HSM challenge 7 - always in style

I did it! This year I actually completed all 12 HSM challenges, I think that is the second time I have managed that. The final challenge that I needed to finish was the July challenge - always in style

Make a garment or accessory that is appropriate for more than one historical period… or even a historical piece that can be worn with modern clothing! (Note that the piece should still be ‘historical’, not just ‘historically-inspired’

In order to come up with what I should do I started thinking around. I did just finish a shift that would work for several historical periods, a shift that I had forgotten about and found in a box with just the hemming of the neckline left, but that would also be a bit boring. Then I started thinking about mittens. My wrists are always cold so I have an assortment of cuffwarmers, but I can always use more. Fingerless mittens have been used a lot. I have made a pair of long 18th century ones and some folk costumes in Sweden still have them as an accessory. This autumn Lina Odell also released a book all about doing embroidered mittens with inspiration from folk costumes. Now for the HSM challenge it should be historical and not historically inspired, still I didn't copy a specific pair but rather used several historical parts as an inspiration.

Photo by Hilding Mickelsson/Hälsinglands museum, cc-by-nc

Most preserved mittens seems to be black with silk embroideries. I was sure that I had some black wool, but I was wrong, so I was really happy to find this example of a mitten that was made in another colour.

Photo by Hälsinglands museum, cc-by

This pair of mittens has a typical pattern, made with silk and using satin stitch, stem stitch and herringbone stitch, in Swedish plattsöm, stjälksöm och flätsöm. The mittens also has a pointed tip that is folded back and shows a silk lining.

I started with taking a pair of mittens that I use at work and simply trace it to make a pattern. This is a very simple design, just one seam and a hole for the thumb rather than a sewn thumb. The shape has come from several years of use and molding to my wrist and hand.

I cut out the pattern in a scrap of wool and added the point at the top. I also drew out the base for the embroidery, deciding not to be too accurate but instead being ok with not totally symmetric and perfect pattern.

Most of the embroidery actually felt like just doodling with needle and thread, rather than with a pencil. I didn't have any silk so I used cotton, in the colours that I had at home. I also used mostly chain stitch, which is also a common stitch in folk costumes and that I am simply better at than stem stitch. I also used satin sitch. The raw edges were folded under once and also attached with more chain stitch.

The backsid of the mitten with the simple green row of chain stitch. The most tricky part was actually to attach the point in the right spot. For the lining I used a scrap of poly brocade, that is an historical pattern. I was a bit dissatified with the placement of the point, it didn't end up as centered as I would have liked.

Me wearing the finished mitten, that I also now use at work instead of the old grey ones.

The finished pair of mittens. Compared to the originals I have simplified the design, but I also now want to make more pairs that are more inspired by historical examples. It would be fun to have a pair inspired from my mother's folk costumes, which have a lot of circles and flowers in chainstitch and one inspired by the embroidery on the cap and bag for my own folk costume, which has a flowers in chain stitch. All in all it was a fun project and I can definitely see me making more of these out of scraps of wool.

What the item is: a pair of mittens from the second half of the 19th century
How it fits the challenge: The mittens are from the 19th century, but I am using them with my every day clothes at work
Material: 0,4 m wool
Pattern: my own
Year: ca 1850-1880
Notions: cotton floss
How historically accurate is it? 60% - they are not as elaborate and they use cotton floss and poly brocade instead of silk, they are also a bit too long compared to the original.
Hours to complete: Made over a weekend
First worn: to work on December 17th
Total cost: stash project but probably around $6 if bought new

Midsummer celebrations

 It was time for the yearly outing of my folk costume, from Vika. Just like last year all official celebrations were cancelled due to the pandemic, but my boyfriend was invited to a small private celebration and I joined him. For the first time I could wear a complete costume, with my brand new pocket. 

I even took the time to starch the loose lace piece (stycke in Swedish) that goes under my cap.

And since it's around 7 years since I shortened the skirt of my costume it was about time that I rehemmed the apron to the new length as well, instead of just pinning it up with safety pins. The new hem is quite bulky since I didn't want to cut anything but just folded it under it self. You never know when you might need the fabric so I try to not cut anything off the costume.

It was also really fun that our host collects folk costumes so that he can lend them out to his guest, and he had a partial male Vika costume that he lent to my boyfriend. I thought it was very cute that we were a matching couple.

The borrowed costume was missing the vest, so he had to have the jacket closed all the time. Maybe if we go there next year and he can borrow the costume I can see if my father's old vest to the costume could be adjusted enough to fit.

I had brought my violin with me, and then there was a traditional birch trumpet in the house. I just love this photo.

And to prove that at least one of us can actually play the instrument we are holding.

I don't know a lot of folk music, but it was fitting that this piece that I'm playing is a walz from the neighbouring parish from where we were.

HSM21 challenge 5 Purple - a traditional pocket

 I have now finished theh pocket for my Vika traditional costume.

Except for the embroidered front piece it consists of a backpiece of the same broadcloth. Both the front and back were lined with a layer of linen. For the backpiece I also added a layer of green wool, that will be visible in the opening of the pocket. The instructions calls for using the same fabric for that piece as the rest, but I thought it would be nice to add a hint of green, especially since there is a lot of green in the skirt and bodice.  Then the opening was bound with a black piece of tape, and finally the front and back pieces were bound with the same tape to attach them together. I'm not sure what kind of tape it is, since this was in the kit for the pocket that was bought almost 20 years ago. It felt like some kind of ribbed cotton tape.

Unfortunately the kit for the pocket was done for a size S or M. For me with an XL waist the tape that was supposed to go around the waist was nowhere long enough. Since this tape isn't supposed to be seen, it is worn under the bands for the apron, I simply took a regular piece of cotton tape and lengthened the original tape. I think I have put the piecing under the apron as well so it shouldn't be too visible.

To finish off the pocket I made a small button loop on the pocket and added a button to the tape for closure. Now the instructions only call for a button, and my sister has a handmade dorset button on hers, but I felt that it would be more me to use one of reproduction 16th century buttons that I had left from my goldhaube project.

And this is the finished pocket, which was basically the last piece to complete my traditional costume. Now I only need to rehem my apron, and make a new shirt but that's a bigger project and I can use my old shirt.

This is a closeup of just the embroidery, since that is what puts the pocket in the HSM challenge.

What the item is: a pocket for the traditional costume of Vika parish, in Dalarna, Sweden.
How it fits the challenge: The traditional costume was codified in the 1920s so it is within the timeline of the HSM and the embroidery is done with a lot of different shades of purple.
Material: 0,25 cm blue broadcloth, 0,10 cm green wool flannel
Pattern: Part of the traditional costume instructions
Year: 1920s (even if it is also worn today)
Notions: Embroidery silk in purple, pink and green, cotton tape for the binding and waistband, 1 button
How historically accurate is it? I have taken a few liberties, like the button, so for the 1920s version of the pocket I would say it is 70%.
Hours to complete: It is an UFO, so technically 20 years, but since I took it up I have probably used around a month.
First worn: I'm going to wear it for the Midsummer celebrations
Total cost: I have no idea since this was part of a kit that was bought 20 years ago by my sister.

The embroidery for the Vika pocket

 I finished the embroidery for the pocket to my traditional costume. Once I decided that I was not going to stick too faithfully to the pattern it was a lot easier to get going.

I started with all the green swirls, this was mostly done according to the pattern. I felt that it left too much open spaces though, and it was also a bit unbalanced.

I decided to add my initials, this is not uncommon on traditional pöockets. For a while I also thought about adding the year, but therw wouldn't be enough space for that. I measured a box for where I wanted the letters to be. It's definitely an issue that the chalk disappears almost immediately on the broadcloth that is used as a fabric. From this stage I tacked down some guidelines for the first letter in regular sewing thread so that I had something to go after, and then I embroidered the letters.

I also added some one more pair of circles/flowers, and with that the embroidery is done. Now I need to go home to my sister so she can help me finish the pocket.

Maybe it's time to finish a 15+ year UFO

 So I have posted about my traditional costume a couple of times, usually around Midsummer since that is when I wear it.

One piece that I've been missing is a pocket. And even if my regular Star Wars handbag goes well colorwise, I have really felt that I should have a pocket. The thing is I started to make the traditional pocket, something like 18 years ago, I'm pretty sure I started it before moving to Uppsala and that was in 2002. I got two cm and then gave up on doing the tiny chainstitches of the embroidery.

Then my mother said that she would make it for me, and gave up. Then I started asking my sister if she couldn't do it for me, since she has done everything else on the costume. She started, but then I said that well I've been doing quite some embroidery the last year maybe it's time for me to take a stab at this again.

This is my sister's pocket, so this is what it should like like when finished. There is some freedom of interpretation when it comes to colours and the pattern though.

This is where my pocket is. My sister had done the outlines of the three main motifs, so now it's only for me to continue and actually get it done. I'm hoping to be able to have it finished in time for Midsummer this year.

Some thoughts about 16th century headwear

The 15th century was the century of crazy hats, turbans and veils. Then followed the first half of the 16th century where the wulsthaube with a veil was the primary style of headwear for women wearing German-styled fashion. The wulsthaube changed shape and size, until it shrank and was replaced by caps.

One of the goals of my 1520s wardrobe is to recreate this portrait of Kristina Gyllenstierna, from the altarpiece in Västerås cathedral.

It is a hard dress to recreate, since it's so vague, but I still want to try. My main issue is with the headwear. At first it looks like a big wulsthaube, but what are those darker elements of the headwear? It is also finished in a very square edge around the face, compared to wulsthaubes.

My firsr idea was that it could be something like this portrait of Barbara Wespach, from 1500.

It is a wulsthaube with decorations, and some kind of wreath around it. Or maybe something like the love couple by the Master of the Housebook

She is wearing two pieces to her headwear, a gold embroidered piece and in the back there is a plain white veil.

I wasn't quite satisfied with these kind of styles though, but after having trawled pinterest and digital archives for German paintings with different kinds of headwar I decided to go wider. The altar piece in Västerås was commisioned in Antwerp in 1516, what if the headwear shows a Flemish style of headwar instead? The basic Flemish headwear seems to be a kind of white cap, but finally I found an interesting painting. The birth of Virgin Mary by Jan de Beer.

The painting is a goldmine for headdresses, all the women in the painting are wearing different styles, and the lady in green in the center is wearing something very similar to the altar piece in Västerås. Jan de Beer belonged to a group of artists in Antwerp, and the painting above is usually dated to around 1520, so it's very close to the Västerås altar piece.

So far I haven't found any other paintings with this kind of headpiece, which makes me wonder how common or uncommon they were. There are two grave monuments in Sweden though were the woman is wearing something very similar.

This is from Sala, and shows Bråsta-Lasse and his wife. Bråsta-Lasse died in 1515. There is a very similar, but a lot more damaged, monument in Stora Kopparberg's church in Falun. I don't know the maker of these two grave stones, but they are the only examples of this kind of headwear that I've seen. Would they have put this kind of headwear on the woman, if it wasn't recognized as something fashionable? There is of course the option that if artist that made the two grave monuments was local, that he had been in Västerås, seen the sculpture of Kristina Gyllenstierna on the altar piece and decided that was a suitable style of clothing for an upperclass woman. Or do the grave moments also come from Antwerp? It is a bit of a mystery that outside of the Antwerp painting, the style seems to only be found in Västerås diocese, and all examples are dated to within five years of each other.

Trying to find out more about this kind of headwear is also made more complicated by the fact that it's a style that is present in folkwear from all over Europe. There is the southern German/Austrian goldhaube

This style developed in the 19th century though, from an earlier softer cap.

Then there is the Norwegian la and Swedish lad that is used as a bridal crown.

Women from Malung wearing lad

The lad of Malung can also be attested down to the 19th century, but I don't know how much older the tradition is.

Then of course there is the Russian kokoshnik, in all its different variations.

I tried to find a good history of the kokoshnik, but even if it's written that the kokoshnik has medieval roots, I couldn't find any pictures earlier than the 18th century.

All in all this shows that this kind of big, ornamental headpiece has been fashionable in different time periods and in different regions, it's not necessay that they go back to a common style ancestor. 

I have two pinterest boards in connection to headpieces - German style headwear and folkwear headwear. 

If you have any other examples of this kind of big headwear please share in the comments.

Work trip to Röros, Norway

I've been on a work trip to Röros for the last few days. It was mostly about seeing how they work with their mine museum and building conservation. The program was really packed, but there were some costuming related stuff as well.

On the way there we stopped at Härjedalens Fjällmuseum, which is a regional museum for Härjedalen. It's a small museum, but really nice, and they had one part about the dress of the people in Härjedalen. Härjedalen is very much a transit region, basically in the middle between the Swedish Baltic coast and the Norwegian Atlantic cost, and it's reflected in how they dressed. The clothes were very much of the latest cut, and there were a lot of them. A typical woman in Härjedalen in the early 19th century regularly owned around 100 different articles of clothing. Status was all reflected in the clothes, so even if you lived in a shackle, you made sure to look good before going out.

I really liked these three bodices from around 1820. The regency waist line is obvous, since the bodices are really short. The fronts are wrapped over each other, and I guess pinned in place. I really enjoyed seeing the closure, since I haven't seen too many bodices displayed with the back towards the viewer.

In the mining museum in Röros they also have a costume exhibition, unfortunately it was really hard to take photos there, and I only had time to rush through it.

I really fell in love with this red quilted petticoat. I couldn't find a date for it, but most of the clothes were from around the middle of the 19th century. I would love to have a quilted petticoat like that for my 18th century wardrobe though.

It's hard to see but this jacked from around 1830 was the thing I was most impressed with. The very wide sleeve has been gathered with perfect stroked gathers into the narrow arm scye.

Overall I can really recommend a visit to Röros it's a very beautiful town with a fascinating history.

HSM Challenge 8: Heirlooms and heritage

Wow, I've finished a challenge with several days to spare. In June you might remember that I posted about my traditional costume, or you can read it here. For the heirlooms and heritage challenge it was a pretty easy decision for me to try and finally adjust my costume so that it actually fits.

This was the fit before the alteration. Now it's not meant to be a tight laced bodice or so, but you can see that it was way too big, especially at the bust. With some help from my sister, who is the one who actually sewed the gown originally, I ripped up one of the side seams. She then pinned the bodice closer to the body. I then handsewed the side seams and attached the skirt again.

Here you can see how much fabric I could remove. It's uneven because I wanted the stripes in the fabric to still match, even with a tigher fit, so I had to take more from one side than another. Also I didn't want to cut away the excess fabric, maybe someone in the future will want to make it bigger, so I just folded and pressed the extra fabric down. I sewed the pieces together by sewing the two outer layers and one of the linings together, and then covering the raw edges with the other piece of lining.

It's a bad picture, but you can see that the fit at the bust is a lot better now.

Here is the gown on my dressform, and eventhough it's not usable for my corseted measurements it's very cose to my natural measurements.

Now this project was taught me quite a few things. It was the first time I used waxed linen thread, and sewing with nice but not too fine linen fabric. I was surprised to see that I could make stitches that were basically invisible against the fabric. I actually enjoyed the handsewing, and now I'm looking forward to doing more of it.

What the item is: a refitted traditional costume from Vika parish, Dalarna, Sweden.

The Challenge: 8 Heirlooms and Heritage

Fabric: Linen

Pattern: none

Year: This is a hard one. The costume was reconstructed in the 1920's, but is supposedly reconstructed from older fabrics and dress pieces found in the parish, but it's still very much used today.

Notions: Black and white linen thread, bees wax.

How historically accurate is it? It's accurate to how the traditional costumes were done in the 1920's. Over the years they have been made in different ways, this is more old fashioned since it's completely handsewn.

Hours to complete: 3, including the fitting.

First worn: Not yet.

Total cost:

Vika traditional costume

As I mentioned in my last post I wear the traditional costume of Vika parish outside Falun in Dalarna, Sweden. My family on my father's side can trace its history there back to the Middle Ages, and eventhough my great grandfather moved away from the area, it was only fitting that when my parents moved to Falun they chose a part of town that is part of the Vika parish. The Vika costume was reconstructed/created in the 1920's. Falun was a fairly affluent town, and the people of Vika had preferred to keep up with current fashions rather than keep with traditional costumes. When it was decided to reconstruct a costume for Vika they did look around in attics and outhouses, as well as talked to older women. They did find a remnant of the fabric that according to a woman had been in use in Vika, and that was to form the foundation for the costume. Vika is a fairly small parish, and there has never been a consistent production of the costume, so it's not a very common costume. The fabric is made by some women, and they set the loom for it when it's deemed that enough people have said that they are interested in a costume. As such it's been hard trying to find pictures of the costume. And I don't have many of myself wearing it either.

A Vika costume, picture from an auction site

The one thing I love about this costume is the colouring. Most traditional costumes tend to go towards black and red, but this one is striped in blue, green and purple. The striping is different on the gown and the apron, so that the apron appears more green while the gown itself is more blue.

The main gown is fairly basic, typical of reconstructed costumes. It's a bodice with lacing in front and the skirt is pleated and sewn on to the bodice at the waist. The gown should be go down to around mid calf, but the length of the skirt is one way of determining when a folk costume was made. There are examples of costumes from the 1960's and 1970's where the skirt barely goes down below the knees. One of the issues I want to fix on my costume is that it's too long and almost goes down to the toes.

Under the gown you wear a linen blouse, with lace around the cuffs and lace inserts on the middle of the sleeve. With the gown you wear a cap and a neckerchief. This is another thing that I like about the Vika costume. Many costumes have regulated how the cap and neckerchief should look, but in Vika they decided to keep the tradition of individual caps and neckerchiefs. The tradition comes from the fact that the neckerchief was usually a gift from your fiance, and depending on how rich or well traveled he was there was a great variety in neckerchiefs, and the cap should go with the neckerchief.

Me and my niece in 2008, she's wearing a girl's Leksand costume

As you can see I have a purple neckerchief and purple cap to go with it. Me and my sisters are all wearing neckerchiefs that were bought when we were very young, it was the first part of the costume that we all received. They are actually from Seefeld, Austria, and are originally worn with the traditional Tyrolean drndl-costume. I've grown up in a family with a lot of friends in that area of Austria/Northern Italy, and I'm very happy that I can combine that part of my family's story together with the heritage of Vika.The neckerchief is held together with a silver brooch in the shape of the coat-of-arms of the Vika parish.

18th century cap in a similar style

The cap (bindmössa) is a staple of many folk costumes. It can trace its lineage all the way back to the Middle Ages and the structured hoods, including the French hood of the Tudor times. It's hard and structure and covered in embroidered silk. Its shape today is a fossilized version of the caps worn in the 18th century.Around the edge of the cap there is a loose piece of lace, which I think is meant to keep the hair neat, I personally think it's the trickiest part of the costume.

As an unmarried woman I don't need the cap, but can wear a woven ribbon in the same colours as the ribbons to the apron, but I prefer to wear the cap, even if it's trickier to keep in place, I simply feel that the costume is more complete when worn with the cap.

The one thing I'm missing from my costume is the pocket, or loose bag. It's exactly the same shape as a 18th century pocket and embroidered. There is the hitch. I have the material for the pocket, but the stitches are so small that I've never managed to do it myself. Thankfully my older sister, who has sewn my costume, has now said that she can do the embroidery on the pocket for me, so one day I'm going to have a pocket.

There are also some other accessories for the costume. I have a wool winter shawl, white with narrow stripes of purple and green at the border. I also think that I have a simple cotton neckerchief, or at my sister has the fabric for one and she said that she might have ordered fabric for all of us at the same time. For real solemn occasions, like funerals, you can wear a white apron and neckerchief, but I don't have those.

As for things I would like to do do for the heirloom challenge. As mentioned I think my skirt is a bit on the longer side, so I would like to hem it up. I also think that the bodice is too big, I would like to turn it into a more fitted bodice. In order to do that I would need to take it apart and resew it, but I don't think it's very complicated. If I have fabric for the cotton neckerchief it would also be suitable to finish that one. 

Midsummer and folk costume

On Friday it was Midsummer's Eve, which is a really big thing in Sweden, and even bigger if you live in Dalarna, the region of Sweden that is the most serious about Midsummer traditions. Now I didn't do anything particular this year, we had a family lunch and then it was off to Vika to raise the Maypole/Midsummer pole and hear a speech about how great the summer is. It is a time to wear the traditional folk costume though, which me, my mother and one of my sisters did.

It was typical Swedish Midsummer weather as you can see by me and my sister wearing our wool winter shawls over the rest of the costume. My mother isn't wearing her headpiece either because it rained for a lot of the time and she didn't want to ruin it, it's quite a complicated thing out of hay and topped with a very finely pleated piece of fabric.

Since my plan for the HSM Heirloom challenge is to do some alterations on my costume I felt that this would be a good chance to go through some of the history of the costume. By looking at the picture above you can see that my and my my sister are not wearing the same costume as our mother. That is because you usually choose your costume based on the parish that you are from. My family on my father's side can trace our history back to the 14th century in Vika, outside of Falun in Dalarna, so for me and my sisters it was natural to choose the Vika costume. My mother though is from the county of Södermanland and is wearing a costume from Vingåker.

Costumes from Vingåker, note the headpiece

The history of the folk costume is quite complicated. Basically from the start it was used in most Swedish parishes, with each parish having its won version. My mother's Vingåker costume is one of the oldest unchanged ones in Sweden, there were regulations already at the end of the 16th century that you were not allowed to do any changes to it. During the 18th century the costumes started to deviate more from the current fashions, looking at many folk costumes you can still see fossilized remains of 18th century fashion. This also meant that the traditional costumes survived more in rural communities, people of the higher classes and people in towns preferred to keep up with fashions rather than tradition. Where the traditional costume stayed alive it usually developed a very complicated system of colours and accessories and how to wear the costume correctly. One of the most complicated costumes is the one from Leksand, Dalarna, where there is even a published calendar on how to wear and combine the different parts of the costume correctly, if you have more than the basic costume.

varieties of the Leksand costume, http://www.hembygd.se/tallbergs-byalag/leksandsdrakten/http://www.hembygd.se/tallbergs-byalag/leksandsdrakten/

When talking about folk costumes nowadays you usually differ between costumes with an unbroken tradition and reconstructed costumes. An unbroken tradition means that the costume has been in use up until the early 20th century, most costumes are reconstructed ones though. That means that the use of traditional costume disappeared in the 19th century, but when the wave of romantic nationalism swept over Sweden in the early 20th century they were reconstructed to and people started wearing them again. Some costumes were reconstructed, with the help of textile remnants and oral traditions, other were totally constructed out of a general "this would represent our parish"-feeling. I personally am trying to get away from looking down "new" or reconstructed costumes, not the least because many of them date to the 1920's and 1930's and have acquired a history as well, even if it's not as long as the unbroken costumes.

The traditional costumes are mostly associated with Midsummer, but can be worn for all occasions, they are considered formal wear. I've worn mine for example when singing with the church choir at Christmas and to balls when I was a student.

In the next post I'll talk a bit more about my costume.