On making a sheepskin bedroll

Every good viking bed needs a comfy warm sheepskin bedroll - though I will have to do some serious thinking if I want to have a set of equipment that I can carry myself. Especially when wet.

Well, we'll think about it later. For now I only have a brief post on my new sheepskin bedroll which is so wonderful that I use it in my modern bed on especially cold days.

Now so far I haven't come across much evidence for the existance of these, however this blog discusses it and has some very nice examples. Theirs looks much better, in part because the pelts they use are hand tanned and mine still looks very lustrous. I have done some pelt tanning but so far this will have to do. Maybe sometime I will use selftanned pelts.

I don't really have many process notes. The pelts are wonderfully colourful. I used a stitch called 'Polnische Naht' (Polish seam, I wasn't able to find the English name) using a waxed sturdy linen thread. The holes weren't pre-punched, I just used a normal thick sewing needle and a sturdy thimble. Here's an illustration of the seam on Wikipedia, though I now realize that my seam looks totally different. Oh well, so far it's held.




















Formalities:

• Materials: two pelts, sturdy linen thread, some wax
• Tools: sturdy needle, thimble, potentially pliers if the leather on your pelts is too stiff
• Time: 30 Minutes