Dissecting the Medieval Bed (and making one *mostly* from scratch!)
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- čas přidán 23. 02. 2023
- The Inventories:
suffolkrecordssociety.com/wp-...
www.bristol.ac.uk/Depts/Histo...
Great paper on Beds and Bedding: www.academia.edu/44673485/Bed...
I also read a paper on the use and purpose of the bed but of course didn't save it because it didn't have much to do with the making of a bed. It had great info about sleep, birth, death, and romance in beds though, so I'd like to link it here if anyone happens to know what I'm talking about?
All the images I used should be here on this pinterest board: / beds
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After years of really only seeing Mr. Donner from the chest down this full face view and voice is a twist!
Surprise!
and a very nice voice he has
Does he have a woodworking channel? I'd sub in a hot minute!
Me audibly “Oooh Mr Morgan Donner!!”
Such a cutie!
Don’t know if this was the historical context or not, but you talking about multiple mattresses on one bed made the fairytale of The Princess and the Pea make sooooooooo much more sense. My childhood self thanks you.
Exactly what I thought!!
And now wandering how a pea would be identified with all the materials and layers. Only a real princess knows.
There is a musical called « once upon a mattress » and my school is doing it for our show (I’m the prince if you’re curious hehe)
Anyways I immediately messaged our group chat about it because we have always been SO confused. It comes up a lot when we’re working on the bed.
Oh, my great grandpa's fam was from the Swiss Alps where they'd use 2 or more what we'd call a mattress topper these days and when it got really cold they would double as a super thick comforter/duvet, so they would burrow between them. But they just called them mattresses, so just think of them as a bunch of mattress toppers.
MY issue with that story was always about a "pea" which as a kid I only ever had fresh and soft. Took me a while to figure out that dried peas are so hard they feel like gravel (or legos!) if you step on one.
yeah the old ones are more similar to a mattress topper in size and design
with a bed frame that flexes as much as this does though it works
@@SLASHEROWL I love that play! They made a movie of it with Carol Burnett
I have my masters in costume history and I work conserving costumes for the V&A. Your use of scraps that are not useful for clothing is actually close to what happened. In fact , some VERY rare examples of textiles were found in stuff like this. In a weird way you proved a point ! I ADORE this kind of “practical” research.
Also, yes … we have that bed. Straw was VERY common. In a lot of furniture the base layer is straw. When you open old chairs , the oldest layer is almost always straw with horse hair straps.
Thank goodness you mentioned the horsehair, straps and straw. They made comfortable chairs especially when covered in leather. My early childhood was spent bouncing up and down on a bed/sofa made of these materials. Also bedding never changed much over the centuries, the bolster pillow, 2 sheets and two blankets with a coverlet was standard for sleeping until winter when an eiderdown was placed over the top. Fireplaces in bedrooms weren't standard so the eiderdown was a godsend. Also it had to be aired to remove the damp from it.
The plant sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) was also known as sweetscented bedstraw and was often used as a mattress filler due to its pleasant vanilla-like scent that comes from coumarin that becomes apparent upon wilting and drying. Coumarin is also a moth deterrent. A related plant, Gallium verum (Lady's bedstraw) was also used, as well as lavender but this wasn't used for the stuffing, the flowers were used with the actual filler to deter insects.
Great information.
Thank you for the wonderful information!
Apparently coumarin also is an insect repellent, aside from Wafarin being one coumarin = rat pesticide.
That would be nice to snuggle into.
You and Mr. Donner make a fantastic creative maker team. What a cool bed!! If all modern tech ever failed, you guys would easily survive and do so in style!!
Morgan really said 'man, there's no way I'll ever use up my cabbage patch... Let's make a bed '
This is epic! I hope you and Mr donner are so proud of yourselves and got some good snuggle time out of this too!
lol....maybe ;p
@@MorganDonner I feel like people back then would be totally cool with you using fabric scraps to make your mats. Reeds and grasses are just what they had on hand, you know?
Edit: about the curtain rolls, that's how we get curtains out of the way when doing stuff in theater. It's really cool to see how old that technique is!
@@saraa3418 hospital theatre or thespian theatre?
@@saritshull3909 Thespian, there's rows upon rows of curtains coming onto the stage
I've always wanted a canopy bed. And as I've gotten older and more frugal with my heating bills and having finally visited Europe, I understand more and more why people would have splurged for canopy beds. They were essentially little tents to retain heat in the winter. I noticed our friends stone house in the UK was noticeably colder than the ambient air outside, but as soon as my husband and I would settle in for the night in our room, I'd end up sweating because it really doesn't take much to heat a small enclosed space. Just body heat inside a full canopy bed would probably be pretty comfortable on the long freezing nights.
When I was a kid, I often shared a bedroom with one of my sisters, and of course we had bunkbeds. Tucking a blanket underneath the top mattress so it hung down over the bottom bunk made a GREAT faux canopy bed. It also made that bottom bunk warm enough I often didn't bother with an actual blanket. It really does retain the heat way better than you'd think!
Later on they went a step further and the mattress was inside a box, making it a box-bed. Apparently it was very warm and gave the sleeper a bit of privacy.
Back then having curtains served many uses, most often there were multiple people in one room if you were poor your relatives would share a room with you , or if you were rich servants slept on the floor in your bed room at times.
@@blazefairchild465 Additionally, with thatched roofs and their biome of mice and other critters, the canopy would catch falling detritus keeping your bed free of it.
I have a canopy bed. It is very cozy. I'm a seamstress and have used a beautiful fabric to make the canopy but you can throw a pretty quilt or spread over it.
the cocoon of curtain i recognized immediately! that's a technique i've used as a scenic artist in theatre to get curtains off the ground when painting a stage floor, or when scenery in the performance space butts up next to a curtain and you have to go in and do touch up paint. so cool to see how the technique has been used for so many years!!
That reminds me of similar examples of archeology, where special tools or areas in a house could not be identified by the archeologists, but craftsmen or locals could immediately tell, what it was about and tell them how the same tool/techniques are still used today because... it works and it's the best way to do the job 😅
I did theatre, too, and I remember that now that I’ve read your comment. Thank you!
@@Chakrenqueen Yes, I love that!
I have no skills or knowledge of costumes or set designs. So when I those cocoon-like bags, I guessed they the medieval version of deodorizers.
An historic bed build, a full-on Mr. Morgan Donner "New Yankee Workshop" cameo...AND A WILD ANGELA APPEARS?!?!?! What a largesse our Patron Saint of Medieval Coolth has bestowed upon us! 🤩
I thought it sounded just like the episodes of New Yankee Workshop I would watch with my dad as soon as Mr. Donner said 'tenons.'
Team New Donner Workshop!
Who is Angela?
@@DelphiaStrickland Angela Clayton, another youtuber who does amazing historical (and not so historical) costumes and clothing. You may have seen her here before, she's been in a few of Morgan's videos.
I was getting Norm Abrams videos with Mr Donner
The saying “night night, sleep tight, don’t let the bugs bite” references the importance of tight ropes to prevent sagging. There is a common plant here called Ladies Bedstraw which was dried and added to mattresses. It has a lovely floraly hay meadow odour.
So that's were 'sleep tight' comes from? I always imagined someone wrapping themselves tightly into their blankets!
I DO wonder if there is some plant that would help keep pests out ?!
Quite possibly, and I believe it is an old medicinal herb for women in labour.
@@m.maclellan7147
Maybe lavender?
@@m.maclellan7147 several, like melilotus alba or galium oderata
Fun fact, in Scotland we still talk about blankets (in my experience particularly a coarse wool, often with a tartan pattern) as rugs. We put a rug over our knees when sitting down, for example - I didn’t realise it wasn’t used like that universally until many years into my relationship with my English husband. Another excellent video. I love to see your research and enthusiasm and practicality combine!
Have the plaid (often even tartan) in Russia. They used to be a 1840 something trend, then just stayed here, because warm.
PS Brought home two Scottish wool sweaters from England. So warm.
My grandparents and parents call(ed) those lap rugs. I'm in the South (USA) and we have lots of Scottish ancestry here.
.... As an Irish person, I didn't realise that this wasn't universal for English speakers 🤯 I wonder if it's related to Irish and Scots Gaelic, kinda like words like youse (plural for you) and Mam (Mum)
Aye and we still say stead instead of frame where I live.
We call them rugs in N E England too - especially the tartan/checked rugs - I’ve still got a couple of vintage otterburn mill rugs
I don't mind the beige curtains! You could also embroider some colorful deigns into them if you're ever inspired! Embroidery would be an awesome way to tie in all of the various colors in the cottage, too :D
Yes, or appliqué - lots of possibilities for gradually bringing more colour in.
I was thinking block printing. It's very period.
They are ugly. especially with the white red and blue plaid pillow case. just horrible taste.
@@user-ci4qq1om4o I reject this negativity ✨😊 I think they're cute
@@user-ci4qq1om4o Sit down. They were free and they can be spruced up. Rude.
It was so lovely to finally see Mr Morgan Donner speaking to us on camera! Thank you sir for your woodworking input! I found it most instructive. Your camera presence is very solid and you look relatively at ease. A pleasure to meet you, indeed!
As someone who still uses blankets rather than having one duvet (I inherited them and well, they are nice), a pair of blankets is necessary for in-between seasons. You can pull one back and forth to mediate temperature fluctuations over the night. So great. :)
Or for when you live in a dorm with an unpredictable heating system so you never know if a winter night will have you shivering or overheating.
@@dbseamz An excellent point!
@@dbseamz this exactly. I have no thermostat or thermometer in my room so I measure temperature in blankets.
@@annaadkins oof, that is cold! In winter (Australia) I add an extra blanket and pull out my small goose down duvet to put over the top. Never want to get out of bed!
Ok so now Mr. Donned needs his own channel on woodworking projects! He’s a natural talent behind the camera!
Seconded!!
Yeah, that sounds like a great idea for building history themed furniture.
I love seeing you and Rachel Maksy embrace the full cottagecore and build your dream barns ♥️♥️
I need to check out what they have been up to lately.
I also installed bed curtains. One heavy curtain for noise and light reduction and isulation (great for the winter. You can lower the room temperatur to safe energy costs) and for the summer I have a second row of moskito net because I live in an area with marshland. So lots of mosquitos in the summer although some bats are nest in the barn of my neigbour. Maybe some nesting boxes for bats would be a nice wood project for Mister Donner. Btw Donner is the german word for thunder.
For the bed in our medieval tent for Living History displays, we went with four separate wooden rods held together at the corners by the support ropes, which are threaded through huge eyelets worked into the corners of the canopy (a knot in the rope keeping the canopy that little bit off the rod so as not to impede the curtain rings).
It workes well for something we need to take down and pack away in the car for transporting to-and-from events, along with a take-down bedstead that is held together at the corners by removable pegs. We went for slats, as ropes tended to sag under body weight no matter how much they were tightened, and caused roll-together in the middle for a couple sharing the bed.
The friend who made the bed for us had already made one for himself, and also switched to slats, but faked the look of ropes around the outside edge by threading rope through the holes in the manner of a running stitch along each side of the bed frame.
Great info
That's smart! My current bed is a atform and uses slats
The blue plaid pillowcases look exactly like what I'd expect on a southern bed to this day. Like if you showed me that fabric and asked what it was for, I'd say pillows or pjs. Sort of amazing that that little stylistic thing goes so far back. Also I grew up calling the bedspread a coverlet, and haven't heard it anywhere since childhood
I also call it a coverlet!
We still use many of those words in the UK. I would use bedstead, bolster (I own bolstercovers, but not a bolster currently), valance, coverlet, rug etc. A "featherbed" has been modernised as a feather mattress-topper 😉 It's often a selling point of country house hotels / castle hotels here that one can sleep in a half tester or 4 poster bed
I sleep in a modern bed, between a pair of sheets, 2 blankets (lambswool) & a quilted coverlet. As you say, my coverlet is mink silk on one side & similarly coloured cotton on the other side, not pieced. We don't really have that tradition here.
On another point - hay was used to stuff mattresses, they were probably just too inexpensive to turn up in a will. Strewing herbs were often added to the hay stuffed mattresses, this is where Lady's bedstraw (galium verum) gets its name. There's some suggestion that these herbs acted as a repellant to bed bugs, fleas etc which would otherwise lurk because of their coumarin content. Added bonus of releasing a nice smell when you roll over! (Ruth Goodman has written on this)
Ticking is traditionally used for feather mattresses, and is thus very tightly woven (to keep the feathers inside, and to keep the feather ends from poking you). If the pillowcase fabric is related to ticking, I'd think it would be a tight weave, which makes sense because pillows were also filled with feathers, and you don't want to get poked in the face by feather ends.
As someone who was gifted a feather pillow when I was a child I can attest that getting gouged by pillow feathers when you're trying to sleep can really hurt! I found the thicker the fabrics involved the better, or just double pillowcase it. Ironically it's my preferred pillow type today as they last and last.
gotta say, I love that you are branching into showing how you make and furnish the cottage. It's really interesting to learn about.
I loved my recycled fabric rug/mat that I aquired in my boho phase. I had it as my "welcome" mat inside of a hallway of my apartment building. One pizza delivery guy thought it was too pretty to step on. It moved with me to 3 more apartments as patio entry mats until it was worn, and not really my style anymore. There are so many beautiful pictures of my cats sitting in sunbeams on it, clawing it up with a variety of fabric types.
I love experimental archaeology like this. I wish I could do this, but I'm currently not well enough. But I'm living vicariously through your videos!
Same here! I have such a homesteader's heart but I'm disabled, allergic to wool, animals, plants, LIFE (it would seem), and only alive because of modern medicine I would die without if I stopped for even 6-12 hours. Don't know what I'd do without living vicariously through others.
I was surprised about the different blankets used because... it's how I was taught to make a bed by my grandma when I was a child. I don't think it's a local thing because I've seen this in hotels and at other people's houses here in Europe. I grew up with a duvet (in a cover, none of that comforter business !) in my house. At my grand parents, it was always a double sheet, and I had to fold the corners "au carré" (squared) with one or two blankets in winter, and then a bed cover (I've seen it topped by another smaller "plaid" but not at my grandparents).
From what I was told, the last cover is used because, when you wake up, you need to "open" the bed (pull the sheets open) and air out the room. Then, when you make your bed, you cover it, so the sheets can stay nice and clean. Seems weird in this day and age, but when you think of it, back in the day, you could have a fireplace in the room, some people bathed in their rooms, changed, etc. So maybe it was to avoid things like soot going onto the sheets ?
Anyway, my grandma still makes her bed that way. She still uses a cover (it's yellow with blue flowers).
Europe was colder back then.
As a Russian, I grew up with matress covers (really required for the older spring or wood shavings matresses), bedsheets - slowly taken out with the rubber bottom bedsheets. A woolen blanket (think thick winter coat felted fabric) in a blanket cover with a diamond-shaped hole on top. A plaid and a decorative rug. Stuff books (ideally - books and a board) below matress when sick.
It gets cold at night. We have central heating, but still better open your window a bit - it's good against lung disease.
Poor people still have bed curtains, it's how you have privacy in a tiny home. Not recommended though, because of lung disease.
My grandmother also made her beds (guest room too) in a similar fashion. She had me take the top sheet, making sure it was larger than the bed size, and bring it up so it hangs over the top of the bed. Then add a thin wool or similar fabric blanket trimmed with satin of a similar size over it. Once laid, then tuck in the bottom, sides, and corners of the blanket/sheet (she said it was how she was trained to make beds in the hospital when she was younger). Then pull the blanket/sheet back just enough so that the pillow would be covered with a crease underneath the pillow, about maybe 1/4 or so of the pillow size? Then top with the bed cover. While she would stop there in her room, in the guest room she would fold the bed cover down to the pillow fold and add additional pillows in that matching fabric.
It’s wild to me y’all treating this like ancient history
In the US a typical bed set goes
Matress
Matress pad (optional)
Bottom fitted sheet
((You))
Top loose sheet
Blanket (optional)
Comforter/quilt
Any rug or throw (optional)
Deeply surprised by the
Matress
Bottom sheet
(You)
Duvet
(Any additional covers)
Setup of some Euro countries
@@namedrop721 there are also curtains below the bed that hide the storage below it.
Felt unfashionable in XX century due to lung disease threat and lack of free time.
Sometimes still in use by people around 100 y.o.
People sitting in bed in medieval times isn't artistic license, they believed it to be either unhealthy or bad luck or both to sleep laying down completely. Unfortunately I don't have any original sources for you to look at.
I've heard it mentioned by castle guides, and a quick search online yields similar results. Something about only dead people laying down completely, therefore it must be terribly unlucky...💀
I had read that too! I couldn't find any documentation for it, but wanted to at least make sure I mentioned the upright possibility.
Back in time when I visited "castles" in the Netherlands I was told the same thing. The built in bed steads were very short with giant pillows , to short for even my 5'2" length. The guide told us the same thing, sleep sitting up for health reasons, and the devil was also involved. Being an older person, sleeping on an incline does help with acid reflux and a bit with snoring so they were not completely wrong.
Partly it’s to do with the rope supports. More comfortable to be a bit propped up than lie flat on. And they sag quickly.
As already commented here, rope beds sag a LOT and you end up in a depression in the middle. Either you have both your feet and head up in the air or you try to scoot towards the headboard and that puts you in that 'hospital bed' position.
I also heard that back then they thought if you lay down, the blood will flow to your head, and therefore you'll die. Heard it in a caste guide too.
i love how carefully and joyfully made all morgan's projects are. so cool that her husband is a maker too!
I wouldnt be able to put so much effort into a project like this but finding out how people did it before industry and seeing it done step by step in front of me really makes me appreciate what goes into a quality furnishing or garment.
Yeah, watching step by step how they in medieval times used to DIY using IKEA curtains and stuff....
@@frida507 curtains are curtains.
I really love that Mr Donner was using more historical methods with making the bed. There's something about seeing him being into handtools etc and your history bounding that's just a delightful bit of connection.
When I toured Markham Castle in Germany we were told that people slept sitting up, and the beds were shorter because of that. Apparently they were superstitious about appearing to be a corpse when lying flat on their backs. Love the fact that you and Mr. Morgan Donner work so well together. The bed is fabulous.
It also kept you alive if you had fluid in your lungs
Some Germans still sleep like that lol, that’s why our pillows are so large, to sit in the bed and when folded, to lie down
I've heard it was to keep the humours (unsure of spelling), the four fluids from mixing.
Joining the strips of the matt below the mattress, you might like to experiment with a carpet needle. They are a half circle in shape with a big eye. Intended for patching wall to wall carpet. Basically you don't have to lift anything up - just position the strips and poke the needle through one strip then the next one with both lying side by side on the floor or a table. Or take the big bag needle you were using and get Mr Morgan Donner to bend it into a semicircle. Recommend the use of a sailor's palm if sewing rushes (personal experience here). Which is a kind of minimal baseball glove with no fingers, a built in hole for the base of the thumb, and a hard surface an inch or two in diameter let into the palm section to use when pushing a big needle through sailcloth with the full weight of your arm. Sewing tough or thick fabric then becomes both fast and easy. Try antique shops for one of these, or sailmaker's suppliers.
Please let us know what you think of the bed after you've used it for awhile! I've had a bed with slats & rope. Slats are far more comfortable imo. The rope really pulled on the bed, tends to bow to the center and overall just wasn't as comfortable. Slats offer better support but still have airflow for the mattress. It was an interesting experiment for years but I've given it up to go back to my hammock! I use a needle like that for nalbinding. ^_^
Loved this video - making a bed from scratch based on images of historical beds. The mat made me want to dig through my mountain of fabric scraps and make one too. Anyway, I did research a couple of years ago about how people lived in this area of France in the 18th and 19th centuries. I came across something that explained that people (I expect farmers and 'normal' people as opposed to nobility and royalty) lived in one room that was the kitchen, living room, everything room and the bed was in one corner of the room. The bed was described as enclosed on two sides and above by heavy draperies. On the side of the bed that was against the wall (not the head) there was what was called the gutter where important things were kept such as papers, money and precious items. Basically, any robber would have to break into the house and then climb over the sleeping people in the bed to get to the valuables in this gutter. In more elaborate such beds there were shelves and little drawers. The parents slept in this bed, likely with the babies and very young children and the older children slept in the loft above. To get to the loft, they would have to use an outdoor staircase. If you think of it, such a well-enclosed bed was basically a very small bedroom in a bigger room.
Anyway, just thought it was interesting to tell about different kinds of basically the same kind of bed. In the images shown in the video, many beds seem to be against the wall. I wonder if they had gutters.
Reading this made me think this could be a possible precursor to the idea of stowing away money/valuables under the mattress.
@@Anopano3000 That would make sense but it never occurred to me, hahahaha!
In German medival beds this shelf 💍💎👑💰💰was called "Hohe Kante". It is still a figure of speech for savings today, but few people know why.
omg i wonder if that's where the expression "mind in the gutter" comes from?
@@benutzername1875 No, I think that expression refers to the gutters in the streets where people emptied their chamber pots every morning.... One can only imagine the stench of cities back then.... yikes!
Very interesting to hear the top blanket being called a rug! My Gran has a plaid wool blanket with fringe that she keeps on the couch and has always called it a rug, rather than a throw or blanket. It's kind of corse but very warm and thick, but definitely not something you'd use on the floor!
Ps. This whole project is so cool
Also in kids books from the 40s and 50s - Enid Blyton for example - they often talk of putting a rug on the bed for extra warmth or, when camping, putting them over a ''mattress'' of bracken to sleep on one with another over them for warmth
Some dialects in German call a blanket a "bed rug" (Bettteppich), or just a rug, leading to lots of confusion for people from other areas unfamiliar with this use of the word.
Funnily enough tibetans do put actual rugs on sofas and benches to sit on. Don't think it's related in any way but still a funny coincidence
In Russia, people used to put rugs on the walls next to the bed. Looks nice and insulates;
My family is English and we always had travelling rugs to tale in the car before heaters were good.
Oh my god the painting at 27:27 with the baby just ZOOMING at the sleeping couple, at SPEED! :D This might be the funniest ye olde panting I've ever seen. Thank you for sharing your sources as always, and what an amazing project!
Yeah I stopped each of those to study them, because I have to paint in a medieval style. Yeah that one was a gem!
I had to look really hard to find this 😂 thanks for the laugh!
the sheer scale and volume of work that goes into Morgan Donner videos is mind-blowing!
If you wish to make a wool mattress, try the Havelock Wool company. I used it to insulate my van and it's very easy to work with. The batts are roughly 2"-3" thick, but can easily be pulled apart to be thinner if desired. I would imagine a single bale would work for what you're trying to do.
Edited to add the headboard cloth is amazing! Adds the perfect point of interest to the entire project 😄
Psyched for Mr Donner's debut as a presenter! I particularly appreciate his input as a hybrid sewing/woodworking enthusiast.
I also love your bed mat/braided rug take. Maybe someday I'll have enough long scraps to replicate it.
I inherited from my mother the feather & down mattress she and her sisters used on the farm they grew up on. As the chickens were slaughtered for dinner, the feathers were plucked & saved to make mattresses & pillows. Mom had the feathers & down professionally cleaned & placed in a new stripped “tick” in the 1970’s. I will attest to the fact that it is the most comfortable sleep I have ever had. We don’t know how old it really is, however we suspect it is from the mid 1800’s when the family moved from Lancaster, PA to Buffalo, then to Michigan all by covered wagon. Thank you for such an interesting presentation!
Loving watching this, it's very cool to see. But the pair of blankets - I do know why this is! One blanket does not go over the sheets, but instead goes under the bottom sheet. It adds insulation to the mattresses, helping to give more comfort in terms of warmth in the winter and cool in the summer. And to be a little indelicate for a moment, mattresses full of organic materials can get insect invasions. The blanket helps to provide a barrier to the insects that a woven flax sheet doesn't give...
I have a memory foam mattress without the proper box spring and it gets really hot in summer due to lack of ventilation. I might actually try this and see what happens.
Oooooh real old fashioned peg and dowel mortise and tenon woodwork! Thanks for joining in Mr. Donner! You are an amazing craftsman! Power Craftycouple goals. It's always such a delight to join your family for Experimental Archaeology style crafting! (And if you decide you don't like beige curtains,. you could paint some very cool diapering and flowers and other patterns on it in the Spring when you can spread it out flat on some grass to paint and dry. My house has beige valances I painted with a motif from illuminated manuscripts. I used a stencil to guide my patterning and keep it consistent.)
That's what I was going to recommend for the curtains! I think stenciling and painting something on them would spice them up right nice but without the mess of dying.
As soon as I read the title my brain immediately went to the Great Bed of Ware. It's a fascinating object and cool as the inn where it is originally from is near to where I live. So cool that you referenced it!
Also my grandmother has strong memories of making her mattresses as a child in rural Scandinavia. She remembers how she would get lots of bug bites from them.
This is where the phrase sleep tight don't let the bedbugs bite came from. Because you would have to tighten their ropes and then the bugs would live in the mattress
Funny enough, the "cocooning" of the curtains I learned in College Theater. ALSO, look up Rya (Rye) rugs. They might be the "rugs" you were seeing that were fuzzy. They were mainly used as a form of bed insulation, as a topper(like a duvet). The technique used to make them was also well used for making clothing/cloaks for keeping the wet and snow off your body.
My god, this is such a wonderful project, with a SPECTACULAR result! Your braided fabric mat inspired me to make a rug out of fabric strips left over from my wedding. 😇 Thank you for all the effort you put in for videos like this! It’s so inspiring!
I knew I recognized that voice at the end!
Hope you two are plotting some fun cottage-related adventures together for a future video! (Hair-dyeing optional, of course!)
Down are the feathers that the bird uses for insulation. On a chicken or duck it's generally the feathers on the body more than the wings, though you will get a layer of heavier feathers even there. Depends on how picky you want to be about separating when plucking. The wing feathers and heavier body feathers are for flying and weather proofing, the down keeps them warm. On a mammal it would be the undercoat vs the top coat.
I'm glad you went with the more luxurious bedhead-cloth. I think it complemented and set the whole bed apart nicely. It might have been nice with either white, blue or gold as a secondary color on the trimmings, in addition to the red, but it works well as it is :)
You’re so good at explaining the seven-strand braid!!! So many braid tutorials feel like they’re impossible to follow for whatever reason. Thank you!
I'm making challah, so of course, all I could think when you were braiding the mat was "it's bed challah!"
Also, you guys are a gorgeous and talented couple!
Having watched frum it up’s challah-making video yesterday, I was thinking the same thing! Sarah even did a 7-strand braid!
Not Jewish, but I do love making challah. It’s definitely the same braid style!
Re sitting up in bed, I did a castle tour in Germany that showed us a very short bed and they explained people slept sitting up bc laying down was “too close to being dead” per the tour guide. It was Marksburg Castle is that helps.
@@nataliavanhelsing640 I think you might have clicked reply on the wrong comment! Just want it to get to the right one.
I would sleep on a Challah bed... until I ate it all 🤣
I'm writing an historical novel about Julian of Norwich, and this video counts as both pleasure and research. Thank you.
Oh how interesting! Looking forward to reading it.
@@pirkitta407 Thank you! My previous historical novels are set in much earlier times than the middle ages.
The bed I inherited from my grandparents has many of the features you worked into the one you made. It is well over 100 years old and the original mattress was held up by ropes. My grandfather eventually took the ropes off and installed metal L braces to hold a custom made box spring that fits down into the frame. The custom mattress is cotton stuffed and buttons used to hold the cotton in place. It fits over the frame. The top of the mattress is almost 3’ off the floor. It is the same mattress and box spring that my grandparents were using when they married in the early 1900’s. You may not believe it but it is the most comfortable mattress I have ever slept on. And I have been sleeping on it since I was a little girl. All I do to keep it in shape is to rotate it every few months an then flip it after another few months.
Hi there, it's the first time I watched one of your videos and I was hooked on it. First I can tell you that my parents had three piece mattresses when I was a child, teen ager, that was normal here in Germany. Next I can tell that feather downs for mattresses could be only afford from really rich people. They are very delicate and would go used of very quickly in a real short time. They are normaly almost used only in featherbeds because they are very, very light and very warm to sleep under. In pillows are used tradition small feathers and/or pieces of larger feather ripped of from the middle of the feather on small portions, this was Winter work for woman who grow and had dugs or geese. Only ritch people could afford the smaller feathers, the most people had to be happy with these ripped off stuff. Quilting was well known in all over Europe for several use and there is a medieval whole cloth quilt in a French castle. They also had quilted garments t be warm in the Winter and knights used quilted vests under their heavy armour to be protected from injurings or hurtings from the metall. I hope all of this make sense, many greetings from Germany 🥰
In this colder climate of my country ( Sweden) the beds was boxbeds by the wall to keep the heat in. It comes from Viking times and kept people warm and it was more then one person per bed. I remember boxbeds in old farmhouses up north, a wall of beds and often 3 beds high, sadly most are gone now. Farmers had hay and then sheep skinn on top, at least here and most of them didnt have wills.
Those look so nice! Similar to the Dutch "bedstee", which is like the box bed but built more or less into the wall. I used them once and it was so comfy. Really liked how safe it felt to be so cosy in there. The small area warms up easily, so that is why they were popular too. And the privacy, neatness of it all.
We had these in France too, and they were used till the early 20th century in Brittany. You can still find those on second hand markets, even if many have been transformed into cupboards.
They were mostly used in one room country dwellings, were they also allowed a bit of intimacy.
The breton one are very ornate, with spindles forming the rays of a circle on the sliding doors, dark wood offset by a bright red curtain.
This is just so amazing! I'm going to need to make one of my own! The bed curtain, though, sadly not the cabin. YET. Everything looks great and I love that Mr. Donner is willing to share his knowledge and talents with us, too :D
My mind is blown. Mr. Morgan Donner is amazing at tutorial voice description. Mr. Morgan Donner the, previously, untapped hidden resource of this channel. Bravo! Love the video.
I love how much content everyone of your videos has. Some people would have made a 10 parts series for this!
Great Job! terms - Whole Cloth Quilt verses patchwork, also Ticking often used for feather beds because weave tight enough to hold in the quill ends. would not be surprised if also used for pillows, especially if they are feather pillows.
When I was a kid, I used to do that cocoon thing with the curtains to put them away while cleaning the floor. And to make a "hammoc bed" for the cat! 🐈 Your bed is awesome, by the way!!
I absolutely LOVE the different directions these videos have been going! It’s very fresh and different yet still feels like classic Morgan content
I love your absurdly large needle. I think in some places I know each person has their own quilt/blanket, hence the payre on top. Its was explained to me at some 18th cent site (30 odd years ago, I don't remember which) that it was customary to NOT sleep flat, hence some beds seeming to be short. It turned out really cool!
After all these years I was not prepared to see Mr Morgan Donner lol
Loving this series, can’t wait to see more!
(Yay!! Greyhound appearance!!)
Actually, the reason why the sitting up in bed situation is a thing is that beds went through a process of experimentation to what they became and the bed would naturally droop as the supports, in your case rope, was not always very strong and the mattress themselves are basically stuffed pillows and when you think of a mattress nowadays you think of metal spring kind of configuration. There is an internal support to them that originals just did not have. Lucy Worsley, a British historian has a wonderful series on medieval beds and the bedroom
You have a greyhound!!! They really do make the most affectionate, wonderful pets. My greyhound, Goldie, loves coming to SCA events with me in Lochac!
My Great Grandmother showed me how to make a down feather mattress. It takes awhile to gather all the down. Every time she butchered her chickens or geese, she would save all the feathers and down in big bags when she had enough she would sew the mattress. When she got that done she would start stuffing. The material she used was very sturdy
Woah seeing Mr. Donner more than just in the background or from the back or chest down was a surprise 😂. I really liked his wood working! It was really beautiful and informative!
We own a house built ca. 1720s with some of the original furniture, including the beds. The mattresses are indeed stuffed with straw. It is lumpy, hard and uncomfortable! The most notable difference though from modern beds is that the old ones are VERY SHORT. Like, crazy short. Too short for even an average height modern person.
I love how this channel is so varied! It really makes every episode special.
I thought I read somewhere that they dumped the old straw every year & replaced with fresh? That would help. Also, it would discourage nesting!
I've slept on a straw stuffed mattress before and it can be very comfortable once you are used to the firmness. Also it smelled amazing when freshly stuffed.
@@m.maclellan7147 That would make sense! It is compacted and hard now and if they did that back in the day, it hasn't been done in 100 years. People don't sleep in those beds very often and haven't in a long time, the house is mostly just a seasonal retreat type place.
The reason the beds were short during that period is because there was a phase people went through at that time where they thought that sleeping sitting up was more healthy. Some modern people have seen these beds and concluded that people were much shorter back then, and while height on average has gone up, it hasn't been that drastic.
I have straw stuffed bobbin lace making pillows and they’re hard as rocks heh, I can’t imagine sleeping on something stuffed with straw. That being said they smell nice! 😅
Morgan, I'm a woodworker (or was before covid essentially killed my business and forced me to go back to being employed) and live your channel.
If Mr. D has a channel, do tell!!
You two are now my favourite couple!! You both do what I love!
Sammi
UK 🇬🇧
I love this build, and especially the headboard cloth you have added. From what I have read in books, patchwork style quilting was mainly an American invention; they had to keep using and reusing their scraps because it was not so easy for them to get more fabric [all the way from Europe]. Before that, as you mentioned, quilts were mainly one color. I looked up the difference between down and feathers; feathers are the outside layer of duck and geese covering, down is the underlayer. When geese and ducks are raised specifically for their down and feathers, I was sad to read it is quite gruesome. FUN FACT: baby poultry are born with down and not feathers. We raise checks, ducks, and geese, and until their feathers grow in, they will be kept in an area where they have a heater available. When they are too cold, they move closer to the heater. (Special heater, not like we think of for humans.)
Morgan this is SO freaking cool! As someone who has some of the parts to make a overhead in the medieval style (by converting the overhead of the dais of a production of The Lion in Winter I was in where I played my own 27th great-grandfather Prince John of England), seeing the step-by-step of this was actually a HUGE help in helping me to convert that piece! And I love how much I learn about small historical nuggets of info when watching your videos.
the head board cloth is a nice touch. I am loving the fabric. it's amazing watching the process of these projects from what it was before and all the way up to it's completion.
I know it wouldn't be more like the original grass mat, but it would have been cool to see it coiled up like a massive braided rug. XD
Edit: Futon! That's how I grew up knowing those folding couch beds.
This is gorgeous! I was a little worried when you went with beige curtains, but the red trim makes it all make sense. It really just looks amazing and comfortable and somehow the little fabric ballsack seemed enchanting when I saw it in an actual room.
That bed looks SO comfortable and has so much more attitude and mood than the typical bed. Looking forward to future transformations!
Here I sit answering "futon" like you can hear me 🤣 I need some sleep.
Love the bed 💕
So nice to see Mr Donner. I 'seen' him helping out on previous projects but really nice to see a full picture now. And see his awesome woodworking skills. You go guys, great team to see and keep this up
I am LOVING this cottage/cabin series!!! The variety and not knowing what you'll tackle next is just....*chef's kiss*
This is so cool!! I love how varied your projects are!
I agree that dyeing that much curtain evenly would be horribly difficult, but it looks like it could be a good background for painting on. I think if I had them I would paint big swirly vines and dragons and things.
Watching Mr. Donner work, I was suddenly reminded of The Woodwright's Shop on PBS, which I was absolutely fascinated with as a tween. Imagine my delighted surprise when I sent to search for it and discovered that it's still in production! Now I have more things to watch when the outside world gets to be too much. Yay!
My youngest daughter sleeps on a true featherbed! It was slept on by two of my aunts when they were girls, and brought over from the Netherlands by my paternal grandparents. It comes in three mattress sections that you lay end to end, not on top of each other, and the fabric is a marvellously high quality original ticking fabric. It IS a high maintenance mattress, needing regular fluffing, and the sections are quite heavy. But it’s sooooooo comfy to sleep on!
As an aside, Ash is a great wood to work with. Lovely bed frame!
My great-grandmother and grandmother used to cover blankets with a cotton cover. It was rather like a modern duvet cover but for a blanket. Added a couple of layers and kept the blanket clean. Also, using straw, wood chips, corn husks (in the US,) to stuff a mattress allowed people to burn the used straw, grass, etc. This is referenced in Little Town on the Prairie and also from asking Great-grandmother. There was a phrase in the 1700s and early 1800s "to be in the straw," meaning to be in labor and delivery.
So glad to see Mr. Donner joining you!! You guys made a great team and it was great content.
The bed ropes is where the phrase sleep tight comes from,Mr Donner is darling! That bed turned out amazing. The Tudors would wake at night to tighten the ropes I'm sure Lucy Worsley did a programme on it
I love that Mr Donner was in the video showing off his expertise. I hope for more Mr. And Mrs. Donner projects. It's great to see history come alive when more than one person, with different skills, work together on something. So many more options for projects. I know he had been a part of projects in the past, but it is really cool to hear his expertise on the project.
I'm a theater technician and I knew *immediately* what those curtain cocoons were in the pictures - that's what we do with the on stage masking curtains to keep them out of the way when we're working on something where the curtains would be in the way. We call it "babying" or "diapering" the curtains and it's exactly the same, just with a much larger heavy black velour! So funny how some things are just the same as they always have been.
How cool! Thank you for sharing!
Its SOOO cute and if you do paint the walls that blue color, its gonna pop so much with the red and then you have the blue from the plaid pillow case. Beautiful!
The elusive Mr. Donner appears and speaks! This is actually really cool. I would love a bed like this! The extra set of paws was super cute.
You know what?! I have a closet full of old sheets, clothes and other pieces of fabric. And there is a plank broken in my husband's bed frame. And now I know what to do! :-) I will braid the mat just like you did! ;)) Pretty smart our our ancestors were! And thank you for explaining the process so nicely!
PS: great channel! Thank you!
Woman! What did you do to me! And now I also need some mats for our cats to rest on... :-D Just need to pick right colors... OK, now I have enough "projects" for upcomming weeks.. ;)) So much fun!
I am glad this popped up as a CZcams suggestion - a delightful break from news of fire and war news!
About "thrums" - I have always associated thrums with weaving - the 'waste' threads that are left when you cut the cloth off the loom. I have used them for stuffing soft toys and pillows, so I think they could be used as mattress stuffing. A friend of mine used a lot of thrums she got from a commercial weaving establishment to make hooked rugs. So maybe the thrums coverlet was made using weaving thrums somehow.
your mat takes me back to making braided rugs as a teen. super fun and all sorts of ways to make them! My favorite way to use my old scrap fabrics to make door mats, area rugs, and even bath mats. I know you can coat the underside of them with like a paint or rubber or something to keep them from slipping around but ive not tried it.
Using up odds and ends, scraps, and bits and pieces is the most satisfying thing! (Whatever the color 😉) Bravo!
Wow that was great. Nice to see Mr. Morgan Donner on camera as well. It proves that in all relationships both partners add to the mix to come up with something great. Being historical reenactors as well my husband made a four poster bed with slats instead of ropes. It assembles in under 4 minutes which is great for disassembly on weekend events. I made the quilt and other accoutrements. We also have a night table that flattens. It is for a lamp and the shelf underneath stores my husbands hat box. It is off the ground and easily accessible. Looking forward to future projects in your cottage
The “This Old House” vibes are throwing childhood nostalgia for me & I love it!
Can't wait to see this getting more and more decked out! The ending though.. Love Angela too!
These videos just put me in my happy place. ❤️❤️ I'm so pleased your little cabin is coming together! Sending all the positive vibes Morgan 🥰
My great grandfather's (who I actually knew quite well since he didn't pass away until I was in HS) family was German and Swiss and his mother came from the Swiss Alps. The "down mattress" might have been a thing that was common there he described to me where they would have special thin mattresses (as compared to modern day I presume) that would layer, and then if it was really cold, you would get between the layers, so the mattress could become a comforter/quilt/duvet but extra thick and warm. From what he'd said most beds would have 2 "down mattresses" which you'd sleep on top of when it was warm/chilly and between if it got really cold.
When weighted blankets first became a thing I recall thinking about what he'd described as serving the same purpose. So warm and cosy!
A tip if you ever do decide to dye the beige curtains… I’ve been thinking about dyeing a dress of mine and RIT dye has a really great website with do much helpful content, and you can use the washing machine to do it! Just food for thought, if the beige ever gets to be too much haha 😂
Love the whole video and the cottage project so much. If you can ever talk Mr. Donner into his own woodworking channel (or even a guest series on yours) I’d love to watch that. Y’all make great stuff together either way 😊😊😊
This is a lovely video showcasing Mr. Donner and Mrs. Dinner’s talents. Bravo!
I thoroughly enjoyed this collaboration between the 2 of you. I've been fascinated by curtained beds since my 1st viewing of A Christmas Carol. Can't wait for the next cabin project!
I am loving this cottage/cabin series! So dedicated and in-depth yet somehow whimsical!
several thoughts after watching this lovely episode: 1) seconding the reinforcement for bolsters elevating the head being a norm; all i have seen indicates that the bolster sort of was the original pillow, and extra personal pillows were, well, extra. the belief that having the head elevated during sleep or lounging or convalescing was healthy survived into my lifetime, as did the bolster to achieve it: my gran and great-aunties had bolsters (used above the bottom sheet however), and anyone with a heart condition or digestive distress or respiratory issues was emphatically made to use them. 2) about the "rug" that was part of the bed covers...we still use the term "lap rug" (or pram/stroller rug or picnic rug) today, and it seems interchangeable with the american use of "blanket" for these same items. so it could be a hefty blanket, perhaps of smaller dimensions than the coverlet item and used as a topper, with both practical and decorative functions. but what popped into my mind was the use of heavy, thick, often patterned/ornamented 'rugs' on beds in various folk traditions from norway to morocco. the north african handira (described--and sometimes used---interchangeably as a rug or a blanket) is traditional for a newly married couple to have on their bed, providing a nice layer of warmth to the feet or draped around the shoulders, and also providing a visually beautiful and meaningful layer of protection and fertility invocation as well. however, a quick search of medieval art did not substantiate this visually, although it's not fully conclusive as most illustrated beds seem to belong to well-off people whose use of folk textiles may have been minimal. i did see an example of a small linen laid over the patterned posh coverlet with a lady who had a newborn baby, and several possible woven wool shorter covers that could well be like our lap rugs. 3) 'm sure you are onto something about the parity of modern 'ticking' fabric with its nearly ubiquitous blue on white striping used for pillows and mattress covers (ticks) and the blue and white plaid medieval pillow coverings. 4) NOW i know how the roping on a bed is made tight enough to do its job properly!