From: owner-h-costume-digest (H-Costume Digest) To: h-costume-digest@lunch.engr.sgi.com Subject: H-Costume Digest V4 #23 Reply-To: h-costume Sender: owner-h-costume-digest@lunch.engr.sgi.com Errors-To: owner-h-costume-digest@lunch.engr.sgi.com Precedence: bulk H-Costume Digest Saturday, January 27 1996 Volume 4, Number 23 Compilation copyright (C) 1995 Diane Barlow Close and Gretchen Miller Use in whole prohibited. Individual articles are the property of the author. Seek permission from that author before reprinting or quoting elsewhere. Important Addresses: Send submissions to: h-costume@lunch.engr.sgi.com (or reply to this message). Adds/drops/archives: majordomo@lunch.engr.sgi.com Real, live person: h-costume-request@andrew.cmu.edu Topics: RE: GERMAN COSTUME COLORS - 1500 to 1550 German costume colours Viking lady Jewelry Sources Congress Gaitors Re: three terms used in the 1840's tablet-weaving Beginning costumer Carnival traditions Historic Pattern Sources re: tablet-weaving Re: tablet-weaving bead looms technical silk names Re: tablet-weaving Nun's Habits Men's vets hints ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 25 Jan 1996 22:09:09 -0700 From: savaskan@electriciti.com (Julie Adams) Subject: RE: GERMAN COSTUME COLORS - 1500 to 1550 >RE GERMAN COSTUME circa 1500 - 1550 Color choices were almost always heraldic in nature, but consider "sable" a fur with the rule that it can go either way. Most likely banding is in black or gold (usually a gold with black brocade that we cannot get, I've tried to find it...) In approximate order of popularity and generalizing heavily: Reds (anywhere from true reds to plums) Dark greens Black Brown Gold Peach/Pink Turquoise White And Occasional true blues or lavendar purples... Women seemed to wear usually two and rarely three colors and were symetrical in design. Unlike the men.... Julie Adams ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 04:07:09 -0500 From: Heidelbaer@aol.com Subject: German costume colours One of the titles showing some of the german costumes during the times: Wolfgang Bruhn, Max Tilke Kostumgeschichte in Bildern [an overlook (?) of the costumes of all times als folks from the antique to our time ...] 200 tables, with 120 in colour Wasmuth-verlag, Tubingen Reprint Drei Lilien-Verlag Wiesbaden without any year Christoph Buhler, Heidelberg Heidelbaer@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 07:14:44 -0500 From: Gary Stephens Subject: Viking lady Jewelry Sources Dear Gwyneth, You were asking: >I am looking for a source for the pins that Norse ladies wore to hold on >their aprons. There was someone at the Pennsic war this past year near the >play ground that had wonderful matched sets. I however was too busy to get >around to buying them at the time and the name of the company escapes me. ( >For some reason I bouught very little at the War this year, I am beginning to >think that the heat had more effect on me than I thought.) Thanks for your >help in advance. I would direct you to one of two people in Canada. The first is known in the SCA as Master Sylard of Eagleshaven, known in the read world as Darrell Markewitz. He is somewhat of an expert on Norse period, as well as being a superb black- and fine metal smith. He carries Norse ladies' pins in his regular stock as well as does all manner of custom orders and reproduction work for museums. You may contact him at darrell.markewitz@ambassador.com or at The Wareham Forge, Hamlet of Wareham, R.R. 2, Proton Station, Ontario, Canada N0C 1L0, bus (519) 923-9219. The other person to whom I'd direct you is known in the SCA as Mistress Breanaidh ni Naomin, known as Brenda Roy in the real world. Brenda is a real-world award-winning fine metalsmith and jeweler whose work I also highly recommend. She creates any number of modern and reproduction pieces which are simply spectacular. You may contact her at (705) 435-3874. Hope this is of some help. Lorina J. Stephens garys@flexnet.com author of _Touring the Giant's Rib_ & _Credit River Valley_ http://web.idirect.com/~canuck/lorina.html assistant editor Maple Syrup Simmering: Canada's Online Literary 'Zine http://web.idirect.com/~canuck/canzine.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 96 07:37:38 EST From: "ccuccherini" Subject: Congress Gaitors Good Morning. In a post dated Jan 25, Paula Sanders asked what Congress Gaitors were. Congress Gaitors are shoes. What follows is my understanding of what they looked like. They were square toed and about ankle high. They have elastic gussets on the inside of the ankles, so that you can slip your foot in and out. They had little to no heel. They are good for Civil War footwear. I hope this helps. Carolyn Cuccherini ccuccherini@casde.com c2carolyn@aol.com Alexandria, Virginia, USA ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 12:02:02 -0500 From: MorellEtc@aol.com Subject: Re: three terms used in the 1840's Dear Paula: While you state that these terms are in reference to a boys academy you do not state if it was a military academy or a school. If it was a military academy then there is a chance that the rifle coat refered to is the same as the rifle frock of earlier military periods and still in use in a modified form through the Civil War. It was also a popular form of garment for hunting and field work into the 1840's. It could also mean a frock coat cut on the lines of the earlier frock with no front waist seam and a looser fit. The reference to drilling trousers does refer to the material, probably cotton drilling. The reference to Merimac prints probably means a style of printed cotton shirting produced in the Merimac Valley textile mills in New England. (There is even a possibility that some of these prints may be in use today or could be reproduced.) Possibly seeing the terms in proper context would be helpful. You might consider putting at least the sentences in which they are used on line for people to see. Mike Morell (Morell Etc.) ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 96 13:06:27 EST From: "Stephen Davis" Subject: tablet-weaving I recently identified wood fragments from a 16th-century archaeological site as formerly part of a rigid heddle for tablet-weaving narrow tapes. Is anyone familiar with this type of weaving? Can you direct me to sources for comparative study. I am most interested in finding illustrations of tablet-weaving dating pre-1560. Finally, are any of you familiar with listservs which specifically focus on looms, weaving, and related material culture? Thank you. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 11:01:03 -0800 From: cynthia@caere.com Subject: Beginning costumer Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 06:21:07 -0700 (PDT) From: "Peter J. McDonough" Subject: Help! Man's vest !!!!! Hi!!!!! I am over my head in a Vintage sewing class and my sad tale follows ... .. . FACTS: I have about 20 minutes of beginner's sewing experience on a variety of beat up old electric sewing machines where I/we sewed a basic hand puppet for a puppetry class. You'll do fine, Peter! Check out the archives here at h-costume for the discussion entitled "What I wish I knew when I first started" and similar threads (so to speak). The discussion covered everything from how to look at sources to how to handle your tools. Above all have patience w/ yourself, --cin ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 96 15:44:25 est From: Hilary_Oak_at_SLU1@ccmaillink.stlawu.edu Subject: Carnival traditions Hello! Does anyone out there know about carnival costume traditions? Specifically I am interested in the 'button coats', the selection of the king and queen, and any ceremonies connected with the carnival royalty. Info on Carnival traditions from any culture (New Orleans, Brazil, Jamaica, England etc.) will be very helpful. Thanks alot! Hilary Oak ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 96 17:10:03 est From: Hilary_Oak_at_SLU1@ccmaillink.stlawu.edu Subject: Historic Pattern Sources Hi Barbara (and anyone else who may be interested), Past Patterns is a company name. They put out a nice line of historic patterns, primarily 19th and early 20th century garments. There is a terrific place called Baer Fabrics in Louisville,KY.. They carry several lines of historic & theatrical patterns(Folkwear, Past Patterns, Pegee of Williamsburg, and others). Their phone # is 1-800-769-7778, ask for the theatrical dept.. They are VERY helpful and they carry tons of fabric, notions, trims etc.. They will also send swatches on request and will ship cut yardage. Another cool place is Richard The Thread in Los Angeles,CA.. Their # is 1-800-473-4997. They carry some historic patterns and lots of supplies for vintage sewing. (corset busks etc.) They are a tad pricey but usually worth it. Tell 'em I sent ya! Good Luck - HO! (P.S. I don't get a commission for referrals, I just like these folks! ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Help! Man's vest !!!!! Author: BarbaraFN@aol.com at ~internet Date: 1/26/96 1:03 AM Hi, Hilary! I read your reply regarding man's vest patterns, and in it you mentioned Past Patterns. Who makes it? I need patterns for mid-nineteenth century jackets and dresses. I'm sewing costumes for the Nutcracker. Thanks for any help. BarbaraFN barbarafn@aol.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 96 15:02:01 MST From: mgriggs@shepards.com Subject: re: tablet-weaving "Stephen Davis" Wrote: | I recently identified wood fragments from a 16th-century | archaeological site as formerly part of a rigid heddle for | tablet-weaving narrow tapes. | | Is anyone familiar with this type of weaving? Can you direct me to | sources for comparative study. I am most interested in finding | illustrations of tablet-weaving dating pre-1560. Finally, are any of | you familiar with listservs which specifically focus on looms, | weaving, and related material culture? Tablet weaving, also known as card weaving, has been used by many cultures. Tablets have been discovered in archeological sites dating from as early as the Egyptians. The Vikings, Celts, and many other cultures are known to have used tablet woven trims. The weaving methods have varied little over the centuries. The best place to start research might be with your local bookstore or yarn store. Both will carry books on the subject. Some of the books are well researched and have good bibliographies to direct you to other sources. I have a couple at home and will try to remember to get the information to send to you. Maggie Griggs - --------------------------------- Lady Leofsige O Caoimh mgriggs@shepards.com - --------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 17:23:41 -1000 From: Jan McEwen Subject: Re: tablet-weaving Stephen, The classic book on tablet weaving is _The Techniques of Tablet Weaving_ by Peter Collingwood. Unfortunately, this is out of print (although I've heard rumors that it may be reprinted), but a good research library should have it. He covers the history of tablet weaving (briefly) from the 6th century B.C. to this century. There are some photographs of old examples of tablet weaving: p. 98 plate 44: wool band, Germany, Iron Age p. 155 plate 75: silk belt, Sicilian or Spanish, ~ early 1200's p. 157 plate 77: silk band (with inscription), Germany, 9-10th cent. p. 181 plate 96: wool band, Norway, 6th cent. p. 199 plate 107: silk band, 9th-10th cent. p. 229 plate 124: Egypt, 10th cent. my favorite: p. 230 plate 125: Jerusalem garter, 1649 (souvenir for tourists?) There's more, but most of the pictures are diagrams of weaving patterns, or examples worked by the author. If anyone could post other references to pictures, I'd be very grateful. I've just started to study tablet weaving and I haven't been able to find too many examples prior to 1650 A.D. Jan - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jan McEwen, Department of Horticulture, University of Hawaii SCA: Catriona Stewart, Barony of the Western Seas, Caid Internet: jmcewen@hawaii.edu ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 13:58:27 +1000 (EST) From: Carolyn Fraser Subject: bead looms Greetings all. When cleaning out some boxes under the house (standard thesis avoidance activity), I uncovered the bead loom I brought out to Australia from Canada. My question is, does anyone know the history of beading on a loom? Is this a post-contact technique used mainly in NA, or does it have European origins? Carolyn Fraser (adrift in the Antipodes where, at the moment, it is meltingly HOT) ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 02:01:01 -0500 From: kl94ag@badger.ac.BrockU.CA (Kathleen Leggat) Subject: technical silk names It has just occurred to me that my roommate's parents are in Malaysia for a couple of months and I'm looking for cheap silk... I'm sure I can send them money and they'll pick some up for me if I ask. First, does anyone know if there would be duty on a quantity of silk coming back to Canada? Or sent from Malaysia to Canada by mail? Secondly, I don't yet know the proper textile terms for what I want. Does the description "tissue-weight smooth white silk" seem likely to produce something I can make chemises and shirts from? Is there a technical term that would be recognized in Malaysian fabric stores? How about silk taffeta? Is that a general term? I also have a brother-in-law stationed in Yugoslavia. What great textile buys could I get from there? Linen...wool? Kathleen ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jan 96 7:48:06 EST From: Eric Praetzel Subject: Re: tablet-weaving > I recently identified wood fragments from a 16th-century > archaeological site as formerly part of a rigid heddle for > tablet-weaving narrow tapes. Ohhhh. Take pictures. I've seen pictures for tablet looms for making upto 2" wide fabric that dated back over 1,000 years. The simplest loom is 4 pieces of wood nailed together into a window frame. That will allow you to make fairly wide pieces. The technique goes back to an est. 1000 BC. The fabric produced is actualy 3,4,6,... layers of fabric thick with a weft holding it together. The weft is just like the weft of a normal fabric ie run across the fabric holding it tight. The warp fibers run the length of the fabric. In a plain weave the warp fibers are 2 deep and they alternate between top and bottom. In tablet weaving more fibers are used; and if you can imagine it; the fibers in a group spin around each other, with the weft holds it together. The pattern produced depends upon the number of fibers in each group, the spin (or lack of it) depending upon the rotation of the fibers the types of fibers .... The fibers/yarn are held in place/rotated by a card which has holes drilled in it. As you rotate the card the fibers rotate about each other. Once you see a picture it makes lots of sense. I'll be putting some pictures onto my WWW site at http://coulomb.uwaterloo.ca/~praetzel as soon as I get the pictures of my work developed. I have a book from ~1972 with lots of pictures, some dating to Egyptian times and another to a loom discovered with a work in progress, in Greenland from a Viking site I believe. I'll scan some of the pictures of the book and put it on my site in the next week. There are a few people in the SCA interested in this form of weaving and I know of at least one who is so serious that she frowns upon the SCA. My most recent work starts off with a loop of weaving at one end, leading into a normal weave, spliting open and then forming a tube. Since tablet weaving is typically 4 layers of fabric deep you can weave in a slightly different fashion to make 2 layers of 2 ply fabric, or a U shape or a tube. It is fun watching peoples expression as they try to look for stitches; and the whole thing is made in one continous weave :-) - Eric ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 10:13:48 -0600 From: bpnoble@mailbag.com (Bronwyn Noble) Subject: Nun's Habits On Mon, 22 Jan 1996 CLT@ENH.NIST.GOV wrote: > Can anyone tell me about nun's veiling? I have a description that > reads as follows: a very fine, soft woolen veiling, also used as a > dress fabric. How fine do they mean? Presumably the wearer would be > able to see through it, but how clearly would someone else be able to > perceive the face of the person wearing it? Not necessarily speaking as an authority on historic costuming, but remembering years and years of having "penguins" as teachers in grammar school (before Vatican II, that is), my memory is that nuns generally wore a close-fitting coif directly on their heads (most orders requires that hair be kept very, very short -- but I can't remember any that required their members to have their heads shaved). There would then be the veil itself. The style of veil depends on the order, but generally it consisted of either only a black length of wool or a length of black wool over white wool or linen, or (in the case of novices in most orders), a white veil. The veils were generally rectangular, pinned to the coif, and often pinned in the back to hold them to the required form. Again, one has to look to the requirements of each order -- and there were a large number of orders, even in the Middle Ages, although the most common were the Benedictines (who could adopt different styles since their vows were to each individual house rather than to the order in general, but who generally wore the white/black combination after profession and a white veil during the novitiate) and the Poor Clares (the female branch of the Franciscans -- and I couldn't tell you what their habit looked like). Bronwyn ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 26 Jan 1996 18:48:38 -0500 From: kl94ag@badger.ac.BrockU.CA (Kathleen Leggat) Subject: Men's vets hints I was a home ec drop-out until I started making 16th century costume. A friend showed me a few things, and the hints that made the greatest difference to me are: 1. Take the time to iron. When you sew a seam, iron it open. When you sew something together then flip it inside in, iron it. Suddenly, edges are cleaner, lines are smoother... (this sounds basic, but I thought I could save time) 2. Finish your edges. Particularly if the garment is unlined. It's so convenient to wear a garment straight from the wash, without trimming unravelling threads! 3. Trim your edges if they will be held together. That is, if, for example, you sew something together, then flip it, the edges will create a little ridge under the finished side. Take the time to trim one to about half the seam allowance. 4. Reinforce points. If you have sewn a point, go over it again. They must be clipped close to the stitching, and the added row of stitches help the point keep its integrity. 5. Clip closely. When you have sewn a curve, you must clip the seam allowance so it can form a straight line. It's better to have too many than too few. And clip closely to the stitches...frighteningly so. (for curves the other way, you make notches...the pattern will specify) 6. Make sure your seam is perfect before you trim and clip. Once you've clipped, there's no going back. 7. If a seam isn't right, pick it out and do it again. It's frustrating, but not as frustrating as trying to later fit a square peg in a round hole. 8. Anchor your seams at the beginning and end by sewing a few stitches, then reversing for a few stitches. 9. Stay-stitch curves before you sew. It's a line of stitches within the seam allowance that stops bias stretching on the curve. They'll be much more stable and easier to sew. 10. Don't be afraid to handsew if you're having problems getting something right with the machine. 11. Make sure you understand the physics of each step before you sew. Pin the pieces together the right way and make sure the step makes sense to you. If it doesn't, ask for help. 11. Buy extra fabric for your first few projects...just in case. I know this stuff sounds pretty basic, but after three years of home ec, I didn't follow any of it. (Didn't know most of it) It takes a little longer, but the benefits are tremendous. Kathleen (Catriona) (reformed sewing klutz) ------------------------------ End of H-Costume Digest V4 #23 ****************************** A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, send the command lines: unsubscribe h-costume-digest subscribe h-costume end in the body of a message to majordomo@lunch.engr.sgi.com. Thanks and enjoy the list!