Resarch for a 1520's gown, part 1: the gown

Busy as I am sewing my Victorian wardrobe, I still have plans for the future. And as I was recently reminded of how practical a blog is to keep track oofresearch, this post is posted now for future references.

In November 1520 and event happened in Stockholm which can be seen as the starting point for modern Sweden. After years of political struggles ,the Danish king Christian II was crowned king of Sweden. In the days after nearly 100 people; noblemen, clergy and townsmen were executed in what became known as Stockholm Bloodbath. Many of their female relatives was imprisoned and brought to Denmark. The claim had been made that Christian had the body of former regent Sten Sture the Younger and his son taken from their graves and mutilated and burnt. There is also a ghost story which says that if it rain the night of the anniversary of the massacre, the rain will turn into blood at the square Stortorget were the executions took place. Perhaps not so surprising Christian II is known as Christian the Tyrant in Sweden.

One of the purposes of the massacre was probably to scare the swedes into submission, but it backfired with a vengeance. The nobleman Gustav Vasa, whose father had been killed in the massacre, led a revolt, which ended with him being crowned king of Sweden in 1523, starting te Vasa dynasty which ended when Queen Kristina, his great-great granddaughter abdicated in 1654. Gustav Vasa, like his contemporary Henry VIII, initiated a reformation, making sweden protestant which it remain today. He also had several wives, but only three to Henry’s six, and none of them was executed or divorced. He also had better luck with sons; three of them became kings of Sweden.

So, after this history lesson, you can probably guess that in 2020 the 500th anniversary of all this takes place, and there will very likely be several historical events. Which means I need an outfit which could plausibly have been worn in Sweden in 1520. Unfortunately, there aren’t many pictures of Swedish women from this period, but as Sweden had strong economical and political bonds with Denmark and what is now Germany, I decided to looks at pictures from those areas as well, choosing a time span of roughly 1500-1540.

And fell in love with this one.

Detail from an altar piece at Noedeby Church, Denmark

It’s dated 1500-1520, but I think the date is closer to 1520 than 1500. I usually don’t copy clothes, but this is so pretty I can’t resist. It’s part of an altarpiece, but given the difference between the kneeling man and woman compared to the middle painting, I’m fairly convinced this is an actual portrait, probably of the couple who sponsored the painting.

It may have been painted in the Netherlands, or possibly just by a painter from that country, which is the wrong place. So I looked around to see if I could find similar gowns the area I'm interested in. And I found several with a similar silhouette, but usually fancier in style.

A rare Swedish example

Dorotea on an altar piece in Näs, Västergötland

Young woman from a chandelier Southern Germany, Swabia Early 16th century

Young woman in Basel by Hans Holbein the Younger

Pernille Krognos, ca 1533, Magleby Church, Denmark

The epitaph of Ide Munk in Valloeby Church, Denmark, ca 1545

These gowns look very similar to the one I want, minus the gollar.

Detail from The Fountain of Youth by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1546

I think it’s plausible to say this is a style which could have been worn in Sweden. As for construction, I think it looks like it’s closed at the front. As the top of the sleeves are hidden by the gollar, I think it may have a pouf there, but there are completely plain sleeves too. I haven’t decided what I want yet. I plan to use wool, even if silk or velvet are other possibilities.

I have some information about clothes worn at Gustav Vasa’s court, which of course is later than 1520. Black was the most popular colour, and velvet the most popular fabric, though silk satin was also in use. Seam allowances was 0,5-1 cm wide, and the seams generally pressed down or outwards. They were sewn in running stitches, between 3-7 mm in width, or stem stitches. (from Vasagraven (1956), edited by Martin Olsson)

And what about extant clothes? What we have is very scant, and none for Sweden. The most famous one is the gown of Mary of Hungary, dated to 1510-25. It doesn’t look anything like the gown I want to make, although the back may be similar.

Source

There is also the gown of Anna Jaigellon of Poland, ca 1547. Again it doesn't look much of what I want to make.

Source

I will also need a smock, hose, a kirtle, headgear, gollar and jewelry. But this post is long enough as it is, so that will be in part 2.

To read:

Amie Sparrow Early 16th Century German Peasant Clothing

Drea Leed The Well Dress’d Peasant, 16th Century Flemish Workingwomen’s Clothing

Eva Andersson Clothing and perceptions of gender and body in medieval and early modern period

Katafalk Tutorial for an early 16th century German dress

Do you have any other recommendations for must-reads?

Summer plans; a Victorian weekend by the sea

You can see from the last posts I haven't’ been idle despite my lack of blogposts. I also have plans for
the future. For the fifth year in a row, there'll be a Victorian weekend at Villa Fridhem, a Victorian
boarding house outside Visby. It was built in 1860 for the Princess Eugénie´I have never been there,
but last year a couple of friends went, and had so much fun I felt it was time to go.

The main problem are the clothes. You need a lot; morning clothes, bathing suit, daywear and evening
wear. And I don’t have any 19th century clothes. In fact, apart from the 1830’s, the 19th century
largely leaves me cold. But there are a lot of fun 19th century things going on, and I don’t want to miss
out. The time span for the bathing weekend is 1870-1900, and after discussing wardrobe with my
friend Lithia, we found a solution. I may not be super interested in mainstream fashion, but I’m always
interested in alternative fashions, regarding time. And in the late 19th century we have the often
overlapping Reform Dress movement and the Artistic/Aesthetic Dress movement. So Lithia and I have
decided to go as two artistic ladies, and make our wardrobe accordingly. It’s not a style which is
recreated often; possibly because it's faux-medieval look easily makes them look like badly researched
Medieval clothes.

I’ve finished a reform corset and one set of chemise and drawers. For morning and daywear, I’m using
the Sense of Style pattern. I’m making an overgown in black tropical weight wool, with an undergown
in white cotton batiste.

I’m going the white gown without the overgown for daywear. The inspiration comes from the
Skagen painters who often depicted their spouses in simple white gowns.

A Stroll on the Beach by Michael Ancher, 1896

I’m also making a bathing suit in dark green wool, using The Mantua Maker’s Grecian-Style bathing
suit.

As for evening gown I fell in love with this portrait. I’m making it in green/blue shot taffeta, with
slightly different sleeves.

Mrs Luke Ionides by William Blake Richmond, 1882

And I found these lovely Victorian belt buckle to wear with it!

Even if I will be wearing the reform corset for daywear, I’ll wear a proper corset for this one.

I originally planned to make a bicycle suit too but felt it would be too stressful for now. Possible in the
future! Also, coming up is a 1520's gown.

The 17th century hurluberlu hairstyle with a short tutorial

I started to write this post in September when I was about to go to an 1680 ball and I was doing research for the hairstyle called hurluberlu. It was a hairstyle which became fashionable in the 1670’s, and it was seen as a very new and daring style. But after looking at a number of paintings said to depict a hurluberlu, I wondered what it was. It’s often described as a wild array of curls around the face, but in one form or another, that had been fashionable since the 1620’s. But from what I can gather from my research is that the new thing with the hurluberlu was that it the hair was cut quite short.. Women in the 17th century wore their hair long. Even if the hair around the face could be cut to a shorter length to accommodate to fashion, the hair on the back of the hair was long and worn in a chignon. (An overview can be found here.)

Wild curls, but far too early. Unknown woman by Justus van Egmont, 1650-55.

Margaret, Lady Tufton by David des Granger, before 1650

The right time period, but she's wearing her back hair in a large chignon, wound with pearls. Anna Maria Carpegna Nero by Jacob Ferdinand Voet.

The hurluberlu needed a shoulder-length hair cut in layers, not only in the front but in the back too. It
was then parted in the middle and curled. The curls were deliberately arranged to look disheveled,
and when the hairstyle was finished the curls should not reach more than a finger width below the
earlobes, all around the head. The exception was two long curls behind each ear or the temples
which could be shoulder-length, or even longer. To keep the curls they were stiffened with Gum
Arabic or egg whites. The hairstyle could be decorated with jewelry or ribbons. The hair made the
head look quite round, which also earned it the nickname “cabbage-style”. Some called the hairstyle
youthful, while other claimed it made women look like men.

Three possible hurluberlu’s.

Elisabeth Tallyarde by Godefridus Schalken, 1679

Portrait of a woman, probably Anna or Maria Meulanaer by Nicholas Maes

Marie Mancini by Jacob Ferdinand Voet

At this point, my hair reached halfway shoulders and was cut in layers, so I thought it would be interesting to try to style it in the was of a hurluberlu. To curl it I used my standard curling method; standing pin curls. I parted my front hair in the middle and used a pencil to curl my hair around. And I made a lot of them; about 50. I prefer wet sets, so I slept on it.

A not so brilliant drawing of how I curled the hair.

A curling test run (I forgot to take pictures later). There were a lot more curls in the final set, but you see the idea.

When dry I brushed it out. Oooops.

Very disheveled, but hardly the right look. I bruche it for a while longer, brushing down and in. I
backcombed the roots a little to keep the volume. I then rubbed hair pomade on my fingers and
started to make separate curls. I curled a strand of hair around a finger, starting halfway from the
roots. It took a little time to go over the whole head, but it wasn’t difficult.

Until it basically looked like this.

 I then pinned up some of the hairs on the back of my head to keep the style uniform in length.

I pinned two long fake curls at my ears. And decorated it with loops made of silk ribbons.

Overall I was pleased with it. It could have used a bit more oomph, and I’ll probably add some short
fake curls the next time. I also need a lot more ribbon loops for a more opulent look.

Read more

Challamel, Augustin: The History of Fashion in France: Or, The Dress of Women from the Gallo-Roman Period to the Present Time, 2013

Corson, Richard: Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years, 2005

Harrison, Molly: Hairstyles and hairdressing, Dufour, 1969

Kelly, Francis M., and Randolph Schwabe. Historic Costume: A Chronicle of Fashion in Western Europe, 1490–1790. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1929.

Coiffures femmes Louis XIV (1643 - 1715): Pictures and text

Reinette: The Fashionable Hurluberlu

What I have been up to

I haven’t updated here for a year and a half. The truth is I got rather burnt out on writing. I’ve been
blogging about my sewing since 2014, starting on LJ and eventually also here, so I guess it’s quite
natural to grow tired. There has also been a shift in the blogging culture. When I started you could
count on interesting discussions in the comments, while you now rarely get any comments at all.
There are far more blogs to follow, and everyone has a finite amount of time reading them. And a lot
of discussions has moved to FB, for good and bad. I’m not better than anyone else- I rarely find time
for reading blogs anymore. But it still isn’t all that fun writing for the crickets. I’ve been debating with
myself what to do with my blogs. Close them, delete them, or continue writing. I have three, after all.
When I started I wrote so much it was easy to fill them all with content.

I still haven’t decided what to do with the other blogs, though I think I’m going to merge them with
this blog, and only post here in the future. As for this one, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s a practical
way to keep track on research on my sewing projects. Nevermind if those posts get comments, or not;
it’s still an easy way for me to check up on myself.

And I have been sewing. Since my last update I have finished, but not photographed; a 1910’s corset,
and one from the very first years of the 20th century. I’ve also made a Victorian chemise and trousers
set. And I also;

Made a late 18th-century apron for a common woman. It was a fashion to make aprons for festive
occasions of printed cotton. This one is a reproduction fabric from Duran Textiles, dated to 1745.

Cut off the too short skirt on a late 18th century round gown and made it into a jacket instead.

Added fake goldwork and a stomacher to my sleeved stays, and also re-made the petticoat. Then I
went to a ball at Versailles wearing it and had a lot of fun with my friends.

I also went to a few picnics, once in my 1740’s black wool jacket, and once in my striped 1790’s gown.

I made a mid-17th-century jacket in maroon wool and teal silk ribbons. I need to make re-make the
cuffs, though.

I finally made the early mantua I’ve talked about for so many years, out of a roll of Japanese kimono
silk. Wore it an amazing 1680's ball at Castle Salsta.

I realised I would never finish those Regency stays I started ten years ago, so I changed them slightly
into a late 19th-century reform corset.

Went as Flora to a masked ball in Bath, using the sleeved stays, without sleeves as a base, adding a
bunch of fake flowers.

And this summer I’m going to a Victorian weekend at sea on the island of Gotland. I’ve never done a
nything 19th century before, and it isn’t my favourite period. But a friend of mine talked it over and
came to the conclusion we really love the Pre-raphaelites and the Arts and Crafts Movement. So I’m
currently working on an artistic late 19th-century wardrobe. And, of course, a bathing suit.