Doublewars

I just came home from Doublewars, one of the best events we have here in Nordmark, maybe its the best. Ten days of happiness and joy. It was both windy and rainy but it didnt matter when you had all your friends gathers again. Its has been two long years...

I lived in my own tent but shared camp with my lovely Household Oak and Acorn. We were almost never alone in our camp, we shared it whit friends visiting. Dear old friends and friends we came to know.

 

We had cocktail-hour every day, talking about interesting subjects. My sister Görvel and her daughter Sabine is so skilled when it comes to both food and drinks. 

 

 

 

 

This year Doublewars had almost 400 people present. The camp was magical. All modern tents are placed somewhere else so that we can enjoy the medieval dream in camp.

 

 Sprang class

And finally I could share the joy of sprang with others. I held a class in how to make your own sprang hairnet. They all worked in silk, making female nets. Still not that many guys interested, its a shame ;)

 

And here is Barbara in her finished net, pink silk with a black wool binding and a black silk braid. She did a good job and it looks so good on her. Im so happy seeing it on her.

 

 

 Laurels Sponsored display

I also showed sprang at the Laurel Sponsored display. 

 

Here Im holding a version of the Lengberg cap with the sprang piece in the middle. The pattern for the sprang piece is on the table in front of me. Its created by Carol James and is possible to find online, in their article on the subject. On the mannequin lays a copy of the Borum Eshöj-net, from 1400 BC. Just laying around... I also had one of my frames set up so that people could try sprang. I dont have a picture of that, I wish I had! It was fun to be able to let people try for them self.

 

Balthasar, my brother in the sca,  showed his fantastic artwork at the display. He is such a talented artist and he makes medieval tarotcards.

 

 

Görvel displayed her Gotlandic viking age clothing. She looked absolutely stunning in it for court.

 

She made this dress that same day, with a little help from all of us, but very little. Handsewn, a dress, in one day...

 

The Society of the Golden egg

And finally! I was able to present my Golden egg-project for the Governing Body and it was accepted! After its been finished for two years it is finally approved!

I wrote five articals and I made the embroidery from Portrait of a woman by Berhard Strigel from 1510-15. And no one had seen it irl before. The first ones to see it was the people at the Golden egg meeting. 

The first article I wrote was the presentation of my project - found here. 

The second one was about the pattern - found here.

The third one was about the tools and materials for embroidery during the 16th century - found here.

The fourth one was about the wearers and the makers - found here. 

And I made one about the veil that always cover embroidery of this kind - found here. 

There are actually some more articles connected to the project too, about the shape of the haube and how to make it. Found here. 

 

All the pictures from the meeting and from the display are taken by Libby, thanks for letting me borrow them!

I wanted to make something fun when it was time to show it of to the people. So for court I put it on but covered it with...my dishtowel...actually. It didnt look weird, promise. I went to court in it, was sworn in as a lady in waiting to the princess of Nordmark. With a dishtowel on my head...

Here is what I looked like, not that bad, right?!

 

And my Laurel Renike Tucher helped me take the covering of...

 

...so that everybody could see.

 

I was so happy. And proud. This haube is probably the most difficult garb I have ever done. 

 

At the same court very dear friends of mine was sworned in as prince and princess of Nordmark. After the long reign during the plague they are back to rule over us again.

And yes, there was a market too! Almost forgot...

 

I sold my ceramics and my sprang, hairnets and Lengberg-sprang. In this picture you could also see the wounderful jewelery of Annoyed Kitten. Its her picture too.

Thanks everyone. I love you all and I cant wait to see you again!

The Bauren dress

I have been working on a new dress, or a complete outfit actually. There is not enough with just a dress to create an outfit, it consists of a little bit more than that. The outfit that I have made is for a farmer, a woman of the Bauren class. The clothing is a big part of a person´s identity and during the 16th century regulated by law. So to be able to make an outfit that feels accurate I needed to start there, with the sumptuary law. What does it say for this social class?

The first thing that is stated is that they needed to wear clothing made out of fabrics from the German countries, nothing that was imported. Except for some finer wool for a gollar. But no silk! The only exception is their daughters, they could wear a thin silk hairband. And no embroidered collars. 

Rock - Gown

The top layer, the gown, is called rock in German and I started working on it in january. It begun with the fabric. I was not content with it, it felted to fancy for the social class I wanted to portray. I bought my fabric at Medeltidsmode. Its this one. So I put all of it in the washing-machine with a little to hot water to make it contract a bit more. And it worked! But I most admit, I was nervous while it was in there. I chose pink. I wanted a colour that was cheap to make. My thought was that maybe they put this one in after they coloured red fabrics, just to use the last of the pigments in the bath. I dont know if that is how pink is made, but it felted possible. As a lining I used a piece of a used underskirt in linen that I made years ago.

As inspiration I used pinterest and the book Town and Country 1517-1550 by Marion McKnealy and Max Geisberg. The woodcut The big church festival by Sebald Beham from 1535 contains all the inspiration you might need for this type of clothing. 

I mean, look at these lovely ladies!

 

 

This one below is my favorite...

The things I noticed is that the skirts are rather short, the neckline not as low as I am used to when it comes to German 16th century and they have another type of headwear, not the typical steuchlein. 

And this is my take on their clothing.  

I thought I cut of the hem high enough, but I did not. I might cut of some more. But the dress is made with a padded hem, so I cant say I look forward to it...

When taking these photos I wanted everything in the pictures to be historical correct. So the building are too. The are taken at a folk museum and the buildings are both 15th century, old compare to the clothing I know, but I thought it was accurate.

Even my basked is based on a 16th century one and my bowls too. They are from a English find, but good enough. 

The dress is handsewn with undyed linen thread and wax. The seam allowance is folded and whip stitched. The dress closes with hocks and eyes, but only half way up. At the top there is two holes and a string. The string is a fingerloop braid made of undyed linen thread. 

 

My shoes are handmade to, by Erik Frisk. 

 

The hairdo is like nothing I have seen in other German 16th century artwork. Its like the young girls kept their silk hairband while marrying, and therefore covering up some of the rest. During the 16th century it started to be allowed to show a little bit more hair. According to sumptuary law young girls were allowed to have a silk ribbon as hairband. Maybe it stayed in this version?

 

 

It was not easy to keep the back part to stay on my head...I used a wulsthaube that I folded back and kept in place with the ribbon and covered with a veil, a schleier. Not the easiest hairdo to wear when having bangs...

 

Here it is in a close up. Its from a woodcut of a dancing farmers-couple made by Durer. 

 

But while making this dress I thought, I cant wear this without proper undergarments. Everything else I had felted to fancy.

So, I made them too...

 

 Here Im wearing a hemd in undyed linen, very much like the ones they would have wore in the previous century. On top of it I have the unterrock, the kirtle. Its made out of undyed wool, with visible lacing in the front. It is very deeply cut in the front so Im wearing a untergollar in linen, its also just very simply laced. If you wore a dress with a neckline that was too low you could actually get fined. So, untergollar! The inspiration for both the unterrock and the untergollar is from this woodcut - The domestic quarrel made by Sebald Beham 1535. 

 

On top of the unterrock Im wearing a apron, a schurz. In everyday life an apron covering the whole skirt, a washable layer over a usually not washable dress, most have been effective and helpful. This type where used of both peasant and patrician women. I have written about that apron before, you can read about it here. I thought this outfit would be perfect for working the fields on warm summer days. But with a straw hat of course, I need to get one of those.

 

 

I also wear a pair of handsewn stockings in undyed wool and garters, made with the sprang technique in red wool. 

 

 

 

 

The photos are taken by Anders Ragnarsson. Thank you.