HSM Challenge June: It's only natural

As I mentioned in my previous post I had decided to make my new wulsthaube from only natural materials. Today me, Annzoo, Monica and Ingeli met up to try and make wulsthauben for all of us. Me and Ingeli had made ones before, but Annzoo and Monica were new to them.

For my wulsthaube I  mostly followed the instruction from Marion McNealy, that you wan watch here.

To make a structure for the wulst I used cane, if it hadn't been for this challenge I would probably have used wire, but the cane and wool padding is what made this fit into the challenge, and it stretched me outside of my comfort zone when it comes materials.

Just by holding that first ring up towards my head it was obvious it was too big, so I made it smaller. The ring is held together with small scraps linen fabric that I have just tied into knots.

The wool felt was cut into strips that I wrapped around the cane frame and held into place with wool thread.

I then wrapped the whole ring in strips of linen.

I then sewed a second strip of linin around the whole ring. I wanted to have two layers of fabric between the wool and the hood itself, since the wool still contains quite wool fat and I don't want it to seep into the hood. This also helped to cover all the raw edges of the first linen wrap. 

I then hemmed a piece of linen, that was wide enough that it would cover the padded ring. To make it fit around my head I had to make it smaller on one side, so adjusted the length with some knife pleats.

Here is Ingeli helping Annzoo with her wulsthaube. We had met up so that we could take turns and fit our wulsts on each other.

For me it was a matter of taking excess fabric and serucing it to the wulst. This is the inside

And this is the back.

I really like the look of my new wulsthaube. It really reminds me of the headdress that can be seen in this painting of emperor Maximilian and his family.

Painting by Bernhard Striegel, Kunsthistorishes Museum, Wien.

That being said though, the wool has made this wulst a lot heavier compared to my older wulsthaube, I'm doubting that it would be comfortable t wear it for a whole day. The size and shape is also a bit wrong, and earlier, than what I'm aiming for my 1520s court gown. I think I need to make another wulsthaube for that project.

This was a project that I really did out of curiosity, what would it be like to work with wool and cane instead of cotton or poly batting. The cane structure was also different, since my old wulsthaube was basically just a soft cushion. I think that for 1520s wulsthaube I would like to combine the two and use the cane structure, but don't make it into a full circle, I also want to use lighter padding.


The Challenge: June - It's only natural

Material: 1 kg raw wool, 40 cm cane, 70 cm white linen fabric

Pattern: I mostly followed the instrucions of Marion McNealy.

Year:  1500-1515

Notions: white linen thread, wool thread, was

How historically accurate is it? This is on top of my ability to make something accurate, and with all accurate material. There are no preserved wulsthaube that shows exactly how they were done, but I would say around 90%.

Hours to complete: The wool padding took several days to wash and felt, but the wulsthaube itself was made in 6 hours.

First worn: Not yet

Total cost: The raw wool that I used was a gift from a colleague, the rest ends up at around $25.