The Royal Workroom

On 27 February 2010, Koldinghus established the Koldinghus Sewing Group: about 50 volunteers with an interest in recreating historical costumes. The costumes are used by the museum’s school service and in live features and events that bring the castle’s history to life.

The Sewing Group has its own workroom on the third floor of the Koldnghus’s North Wing, and visitors are invited to stop by and see how the historical costumes are made. The workroom is not staffed every day, but you can always see the costumes and read about the group’s work in the workroom.

The costumes are used in our Royal Dress-Up Workshop, for live performances and presentations and by the museum’s school service. The workroom is staffed from Monday to Thursday.

Background

Without the many dedicated volunteers attached to Koldinghus, many of our exhibitions and projects would not be possible. This includes the Sewing Group at the castle.

The Volunteer Group and the museum educator at Koldinghus designed a school project that began with classroom teaching at the schools and culminated in the recreation of a lavish party that Christian IV threw at Koldinghus in 1616.
To strike the right mood for the ball, the children were going to wear replicas of Renaissance outfits.
In order to realise that idea, two calls were placed in the local newspaper: one calling for donations of fabric, of all varieties, and one calling for volunteers with the skills to sew the outfits. The calls generated a great deal of interest and support.

Local shops donate great amounts of fabric, and about 50 skilled and dedicated women now regularly come to the workroom to sew.

Some of the costumes are available for museum visitors to try on in the Royal Dress-Up Workshop.