[Ansteorra] need help documenting a cushion

[Hillary Greenslade]

Lady Stephanie Lilburn said:
<I need help documenting a cushion from 13-16th century England.  I know they had cushions, because  I see them in illuminations.  Unfortunately, they are almost always being sat on so I cannot see how they are constructed.  <snip>
>
   
  I agree with Oksana, that if this piece is for competition, you may have wanted to start with the source historical information first.  Consider textile sources, some museums have textile collections, though it maybe hard to find specifically what you are seeking as textiles can degrade over time faster than other hardgood such as armor.  
   
  I don't have any specific museums to recommend with medieval textile collections, but Chicago Institute of Art has a large textile collection, don't know if any is in our period: 
  http://www.artic.edu/
  The Hammond castle was built by a famous inventor, who also loved medieval antiquites and outfitted his home with them; there maybe reproductions: 
  http://www.hammondcastle.org/
  And of course there is the V&A in England at: 
  http://www.vam.ac.uk/
  You may have to do a lot of google searches for other museums/libraries.  
   
  And then there is Google Scholar where academic papers and thesis are stored.  If you have a public libary card and it's in the exchange program, you can use it to download articles... I love this site.  
   
  Good luck, Hillary