Straw Mattress

I've wanted to try a historic mattress for a few years, and finally had the chance to experiment this last summer. The results were mixed, but I'm glad I had the chance to try it.

Starting from my previous research, I had hoped to fill the mattress with some wool fleece seconds, but was unable to local any local sources for wool (much less at an affordable price). I realized straw was going to be the only option--which was unfortunate, since straw mattresses in my reading have largely been hard base layers for supporting a softer horsehair or wool/flock mattress. I decided the closest I could get at this point was a less-than-board-stiff straw mattress, with my wool sleeping mat (ie, four layers of HBC blanketing sewn together into a 3/4" thick piece) as a thin substitute for a wool mattress above the straw.

The Workwoman's Guide doesn't give straw mattress instructions, as the author states that such items are only made commercially--though she mentions that they are sewn on frames and the straw is packed tight. I took the Guide's general mattress instructions along with an 1859 'how to' story from Godey's as my plan for sewing the mattress (even though these call for horsehair/wool and cotton respectively).

I cut out two rectangular pieces of ticking, 2.5" longer per side than my desired mattress size, and a strip 2 nails (4.5") wide for the sides. I sewed one side of the the strip all around one of the rectangles, and the other side around the other rectangle, leaving a section about 12" open at the end. I then proceeded to stuff ~25 pounds of straw into the mattress, pulling handfuls off of a straw bale. When the mattress was full but seemingly not compacted, I whip-stitched the open seam closed.

One ticking mattress.

 The end result looks like a giant, heavy, striped pillow. I had intended to do the tying, hoping that would keep the straw better in place, but gave up when I couldn't locate my trapunto needle. Despite the sides being only 4" tall after seam allowances (and me trying not to over-stuff the ticking), the mattress ranged up to 10" or so in thickness, and I don't have any needles that could hope to pierce that. My backup plan (shaking the mattress well, then sleeping on it at one event to flatten it out) didn't exactly go to plan. 

To imitate the layers of a historic mattress system, I used this straw mattress as the lowest layer. Over it was the aforementioned wool pad, with the lower sheet tucked around both. The upper sheet went above this, followed by two wool blankets, a wool/cotton coverlet (a special run from Family Heirloom Weavers that I found at The Button Baron). I used a small feather pillow with a homemade cotton case, and (despite it being May/August), threw my heavy wool broadcloth cloak over the lot.

Finished with seven layers of wool and two of linen.
The 8th layer of wool made all the difference.

I ended up using this mattress for a total of 5 nights over the summer. It was distinctly more comfortable than sleeping directly on the ground with only blankets (+/- a pile of petticoats), but less comfortable than literally any other surface I've tried sleeping on.

Reclining on the mattress is fine, but trying to actually sleep revealed a wildly uneven straw distribution: it sloped from head to foot, with several hard mounds that no amount of fluffing/shaking/beating/etc could even out. I frequently felt I was sliding off of the mattress, and even when I managed to get into a 'stable' position, I'd find a hard lump somewhere on the mattress (generally digging into my side). The last day I slept on this mattress, I woke up with a really sore shoulder that severely curtailed my activities for the day (in fairness, the condition started several days prior, it just got a whole lot worse after two nights camping).

The thing that really worked about this set-up was the insulation. Even when it was pouring rain, the straw+wool sleeping surface kept me warm and dry. It also meant that when I eventually did fall asleep, I wasn't waking up periodically from the cold (once I'd figured out to add a cloak over my blankets).

From the proportion of the straw bale used, I estimate that this mattress clocked in at 20-30lbs. Moving it felt like more. The size and lack of hand-holds made it obnoxious to carry further than a few feet, and painful to grip. It also developed a distinct musty smell after 3 months, especially during the 3 weeks it was set up in a tent in a field and not shoved in my storage closet. The mattress also took up half my car's cargo space, which isn't ideal for reenactment scenarios where I need to be setting up a camp for 1-2 days, then taking everything home again.

My current verdict is that the experience of sleeping on this mattress was not worth the hassle of carting it around and setting it up. Also, my days of curling up with some blankets directly on the ground are over. I wouldn't be adverse to trying another historical mattress in the future, but to do so I will need to source better filling, and use better approximations of all the layers. I think a second proper mattress, stuffed with cotton or wool, over this straw one would have made a notable difference. If I was remaking this particular mattress as a bottom layer, I would focus on breaking up the straw more as I stuffed the mattress; getting the straw distributed more evenly; and sewing it all into place.