Dona Isabel Maria presents a Spanish underskirt for the category Togs Togs Undies!
She says: Over the last few years, the number of Spanish costuming resources has exploded as people translate portions of wills from both Spain and the New World. One of the more interesting wills mentioned a manteo that was described as “not put on over the head”. This has been interpreted as a wrap skirt and, of course, I had to test this interpretation. I decided to make it as an underskirt as part of a middle/lower class capsule wardrobe for camping events.
Materials & Equipment: 3m linen, cotton thread (1 spool), beeswax, scissors, tape measure, preferred hand sewing needle, both editions of Juan de Alcega’s pattern books. As I intended this as a working garment, I followed period imagery and chose to make it just below ankle length. As this was a test piece, I also chose to make it from linen and forgo the lining mentioned in the few, partially translated wills I can access. In order to make more efficient use of my fabric (and time) I decided to alter the piecing shown in Alcega’s cutting diagrams. (This does not seem to be against his general philosophy.) After a few calculations, the fabric was cut and hand sewing commenced using a combination of running and whip stitches. The piecing is done with a flat felled seam and the hem is a simple double turn under, both worked in running stitch (it just worked beautifully with the linen). The waist is bound in a narrow strip of linen (finished with whip stitch) that extends to form ties to fasten the skirt.Verdict: Flattering, comfortable and now a workhorse garment.
Her Excellency presents a pair of hose which fit the categories Counting On Sheep and Togs Togs Undies, and a refashioned houppelande for Remake Reuse Refashion Reconsider.
She says about the houppelande:
I remade one of my old Burgundian dresses into a 1520’s middle class houppelande. I took off the old collar, cut the cuffs to just a bit over wrist length, recut the front, rehemmed the front, put on new cuffs and collar facing.
Meisterin Christian presents a pair of linen hose for the categories One Metre Material Project; Hitting Below The Knee; Togs, Togs, Undies. Possibly also Remake, Reuse, Refashion, Reconsider, and a dress based on a portrait of Katharina von Bura for the categories Remake, Reuse, Refashion, Reconsider and Counting (on) Sheep, and finally a haube for The Neck Best Thing.
About the hose, she says: I first made woollen hose some years ago, and then after a particularly hot and wet Canterbury Faire one year I decided I needed some linen hose to either wear alone, or as a lining layer for woollen hose. However my pattern had disappeared. Having torn apart my sewing room, I gave up on the project. Last year I decided it was time to make some more hose, and after failing to find the pattern yet again, made a new one. Which I then promptly lost. While looking for some beads for another A&S challenge project I found last year’s pattern. So, using a (less than a metre) scrap of the same linen I used for my child’s shirt project in this Challenge, I whipped up these linen hose. Pictured as worn below (the foot-selfie makes my feet look alarmingly small).
Hose made from woven linen fabric are recorded in 16th C sources and at least one extant example survive. These may have been worn as lining for woollen hose (so that the woollen hose can be worn repeatedly without washing while the lining pair could be cleaned frequently), and/or they were probably worn alone in warmer weather. The hose were cut on the bias in order to stretch and conform around the feet and legs. Garters are worn to hold the hose up. The seams here are stitched in linen thread, overcast stitch for strength, with the seam allowances flat felled on inside for comfort.
About the dress and haube she says:
For Yule 2017 I decided that as this winter event included outdoor activities I really needed to wear something warm (and made of more practical fabrics than say silk or brocade). It was not cold enough for my really heavy woollen dress, and too cold for my light woollen dress with the slashed sleeves; ideally I needed something in between. It occurred to me that I had an unfinished green woollen dress in the naughty corner (that’s where annoying, frustrating, or uncooperative A&S projects are sent until they learn to behave) which I had started years ago and not finished because a) I didn’t have much use for warm clothing at that point, and b) the woollen fabric was somewhat annoying to sew). This seemed like a prime opportunity to get a new dress and also knock off a couple more A&S Challenge categories in the process.
Of course this all occurred to me the night before the event, which is not the ideal time to decide you need a new dress. After some excavation I recovered the dress and found that there was only about 30 mins work (tidying the lacing rings and waist fastenings), and a brustfleck (the brocade breast-band), needed to make the dress wearable. Since it was the night before the event, and I’m not completely crazy, I found an brustfleck from another old dress and covered it in a scrap of brocade from my stash, and after a couple of hours work I had a new, never-been-worn dress. And to add to the fun, I also quickly cobbled together a haube (the hairnet/snood type thingy Katharina is wearing in the portrait) from a (purchased) black hairnet and a gold headband I had begun for another haube project. I didn’t get any photos of the dress at the event, so the photo below is of the dress on a dressmakers form.
This dress is based on the 1526 portrait by Lucas Cranach of Katharine von Bura (below). Katharina von Bura was the wife of Martin Luther (he of the 95 theses). The size, shape and placement of guards (black trim / bands) on the bottom of the skirt and the back of the dress are conjectured from dresses in other portraits of the period.
Baroness Agnes presents this muff, which was made as a gift for Baroness Ginevra, for the category Cover Me.
She says: The plan was to make a muff to keep hands warm at winter events. That got upgraded to make a fancy muff as a gift for Her Excellency with whom I had discussed my muff plans in the past. Muffs become popular in Europe towards the end of our period. They were typically lined with fur, the outer being either fur or some other fabric. I chose some jacquard I knew Her Excellency would like due to colour and pattern, and some black synthetic fur I had already. Embellishments were done in white so that the outer was blue and white, the colours of Her arms. The pattern was a simple rectangle. The outer fabric was beaded first then lined with heavier fabric to give the muff some structure. The fur was pinned on, and the pieces were sewn together, turned out and finished. Buttons were added. These were added a little in from the edge as I have discovered joining the muff at the edge lets the draft in – a little overlap keeps one’s fingers nice and toasty.
Her Excellency Ginevra has completed this project for the Challenge: a pin book to hold veil and sleeve pins.
It is entered in the categories of One Metre Material Project (definitely less than one metre of fabric here!) and Containment System.
Categories 12 & 25- a book to contain veil and sleeve pins. Made from remnants of velvet, linen and felt. I put pins on the felt to figure out what size it needed to be, then cut 2 pieces of felt- one that size, and one 1/2 an inch larger on both sides. I wrapped the velvet around the larger piece, cut away some excess fabric, and sewed it to stay put. I then sewed a piece of linen to cover the edges of the velvet and the middle section of the felt. This made the cover. I sewed the pages to the cover along the spine of the book, and made some cords to tie it closed out of silk embroidery thread. It was a quick and easy project, and something I’d been wanting for a while.
