The Schaublein - Part 2

Edit2: You find schaublein number two here.
Edit: The pieces in the pattern are not sewn together correctly. I have made a new one and waiting for fur to be able to do the lining. To be continued...

7-9 of December I went to Visby to attend Styringheims Luciafeast, Nordmark principality tournament and Styringsheims baronial investiture, a lot were happening at the same event! To not get cold I wanted to make a schaublein, as I have already told you about. And it finished right in time.
The schaublein, as a diminutive form of Schaube appears synonymous in historical terminology with Mäntelein, the hip-short lady's coat. Schaublein is translated as little schaube, so, a short schaube. In the 16th century Germany there where several long and short coats for women found in inventory, while since the second third of 16th century short coats increase rapidly and the long ones outside the upper classes almost completely disapears.
The pattern I used, Gepratut ein Schaubel, Brides little schaube, is from Drei Schnittbucher, by Katherine Barich and Marion McNealy. I made mine with a black wool and fur lining.

My inspiration also came from Hans Weigels costum book plate 21 from 1577 and Bartolomei Grassis Drie vrouwen, gekleed volgens de mode in Neurenberg from 1580. In Grassis picture you can also see the longer outergarment called Husecke.

To get the angle right I used a pen on a string, something I learned from a lecture by Marion McNealy in medival week in Visby 2014 or 2015.

It should be the same measures as the garment in the book.

The pieces are sewn together with waxed linen thread. This is from before the seams are folded down and whip stitched.

And this is after.

I started to insert the fur lining by the back yoke after all the seams where folded down.

The fur came from an old coat that I took apart. It was a bit tricky to get the pieces right.

Im cutting the fur with a knife instead of instead of scissors. With a pair of scissors you will get fur everywhere. When the pieces of fur is not big enough for the pieces of the pattern I sewed them together with linen thread. 

When the fur was inserted I ironed all my seams from the outside. And it is ready to be used!

From behind.

And from the front. 

The openings in the sideseams are very practical, it makes the garment very easy to wear. You could move your hands without opening the garment, without geeting cold. I dont know if there where any openings in the pattern from Drei Schnittbucher but my inspirationpictures had them so I did too. 

A journey among trossfrau-dresses

A year ago I had the honor of making a guest post on my friends blog Handcrafted history about my journey as a handcrafter and 16th Century camp follower from the German areas. We all start somewhere and everyone have the right to make their own journey. I asked her and she let me borough the post, so that I can show it to you on my own blog.

Meet my friend Linnea!

Posted on 20/10/2017

This is a guest post by my friend Linnea. Read about her journey as a handcrafter and 16th century camp follower from the German areas. She presents her different outfits and things she had learned along the way!

Photo: Linda Öhman.

I joined SCA, Styringheim on Gotland, 2008. It was a friend who made my first dress, an early 15th century dress, in a thick dark blue wool with a brighter blue underdress in linen. I havent used it for many years now. At my first event I saw a dress that would make me wear nothing else for the following ten years. The dress belonged to Jovi, who would become my friend, and it was a 16th century dress for a camp follower, a landsknechtdress. In 2009 I joined Proknekt and was  their chairman for two years.

After I made my first dress, I made many more and at the moment I have made nine dresses in the same style. It has been my own development, an effort to constantly improve, without having the desire to research (it changed!). In the beginning, the dresses were inspired by other dresses I saw and over time I have made an improvement for each dress. I think everyone has to start at a level that feels comfortable, we have all been new and must have the right to start somewhere. This is my journey!

The first dress is made in a heavy dark blue wool, almost black, with orange details. It is made on a sewing machine and because I was tired of sewing in the very thick wool, the slits are glued. The skirt is made of two straight pieces, the width is 3 meters (118 inch). The dress has visible lacing, something I understood later is not historically accurate. But so proud I was the first time I wore the dress! It was at Doublewars 2009. The shirt is handsewn with a smocked collar. The collar was not supported and therefore folds down in a less flattering way.




Photo: Ahna Ehn

The second dress was sewn in a slightly thinner dark green wool with dark blue details. The dress is completly handsewn. The sleeves were removable and with an hemline that could fold up. The skirt is made of two straight pieces, the width is 3 meters (118 inch). I made a new underskirt in linen. This dress was finished in 2010, and at the same time I made a new smocked shirt. The dress was sold in 2015.



When I sewed dress number three, I chosed a thinner wool than for dress number two. I continue to use dark colors, blue with red details. The dress is actually a skirt and a jacket. The sleeves are fixed on the bodies and have an hemline that can be folded up. The slits are all sewn by hand, like the dress in general. The dress is made of two straight pieces, the width is 3 meters (118 inch). This time I had managed to get a better shape on the neckline both in the front and the back, more square like the original. This dress was also ready in 2010. This is also the first time I have the right shoes, so-called oxmular in Swedish or cowmouthed shoes, instead of a pair of Viking shoes. The skirt and jacket were sewn together into a dress 2017 and sold.

Dress number four was sewn in a very thin wool that I got cheap. Because the wool was so thin the details where made of polysterwool to match. But it's completely handsewn. The sleeves are removable. The dress is made of two straight pieces, the width is 3 meters (118 inch). The dress have no slits. Most of my dresses do not, just because we dont really see so many of those in the woodcuts and paintings in the trossfrau-clothing. The dress was ready for the Peter and Paul festival in Bretten 2011. The dress was sold 2018.

Photo: Kim F Rehnman

Dress number five is sewn by a petroleum blue wool that I found on a military market in Tallinn, and black details, also in wool. It's handsewn and I also had a new hat, in orange wool. The neckline is square, something I did not always get right. The dress is made of two straight pieces, the width is 3 meters (118 inch). The dress was ready for the Medeltidsdagar at Hägnan Luleå 2012. The dress was sold 2017.

Photo: Linda Öhman

Dress number six is sewn in a wool from Historiska rum, a fabric that is thin and looking a bit used quit quicly. It's handsewn, which was not that fun considering it's 12 meter (472 inch) of hand stitching in every stripe in the skirt. The lace is made with corset ribbons, a very comfortable cheating. The sleeves are removable. The dress is made of two straight pieces, the width of the hemline is 3 meters. I left my safety zone with otherwise dark colors for a brighter blue. The undercoat is made of linen. The dress was ready for the medieval week on Gotland 2014 and was sold in 2017.

Photo: Torbjörn Walberg

In 2017 I made a underdress in Medeltidsmodes raw wool. To wear just a shirt, a hemd in german, under your overdress is not really historicaly accurate, you need a under- and overdress. This one is very simple, a dress for a farmers wife or other lower classes. Most of the time is to warm to wear it but while cooking at a landsknechtevent, Landsknecht Hurra in Germany 2017, its perfect. Its handsewn but without any decorations.

Dress number eight is sewn in a brown wool from Historiska rum with red details. The skirt is made from four panels with makes the hemline around 5 meters, or 196 inch. And no slits, just decorative stripes. It is closed by hooks and eyes. I have gone from strong colors to a more dimmed color scale, beige and red, something I imagine is suitable for a lower class woman of the tross. In the picture I also have a jacket in red wool with linen lining made by Linda at Handcrafted history. I also wear small trossfrau socks. You can read more about the trossfrau sock here: https://whiljascorner.wordpress.com/2014/01/14/short-foot-hosen/

Underneath the dress I have the underdress that appears in the picture above. Everything was made for Landsknecht Hurra in Germany in 2017 and was sold in 2018.

Photo: Erika Hernlund

Dress number nine was also sewn in 2017 and was ready for the Medieval Week on Gotland in august. This is the first dress I made to look like a dress in a a specific painting. It is sewn in wool from Historiska rum, in amber and red. The dress is sewn with panels with a hemline of more than 5 meters, or 196 inches. The dress is closed with hooks and eyes. The lower part of the sleeves are loose according to the painting. In the picture I also have a new hat, a new stechlein (a veil) and a new apron. The socks are from Kapitelhusgården and the bag from Craft Hive. The stripes in the skirt is not on the woodcut, I thought it became more beautiful with stripes than without. The dress should also be pink with red details. But even though I have gone from dark to bright colors, pink is beyond my limits.

This is the dress in the painting, painted in 1501 by Hans Burckmaier - Triumph of Maximilian I.

Photo: Linda Öhman

Did you get inspired? On Linda's blog Handcrafted history, under "tutorials" you can learn how to make a landsknechthat or look at the right-hand column and click on Lansknecht & Trossfraus to read more about landsknechtclothing, how to make your own and where there is inspiration.

Wittenberg city church and its paintings.

I visited Wittenberg in may and got surprised, so many fantastic paintings with 16th century clothing! In 1547, the painter Lucas Cranach the elder created the altarpiece for the protestant city church in Wittenberg. Its not only the Church where Luther preached, its also contains important paintings by Cranach. Enjoy!

Central panel - The last supper.

Left panel - Phillip Melanchthon administrated the baptism.

Back of the altar. Love the dresses!

Like this one below, showing women in "kirchgangskleidung" church-clothing, with bundlein, the headwear, and fehenmantel, the coat.

The lady sitting in the front, with the child in red is belived to be Chatarina von Bora and her child with Martin Luther.

The one on the left "Raising of the son of the widow of Nain" by Lucas Cranach the younger in 1569, with widows in bundlein couvering their mouth, a sighn of their grief.

The Schaublein - Part 1

In december I will go to Visby for the SCA-Styringheim Luciafeast. It is probably going to be amazing, if I dont freeze, I hate freezing. So, I need a warm outergarment. For women there were several long and short ones to choose from, the "mantel," the "Husecke" and the "Schäublein" the most common ones, in 16^th century southern Germany. In Textilier Hausrat Jutta Zandel-Seidel describes all three of them. To choose a type and to find a good pattern I looked at the ones in Drei Schnittbücher. The Janker described there most be what the Textilier hausrat describes as a Husecke, fitted in the shoulders and with hanging sleeves. The schäublein/Schaübel is also described, with a front collar and back yoke. The same garment have many names, depending on dialectal differensies it seems. The schäublein in Drei Schnittbücher, from the Leonfeldner Schnittbuch, is for a bride but I have found a lot of pictures showing exemples of the same garment worn by both the upper and lower classes.

In the painting Gesellenstechen auf dem Nürnberger Hauptmarkt, from 1560 we can see two ladies in one of the corners. One is wearing a husecke and the other is wearing a schaublein.

You can find the painting here: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geschichte_der_Stadt_N%C3%BCrnberg#/media/File:N%C3%BCrnbergerGesellenstechen1561L1070615_(2).jpg

And in Hans Weigels costume book, plate 21, I found what I wanted, a Nuremberg woman in weekday dress with a short-trimmed cloak. It looks the same as the Gepratüt ein Schaübel, Brides little schaube, the pattern in Drei Schnittbücher. So that is what Im going to use. Wish me luck!

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

First thing I had to say.

I started my own blogg! Just like everybody else...so why did I? To have a place where I could present my research, my thoughts and my results. I have been activ in the Sociaty for creativ anacronism for ten years and it is time to start sewing with research, to do it as correct as possible.