Playing with a wulst

Since I still have a temperature and generally feel crappy I have been sitting on my couch today, sewing a linen cap (you can never have too many) and my first wulst, that is: a crescent shaped roll worn on the head to give the right shape to the rest of the headwear in late 15th and early 16th century Germany.

Or, as my husband said: the headwear is getting sillier and sillier.

As usual modelled with a floral cotton house dress. First I tried it with my red and gold haube with forehead cloth. 

Then I made the line cap, which is tied in the back of the neck and tried it with a veil over the wulst.

The veil  is an old one that I usually wear with my 14th century gowns, but it worked nice for this too. There's actually just one pin keeping the veil in place, but I would add a few more if I was going to wear it for longer times. I would also have another, white veil under the sheer striped one.

Then I got the excellent idea to put on my gollar, to hide the house dress, to look more German.

In these photos you see that I need anotehr veil under the sheer one. But also that I look very much like a German Matron from the first half of the 16th century.

Albrecht Dürer, woman from Nürnberg

 1514, The birth of St. Nicolaus

Portrait of a women, by Wolf Traut 1510

Portrait of Dorothea Meyer by Holbein

I have gathered that most people who make wulsts today sew the to a cap, but I think there is more veratility with a loose roll, since I can wear it under different types of headwear.

And here it is - it started out as a pn oblong shape pointed in both edges, sewn together and stuffed with cotton batting. By sewing down folds I gave it a crescent shape. This is how I make shoulder rolls too.

A wams/doublet from the Enn's Tailor's Book

A few weeks ago I got Marion McNealy's and Katherine Barich's excellent new book Drei Schnittbücher in the mail. I didn't write about it in the blog then, since it didn't seem nice to do so, before it was available to buy, but now it is.

Anyway, I got really enthusiastic about the book and the patterns in it and started on one of the patterns last week. I then got a really bad cold and there was very little I could do but lie in my bed and rest. But when i was feelign a little better I watched Netflix and sewed. And now it is finished. There's more info on it's page.

The photo is a preliminary one: I just put on a kirtle and some easily accessible headwear, put the camera on a shelf, took off my glasses and posed. It will be replaced. Some time.

The sexy male tanga in 16th century Germany

I must admit that what men wore as underpants in the late 15th and early 16th century is somethign that I haven't really thought much about. I  mean, I have seen images and noted that they wore really small briefs and I discuss how shortened cottes from the 14th century onward led both to smaller and smaller braies and eventually hose joined in the back, but, as I said, I haven't really spent a lot of time thinking of it.

And suddenly I see them everywhere. So I made this post, mainly for my friend Patrik/Sir Franz, who makes awesome early 16th century Swiss clothes. And who may, or may not, wear this kind of underwear under them - I wouldn't know. I guess that I could ask his wife.

There are enough images for us to know how they were constructed: with a tie in one side, making them ideal for stripping I guess.

Anonymous woodcut used for Hanns Sach's play: The evil smoke
These pants are black, which you also see in some paintings from the period.

Israhel van Meckenem: Battle for the pants - said pants lying on the floor.

Erhard Schön: There is no greater treasure here on earth than an obedient wife who covets honour

1533. 

The woman with the whip has the underpants of her husband hanging on her arm.

Albrecht Dürer's The men's bath

And, since a few years, we have, as you probably already know also an extant example of this kind of male underwear, found in Schloss Lengberg in Austria.

It really matches the images perfectly. 

Since I have made just one 16th century outfit for my husband and that one is later than this period, with puffy pnats that don't require such minimal underwear, I am not sure if he really needs a pair of these. I am actually certain that he doesn't. But my friend who make Landsknecht costumes probably do. 

The 17th century gown is finished

I finished my 17th century gown and its accessories the day before yesterday. It will of course get a proper page where I describe how I made it, show my inspiration artwork/ preserved garments etc, but not now, because I have too much work to do before the semester starts.

Working on a 17th century gown

I guess it could only go this way. The last two years I have been working with a collection of burgher's probate inventories from 17th century Stockholm, and this spring I started on burgher's probate inventories from my home town Gothenburg. Add to that a study of portraits from the period, sicne the subject of my research is clothing.
   I got inspired early on, but resisted, mainly because I had nowhere to wear 17th century clothing. Then I saw that a local festival that used to have a medieval theme was going to have the 17th century as its theme this year.

So I decided to make a gown from burgundy wool that I got from my friend Anna. I started with the petticoat, which will double as petticoat under the red velvet dress.

Here's a nice photo of me wearing it with a 1940s house dress under it.

It will need a small roll and a petticoat under it, but I already have a linen one that I wore under my Anglaise that will work.

Today I tried on my boned bodice, or at least the boned layers - it will have a lining on the inside, as well as the wool top fabric. And som extra buckram stiffening in front. Since this was my first try at drafting a 17th century bodice I wanted to test it before however. I will shorten the top part of the straps, but other than that I am very happy with it. Very comfortable.

The shift is  an old one and will need a new, wider neckline. But the sleeves look good enough, so I won't have to make a new shift before next Saturday.

Sheer 16th century headwear inspiration

A week or so ago I made this combination of coif and wired cap from a checked silk organza that I bought many years ago from a women that I knew on LiveJournal.

This, which is a Swedish portrait from the 16th century was my inspiration. Her coif and cap are, of course made of gold coloured net and not sheer silk, but sinve I could chose from checked silk and lurex net in my fabric stash, I ended up with the silk. For now at least. 

 There are more differences of course, like hers having pearls at the edge of both cap and coif and that the coif has a gold trim at the edge, but I really just wanted to try out the look of a sheer coif and cap.

Then today I found this portrait by a follower of  Antonis Mor:

It could almost be my cap, except for the jewel and the lack of gold in my lace edging. I am very pleased.

16th and 17th century paintings in Rotterdam

So, I've been to Rotterdam for five days, at a really huge 18th century history congress. I also did quite a lot of sightseeing and I can tell you there were lots of really spectacular modern architcture to be seen.
However, I also went in to the Boijmans & van Beuningen museum and took som photos of 16th and 17th century art, more specifically of clothes worn in art. My camer isn't the greatest and of course you weren't allowed to use flash, but I managed to get some shots of clothing that may be interesting.

I didn't take notes of what everything was though, because by then my arthritis was being evil and I could hardly stand the pain of being upright :(


But look at that 15th century fabric. With the centre of the large pattern repeat in the middle of his back.

Pretty 17th century, can't remember by whom.

 Look at the braid on this 17th century man's outifit. Again I didn't take a note of who the painter was.

Kids in the foreground and adults in the background of a painting mostly focused on a dead pig. 

By Barents Fabritius 1665

Emanuel de Witte: Inside the Rotterdam Exchange 1653

Emanuel de Witte: The courtyard of the Amsterdam Exchange 1653

Emanuel de Witte: interior with woman at the virginal. 1667-1670

Frans Hals: 57 years old woman, 1639. 

Gabriël Metsu: woman at the virginal 1665

Gerard Dou: The Quack, 1652

Gerard Dou: Woman at her toilet table 1667

Detail from Mariaplaats in Utrecht by Pieter Jasz. Saenredam, 1662

Close up of a 16th century collar with whitework and gold edging on the minuscule ruffle. 

Didn't check by whom.

Lucas van Leyden, the wife of Potifar

Detail of the above

Willem Pietersz. Buytewech, c. 1620.