The story of my grey dress 2008-2013

DISCLAIMER: I have to warn you up front: this post will contain a lot of me, and of my bodyparts! Haha. You can't complain I didn't tell you.

Sometimes when you make a medieval dress, it doesn't turn out quite as you imagined. Sometimes you loose or gain weight, and it doesn't fit as well anymore as it used to do. The options are to either make a new dress, or to alter the one you have. Making a new dress, or having it made is expensive. It is expensive now, and it certainly was expensive back then. Fabric was a costly thing and was treated as such. Garments were used and reused and altered. They were bequeathed to next generations by will, they were sold on the second hand market and adapted to be up to date with changing fashions.
That is why I usually go for the second option. Not only is it easier on your purse, it is also in line with medieval practices and you learn a lot of it - about your own body and about how to translate your body shape into clothing.

Back in 2008 I made a grey woollen dress. It was the second fitted dress I ever made. The fabric was a gorgeous twill from Naturtuche (it is still one of my favourite fabrics to date). I made it using the curved front seam method from Le Cotte Simple. Apart from some small details I was very happy with it. I just love the buttons. I love the flow of the skirt. I love that it is all hand sown.
The things I didn't like, were the neckline, which was slightly too high, the combination of the curved front seam with buttons (works better with lacing, I find), and the sleeves. The sleeves are a story in themselves. The attentive reader will notice that the sleeves on this dress are not symmetrical ... 

Me and my grey dress in September 2008. Photo by Bertus Brokamp

This is me wearing the dress for the first time, at an event in The Netherlands. I'm not wearing a modern bra underneath, just with a linen skirt underneath, since it is supposed to be supporting enough by itself.  However, as you can see, it is just a bit too loose under the breasts. I couldn't somehow manage to make it tighter and still be comfortable in it. It even sometimes got me the 'double boob' effect. Very nasty. V-e-r-y nasty. Also, you will notice that, very uncharmingly, my breasts are not at the same height. Left is lower than right. This is not becaus eof the dress, this is just my body, but the dress does nothing to visually correct it. I'm sure i'm not the only woman with asymmetical boobs, and I'm sure I'm not the onlyone frustrated with this.
Now, we could ask ourselves 'Isn't this just a modern obsession? Did medieval people aslo bothered about superficial things like this? Well, I still have to see the first medieval allumination of a clothed woman that has one boob that is lower than the other.

Since I changed my eating habits somewhere back in 2008 (because of gluten intolerance) I started to slowly shrink out of my new pretty dress. Because I didn't attend many events in 2009 and 2010 (I was too busy writing a thesis on frilled veils and trying to get a position as a PhD student) this wasn't a very big problem.
In 2011 I did lower the neckline a bit, by cutting away the top two buttons on one side and top two buttonholes on the other. Although the dress was getting too big, at least I didn't feel restricted in my movements when wearing it anymore, Something that made me very happy attending Visby, an event that lasted a whole week.

Visby, 2011. Not the best pic, but you can see the deeper neckline when you look between my hands with mittens-in-progress. Photo by Bertus Brokamp

Between 2008 and 2012, I lost so much weight - 25 pounds, to be precise - I had to do something about my dress. I could no longer deny the fact that I couln't wear it without modern underwear, because well ... I don't think I have to spell it out for you. It was just too big everywhere, also in the waist.

Front view. 2012. Photo by Franziska Schatek 

The grey dress in 2012. Photo by Franziska Schatek

On al the pics taken during this period, you can see me walk and sit about in a very awkward posture - curved back, shoulders haning down and pointing foward a bit - trying to avoid 'double boob' embarrasment. It wouldn't be far off to say I'm a hunchbacked woman here. Wouldn't it? Nothing to be happy about I say.

From the back. 2012. Photo by Franziska Schatek 

And then this also happened. Photo by Bertus Brokamp

And then this happened: the bra-shirt (I still don't know how to call it without using the anachronism 'bra'. Maybe I should stick with 'supportive underwear' instead? For those of you who missed the whole 'supportive underwear' hype, here and here and here you can read up on it. Also, if you don't believe me and want somebody else's opinion, go here and here.

Taking in lots of centimeters, winter 2012-2013. Photo by Bertus Brokamp.

Luckily I lost enough weight, to also get rid of the curved front seam...

New size! September 2013. Photo by Mervi Pasanen

This is the same dress with the straight front seam! I still have to make some small adjustments to the back and neckline, and replace that damned sleeve. But at least, I finally truly feel comfortable in it and enjoy wearing it.

And sitting. September 2013. Photo by Mervi Pasanen

But maybe, what I love most about this dress in it's current state, is the wrinkles on the torso, exactly as in this altarpiece from Bad Doberan!

Kreuzaltar / Lettneraltar, c. 1370 in the Münster of Bad Doberan, Germany.

Mending an old shirt

This is one of my oldest medieval shirts. It dates back to my early years of living history, when I still sometimes used the machine for sewing (the hemming is done by hand though). Even though I don't really like wearing machine sewn clothes anymore, the linen of this shirt has become so soft because of the long use, that still love wearing it. Off course with wearing comes wear and tear, and my poor shirt ended up with two torn seems under the armpits.

So, something had to be done, bacause I can't possibly imagine parting with it just yet. So one evening not so long ago, I put myself to the task. What I did was weave a small piece of new fabric directly fixed on the base fabric of the garment. I'm not sure wether there is any proof of this method used in medieval times. I was inspired by 18th and 19th century darning samplers and this link.

The main reasons why I chose to try this technique are

1. that you do now need to take any fabric in for making a new seam. This way you do not have to compromise on shape and fit.

2. this technique doesn't add the extra bulk you would get with patching, since there are no raw edges you have to fold under. You do not want extra bulk in your armpits, especially whith tightfitting 14th century overgarments.

And well, of course also because

3. it simply looks pretty neat!

Frilled veil workshop at the Ronneburg

Already some time ago (is it three weeks already?! yes it is!) Deventer Burgerscap attended the '100 Jahre 14tes Jahrhundert / 100 years of 14th century' event at the Ronneburg near Frankfurt-am-main. It was the second time we went and it was wonderful again! The setting is just beautiful and of course it is always a pleasure to see and spend time with old friends.
Together with Sahra Hirschfeld from Germany and Mervi Pasanen from Finland I organized a 2 day long frilled veil workshop. On Friday evening we had three lectures focusing on different aspects of frilled veils. Sahra focused on the evolution of the frilled veil througout the 14th and early 15th centuries. Mervi had very thoughtful things to tell about the use of frilled veils in historical reenactment. I did a talk about the archeological finds of frilled veils, and what we know about the construction of frilled headwear both from these finds and from written sources.

A beautiful setting for lectures. Photo by Ilona Reiniharju 

Meet our audience. Photo by Hugh McDonald 

Exchanging ideas with both the other 'teachers' but also our wonderful audience was a great learning experience. Talking about this kind of subjects with other frilled veil geeks really helps my own thinking process. I feel like I urgently need to write some new articles about this subject. Time is the only problem.

A honeycomb frill sample made by me. Photo by Ilona Reiniharju

Mervi and me getting ready for our talk. Photo by Ilona Reiniharju

Most of what has been published so far is written from an art-historical perspective, rather than asking questions about construction. Especially how construction was interlinked with the type of frilled veil, changed over time and differed from place to place has not received much attention. Work to do!

Mervi demonstrating different types of frilled veils. Photo by Ilona Reiniharju

Mervi also made a blogpost about the workshop and weekend. Go read! However, be aware of the fact that she really goes overboard with putting me on a pedestal. While reading, please keep in mind I am just a normal person. Really. I'm serious. Honestly.

Mervi and me hemming, hemming and hemming. Photo by Ilona Reiniharju

Sahra's beatiful woollen frilled veil. Photo by Hugh McDonald 

Me doing talkses. Photo by Hugh McDonald

Another details of Sahra's veil. Photo by Ronald Frank Vetter

Mervi doing talkses. Photo by Ronald Frank Vetter

Some results of the workshop. Photo by Viktoria Holmqvist

Because we spent so much time hemming, hardly any of the participants managed to make actual frills during the weekend. Viktoria was kind enough to share this picture after she got home. So nice to see the results!

So, I'll keep thinking about frilled veils (I don't think I think about much else anyway) and hopefully I can squeeze in an article sometime soonish. Don't strangle me, please, if it turns out to take more time ;-)

Fingerloop laces for a 15th century doublet

Work but also other things (like tending to my vegetable garden) have been preventing me not only from posting to this blog more regularly, but also from doing medieval textile crafts. I've been doing some other living history related things, such as painting a shield with my man's coat of arms, medieval cooking etc., but not textiles. That is, this weekend I finally got the time to make some laces for the man's fifteenth century doublet. The old laces urgently needed replacement, since half of them were lost or broken.
I made 11 laces for the hose and the closure of the wrists,. I used blue and red linen thread, and waxed the finished laces to make them slightly more sturdy. All that still needs to be done now is to make a long lace for the front closure.
And than repeat all steps for his other doublet. Yay!

Two things off the list

I finally got two projects done that have been haunting me for quite some time :-)
The first one is a woollen dress I started making nearly two years ago. The other one was putting the skirt-part on my 'bra'-shirt.

Find more info on this project here.

More on this project here (the theory) and here (the practice).

I'm not sure yet what the next project will be. At this moment I'm helping my man with a new dress aka caparison for his horse, a matching banner and tabbard for his herald. After that we'll see!

Casting pearls before rabbits

 

Already two weeks ago, Mr. B. and I visited my mother in Rome. In between visiting the Colosseum, Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fauntain, the Vatican and strolling through the ghetto and along the river Tiber, on Sunday we went to a (flea)market in Trastevere. All kinds of people, including Roma, Pakistani and Asians, were trying to sell all kinds of things. Roman women apparently are extremely fond of fur coats, so in trying to meet the demand for fur, vintage furs were on offer everywhere. I found a nice rabbit jacket for half the price I would normaly pay in Belgium. And an even more spectacular find are the tiny pearls in the bottom picture. I've been trying to find this type of pearls for years now. Most suppliers only have oval shaped small pearls, but in Medieval embroidery you only see the round variety. So, yay, finally I have them. I bought all four strands they had. Now they will probably sit in my cupboard for four years before I finally find the time for using them.

I haven't been posting lately for various reasons, one being that I've spent all of my weekends trying to finish a dress that I hope to blog about in a few weeks!