Viking-Era Silk Cap Reconstruction

I completed this project a couple years ago, but it came back to mind recently when I started gathering pieces and research for my mother's Age of Exploration costume series. I wore it once, as a student teacher, when I was going over Beowulf with my students but I haven't worn it since. Hopefully Mom will get a lot more use out of it!

Extant Cap at the Museum of York in England

When I was initially getting into Viking costume, I remembered seeing an extant cap when I was studying abroad in London. I had taken the train to York for the weekend to see the Jorvik Viking Museum and be-bopped into a couple other museums along the way. An email to the museum resulted in a reply with these specifications:

"Viking cap, tabby weave. Simple hood-shaped cap, fashioned from a single rectangle of plain-woven, hand-spun, undyed silk, shaped by a centre-back seam, which ran on the straight grain for [approximately] 17.5cm from the lower (neck) edge, curved over the back of the head and terminated as a flattened tapering dart, the point of the dart being approximately 5cm from the face-framing front edge. 

The straight edges of the seam are neatened with double hems, 1.5mm wide, which had been turned to the underside and hemmed from left to right, before the seam was closed. Where the seam was curved and on the bias (and now open) the turnings are cut roughly , unfinished at the edges, and of uneven width. 

The seam had been closed with neat, fine oversewing, worked on the outside of the cap with finely-spun silk thread. The stitching appears to have been started at the point of the dart, and continued to the lower edge, where the right-hand side is 1cm longer than the left. On the inside, needle holes and impressions of stitches show that the dart had been pressed towards the right-hands side, and hemmed flat, along the fold.

The cap is cut with a selvedge edge [framing] the face. This and the two ends of the rectangle which for the lower edge of the cap had been neatened with exceptionally fine roll hems. The remains of two groups of stitches, close to the front edge, at each side of the cap, from which sharp creases radiate, probably indicate the former position for ties for fastening the cap closely around the head. Thread Count 66 end per inch warp, 51 picks per inch weft. Two prominent holes at the back were probably caused by friction during normal use."

He was also kind enough to include another image of the cap:

Courtesy of the Museum of York

At the time, I couldn't quite afford undyed silk, so I used some white linen left over from another project. I pulled back out my hand-sewing reference and tried to come as close as possible to the measurements as I could. I don't remember where the straps came from - I was either inspired by another reconstruction or by my inability to keep hats on. It was probably a combination!*

Whole cap, open to show hem-stitch and strap attachment.

The curved dart, from inside.

The curved dart, from outside.

Overall, there are several changes I'll make before I attempt this again: 

• Use the undyed silk the original is constructed from, and make sure to get a large enough piece that I can use the selvedge to frame the face, like the original. The piece of linen I started with was 28" by 10", so in the future I will get a 23" by 8-1/2" piece with selvedge, which factors in the next note: 
• Shorten the length to match the proportions of the original - it's a bit long right now, and drags too much on my shoulders. The original only comes about an inch below the glass model's jawline, so my next attempt will be about 2" shorter. 
• Leave the strap off!

Altogether this was more of a muslin than a finished piece but I've learned some important things from it that I will use in the future.

*Update: I was re-reading some of my materials, and I remembered where the strap came from: Compleat Anachronist #59: Women's Garb in Northern Europe, 450-1000 C.E. on pg. 48.

Truly Victorian 102: Victorian Chemise

Like the Christmas cloaks for my godsons, this also represents me playing a bit of catch-up. I think I finished this project over winter vacation. I absolutely hated the last chemise pattern I attempted, but I was buoyed to try the chemise in Truly Victorian #102 both by all the positive reviews and by another blogger's wonderful attempt: Cargo Cult Craft.

I love the linen she used, but I'm not ready to head straight for it - I'm making this initial one out of a nice cotton fabric. There's a lot less guilt in that direction, especially if something goes wrong!

Mei-Mei photo-bomb

On to the construction! One thing I really appreciate about Truly Victorian's patterns is that they are heavy-weight paper and much more durable than the flimsy tissue most commercial patterns come on.

They do sometimes lack detail in their directions, but between other costumers' blogs, trial and error, and even emailing the company you can usually work through it. That won't be a problem here, though - this is a four-piece pattern!

The "Grr!" Moment

Once I cut it out and started construction, I did find one significant problem with the pattern. The directions only list 1-1/2 yards of insertion lace for the neckline for ALL pattern sizes. Let's be honest here - a teenager with a 30" bust is not going to need as much as a lady with a 56" bust! I ended up being 7-1/2" too short. I did email the maker, so hopefully that will be fixed in the future.

I forgot to take more pictures during the process, sorry! Here you can see a shoulder detail. I love the way the insertion lace looks, but when I make this out of linen I think I will scrap the arm lace and the button and just go for the simple sleeve. Objectively, the button is a good idea for neckline adjustment, but in practice it just adds bulk and takes away from the already narrow armhole.

 While not as big of an issue as the insertion lace, the pattern did omit the length required for the hem lace. I did a rough measure of the pattern hem and estimated 3 yards, which was just about right. If I remember correctly, I had a little bit of wiggle room, but I can always find uses for extra notions!

This is a shot you will almost never see from me - the inside of the garment. I used flat-felled seams whenever possible, and used a really, really narrow zig-zag to finish up the spots where it wouldn't work. I'm actually proud of how neat and clean it looks.

From start to finish, this took two days. It would have been one, but I had to send the husband back out for another length of insertion lace because of the mis-print.

It did turn out a little see-through - hence the hanger instead of a model! The length is wonderful, the neckline adjusts perfectly to hide behind different bodice heights, and it's just plain cute!

I am certainly going to make this one in a lightweight linen. Keep your eyes peeled for the project!

Christmas Cloaks for the Godsons

Last Christmas I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what I could do for two boys who live half the country away and that I don't see nearly often enough. As usual, things were a little tight so I went through my stash to figure out what I could make happen. Luckily, I still had some wools that I had been holding for their mother, my friend Katie. Add in a little cotton for the inside lining and some very cool dragon trim I'd been hoarding and the idea for some cozy cloaks was born.

I waited until the next sale at JoAnn's and picked up McCall's pattern #6420 and some cloak clasps. I felt weird getting a pretty-pretty princess pattern, but none of the other children's cloak patterns were on sale!

Katie sent me the boy's heights, and I did my best to figure it out. Kaiden's was easier, because it actually followed the pattern. Connor's was more difficult, because they don't really cut the patterns down to toddler size and I don't have access to any real-life models!

I had just enough of the blue wool to line the back  inside with it, and I used black cotton to line the parts that would actually touch his skin. For Connor's cloak, I had to be a little creative in the cutting to get just enough for the outside, so I did all the lining out of Symphony Broadcloth in brown.

My favorite part of both cloaks is the trim - that's why I hoarded it for so long! The trim is actually double-sided, so I used the side that was more purple for the blue cloak and reversed it to the mostly-gold side for the brown one.  I did have to employ a trick I learned from the Wooley's back in Fairbanks - using an iron to slightly round the trim before I sewed it down. I'm always surprised at how well it works, but it's saved me a lot of headache with wide trim on curved surfaces!

I still haven't seen any picture of the boys in them, but Katie tells me they fit well, and the boys enjoy playing superheroes! If she does ever send me pictures - and gives me permission - I would love to post pictures of the boys in their cozy cloaks.