feet. I live in Florida, so I don't have to worry much about cold. I did use to go to Virginia every year to visit my grandma at Christmas. (She's fine, she just moved down to Florida, so no more Virginia visits.) I knitted myself a pair of thick wool slipper socks and felted them down to size so my feet wouldn't freeze on her tile floors. The addition of a leather sole (cannibalized from a thrift store motorcycle jacket) made them sturdy enough to venture outside for brief periods (to check the mailbox, say).
This was a very useful video for me. Now I just need something similar for the opposite end of weather. I live in southern Canada and we get a pretty wide range of temperatures/weather over the seasons, so it would be handy to know some more info on what to do in the warm seasons.
I've lived in Utah , Arizona (116-120F dry heat) aka the gods oven and in the US midwest were it gets to 95F sometimes with 40% humidity so it feels like 110F. You wear thin sturdy light blocking Linen and cotton , then drink lots of water . Stay in The shade and use an umbrella to block the sun. Lightweight leather or cotton sandles so you don't overheat. Go out during 7am - 10 am and after 4pm in the desert and 3pm in more humid climates.
I’ve always loved the durability and look of older outdoor clothing. I wear wool and oil cloth. Mainly from Filson. With the exception of appearance, they are very similar to what people have always worn until the discovery of petroleum.
1:10 while "just stay inside" is a good advice for LARPers, it might not be a good advice for that lvl 5+ character in a small town that gets to know an orc warband will strike at just the begning of spring, when the town's supplies are already depleted by winter, and this brave group of adventurers must make a choice between foraging enough supplies for the warband to realize they won't starve the town out; or sabbotage the Orc's efforts such that the siege doesn't happen at all. Troublesome it may be to adventurer during winter, but they have no better choice
Hej from northern Sweden where right now, we have two feet of snow out there. And we wear merino and silk long sleeved/leg length thermals under everything! :)
If you don't want to stick hay in your shoes, wool might help as well. And I don't mean a piece of fabric, but clumbs of wool, like one would usually spin so it can be used for knitting
raw wool will become a felt pad just from the sweat and movement of your feet. It's good insulation but raw wool will felt itself to the soles of wool socks pretty readily (especially if said socks are handknit, non superwash wool with no nylon content). This is how my house socks became felt soled house slippers / boot socks 🤭
So as a Late Dark Age/Early Medieval re enactor I have an under tunic in linen, an over tunic in linen or wool depending on my activities and weather for the day, a wool hood lined with linen, and a cloak made from two layers of wool. On my legs I wear linen hose and knee length woolen leg wraps. Woollen knitted socks mittens and hat finish the ensemble for winter weather. The major drawback for this period is that the shoes are made from a single piece of fairly thin leather which has relatively poor waterproof or insulating properties
I always find a certain satisfaction doing stuff in the cold and being able to stay warm through proper preparation.
I 2nd the gambeson talk. My full-size linen and wool gambeson is about 1.0cm (0.4 inch) thick and I have never been cold in it. It also has cutouts in the armpits and that works great like you mentioned.
When you Sri for the night, and take your boots off, stuff them with crumpled newspaper. It will help dry the inside of your boots and can be used in the morning to help kindle your fire.
13:13 I work outside in the Winter, while I don't have Linen or wool head-wear I do often wear a beany cap with a bandana underneath. linen can be harder to find where cotton is king.
Concerning mittens... My warmest big mittens used to be my Swedish fur mittens... They had the flesh side outside and the sheep wool side outside. You can still grab ski sticks or an axe with them and they REALLY keep your paws in the game.
You could try for mittens with a flap that folds back maybe. So your fingers are covered mostly, but if you need to use your fingers you fold back the flap like with modern fishing gloves.
I got hold of some old army wadmal pants that I alterend for larping and those things a fantastic, they keep me warm even when wet and dry quickly in sun or hanging in a warm tent. They were also partly waterproof and good as long as you didn't get really wet while it was really cold. They easily kept me good and warm enough as long as I was moving even a 5 C, for lower temps though some warm wool underpants will work wonders and suddenly -15 C is not that cold, but then I live in Norway and we average see such temps each winter so of course army gear is made to handle that and usually can be easily be altered to look right. It's a good choice if you have a waterproof cloak.
Norway and basically Skandinavia in general has used wadmal fabrics which is a wool type material for about a thousand years and it's one of the better materials to keep you warm on cold days without making you too hot on warm days. Add linen which is also still in use, you can easily make a very good set of clothes that would be wonderful for camping or getting teleported to a fantasy setting.
I always held this idea that fur has to be worn like you said: fur on the inside, leather on the outside.
I got into a debate about this and people pointed out that Ötzi wore it the other way around. Now stone age ain't my strong suit so can't really disagree.
Look at what those who actually still live in those conditions and what they do. Tribes in northern Canada. Siberia, etc.
Most furs work better when worn with the hair out, for example rabbit, raccoon dog and fox. Sheep works best with the hair in. I have been wearing home tanned furs when I´m ice fishing and roaming the woods, for about 6 years now. I live in the sub-arctic on the coast of Finland, the winters are humid, windy and cold.
@@eetubremer8802 A fellow-Finn! I have been meaning to do some testing of my own as I practice a living history (Finnish iron age). First I should get some fur but I thought I'd make some clothing article so that I could just turn it one way or the other and see which works the best. Interesting if it's dependent on an animal.
@@eetubremer8802I have a Mongolian lamb jacket, fur on the outside, that's too hot to wear until the temperature is down to at least 2°F. It's lined with polyester so the skin isn't showing.
One thing often overlooked for staying warm is a higher fat diet when outdoors in winter. A few small slivers of cured lard throughout the day, and one before bed can keep you toasty. I dont mean tons of fat, but a bit more than most people usually eat.
Really great video! And there are many great comments, too.
I'm going to expand upon a couple of things that got mentioned in passing because I didn't notice anyone talking about them already.
This information is from an article by a Swedish Viking re-enactor group a few years ago. They based their winter gear both on actual period garments and the principles of the Swedish army field clothing, both historic and modern. Unfortunately both the Swedish and the English versions of that text seem to have disappeared from the internet. That's why I try to share this knowledge when I can.
A lot of it, like wicking moisture off the skin and having a wind-break shell, already got covered beautifully. I want to add to only these two points:
First: You mentioned keeping the hands, feet and ears warm. Actually, there are a few more heat regulation sites in the human body: wrists, ankles, head/temples, the upper chest (throat and below it) and the same area in the back (neck and below it). For most people the lower back is also important to keep warm, so you don't get any kidney infections. If you keep these spots warm, you can often get away with slightly less clothing than the weather would otherwise require. It's also a great way to extend the usage season of your autumn and spring wardrobe with just a few clever accessories!
Second: Adjust layers to activity level. Don't sweat chopping firewood (or fighting) in too heavy a tunic. Have a layer or two that you can chuck off when physical exercise is providing extra heat. And put on that extra cloak if you need to stand around doing nothing much, or only light activity (such as guarding something, or starting a fire, etc.)
Another application of this second point is: Try to have something to stand on. This is really important in period / leather soled shoes, but can be applied to modern footwear as well. If you're not actively moving from place to place, try to have vegetable matter (hay/straw, fir branches, heather, bracken) or maybe a piece of rough fur to insulate you from the ground. Especially if there is snow. An extra wool garment might work, too. Most people do this instinctively for sitting down. It's worth the effort to do the same standing up. Not only will you be more comfortable, you will also look more period!
Bonus textile geek info:
Wool binds air both in between fibers, and inside the fiber. That's why it feels so warm. Wool can absorb up to 30% of its weight in water before it feels wet. That's regular wool without any water-proofing applied! And even when wet, it doesn't start feeling cold! If you're allergic to wool, having a lining of some other material (someone suggested silk in the comments, which as another protein fiber can have better moisture properties than cotton or linen which are vegetable fibers) may allow you to get the benefits of wool while keeping it out of skin contact.
Just like to add if you have wool allergies, polar fleece is a good substitute. It works similarly, but since it's made of polyester it does better as a cloak, trapping air around you.,but giving breathing room for your skin.
Wrong. Polar fleece has Zero equivalent to wool properties. Polar fleece is a trash bag. So trash bags are not warm. Better to wear a cotton base layer then layer with wool.
@suem6004 I don't know how much you have worked with fabric, but I have been sewing since I was 15, and have actually worked with these fabrics, and I can say with absolute certainty polar fleece of the correct weight is extremely insulative and in no way is like a trash bag in its properties. Perhaps if you buy extremely thin material it would be useless, but you can buy correct weight fabric for between $12-$30 dollars a yard, depending on the store you purchase from, making it an affordable option for those of us allergic to wool, which by the way, also comes in different weights, and not all wool fabric is created equal.
@@thegoldendragonstavern4756 I am a master handspinner with a degree. So, you may be unaware from the fiber out what makes up fabric. Polyesters are polycarbs just as a trash/bin bag. It has zero insulating properties snd little wind protection, we were making mittens for third world cold climate people. We were told explicitly: no polar fleece as rubbish for cold weather.
So, do not be insulted. Be informed. No amount of weight substitutes for natural and highly insulating material like wools and furs. Just fact.
@suem6004 Then you must know composition of fiber and air space caused by pile effects the difference in how material behaves, which is why the huge difference between polar fleece and trash bags. Like I said, not all fabric is equal, even if made from the same material.
@@thegoldendragonstavern4756 If you knew actual fibers then you would know like basic knowledge that exact same polycarbons in polar fleece but you know nothing. Sorry. But you need to keep quiet instead of speaking dumb things.
Two tips from someone who has spent way too much time in very cold weather. One, yes, wet wool is better than wet anything else, but that just means it sucks less. Wet wool still sucks. Raw wool, basically sheered, cardeded and felted is water resistant because it still has all the oils in it. Waxed canvas is going to repel more water. Two, it's better to be chilly than toasty warm when you're moving- if you're chilly, your sweat is evaporating. When you stop, you'll be dry, that is when you take off your outter most layer which has been picking up snow and put on your heavier layer. When you look at people using "traditional" climbing clothes which they'd be in for days on end without shelter, those outfits would pick up several pounds of extra weight, in the form of moisture. And when it froze, they'd die.
Some thick moleskin pants can also be very good. Oftentimes wool isn't gonna be needed to keep you warm and mooeskin is also very resistant, it won't wear down easily even going in bushes a lot. There's a reason why Florence became the main fabric and clothing exporter in Europe around the time they invented moleskin
Adding a felted wool insole is another way to add insulation under your foot. This makes an outside difference by helping to reduce conduction from your foot to the ground.
Mighty fine video. I think this one rivals the cloak episode. Tons of information, and timely too!
Wow I learned a lot in this video. This will change how I look at layering. Good at saw it before the winter cold hits