14th Century Wool Hood

Overview Period/date: 14th Century

Country of Origin/Style: Greenland

Description: This entry is a hand-sewn wool hood sewn with hand-made thread from Greenland inspired by an extend find in Herjolfness. Materials Used: • (Purchased) hand-spun and hand-woven wool • Hand-spun wool thread • Hand-Spun wool yarn • Dye made from bay leaves and ongoing skins Process/techniques used: • I hand spun the wool thread for sewing • I hand spun the wool yarn for binding the edges • I created a natural dye from bay leaves. And onion skins to match the wool fabric • I mordanted and dyed the yarn and thread • I created a pattern based on the extant garment to fit my husband and cut the fabric out. • I hand-sewed the seams of the hood from the outside • I flat felled and bound the seams with the yearn and whip stitch. • I finished the face edge with a stab stitch. Primary sources: File:Sheep pen (Luttrell Psalter).png. (2012, January 26). Retrieved August 21, 2012, from Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheep_pen_(Luttrell_Psalter).png Kuchenmaistrey, 1485. Germany. Leed, D. (n.d.). D yers from the Tratatto dell'Arte della Seta. Retrieved July 31, 2008, from Elizabethan Costume Page: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes/dyepics/tratatto.html Lilli Fransen, A. N. (2011). Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns. Oakville, CT: David Brown Book Company. Ostergard, E. (2004). Woven into the Earth. Oakville, CN: Aarhus University Press. Uytven, R. v. (1983). Cloth in Medieval Literature of Western Europe. In K. G. N.B. Harte (Ed. ), Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe (pp. 151-183). London, England: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd.

Background In the early 1900’s, an archeological dig in Herjolfsnæs (Ikigaat), Greenland unearthed 70 of the most well-preserved garments from the Middle Ages. Adult and children garments were found wrapped around the buried, and were incredibly intact due to slow decomposition. For this project, I targeted a Liripipe hood with a shoulder cape D10597 (Nørlund No. 66) (Ostergard, Woven into the Earth, 2004, p. 178), which was buried 75 cm below the first layer of the dig. That placed it around the early 14 th century when compared to other items in the strata. Carbon dating and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dating on these garments are only accurate within about 100 Nock in years, so this places all the front garments in the dig in a fairly wide range of dates, most centering on the early 14th century. The hood has a liripipe and a gusset in the middlefront of the cape. The hood is currently in a fragile state. It has been mounted on a background fabric which makes it hard to discern details. Note that in the museum Museum number D10597, Hood in 2/2 twill. (L illi Fransen, 2011, p. 110) reconstruction to the right, the darker brown fabric makes this look like the gusset is coming straight off the hood face opening; however, there is actually a nock under the chin on the original hood. The original garment was unlined.

History of Greenland and Influence on and from Europe Greenland became populated in approximately 2500 B.C.E. from the west. It came into European knowledge when Icelandic Vikings visited there in the 10 th century, settling in the 12th century (History of Greenland).

Despite the distance from Europe and the treachery of the seas, Greenland had a healthy trade going with Iceland and Europe. The Sagas tell of trips by people to and from Europe, as far south as Rome. The climate in Greenland was such that farming, sheep and cattle raising could only occur in sheltered areas of the land mass, and the colony was never self-sufficient. This made the Greenlanders have to trade. Ships sailed regularly from Europe brining timber, iron and iron goods, tar, corn and grains, salt and other items, taking back walrus and narwhale tusks, sealskins, walrus -rope, wool, falcons, and the occasional live polar bear. The ivory from this tra de was in high demand in Europe (Marcus, 1954). The Greenlanders and other Norse settlements considered themselves part of medieval Western Europe (Ostergard, Woven into the Earth, 2004, p. 6), and their fashions showed that they were trying to follow the fashions of Europe that were showing up on their shores. The colony began to die out in the early 15 th centuries. This decline was due to the decrease in temperatures and growth of the ice cap which caused dry weather and loss of arable land. Trade during the 14th century declined rapidly, mostly due to icebergs making the journey more treacherous, but the Herjolfnaes archeology shows that trade did continue through the 15 th century with occasional visits from the main-land. Clothing items whose style dated to approximately 1500 in Europe were found in the excavations (Marcus, 1954).

Greenland trade rou tes (Mandia). These moved slightly south in the later centuries when icebergs began showin g up in these common trade rou tes.

Materials and Tools Item

Drop spindle

14 th Century Materi al

Drop Spindle – Drop spindles were used for over a thousand years in Europe and influenced countries. “The Bruges schoolmaster even knew of the prevailing bias against the spinning wheel [in the 14 th century]; the yarn produced by the wheel, he said, had too many knots. His spinster preferred working with the distaff to produce yarn for warp” (Uytven, 1983)

My M aterial

I used wooden drop spindles for the spinning. All wood spindles were available to me, and were similar to the Greenland finds.

Substitut ions and Notes No Substitution

The hook on the bottom allows for these spindles to also be used as top-whirled spindles, which was also known in the Greenland area.

Spinnin g instru ments fro m Greenland (Ostergard, 2004)

pots

Mid-15 th c manuscript shows use of a kettle over an open fire heat source.

(Leed)

Metal pots

No Substitution

Heat source

Images of dying show some sort of pot over a fire. Images from (Leed).

I used a modern cooktop. In essence, this is no different from the medieval cooktop other than the fuel source.

Modern cooktop. No change in final product from this substitution

For this project, I chose fine (62 grade) white merino wool with a long staple, pre-washed and carded.

I suspect the wool I used is a little finer than the hardy wool from the Greenland sheep.

Cooking on a stove was known in period as shown in the woodcut below. (Kuchenmaistrey, 1485, 1978)

Wool

Norse settlers colonized Greenland in approximately 1000 AD and raised sheep and cattle. In the late 15 th century, temperatures were dipping drastically, leading to the demise of the colony in late 15 th c. During these centuries, the sheep were hardy, and had long hair. The samples found in the burial at Herjolfsnes are Hairy or Hairy Medium fleece types and these are related to the Orkney, the Shetland, the Landrace, the Gotland, and the Spaelsau sheep. The colors of the wool in Greenland came in black, brown, gray and white. (Ostergard, Woven into the Earth, 2004)

Luttrell Ps alter wh ite sheep, mid 14th c En gland .

(File:S heep pen (Luttrell Ps alter).png, 2012)

mordant

dye

“set on a pan full of water; when it is hot put in a peck o f wheat bran, and let it boil a little; then put it into a tub, and put twice as much cold water unto it, and let it stand until it be a week old; having done so, then shall you put to ten pounds of w ool, a pound o f alum, and so soon as it is melted, put in your wool, and let it boil the space of an hour. (Markham, 1986, p. 147) Natural dyes from natural substances were found in Greenland in the excavations (Ostergard, Woven into the Earth, 2004, p. 80).

Alum was used as my mordent.

Yellow were achieved from many different plants, including Tansy and Dyers Greenwood (Uzzel, 2006).

I made a dye fro m plants available to me. I used a book about dyes from American plants (Lynne Richarge, 2005) to select those that would give me yellows. I first tried Willow, but the dye was a little too brown. Onion by itself was a little too orange, so I settled on ba y leaves and a few onion skins.

While I found no evidence of bay being used for a dye, it was well known and used for multiple purposes in the middle ages. It was a plant material available to me.

water

Spring Water

Spring Water

Spoons

Metal and wood spoons

Metal and wood spoons

Needle

Bronze, iron or bone needle (Ostergard, Woven into the Earth, 2004, p. 111)

Bone needle

No Substitution No Substitution No substitution

Wax for thread

Unspecified wax (Ostergard, Woven into the Earth, 2004, p. 98)

Bee’s wax

No substitution

Techniques and Processes Item Spinning the thread and the yarn

Medieval Process Threa d was crea ted us ing drop spindle s and s pinning whee ls. Drop spindle s we re rea dily availa ble to m ost wome n, and were comm only com mercially us ed in the 14th century.

My Process I used the drop s pindle to create the ya rn a nd thread. Since I was spinning small quantities, I could wrap the fibe r a round my left wris t as I spun.

Substitutions and Note s No substitution

Figure from 1300 using a s pindle and dista ff which holds her fiber (Osterga rd, Woven into the Earth, 2004, p. 47).

The thread used for sewing the Greenland garments was Z-spun (clockwise).

Patterning The original hood

was made from white wool in a twill weave. From the garment measurements, the height was about 27 inches and the cape was 55 inches. The liripipe was 2.36 inches wide and 19.69 inches long. There is a gussent in the middle-front of the cape (Ostergard, 2004).

My left hand held the fibers and my right pinched the fibers above the spun fibers and slid out more from my left hand as the spindle was whirled clockwise, forming the z-spun thread. I spun thread for the sewing and a thicker yarn for binding the edges of the wool seams.

After sizing for my husband, the finished hood is 25.5 inches long and the cape is 55 inches. My liripipe is 2.5 inches wide. I used all the available fabric since it was so precious and made the liripipe 31 inches long.

Slight measureme nt adjus tme nts were ma de.

Dyeing

“Firs t boil your wool in a lum and wate r; then take it forth a nd when it is cold…” (Mark ham, 1986, p. 147) “…and boil them both toge the r in two gallons of running wa te r; then shall you put y our wool the rin a nd boil it; (Ma rkham, 1986, p. 147)”

I crea ted the dye by boiling bay leaves and a bit of onion sk in overnig ht in wa ter from our well. I did have to redo th is a couple times in various am ounts to achieve a dye to ma tch my fabric we ll enoug h. Afte r the dye was made, I straine d out the leaves.

The yarn a nd threa d were place d in the hot mordant. I kept it in tha t bath for an hour. It was allowed to cool before re moving it from the morda nt ba th. Mordant ba th shown below:

The yarn was a dde d to the the warm dye and allowed to sit until the rig ht color was achieve d. It was rinsed we ll in wa rm, the n cool wate r.

A modern cook top was used. See Materials a nd tools for medieval equivalents. No change to e nd product.

Hand sewing the hood.

The long seams of the ga rme nts at Herjolfsnæ s we re sewn from the right side of the fa bric, not like m ode rn seams a re put togethe r (Os terga rd, 2004). Sma ll invis ible s titches were put in from the right side of the garment.

An ove rcas t process was use d to finis h raw endes. Overcast stitches we re worked over a thread that cove red the raw edges.

(Oste rgard, Woven into the Ea rth, 2004, p. 97) The e dge finish was s ome times found with one or two rows of sta b s titching towa rds the oute r e dge.

First, I had to put the e dges of the piece s toge the r s o they we re eve n and the n I pinne d them on the wrong side. T urning to the right side, a nd a fte r waxing my threa d, I did a n invisible stitch down the leng th of the seam on the outs ide of the hood.

Turning to the inside, I laid the thicke r ya rd down over the raw edge of the sea m. I overcas t over it with the sewing threa d.

No subs titution

(Oste rgard, Woven into the Ea rth, 2004, p. 97).

The fa ce ope ning of the hood has one row of stab s titching to hold it in place. I thought this would be getting m ore wea r a nd wa nte d to stabilize it.

Bibliography File:Sheep pen (Luttrell Psalter).png. (2012, January 26). Retrieved August 21, 2012, from Wikimedia Commons: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sheep_pen_(Luttrell_Psalter).png History of Greenland. (n.d.). Retrieved July 24, 2008, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland Kuchenmaistrey, 1485. Germany. Leed, D. (n.d.). D yers from the Tratatto dell'Arte della Seta. Retrieved July 31, 2008, from Elizabethan Costume Page: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/dyes/dyepics/tratatto.html Lilli Fransen, A. N. (2011). Medieval Garments Reconstructed: Norse Clothing Patterns. Oakville, CT: David Brown Boo k Company. Lynne Richarge, R. J. (2005). Dyes from American Native Plants. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, Inc. . Mandia, S. A. (n.d.). Vikings during the m edieval warm period. Retrieved July 12, 2008, from http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/vikings_during_mwp.html Marcus, G. J. (1954). The Greenland Trade -route. The Economic History Review , 7 (1), 71-80. Markham, G. (1986). Th e English Housewife. (M. R. Best, Ed.) Quebec, Canada: McGill-Queen's University Press. Ostergard, E. (2004). Woven into the Earth. Oakville, CN: Aarhus University Press. Uytven, R. v. (1983). Cloth in Medieval Literature of Western Europe. In K. G. N.B. Harte (Ed. ), Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe (pp. 151-183). London, En gland: Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Uzzel, H. (2006, December 6). D ye Equivalent Colours. Retrieved Au gust 23, 2012, from Regia An gelorum: http://www.regia.org/members/dyes.htm