lördag 19 oktober 2019

Time to make a 16th century german hemd

At Cudjel war in Finland in july 2019 me and my friend Ragnell Caxtone decided to make a handicraft exchange. She was going to make me 30 buttons and I was going to make her a hemd, a 16th century shirt.

We started talking about the embroidery for the cuffs and collar and together we decided that I was going to try out whitework, something I wanted to try but never done. Whitework is a general term for white on white. Usually linen thread on linen fabric. There is examples though, of silk on linen.  So it did not feel wrong to use silk.

People have asked me about the amount of time needed for the making of garments. So I thought it would be fun to check that out. How long time does it take for me to make a hemd?
I started with making the hemd, up until the cuffs and collar. Most days I was sewing 1 hour, 1,5 hours, at the time. And in six days I finished the garment and it took me 12 hours. I counted the hours for making the cuffs and collar without the embroidery and included it in those 12 hours. So now I know the amount of time I need to make a hemd, without embroidery. The hemd is in linen, sewn with linen waxed thread, mostly in back stitch. To connect the cuffs and collar to the arms and neck I used whip stitches. The hemline is also whip stitched.
I used the same pattern as for the hemd I made for Markus. Its the pattern for the Sture-shirt, now in the museum in the cathedral of Uppsala.

And then I started with the embroidery. Together we decided to use a pattern from Schönspergers patternbook from 1529. This is the one. And I´m using white silk on white linen. The stitch is Italian cross stitch. The silk I´m using is a twisted white silk so its not as shiny as it could have been. My plan was to use the same pattern for the cuffs to, but after making the collar it did not turn out that way...
 At my first try I used the entire thread but that was to thick. So it looked a bit bulky.
The next tryout turned out better. Using 4 of the 12 threads in the silk. I´m sorry for the bad quality, its difficult to take picture of whitework. 
The embroidery is 40 cm long, the collar a bit longer.
And the collar is done! Except for the worked bars I often use for closing..
For the cuffs I decided on my own to use a different pattern after finishing the collar and understanding the amount of time that it took for me to make it. The pattern comes from Quentel´s patternbook from 1544 and its a bit easier to make.
Its the middle one in the picture here.
After finishing the embroidery for the cuffs I made worked bars for closing, both on the cuffs and on the collar. The cuffs are 20 cm long. But there will be no strings in this deal, there is just no time left...
Because in total the embroidery took me 24 hours. And in total the hemd with embroideries almost 36 hours. Is this much? God or bad? I dont know, and it does not matter. It maybe something to beat for the next time!
I´m so happy that it is finished... When Ragnell gets it and have a chance to wear it I hope she send me a picture so I can show you. I know that Ragnell does not do german 16th century clothing for most of the time. But the pattern for the hemd is actually swedish and the pattern for the embroidery is german but whitework was used in England, Sweden and Germany. The differences are not that big.

22/9           1,5 hours Shoulderseams, arms and gussets
23/9           2,10 hours Felling seam allowence arms and connecting arm to bodies
24/9           1,5 hours Second arm connected to bodies
25/9           1 hour Side of bodies connected   
26/9           45 min Seam allowence bodies
27/9           2 hours All seam allowence done. Hemline also
28-29/9     10 hours Embroidery collar
30/9           2 hours Embroidery collar
2/10           2,5 hours Embroidery collar
4-6/10        3 hours Embroidery collar
7/10           2,5 hours Embroidery collar
11/10         1 hour Embroidery cuffs
14/10         1 hour Embroidery cuffs
15/10         2 hours Embroidery cuffs
17/10         1,5 hours cuff sewn together
19/10         1,5 hour second cuff sewn together, both connected to arm and worked bars

                  In total 35,55 hours


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