Historical reenactment

Historical reenactment has been a passion shared beetween husband and wife since the beginning.

Rici has been the organiser of Medieval events, as well as an amateur reenactor herself. She has a degree in archaeology, and had worked in museums and digs for years. Locutus has always liked reenactments, and shares the archery passion with Rici. He won a few archery tournaments, and makes his own arrows, targets and archery-related tools.

Then Rici got into embroidery and sewing because she wanted to improve the accuracy of their historical outfits. This was the beginning of a new step in their reenactment skills. Now, they both study, research, improve and craft for Medieval and Celtic reenactments.

Table of contents

Research projects

Good reenactment comes from study, research and continuous improvement.

Rici’s archaeological research led to a book about the lucet and its controversial history: “The Lucet Compendium“. She’s also actively studying other ancient crafting tools, ancient embroidery techniques, and applying everything to her crafts, while her husband helps in making the tools.

Iron tool, maybe lucet, from Borg (Sweden), Middle ages

Brief history of the lucet braiding tool

Printed copy of "The Lucet Compendium: a historical exploration and practical guide", book by Sara Rossi and Daniel Craig Phelps about the history of the lucet with practical guidance for modern crafters.

Introducing “The Lucet Compendium”: a book about history and craft

The display at Slagelse Museum where one of the disks from Trelleborg is displayed. Photo by Russell Scott

About the origins of the trollen wheel: historical or anachronistic?

The first issue of Living Medieval magazine

On Living Medieval magazine with an article about the lucet in reenactment

German Brick Stitch

The making of my first German brick stitch embroidered purse

Brick stitch embroidered needle roll: sewing the lucetted cord

Another German brick stitch embroidery: a needle roll

An embroidered box in German Brick Stitch

For many projects related to Medieval reenactment, Rici loves embroiderying in German Brick Stitch.

Characterised by its brick-like structure, it’s a distinctive counted-thread technique documented in late-Medieval Europe, particularly in 14th- and 15th-century finds. This stitch is used to make geometric patterns with dense stitching.

Embroidery and sewing

This is an ongoing journey. Here you can learn what Rici and Locutus wished had known when they started sewing their reenactment outfits. No shame here, all good reenactors start off from zero and make mistakes along the way.

Do not expect perfection here: this is all our progress from the beginning, all errors in plain sight so you can know them and avoid them. Our early attempts helped us sharpen our skills. We hope we can help you too.