Leinenhaube, a new old way

The medieval tradition of covering the hair with a haube, a hood, as a sign of marital status continued in Germany during the 16th century. The most common headwear amoung reenactors in Sweden doing 16^th century german is a wulsthaube and a veil on top of that. Some, doing a bit more fancy fashion, have done a goldhaube, in silk. But the linencoif, a leinenhaube in german, is not so common. But, from what I see in paintings, it was common during the 16^th century. So what do I mean with a leinenhaube? In this case Im talking about a wulsthaube and another linen coif on top, that does not consist of a veil, but a plain haube. Did they use two on top of each other, or did they just use one with the wulst inside? I don't know, but that is my guess. 

 

Here are some inspirational pictures of ladies wearing the type of haube that I am talking about.

But my biggest problem was how to get the back of it flat. As you see in the pictures here the back looks flat, not that much fabric in there. A friend of mine ones said that if you could use a square piece you should, think simple. Head-wear of this kind was something everybody made, or got made for them, at home. It needs to be simple and easy to make. 

And then I run into an old photo of a bride from 1896, dressed in the costume of the municipality of Leksand.

 

She is pretty, is she not? And look at the hood she is wearing. To me it look like something I could wear with my german clothing to an sca-event.

I live quite close to Leksand so I went there for some more inspiration. This summer they had an exibition at the library, showing the folk custume of Leksand.

And I even got to borrow one from their textile archive!

In a lot of paintings and woodcuts, when you see the backside, it looks like the haube is pleated and that the pleats goes down to some kind of straight ribbon. At first I thought that the ribbon was loose. But what if the ribbon is made the same way as in the Leksand hood? What if the ribbon is not loose? Or maybe it is loose in some of them but not in all? So my plan was to try to create a german hood that I could have on top of my wulsthaube by using the construction of the Leksand hood.

I thought that I could use the one that I had borrowed as a pattern but it had tiny embroideries in the back so I could not take it apart. The one I got to borrow was not old, dont worry...

I came in contact with a lovely old lady who knew how to make the hood. She had old instructions written by her mother. The instruction started with ” Take an old hood that fits you well and take measurements...” It was time for me to start my experiment...

The Leksand hoods are made out of a square piece of linen or cotton fabric (Remember what my friend said?!). Not a halfmoon-shape as I have used before while doing hoods. And the pleats are not sewn together, just secured at one place in the back. I will use linen when I make mine. I also need to make it bigger than the Leksand hood, to cover the wulsthaube. The "wulst" in the Leksand headwear is quite small, but they actually do have one. On top of their unterhaube!

At my first try I decided to cut a quite large piece of my linen because I didn't know how much I needed. I folded it in half and sew the back together. That turned out to be wrong so I needed to open it up again.

Its just the bottompart that's going to be sewn together, like 5 cm or so. The part that's going to form the ribbon at the neck. And then its time for the pleating. I tried to get the right look by doing the pleats from the inside but that did not work. So I turned it around and did the pleats from the outside.

 

In this picture you can see the pleats being done, from the outside, with waxed linen thread. 

And this is what it look like when you pull the drawstring and make the pleats.

So far it looks right! I started to think about some kind of padding or stiffening, to make the ribbon stand out even more. My laurel came up with the idea of parchment and I got a piece from her to try.

I decided to cover the parchment with linen before I sewed it in to the haube. There are pictures of how this look further down.

I made a drawstring in the back of the neck but that made it look all wrong. Some parts of it looks right, but in the area marked with red it gets bulky, not as flat as I wanted it to be. If I make holes instead of a canal for my drawstring and put the holes on both sides of the padding it might get the right look. As you can see I started working on it at Medival week. 

The first try is in the right direction, but Im not there yet. A new try is necessary... And for the next try I think I need to put my pleats wider apart, to get more fabric inside the hood than outside, as it is now. 

So I started on number two, and number three...

Remember to make the pleats from the outside. I forgot that for my second try and had to remake it, not a bid deal though. This is my second and third try, the one at the left is pleated from the outside and the one on the right from the inside.

After making my pleats I secured the drawstring on the inside of the haube, right in the middle where all the pleats go. And this time I made the pleats wider. 

This time I also chosed to put in a piece of parchment, covered in linen. Here you can see the haube without support at the left and with support at the right. Next time I will use buckram. According to Katherine Barich who wrote Drei Schnittbucher schetter is the period word for it in german. I will try to make it by myself with cornstarch. Next time...

And this is the inside with the parchment sewn in just on top of the pleats and the hemline is folded up.

And instead of a drawstring I made eyelet holes. I wanted to get the fabric gathered behind the backpiece, to get the right look. Don´t look at the string, I will make a proper one... I made six eyelet holes on each side.

And...here is the result! It worked! The Leksandhood turned out to be great inspiration for german 16th century. Or is it the other way around? Maybe the Leksandhood got its shape from earlier hoods. Im happy though, with how it turned out.

I put a pin on each side of the backpiece here too, to get it tight. Otherwise it is a bit floppy. I think I can fix this by putting the eyelet holes closer to the backpiece.

This is one way you can make a haube, but of course not the only way. The size of your wulsthaube is also going to have an impact on the shape of the outerlayer.

This is also a important piece of my golden egg-project. I cant start with the embroideries if I dont know the construction of the haube that is going to be embroidered.  

A very complicated pattern, or not...for me it was the construction that was complicated.

Instructions for leinenhaube

• Take an old haube that fits you well and measure (just kidding).
• Measure your head with your wulsthaube on, from your forehead to your neck and from neck to neck. (Mine is 37 cm from forehead to neck and 57 around)
• Cut out your fabric by pulling out a thread from it so you know that is is straight.
• Fold the short sides together and sew 5 cm at the base. This is going to be the piece at your neck. Press down the seam allowence. 
• Make your pleats from the outside with a steady thread. This is much easier if you can have your wulsthaube on a mannequin head so you can put your pleats suitable for the size of your wulst. You dont want any extra fabric in the back. All of that needed to be pleated in. Start pleating 1 cm above the part you sewn together, up to the fold, and back down again.
• Secure your pleats with the rest of the thread. Press this pleat with your fingers, folding down the rest behind it.

• If you want some extra support, try to starch a piece of linen (or parchment) and put it inside the haube at this point. This also secure the pleats, holds them in place. I have not tried to make the haube without that part. 
• Fold the seam allowance in at base and at the top and whip stitch.  
• Make eyelet holes along the base. 
• Done!