Wulsthaube, steuchlein and other German headwear.

For a joined lecture with Renike at the Drachenwald Kingdom university 9-11 november 2018 at Ingestre Hall I desided to learn more about headwear in southern Germany. The timeperiod Im most interested in is 1500-1550 so that was my timelimit. I put togheter a lecture and was not satisfied, I also needed to try to make examples of the ones I was talking about.

The medieval tradition of covering the hair with a haube, a hood, as a sign of marital status continued during the 16th century. Tailors sewed clothes for both men and women until the late 1600s when women began to take over the sewing of women's clothes. However, women's work has always included the manufacture of linen clothing to meet the needs of their own family. This was done within the walls of the home.

There is a lot of headwear in different shapes to see in portraits. However, there are not as many to find in laundry descriptions and inventories. Neither do we have preserved garments to look at when it comes to German headwear. Pattern books do not contain patterns for this type of garment just because they are sewn within the walls of the home. Purchase and maintenance of linen was always a major expense item in a household budget. Linen and linen/cotton-blends accounted for the most common materials in headgear for all classes of society.

The project inkluded examples of the most common ones. There are a lot of different variants and they are all, more or less, used during the entire timeperiod.

Wulsthaube mit schleier

The most common one is the wulsthaube with a veil, and later on a haube. The complete headdress consisted of an under coif/cap (Unterhaube) and a veil, which was likely known as the Steuchlein, and it is the most frequently mentioned headdress in the clothing inventories through all the social classes in 16th century Germany. It will beat all other in the number found in inventory and also in paintings. Wulst, wulsthaube and stucklein all appear separately in the inventories, so its likely they could be taken apart and maybe used togheter with other garments. Wulsthaube was a roll cap, a hood with a wulst attatched to it some how. The wulst is the loose roll. But there are no items left to look at so we dont know for sure how they are made.

In the first years of the 16^th century the wulst is large in size. I tried to make a really big wulst but when it was done it was still a bit small. I chose to make small stiches in the cap to make the wulst stay in place. In the pictures I use the big wulsthaube with a schleier, a thicker veil in linen, and one I wraped as what is usually called a Bundlein. 



Picture above: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/449867450274288923/
Picture below: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/449867450274463461/

The fashionable development of the headwear in the 16th century saw a reduction in size. The portrait now shows a lighter, more free way of wearing the headwear. Almost all women had, in addition to a simple plain veil, a decorated one. The wulst is getting smaller, in the first decade of the 16th century, but keep its round shape on the back of the head. The design and decorations showed which social class the woman was in. The upper class could be richly decorated with, for example, silk or gold thread or embroderies. The sumptuary laws regulated who had the right to wear what when it comes to fine materials and decorations. My steuchlein consist of a veil in very fine wool, but this can also be in linen, and the wulsthaube is made with a linen cap and a stuffed role.



Picture above: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/449867450274925880/

Except the changing in size the wulst also starts to lean a bit backwards. The design will be more fancy and the face-framing effect will increase with embroderies. Embroidered and woven decorative bands are pinched or sewn to the front ends.

Picture: https://www.pinterest.de/pin/449867450274330373/

When I made my example I chose to make it in five picecs. A small wulst, a haube, a linen band, an embrodiered picece and a silk gace covering all of it. If you want, very common in the paintings, you can use a embroderie as a decoration. More common to use that then not to. The wulst is made with wire and linen, the haube also in linen.

The shape of the haube, enlarging the back of the head, has given the characteristic appearance of steuchlein, schleier and bundlein, the characteristick appearance of the german 16^th century woman really.

Information comes from:

Textiler Hausrat Jutta Zander-Seidel

Patterns of fashion nr 4 Janet Arnold

In Mode - Kleider und Bilder aus Renaissance und Frühbarock Jutta Zander-Seidel

Drei Schnittbücher Katherine Barich/Marion McNealy