A small trossfrau hat

 For Abi's funeral it was clear that our reenactment group was going to take a large part, and there were discussions on what we would wear. Many of us felt that we wanted to bring something 16th century to the funeral and many mentioned that they were going to wear their hats. Since Abi was also a cosplayer and liked black and purple I had decided to wear my Her Universe Endor dress, since it's black with purple details. It's a dress I've worn a lot to NärCon, and it was great meeting up with Abi there as well.

Me at Närcon back in 2018

The only 16th century hat that I have is red, but since I had found purple fabric to make flowers from I also decided to make a small trossfrau hat. Of course being me I didn't just want to make a simple hat, I got inspiration from Whilja's corner on how she made a hat with diagonal stripes on the brim. She made a fullsize hat, I decided to just make a small hat to perk on top of the head. Also to be honest this kind of hat in purple is not something I would wear with the rest of my 16th century clothes, so I didn't want to make it too big of a project.

I first cut out a straight piece of black wool that I had measured for the cirumference that I wanted and the width of the brim, when folded in half. I then cut out slashes diagonally in the wool. This would not have worked for a full sized hat, then the brim would collapse, but for this smaller version I didn't have to reinforce the wool in any way. The purple poufy fabric was simply a tube of poly taffetea, that I made longer and wider than the wool, so that it would pouf out between the bands.

I placed the purple tube in the middle of the black wool and folded it over.

I had to arrange the purple fabric and attach it with some stitches to make it look good. I also had to pleat the inner part of the brim to make it lie flat and round. Where the ends of the black met I also cut an extra slash when I saw how the ends overlapped and that it got very wide.

For the centre portion of the hat I first cut it out in the wool, and I made heartshaped cut outs, which I felt was so fitting for Abi. At first I made the purple layer larger, thinking it would look better when poofing out of the cut outs, but I changed my mind and cut it down to the same size. The two layeres were sewn together.

The centre was attached to the brim by hand. The rest of the hat was sewn on the machine. 

This was the finished hat from the top.

I added a pin in the centre, to mask that it wasn't perfectly aligned and I added a purple ribbon to keep the hat on my head.

The final touch was to stick two feathers into the brim. I didn't get any photos of me at the funeral or memorial, so this is me the morning after wearing the hat. I am really happy with it, but I'm not sure if I will wear it again.

Farmers clothes in the 16th century

 I have gotten quite a few questions about what a farmer would have worn in Sweden in the 16th century, so I thought it would be best to try and collect links to helpful sites. This is no way a comprehensive guide, but I hope it can help those who are curious.

In 2020 the blogger Marlein made a post about recreating a pattern for Swedish peasant trousers. Her blog is here but unfortunately she seems to have removed that post. 

First of all there are a couple of depictions of Swedish farmers from the 16th and 17th century.

An italian ambassador - Lorenzo Magalotti - travelled through Sweden in the 17th century and drew pictures of the inhabitants, and this is one of his drawings of Swedish farmers.

Of note here are the long trousers, not the fashionable shorter breeches of the time.

This goes well with this very well researched article about "husur" - which is a kind of wide trousers worn by farmers in the Siljan region, and already in the 17th century there are complaints that the peasants are giving up their husur and start following fashion by using breeches instead. The "husur" survived, barely, into the late 19th century and has been taken up by people reconstructing folk costumes of the region. Then made as a summer garment in linen.

In 1502 the German mercenary Paul Dolnstein was part of the Swedish-Danish wars and he drew the image above of a Swedish farmer-soldier up against a landsknecht. Once again the wide trousers are setting him apart from the fashionable landsknecht in his tight fitting hose.

This is a drawing, that is supposed to be a copy of an older drawing, but the provenience is doubtful, it shows the rebel leader Nils Dacke in the 1540s.

In church art from the 15th century it's also possible to find quite a few examples of wide baggy trousers, this is is an image by Albertus Pictor.

So with that in mind I have made two sets of farmers/peasant trousers. They are made from a pattern that was originally made by Marlein. This was the first pair.

They were worn by my friend Björn in 2023, together with a 15th century doublet that he borrowed and a simple shirt that was slightly gathered at the neck.

I have made a similar pair for my husband as well, but apparently I don't have any good images of him

Here is at a winter event, when he was coming down with a cold so I had just piled as much wool garments on him as possible, before he went home to bed.

Still the pattern for the trousers is pretty simple. It would be possible to use a modern pattern for wide, baggy pants. They do have a shaped crouch seam, but the important thing is that they go up to the natural waist, which is quite higher up than modern trousers. For these trousers I simply use a draw string to keep them up.

As for the upper body. For the 16th century look I would go with a baggy jacket/doublet, but make sure that it has a waist seam and skirt, but no shoulder rolls or wings since that comes in use later and is more a 17th century thing.

A good thing with being a farmer is that since fabric and clothes were so expensive, they were rarely well fitted. If something is too small, or too big, that is correct. People wore worn out garments, old clothes with bad fit or simply hand me downs until there was nothing left of them.

A renaissance hairnet

 In my last post I had set up and started on a net with the sprang double grid stitch. I did the net in pink because I already have a black net, even if there are a lot of mistakes in it, and I also have a yellow and red as well, so I felt that I wanted something new. After all I am calling mine and my husband's landsknecht outfits for "50 shades of red", so to make something in pink felt like a fun project, even if I can't say that I have ever seen evidence for pink hairnets. For this I use the yarn "Grane" from Korps.se, which is a z-spun wool, 100 g = 400 m.

The net worked fine and I could make the whole net in one evening. I used 124 loops and it was 43 cm long. When I released it from the loom it was huge. This could never work as hairnet, unless I use my largest and heaviset wulsthaube, the one that was an experiment with wool and that I can't wear for more than a short while without getting neckpains and headaches. I did take my measurements and I could work out that I had a 0,75 conversion rate. Meaning that if I take the number of loops and multiply with 0,75, then I get the finished width. This is all very much depending on yarn and your own tension, but now I had a number.

So I set up a new warp with 80 threads and 40 cm long. It took me a bit less than an evening to make a new net. This size is perfect for my head with my own hair, it might be a tiny bit too small to wear a wulsthaube or large hairpiece under it though. So I guess a good size for me is probably around 90 threads.

I blocked the net over a bowl, but to be honest I don't really see a difference between this and just flatblocking it.

Here is the comparison between the first version and the new version. I think I will use the first version as a net bag for bulky but light things, maybe I should simply keep my yarns there.

A male 16th century hairnet

 I decided again to try and make a hairnet for my husband, to see if I could maybe get something working by really maxing out the size of my frame.

I made the sprang with 72 loops and a length of 50 cm. The the threads were kept quite loose, which I thought would make it more stretchier, but I think that is the reason that the top and bottom half got so uneven. Despite really trying to pack the bottom half the size difference between the rows is quite obvious. It is made in a double grid, and I started with the instructions that I had seen on Sally Pointer's youtube tutorial, but I lost track somewhere after 10 rows or so. I found it easier to come back and get back into the rythm with Carol James' pattern in her paper on renaissance hairnets. After blocking the length was 46 cm.. Lesson learnt is that the next time I will only go after Carol James' pattern from the start.

David got to try on the blocked net that I had gathered at the short sides. To close the largest gap in the middle I also made a second row of chaining across. The size was good, I think thought that it wouldn't be wrong to maybe go up to 80 loops for a new net, and then I could use shorter warp threads and keep the tension higher.

To get the lines across I did horizontal twining, once again from the description in Carol James' paper. I used double threads, so four threads in total to get a visible line.

To get a ribbon for the edge of the net I made a tablet band. I am new to this and the band is definitely very thick. To be able to tie the band in the back I finished the band with a long fingerloop braid. By this stage I was also out of yellow yarn so that is why the band is red and white.

The band was sewn on and I am quite happy with the shape and size of the hairnet.

I am not happy with the bulky and loose tablet band though. This was only my second try at tablet weaving, and I can't say I am a fan. I have gotten it pointed out that it is better to use rigid heddle loom (bandgrind) instead, since that will make a flatter and not so bulky band.

The good thing is that if I get a better band then it will be easy to remove this one, I just need to get hold of a heddle loom and learn how to use it first. 

For now I will take a break in my sprang adventures though. It's been fun, but I think that in order to continue my journey I really need to get a larger frame, and start trying out with finer yarn, and I really want to try with silk now. I have ran out of the yarns I have used for these last projects, so I have to think what I will order. 

2025 a recap part 3 - the historical costuming

 As I said in my last post, my historical costuming projects tend to be smaller but I do more of them, since they are usually more about adding pieces to my wardrobe, rathern than creating a new wardrobe. Going into 2025 my main project when it came to historical projects was to make a Lengberg bra/supportive kirtle and a schaube for my husband. Well I did neither.

I started drafting a lengberg bra, but while doing that I realised that wearing a bra, a shift and two wool kirtles/gowns would simply be too bulky. The Lengberg bra also is more correct for the late 15th century silhouette, and after all I do mostly early 16th century. Instead I started focusing on making a supportive wool kirtle, that wouldn't need a bra under it. I did make the kirtle using Matthew Gnagy's barra system, which was a new thing for me, but something that I really enjoyed and that I think I will really be able to use in the future. It was a bit stupid to make an underkirtle in cream, since I had to be really careful when wearing only the kirtle in the camp kitchen when cooking. The full post on the kirtle is here.

In the spring I got invited to a 17th century event, a time period that I had eyed a bit but never seriously considered. At Medieval Week I also found this gorgous raspberry red wool, and I bought enough to make a jacket. I made the jacket into a very generic shape that works from the 16th to the 18th century though. The post about the jacket is here. The event also ginally gave me a reason to make one of these long, flowing headpieces that were used, but are not very common among recreators of the 17th century. The post about that is here.

Then in the autumn I felt that what I really wanted was a 16th century hairnet, and I decided that instead of buying it, I should learn how to do them myself. And thus started my adventures in sprang. This is the first craft with yarn as a base that I have enjoyed. When I also got tablets for tablet weaving in an advent calendar I also set up to learn tablet weaving. I feel that I can now make a wearable net and I see this hairnet as a proof of concept, now I need to learn to work with finer yarns, and decide if I want to make my own tablet band as a decoration, or if I should simply buy one.

And with that I have summarized my crafting year 2025, and now it's time to look into what I want to do in 2026.

A quick hairpiece under the hainet

 When trying out my 16th century hairnet I realised that my own hair wouldn't be enough to fill it out. I have quite long and thick hair, but each hairstrand is so thin that when I braid it the braids ends up as tiny stumps. Good when you are wearing a full wig, bad when you want to a hairnet without just a lot of air inside it. I decided to make a hairpiece that I can easily put on and wear under the hair net. Since this is a piece that's supposed to go under the net I also felt that I didn't have to be too picky about it, loose strands and uneveness would be hidden anyway. This is also good because since I switch haircolour from time to time, even if it's within the red spectra, I didn't have to worry about an exact colour match, this is just for volume.

Back in 2016, for Star Wars Celebration in London, I made this Tudor version of princess Leia, and I still had those red hairpieces that I had used for the buns.

For the hairpiece I used the two old hairpieces and a long piece of cotton tape.

I combined the two hairpieces into one and braided them together with the cotton tape. I started in the middle and braided outwards from that.

Then it was just playing around with the shape of the braids until had a bun that I was happy with.

The bun was sewn into shape with some thick thread. I also found a some extra hair tuffs that I twisted together and added to the middle of the bun.

The finished piece was dosed with a generous amound of hairspray. When wearing it I tie the tape around my hair, and then I do my usual braiding of my own hair, which is also braided with some tape, and then my own braids are laid around the fake bun. 

This is a quick test of the bun, when wearing it properly I will make sure that I use black tape for my own hair as well. I'm also thinking that if I want to make the bun wider I can add the hairpiece and then use my own hair to make two buns on the side of the hairpiece. All in all it took me around 30 minutes to make this hairpiece, it's not the most tidy and perfect, but for volume under a hairnet it will do.

HSM challenge "accessorize" - a 16th century hairnet

 The reason I started sprang is that I really want to have a hairnet similar to the one worn in the portrait of Katarina on Bora, wife of Martin Luther, in her portrait by Cranach.

I set out to try and make my own hairnet, after having failed on the male nets. I made mine in black wook, and it was quite a lot harder to work black compared to yarn in brighter colours. I got a net done, with just one row of mistakes. I still consider this as a proof of concept and that I can continue working on it, most importantly I want to make it in a finer yarn.

For the ribbon at the edge I decided to learn a new skill and that is tablet weaving. I had gotten a set of tablets in Christmas craft calender so I felt that I was a sign to actually try making my own ribbon.

Warping took longer than actually making the ribbon. It's definitely wonky, but it is a first try so if I want to I can make a tablet woven band in the future. I also liked that I found this pattern with squares in stade of the more normal v-shapes that are common in tablet weaving.

The band was sewn on to the sprang net for 2/3 of the way around, and for the final third I added a fingerlop braid that I weaved through the loops of the sprang, so that I could tie it in the back and adjust the size.

 

Just slapping the net on to my head made me really happy, even if it's just a text piece it actually gave me the shape I wanted and I could definitely see me wearing this at a 16th century event. I need to wear something under it to fill out the hairnet, my own hair is not enough.

Here is what it looks like on my tiny styrofoam head.

What the item is: a 16th century hairnet
How it fits the challenge: It is an accessory
Material: 2 ply wool yarn
Pattern: My own, but very much from the instructions by Carol James' paper on 16th century hairnets
Year: 1530s
Notions: Just the yarn
How historically accurate is it? I think it's mostly a matter of me lacking the skills so far that really make it into something that would fit in the 16th century, but the materials and techniques are all accurate, so 85%?
Hours to complete: 3 days
First worn: Not yet, this is more a proof of concept until I dare doing this in finer and more expensive materials.
Total cost:

HSM 2025: Foundations - mending my favorite shift

 The theme for November 2025 is foundations

Make something that is the foundation of a period outfit. This can be a literal foundation (ex: a shirt, stockings or stays) or an item that is a “foundation piece” in your wardrobe (ex: a garment or accessory that can be styled in many different ways). Get creative with your interpretation!

For this I chose to go back to the foundation piece of my 16th century wardrobe, my favorite shift.

This was the first iteration of it, back in 2016 when I posted it for the HSM challenge "tucks and pleats". This really is my favorite shift, it's so comfortable and the linen is so light and soft against the skin. Since I made that first version I quite soon made the neck opening smaller, so I didn't have that very wide opening. I did that by simply making the smocking on it tighter.

Back in 2023 I replaced the worn out facings on the cuffs and neckline, and made proper cloth buttons for closing the cuffs, it went with the HSM challenge "back to the beginnings"

I should probably have gone over the shift even more back in 2023, because this summer I realised that quite a few of the seams had started to go up, and the hem was definitely held in place by just a few struggling stitches. So I took an evening and mended all the holes and rehemmed it. I didn't take a phot of the shift, it looks exactly as before, just not as torn and worn as before.

What the item is: a 16th century smocked shift
How it fits the challenge: The shift is the foundation of all costumes, and this was also the first one I made so it is the foundation that I have based all my other 16th century pieces on. For this challenge I simply mended the worn out seams and rehemmed it.
Material: linen thread from the stash
Pattern: none
Year: 16th century
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? Mending is always historically accurate
Hours to complete: 2 hours
First worn: - 
Total cost: nothing, just some hours of work and thread from the stash

HSM 2025 February: Under it all - a 16th century underkirtle

 February: Under It All (2013 & 2014, 11th and 3rd most popular respectively): Make something that goes under your outer garments, to protect them from sweat/grime or provide the right shape/support.

During most of the winter and spring I worked on a new supporting underkirtle for my 16th century wear. This post is a summary of the individual posts that I have made during the project. 

It started out with a day of constructing the pattern using the bara system as developed by Mathew Gnagy - the Modern maker.   I detailed the work in this post. But basically the system allowed me to make a better fitting bodice than ever before. It still needed quite a lot of adjustments to make it sit tight enough though, this has a lot to do with my bust shape.

This is the work on the pattern, making sure that I get a deep neckline.

The construction of the kirtle can be found in this post. The kirtle was constructed from one layer of wool and one layer of linen. I opted for side closures, to make sure that it fit really well over the bust. The skirt was cut in gores. I had to keep adjusting the straps to give support to the bust, but I finally had a well fitting bodice and skirt.

AFter that it was only the hemming left, and I used a fairly wide strip of wool to make a hem facing, to give the hem a bit of body and make it stand out from the legs.

I started using the kirtle during the medieval week in Visby, but since it's an underkirtle it's been hard finding photos of me where it's not hidden under my outer gown or my big work apron, I found this photo of me and my husband though.

Just the HSM facts

What the item is: a supportive underkirtle
How it fits the challenge: It's the supporting garment that makes sure that everything else sits nice on the body
Material: 4 m of wool, 1 m of linen
Pattern: Constructed using the bara system by the Modern Maker and the pattern by Magnifica Sylvie La Chardonniere based on that system
Year: first half of the 16th century
Notions:linen thread, lacing cord
How historically accurate is it? Around 80%
Hours to complete: A month, it was an on and off project
First worn: Medieval Week in Visby
Total cost: $2500 for the wool and linen

HSM 2025 - Challenge 8 - Make do and mend

 As usual I come out of the summer season having produced things that I realize can fit with the HSM challenges. 

August: Make Do and Mend (2014, 5 th most popular): Get your historical wardrobe in order by fixing/mending something that has worn out or gone wrong. Alternatively, you could focus on the historical precedent of making-do by re-making an old garment or remaking something into a historical garment (ex: a chemise from old bedsheets). 

For this project it was time to fix my husbands landsknecht trousers, the short hose. 

 I felt from the start that they were a bit too baggy, I wanted them shorter and tighter.

I started with simply cutting off the lowest row of pieces. In the front that went well, in teh back I had to cut through some of the pieces. HEre you can see the shorter linen lining peaking through as well.

This was the result after cutting out and evening out the hose. I thought they looked perfect, but my husband complained that they were too short. He wouldn't be able to wear boxers under them, and he was not happy with my suggestion to buy briefs instead. ;) Well to make him more happy and comfortable in his new hose I went to look for some inspiration. 

This woodcut from 1510 has a a pair of nice short hose with a daggered hem to them. That is not something I have seen on many people, but I thought it would be a cute and fairly easy way of lengthening the hose.

I took the cut off material and I managed to  cut them into daggers.

I had to do some fiddling at the crotch. The hose had also split there so I needed to add a gore to make them larger. For that I had to use another piece of red wool, since I was out of the original, but piecing and mending is definitely accurate. 

To cover the seam between the square pieces and the points I tacked a grey wool ribbon over them. I didn't have time to do anything more. I do have a plan though to cover all the places where the seams meet up with bows, since I think there are not enough bows and rosettes on landsknecht reenactors.

The HSM facts

What the item is: A pair of short landsknecht hose
How it fits the challenge: I remade the first version into a more sleek shape
Material: The old pair of hose, 30 cm of new wool fabric
Pattern: Inspired by a woodcut from 1510
Year: 1510s
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? The hose with the square pieces are a mix of two images, one with the rectangles and one with the daggered hem, but still around 90%
Hours to complete: 10
First worn: At Medieval Week in Visby 2025
Total cost: $10 (the new fabric, I bought a meter even if I just used a scrap of it)