A New Ruff

I've know for many years that it would be appropriate to own a small ruff.  I made a ruffle 10+ years ago, but it's constructed completely wrong (stacked pleats and folded fabric).  They are featured in the engravings I've been working on reproducing. But, ruffs always seemed a bit daunting.  I had no desire to deal with starch and the specialized irons or poking sticks needed to set the ruff, even if I could work myself up to all the sewing to put a ruff together.

Thankfully, my hand sewing has gotten better and I'm not as scared of the sewing part. Given that we were going to have a starching workshop at the Jamestown Conference, I decided to give it a go.

I followed Noel Gielgehem's guide to making a 1570's ruff. Noel is the foremost authority on ruff making that I know, and he would be the instructor of the workshop.  The ruff is entirely hand sewn.  It took ~ 4 nights or 8-10 hours of sewing to construct.

The strips before sewing. ~4 yds.

A close up of the edges to be turned. I pulled threads to ensure a straight and tight hem.

The sewn strip, complete.

Size of the turned hem ~ 3/16

A view of the gathered / cartridge pleated edge before sewn to the neck band.

A quick finger set of the ruff.  The rest of it still looked completely random.

In the workshop, I didn't have a chance to starch it, but I was able to press it with Noel's curling irons.

I should have taken a pic before wearing it because the shape really collapsed after 2 hours in the heat.  I guess this makes the point about the need for starch.

Jamestown Conference - Day 4

I'm back home after the conference, but still in a bit of a daze from the amount and wealth of information.  It was truly wonderful, and no small amount of effort to pull off.  My thanks to all involved.

The morning started with new sessions from Jane and Ninya.  Ninya walked us through the basics of pinking and stamping fabric.  It seems to work best on silk satin or velvet.  I particularly like the look of stamped velvet.  Ninya had some samples of modern velvets, both cotton velveteen and acetate based, plus a small sample of real silk velvet.  It was surprisingly difficult to tell the difference between them.  Ninya referenced an article by Arnold, which I have a copy of.  Here is the full citation for anyone interested:

Janet Arnold (1975) Decorative Features: Pinking, Snipping and Slashing,
Costume, 9:1, 22-26, DOI: 10.1179/cos.1975.9.1.22
http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/cos.1975.9.1.22

Jane walked us through some of their findings from the database of wills that they have developed.  She had us color in pages of little figures in the proportions of colors seen in the wills.  I'll wait for the full details to be published, but it was surprising to see just how much black there was.  Red was much more common on women than men, but might be covered by outer layers.

Jenny Tiramani gave a key note speech during lunch.  She talked about some of the things they are working on currently, but as many will eventually be published, I can't share details.  But, I loved the leather hose example, and just hearing her passion for the work.  Much as the Tudor Tailors follow the PAD model (Pictorial, Archeological, and Documentary evidence), Jenny uses the 4 C's: Content, Cut, Construct, Context for understanding an item and it's place in history.

First up after lunch was Matthew Gnagy's class on the Bara system.  I've already made a doublet following his first book, so had been through the process of making proportional tapes.  It was still great to see how he does it and the material he uses (boning casing for making tapes works really well).  At the end, he quickly drafted a doublet pattern.  I'm a bit jealous that he could free hand all the curves (I had to use french curves).

To end the day was Jenny Tiramani's workshop on stays.  Much of the material will soon be released in the new Patterns of Fashion 5 book due out in a few months. We got to see several draft pages and it looks equally as good as the previous PoF books.  I didn't realize that stays were often stiffened with baleen (as in, from a whale).  We got the chance to touch and feel real baleen.  We finished with making a small sample of stiffened stays using artificial baleen and reeds.

Jamestown Conference - Day 3

The morning started with workshops by the Tudor Tailors.  Jane talked about garters, mostly knit.  We got to touch and examine extant knitting pieces from the 17th c and learned that when cross gartering, you should twist at the back! I forgot to take pictures, but Jane did look at the yarn I brought and liked the weight and feel of it, so I shall be knitting some garters and reporting back.

Shetland Wool Brokers J&S cobweb single ply

Ninya walked us through how to fit cloth bias cut hose.  You first pin on your leg, then cut the slit for the gussets while it's on your foot.  Next cut out the gusset triangles and pin in place on the foot.  Then trim for seam and sew.

The afternoon included a workshop with Kat Ferneley to make hooks and eyes.  It's really amazing the difference having the right tools makes. She handed out a great list of instructions and supplies and where to get them.

Noel's starching workshop was fun.  I didn't get a chance to actually starch the ruff that I made, but I did sew the guide thread and use a curling iron to set the figure eights.

The evening was the fort frolic.  It's pretty amazing to see folks in some of their best period clothing.  This included a few in 18th c and even a few native americans.  There were also several who choose modern dress, which, given the heat, was not a bad choice.

The amazing group of tailors. Picture courtesy of Andrea Callicut.

I did dress in 16th c.  I was debating up until earlier in the day, but getting to set my ruff was the deciding factor.  It was hot, but I'm glad I did it.  The highlight of the evening was Grace, decked out in her amazing lace, working up the gumption to talk to Jenny Tiramani. 

Jamestown Conference - Day 2

Today started with a tour of the Jamestown Fort.  Really, we were let loose in the fort to explore.  There were several demonstrations which were great to see.

Kat Ferneley was making hooks and eyes and pins.  I'm looking forward to taking her class later.

The tailors, Dan Rosen (Plymoth Plantation), Matthew Gnagy (Modern Maker), and Mark Hutter (Colonial Williamsburg), were busy making a summer weight suit in the new world style.  This translates to an unlined pair of canvas breeches and a canvas cassock (the source of the canvas was hemptraders.com).  It's really a marvel to watch them all work.

Noel Gieleghem was showing off his many ruffs and the colors and construction of them.

There were other more common fort demos ongoing.  Thankfully, the weather wasn't too warm, and we were only out and about for the morning.  We probably didn't need the full time and ended up killing some time before lunch.

After lunch, we had three lectures. Unfortunately, they dimmed the lights, so with a full tummy, it was difficult to stay focused.

Drea Leed spoke about the typical wardrobe for children as detailed in the Petre Family inventory.  It was interesting to see the differences between the different ages.

Dan Rosen spoke about his learnings from several colony / new world provision lists dated 1622 to 1672.  He consolidated the list of 49 items spanning a cap, shirts, suites, shoes, stockings, points, garters, etc.

Fred Scholpp spoke about the tailoring of armor and the proper fit of it.  Just as the waist of doublets is shorter than our modern eye thinks it should be, so are the waists of breast plates.

By far the highlight of the day was the presentation from the Tudor Tailors.  This was a new presentation and covered the outfitting of a sailor into land-lubber clothing, complete with undressing and dressing back up.  It was hilarious with plenty of jokes (everyone was named John) and even a dig at building a wall.

Jamestown Conference - Day 1

The weather was quite lovely for June in VA for our first day. It's amazing to be able to be here and wonderful to see so many friends and like minded historical geeks.

We started with a tour of the costuming archive and conservation center.  We split into two groups and got to see some of the earliest pieces in the collection.  We were allowed to take pictures, but do not have permission to post any of them.

The first items were a falling band, a pair of women's lace cuffs and a jack of plates.  The falling band is the one described on page 99 of Arnold's PoF4.  The band, as most are, is of very simple construction with a lovely 1.5 inch lace around it.  I'm always amazed at how small the rolled hems are.  The women's cuffs were mid 17th c and had some very small worked buttons.  The jack of plates was just a back piece with the fabric outer layer still intact showing how all the plates were mounted.  It was missing it's lining and likely a layer of tow.  It was mounted between two pieces of glass so we could see both sides and had been originally acquired for the Martin's Hundred site.

Next were some 17th c bed hangings.  The earliest was late 16th century.  The collection contains quite of few bed and wall hangings because when the Williamsburg site got started, they furnished the historical buildings with actual extant pieces.  They now use reproductions to save the artifacts from the wear and tear.

Further down, there was a table with some framed embroideries.  The middle one was late 16th c and appeared to be more of a tapestry sample.  The most amazing piece was stumpwork.  This is a highly dimensional embroidery and featured three oak trees with actual acorns incorporated above a tent/pavilion.  There were also small mica pieces used as windows.  It was truly inspiring... and daunting.

I feel like the next few drawers we looked at were a bit rushed.  There was a drawer full of buttons, most of which were still on the original cards from Dorset and were worked in linen/cotton.  They were 18 c, but many were styles that are seen in the 16 c.

Another drawer have two 17 c coats and a blackwork coif dated to ~ 1560.  There was some debate about the dating of the coif, but Jenny Tiramani agreed with the 1560 date.  There was no evidence of it having ever been lined.

After the extant pieces, we were allowed into the conservation room where they are prepping for an upcoming exhibit of hooked rugs.  The earliest were ~1830, but it was cool to see the variety represented from these cottage industry items.

We then concluded the morning with a visit to the Williamsburg Costume Design Center.  This is wear they made and mend clothes for ~900 interpreters.  The scale is quite impressive, even if they have been hit will budget cuts in recent years.

A small portion (less than 1/6) of the Williamsburg costume collection.

For the afternoon, I visited the Rockefeller Jr. Library and spend some time reading and making some copies from Lions of Fashion.  There were lots of pretty pictures and the library staff was very friendly and helpful.

Also got to have dinner with friends, so all in all, a very good day.  I'm really looking forward to what the next few days will bring.

Ear Iron (Brass) for Coif Wearing

You can probably guess from the other posts here that I've been trying to figure out this coif thing for a while.  Going back 15+ years, I've never felt that my coifs fit right or stay well on my head.

Check out my page with details on coif sizing.

From the Jamestown Costuming Conference two years ago, I learned about oorijzers or ear irons.  In looking further at portraits, I'm amazed I hadn't noticed them before.  So, I made one for myself.

I've collected several portraits of women wearing a coif.  If you look closely in front of the ears, you can see what I believe to be an ear iron on some of them.  An ear iron certainly does help explain the sharp point or rigid position of some of the veil corners.

I followed the instructions at these two sites and used brass craft wire (because it's what I had on hand).  It was quite easy.

https://ateliernostalgia.wordpress.com/2016/09/27/oorijzers-ear-irons-part-1/

https://dutchrenaissanceclothing.com/2016/08/recreating-flemish-caps-veils-oorijzer/

I even braided up my hair and wore it to an event. No pictures, I'm afraid, because my braids didn't stay and I got very frustrated.  I'll post some once I've figured it out a bit better.