Friday 30th November 2007

The Tudor Tailor's Christmas treat for 2008 is a pattern for the typical Tudor woman's waistcoat. It is suitable for a lady of the court in embellished silks or serviceable for a washerwoman in russet wool. The waistcoat (which has a flattering fitted waist) is available in a range of sizes and comes complete with a guide to buying materials and full instructions. Also available for Christmas is a pattern pack featuring several variations of a French hood. Visit the shop page for further details.

Jane and Ninya model waistcoats behind the Tudor Tailor stand at The Original Reenactor’s Market in Coventry

If you are thinking of buying Tudor Tailor goodies or gift vouchers as presents for friends, family or for yourself, please note that Tudor Tailor last posting dates for Christmas are: Fri 7 Dec for USA, Canada, Japan and E Europe; Tues 11 Dec for Western Europe; and Wed 12 Dec for UK.

Friday 16th November 2007

The autumn has seen two exciting developments in Ninya and Jane's own projects. Perth Museum and Art Gallery won a prestigious award from the Institute of Conservation for their imaginative display of a carefully conserved cream satin doublet dated 1620. The Heritage Lottery Fund helped pay for Ninya's services in replicating the doublet, which is now available for close examination at the museum. It was featured in an article on good practice in reconstructing dress by Jane which appeared in Museums and heritage magazine (issue, 2, 2007, 27-29). Jane has also added 36 new effigies (all in Sussex churches) to her Costume Research Image Library (www.tudoreffigies.co.uk). Photo: Ninya’s reconstruction of the early 17th C doublet in Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Two National Trust properties played host to The Tudor Tailor in October and November. Chirk Castle (near Wrexham) was the venue for a sell-out Tudor Tailor talk and tea, while Uppark (near Petersfield) sold out its lecture lunch for the second year running. The unveiling of a reconstructed 16th century tapestry at Stirling Castle (to be featured in the recreation of the royal apartments there) was attended by an interpreter dressed as a servant whose responsibilities included carrying furnishings from one royal residence to another. JMD&Co researched the likely dress of three people known to be at court in 1542 (the year that Mary, Queen of Scots, came to the throne) for Historic Scotland. Ninya made the servant's clothes which were satisfyingly ordinary! Photo (right) Keith Williams models the 1540s royal servant’s costume made for Stirling Castle

Friday 31st August 2007

A short break from researching and lecturing has been required for the Tudor Tailor team to enable the celebration of Jane’s marriage! Jane, resplendent in a ‘50’s style embroidered linen dress and fabulous handmade hat, married Dirk Daude on board the beautiful Schulschiff Deutschland in Bremen, Germany. The wedding took place on the 16th August amid rainy showers, which miraculously cleared to beautiful blue skies and sunshine in time for the exchanging of vows and rings on the poop deck. Photo (right): Jane and Dirk exchange rings on board the Schulschiff Deutschland

Friday 13th July 2007

It's already been a busy summer for The Tudor Tailor. Ninya and Jane opened the 2007 season with a stand at The Original Reenactors Market in Ryton-on-Dunsmore. Their new range of pewter buttons were much admired and sales were good. A new talk on The Tudor Household was well received at Oxbrugh Hall, near King's Lynn in May. June saw the Tudor Tailor team in the US. Jane gave a paper at the Costume Society of America's annual symposium in San Diego, where she was ably assisted in promoting The Tudor Tailor by Mark Hutter, who manages the tailor's shop at Colonial Williamsburg. Mela Hoyt-Hedon's costume shop hosted a successful day of activities at Fullerton College, Los Angeles,

Ninya, Minnie and Jane after a busy day of selling at The Original Reenactor’s Market

The queue grows at the Phoenix Art Museum

Audience members are transformed into Elizabethan ladies at the Vallejo study day

The early summer finished with Ninya's appearance as Mistress Sawcer, the tailor's wife at Kentwell Hall, where she took on two new apprentice’s for the week. Left: Freddie Laslett learns some of the skills required of a Tailor’s apprentice Right: Minnie Perry begins her apprenticeship

Friday 25th April 2007

The Tudor Tailor team has been busy working on two exciting projects supplying reconstructed costumes to Historic sites in the West Midlands. The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust commissioned 20 Elizabethan children’s costumes (10 boys and 10 girls) to be worn by school children on educational visits to Palmer’s Farm, part of Mary Arden’s house. The second commission was a costume based on an effigy of Joyce Acton (1533 to 1595/96) in the church at Charlecote, Warwickshire. The costume is intended for use as an educational resource to explain the material, construction and social history of dress for a well-to-do woman in late Tudor England.

Schoolchildren learn about domestic life in Elizabethan England at Palmers Farm

Jill Perry models the reconstructed costume worn by an effigy of Joyce Acton at Charlecote

Thursday 14th December 2006

Ninya Mikhaila will be teaching an exciting new course at the University of Nottingham in 2007. 'Dressing the Tudors: A Social History of 16th Century Dress' is a part-time undergraduate course running from 29th January - 30th April. There will be 10 sessions held on Monday afternoons from 2pm-4pm.

For further information or to request a brochure please contact:

The Undergraduate Office
Centre for Continuing Education
School of Education
The University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus
Wollaton Road
Nottingham NG8 1BB

Telephone 44 (0)115 846 6466
Fax 44 (0)115 951 6556
email enquiries

Monday 27th November 2006

Christmas is coming and we are all going to need lovely new costumes to accommodate overindulgence and/or achieve New Year's Resolutions in 2007.

The Tudor Tailor is on hand to help with Christmas gifts which tackle these challenges - for yourself or your friends! Does someone you know need a pattern for a fancier doublet or advice on neat new headgear? There is the book itself for those who still don't have their own copy (all Christmas copies are signed by the authors) and research kits featuring a book, bookmark, notebook, pencil and the all-important mug - we need coffee when we're working! There are various gift sets available all of which include a 'Little People' card for your message. Visit the sales page for further details.

Ninya and Jane are also pleased to announce the Tudor Tailor's new gift vouchers - buy £10, £20 or £30 vouchers to send by email or, if you prefer, print them out and post or deliver them in person. The gift vouchers can be spent just like real or plastic money via Paypal on The Tudor Tailor sales page.

Patterns are now available in two sets of sizes: small (8 to 16 UK/6 to 14 US for women; Chest 38-46 inches/96.5-117cm for men) and larger (20 to 28 UK/18 to 26 US for women; Chest 48 to 56 inches/122-142 cm for men). If you do buy a gift voucher, you may like to let the recipient know they can save it for the release of our new patterns in early 2007. These will offer complete outfits for an elite couple of the 1540s as well as patterns for children's clothing.

The Tudor Tailor has added stocking fillers in time for planned or last-minute Christmas purchases: The 'Little People' range has been expanded to include hand-printed linen cards, bookmarks, pencils and dinky little sweet bags in boxed sets of two or four.

Friday 24th November 2006 Jane and Ninya dressed and undressed in front of 378 people during July, August and September as they continued to reveal the secrets of Tudor tailoring in their promotional talks. The weather was unusually warm over the three months but Jane continued to show off her fur lettys cap and Ninya her best woollen bonnet (see photo): "If we'd realised most of talks would be in the high summer, we would have chosen different outfits" they explained. Nevertheless, they barely betrayed how warm it was - the secret, they said, was freshly laundered linen underwear and natural fibres for all the other garments. The heat was even higher with full houses at the Tudor Merchant's House in Tenby, Acton Court (www.actoncourt.com) and Bodelwyddan Castle (www.bodelwyddan-castle.co.uk).

Kat Myldmay (aka Ninya), Sunday 1540s - her "best" black apron is not quite hiding her happy state of fruitfulness! Modern dress just makes it all too apparent. (Thanks to Dawn Bagley, Charlecote Park for the photos)

Volunteer room stewards were the audiences for talks at Falkland Palace (Scotland) and Charlecote Park (Warwickshire), where it was agreed the information on offer would prove useful in interpreting portraits for visitors and delivering education sessions. Charlecote was one of many National Trust houses on the tour, which also included Powis Castle, near Welshpool, and Canons Ashby, near Daventry.

Ninya's understudy for September was no less a person than The Virgin Queen as Lucy Capito and Caroline Johnson presented Dressing Queen Elizabeth with Jane instead of the usual Tudor Tailor talks. Ninya was busy spending more time with her new baby (see below)! The queen and her dresser appeared at Stonor Park (www.stonor.com) and Tissington Hall (www.tissington-hall.com). There was not even standing room available at these venues such was the demand for tickets.

It was particularly exciting to be at Hardwick Hall (another National Trust property) which is home to the original painting of Elizabeth I on which the reconstructed costume is based. Ninya was back with the "queen team" for another a study day at Loseley Park (www.loseleypark.co.uk/home.asp) for the Southern Counties Costume Society, where there is a copy of the same painting. Queen Elizabeth also appeared at two churches - St Mary's, Bottesford and All Saints, Bakewell (see photo). Both venues are home to excellent effigies, several of which appear in The Tudor Tailor. The churchwardens worked very hard to attract large audiences and together they hosted 170 people. All Saints raised more than £800 for its restoration fund.

Dorothy Speckard (aka Jane) hooks bodice and gown skirt together for "Queenie" (aka Caroline) while accessories do the rounds in the pews at All Saints Church, Bakewell

Jane laces Ninya (and Minnie) into her 1590s court costume at Falkland Palace in August. It still fitted six weeks later at Sudeley Castle

Monday 16th October Ninya's latest project was completed and delivered on Sunday 10th September 2006. Minnie Mikhaila Perry weighed in at 6lb 11oz is happy healthy and getting to grips with the thimble and shears. Just three days before, mother and daughter were comfortably laced into a 1590s court costume at Sudeley Castle. Baby-gros are more practical now (for Minnie not Ninya!). Jane's latest project is a new partnership. After a visit to the Wasa warship (interesting sailor's doublet and several hats c1628) and the Royal Armouries (several early 17th century shirts) in Stockholm, her partner proposed and they are marrying next August in Germany. The venue is a three-masted schooner in Bremen. Could a sailor-suit be the thing to wear?

Thursday 24th August:
Academic Appearances by The Tudor Tailor

The Tudor Tailor has been busy giving papers and presentations at academic conferences. Both The Costume Society’s symposium on men’s dress and the Textile Conservation & Textile Studies Centre’s (TCTS) third annual conference were held in Winchester in June this year.

Ninya and Jane presented some of their findings about the dress of Essex men in the Elizabethan era at The Costume Society’s conference. They gave a poster presentation on the same topic a week later at Winchester School of Art. Maria Hayward was the Tudor co-star at both conferences. She gave a paper on Henry VIII’s tailors at The Costume Society symposium and reported her experiments in making a silk base to cover Henry VIII’s armour at the TCTS event. Ann Saunders also provided an entertaining insight into the records of c16th tailors’ disputes provided by the Merchant Taylors’ archives as the after-dinner speaker for The Costume Society’s opening night.

Jane and Ninya delivering their paper on the wills of Essex men at the Costume Society Symposium

Ninya took on the persona of Joan Peckover, Norwich tailor’s wife in the 1590s, to run a study day on tailoring, ably assisted by Jane as Dorothy Speckhard, silkwoman to Queen Elizabeth I. The 50 would-be apprentices enjoyed their visit to the tailor’s shop, which offered them the opportunity to make and decorate a codpiece using reproduction stamping and slashing tools. Among the more expert of attendees were Mark Hutter, c18th tailor at Colonial Williamsburg, and his real-life apprentice Neal Hurst, who spent two weeks staying with Ninya in the Midlands and Jane in the South. They burrowed their way into many museum stores taking more than 1,000 photographs of men’s garments for careful study back home in the US.

Costume Society members try out Tudor tailoring techniques

Jane gave a paper at the TCTS conference on her effigies research project, undertaken at Winchester School of Art in late 2005. Visit jmdsrv1.dyndns.org/tudoreffigies to see the database of effigies that resulted from the project. A funding application has just been submitted for a second phase of research – please keep your fingers crossed for its success!

Jane studying a monument as part of the 2005 effigies research project

The Tudor Tailor was invited to give a short presentation during a drinks reception at the TCTS conference. It concentrated on ordinary dress in the 1540s showing the differences between the wardrobe of a yeoman’s wife (Ninya) and that of a “mere” gentlewoman (Jane). Nearly all of the 100 conference delegates attended and bought a good few copies of the book, which Jane and Ninya signed.

July saw The Tudor Tailor team split up to do separate projects: Ninya built a reconstruction of an early 17th century gentleman’s suit for Perth Museum and Jane trained front-of-house staff for Buckingham Palace and guides for Clarence House.

They were back on the road together in August – watch this space for news and pictures at the beginning of November!

Monday 15th May:
Tudor Tailor Tour Begins....

The Tudor Tailor's tour began with a week of exciting presentations at prestigious venues. Audiences ranged from 12 interested folk who gave up a (rare) evening of sunshine in London to attend Sutton House's talk to a full house in the lecture theatre at The Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth. Ninya and Jane said how much they enjoyed meeting enthusiasts for Tudor costume. Here are a selection of pictures of the "dressing duo" in action!

Staff at The Mary Rose Museum learning about Tudor dress on Friday 12 May	The Southern Counties Costume Society played host to The Tudor Wardrobe for the evening of Thursday 11 May. Ninya was keen to show off her hose!
Jane gets up close and personal with the audience at The Vyne on Thurs 11 May	Ninya and Jane among the crowds who came to their workshops each day at the Victoria & Albert Museum on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May

Wednesday 26 April:
The Tudor Tailor's Official Launch in London

The official launch party for the book was held in the magnificent surroundings of the Weiss Gallery, Piccadilly, London on Wednesday 26 May. The gallery, which specialises in 16th and 17th century portraiture, was generously offered as the celebration venue by Mark and Catherine Weiss in spring 2005, when the book was a mere twinkle in the authors' eyes. It made a perfect venue with several of the book's sumptuous illustrations from the gallery's collection beaming down from the walls and available for close inspection by costume aficionados.

Ninya and Jane at the launch

The guests included contributors to the book such as models and patterns testers as well as interested journalists and reviewers. All were treated to champagne and delicious sweet canapés while they mingled and enjoyed the surroundings. Lucy Capito and Caroline Johnson donned the costumes which they modelled in The Tudor Tailor. They both looked magnificent set against the backdrop of so many finely clad sitters, including Sir Reginald and Lady Mohun, a recent acquisition for the gallery. Valerie Cumming, chairman of The Costume Society, and Komal Patel from the publisher Batsford, complimented the book and applauded its success. The guests raised their glasses in toasts to the book, its authors and their future productions. Ninya reported the sales figures, the creation of a new readers group at Yahoo, and invited everyone to join the programme of Tudor Tailor talks at historic sites in the UK before she produces her next personal production: a baby in October!

Sir Reginald and Lady Mohun

Ninya and Jane would like to thank Mark and Catherine Weiss for hosting the event, Taurus Wines and Penni Black Catering, Jessica Laslett from Merlin Productions, Jo Mitchell and of course, everyone who came and helped make the evening so memorable.

Here's to the launch of the next book!

Friday 21st April:
Tudor Tailor wows the world!

As pre-ordered copies continue to arrive on doormats across the world Jane and Ninya have been overwhelmed by the many emails which have been pouring in containing positive feedback. Click here to see just a small sample of readers responses so far.

Friday 7th April:
Sales reach halfway milestone!

Thanks to all those who have been eagerly purchasing copies of The Tudor Tailor. Ninya and Jane are delighted to announce that more than 635 books have been sold, putting them past the halfway mark for the breakeven point of 1,269 copies. The lucky recipient of the Tudor Tailor miniature by Michael Perry was Saragrace T Knauf of Arizona, USA.

Wednesday 22 March: Surprise for a lucky buyer! Sales of The Tudor Tailor are close to the half-way mark for Ninya and Jane’s break-even target of 1,269 copies. The authors are anticipating the sale of their 635th book any day now. The lucky purchaser will receive an exclusive Tudor Tailor miniature (40mm/1 5/8th inch) in addition to their book. The miniature, designed by Michael Perry, is based on The Tailor by Giovanni Moroni, a painting dated 1579, which is at The National Gallery in London. It opens chapter four of the book (see page 35) on “Choosing the materials”. The tailor’s clothes have served as inspiration for a reproduction costume, which is also featured in the book illustrating a pattern for an Elizabethan suit. “We want to thank all the people who have bought the book,” said Ninya, “and we thought it would be fun to give presents to milestone buyers along the way.”

A total of 616 books are now being read by those who collected them in person at the weekend or are on their way to purchasers around the globe. Complimentary feedback has already been arriving via internet chat rooms and costume forums. Please contact The Tudor Tailor with your comments too.

And watch this space to discover who is the lucky winner of the Tudor tailor in miniature!

Sunday 19 March: Le Tudor Tailor est arrive! Jane and Ninya are pleased to announce that the first delivery of Tudor Tailor books docked at Southampton last Thursday and reached them in time for a re-enactors’ market in Coventry and a participants’ open day at Kentwell Hall, where 200 volunteers work as Tudors for a major summer event each year.

“Comments have been unfailingly positive,” said Jane, “everyone we met over the weekend has been pleased with their copy.” Signing every book has been hard work for the authors but it hasn’t dampened their enthusiasm: “It’s fun to think how many people will be delighted to see their Tudor Tailor envelope on the mat in the next few days,” said Ninya.

The publishers, Batsford, report that 300 retailers and specialist booksellers have placed orders which are currently awaiting despatch from their Glasgow warehouse. After Ninya and Jane receive their next consignment of books, there will be none of the first edition left. A second print run has already been ordered.

“The great advantage of a swift second print run is that we can correct errors and omissions straight away,” said Ninya. “There are a few typos we’ve spotted (see below) but we would be glad to know if readers notice things that need putting right – please email me at ninya@ninyamikhaila.com.”

Monday 22 May:
Current corrections