Misadventures of the Stuart Skirt, continued.....

Further Research

I plan to use Onion skins as the dye. Mainly because I have lots of them and they are taking over a corner in the kitchen. There is little historical evidence of onion skins being used as a fabric dye in Tudor and Stuart times. There is not much reference to yellow in skirts or petticoats in probate inventories and no reference to onion skin as a commercial dye in this period. But from some of the art of the period onion skin coloured clothing can be discerned.

1531

The lady's kirtle/gown here is like the colour obtained from a good onion skin dye.

1552 The Egg Dance Pieter Aertsen

The lady's sleeves here. I have got similar results from onion skins on a pair of my own sleeves.

1568 Bruegel

In this painting the gown of this dancing lady maybe lined with a fabric dyed with onion skin. There is one probate entry I have found that has a reference to a gown with yellow lining.

1630 Brueghel Pieter the Younger

This lady's petticoat could be too.

1650

This little girl's skirt looks like a faded or pale onion skin dye.

Pieter van Hooch 1658

And the colour of this little girl's petticoat looks like an onion skin dye.

But it is not conclusive as there maybe and probably is some aspect of artistic licence used here. But also a consideration could be that smaller items were dyed using onion skins on a domestic rather than a commercial basis, as a lot of these items are smaller and more easily dyed in a cauldron or the copper. So may be this particular dye was not used commercially but in small scale domestic activity. Just a thought.

Although wearing yellow hose was considered a sign of promiscuity!

On that note....

The Stuart age Skirt!

Misadventures of my Stuart age skirt....

I started by going to the museum where I volunteer and looking at their historic clothing. They put in a lot of research and have the advice of professionals in the construction of their clothing so I can not get better than that. Also as I plan to wear this skirt at this museum so it had better be as good as theirs.

All their historic clothing is fully researched and hand made. There is no corner cut to get to the finished article. No compromises are made. The clothing is all made from materials available to the average person for the period in question. It is all hand sewn in either linen or wool thread. The clothing and sewing thread are also naturally dyed where appropriate. So I have a lot to live up to...

I am already an avid natural dyer and seamstress. My sewing is probably not as good as their sewing, but I need the practise and you can only get better if you practise!

They are also very particular about the construction of the clothing and that it has to reflect the status of a particular house's occupants.

Firstly I had to look at the fabric used. Then the construction.

The fashion for the average woman in the Stuart age was to enhance the child bearing image of the figure! That is, to make your bum and hips look large and to have a good amount of support for the breasts. By this time the skirt and the top was separate. The skirt is made from a parctical wool lined with a light wool worsted or linen. This skirt is pleated for 90% of it's circumference. The front 3 inches being left unpleated. For the poorer women the width around the hips and bum is achieved through careful pleating. For the more upper class you may wear a bum roll. This is a curved sausage like pad worn around the hips and bum. You may wear a petticoat under the outer skirt. This petticoat is like another full skirt made from a wool fabric again and often dyed red. On your upper body you may wear a bodice that was called a pair of bodies or stayes. And then be more presentable you would wear a waist coat over these. It has been suggested that the bodies (Corset) was a fashion item for the younger generation and not for the married woman! This does to me seem likely. A more mature lady may have simply had a solidly made bodice instead. But this is my guess.
The fabric used for their outer skirt is a heavy wool twill in a beautiful grey. I did not have enough of my own heavy wool fabric left at this time so I thought I would use a lighter serge. I had already dyed this a blue with indigo. I tried to substitute it by adding some thicker fabric to the top. I have already lined it here with linen.

Next the construction. They are very particular about their cartridge pleating. I sat down and measured mine carefully.

Here you can see the white chalk marks. Each of these was to be the base of a cartridge pleat.

I then threaded a large needle with a heavy linen thread and started the pleating. Then Pulled. It began to look like the top of a pair of curtains! So it was going well. I then sewed through the pleats with some blue linen thread to secure them.

Here you can see the indigo dyed wool serge.

The problem came when I tried to sew it to a waist band. I managed after some hours to attach it to a waist band. But, try as I might I can not get the cartridge pleats to sit right. They kept wanting to go sideways.

I concluded that it was down to the fabric I used. The wood is just too light even with the band of heavy wood I added to the top.

I have bought some lovely heavy wool fabric in a cream shade from the re-en actors market and plan to start again...

This blue skirt I will turn into the skirt of a Tudor gown. No matter how much I tried this is what it looked like any way!

A pair of modern Moccasins.

These are a pair of moccasins I made a couple of years ago. They took me much longer to make than they should have done. Most of my beading projects end up like that.

They are constructed from smoked brain tanned buckskin. The beading was carried out in size 13 charlotte cut beads. The red are size 12 tri cuts in an iris coating. I have put a little Mother Of Pearl button in the centre of the circles. They are finished off with earth paints. I have rubbed a yellow ochre into the uppers and red into the laces.

I have made them to a traditional Cheyenne design but the colours are funky. I have heard that the design represents the tipi camp or the internal arrangement of a single tipi. With the door facing the rising sun. The design just below the tongue I have been told is the Morning Star.

The soles are made from a heavy latigo leather. Constructing Moccasins is one of my least favourite jobs. I do not mind beading them but sewing the upper to the sole..ergh.. I end up with lacerated hands.

The buckskin I used for these was a seconds. That is it was not the best. I was inspired to make these after I made a mini pair in similar colours. I saw how pretty they were and wanted a pair for myself.

I have always admired this traditional design. I would spend hours looking at old pairs and be mesmerised by them I knew I would make a pair one day.

It is great t be able to make moccasins as they fit like a glove. You can not buy a pair of shoes that fit better than a pair of Moccasins made for yourself. Because they have been heavily smoked they are very practical and I wear them a lot.

Bread Result..

It tastes good!

I can recommend this.

I used a mixture of flours. But I did include extra strong bread flour which is nothing like the flour of the past. It makes a light loaf more like the ones you can buy from the baker.

Bread.

We have ran out of bread again!

Today I am using warm Beer instead of water in my bread. This is more likely to have been used in the past before we had clean running water. I can not wait to see how it tastes!

I have plans to make a tiny wood fired bread oven in the back garden this year.

I have the base, the form and the clay ready. But, my husband has decided the form has much more use storing his stones for the garden.

I will have to get on with it soon because it will take months to dry before I can actually use it.

                                       (Picture from the Lutrell Psalter)



I have made bread using a sour dough in the past. It does rise but very slowly. I leave mine to rise over night. It tends to rise sideways rather than up wards! It has an interesting and not unpleasant taste.

I always have a batch of sour dough somewhere. It can be kept in the fridge and re vitalised when needed. But, it does take more patience than modern yeast. You have to prepare in hours in advance and sometimes the night before depending on how long it has been stored. Sour dough makes lovely cakes!

We are spoilt today with our fine bread. In the past the flours would be mixed - barley, pea, rye and so on. The wheat did not contain as much gluten either so the loaf would be heavier and more sustaining.

A bread made entirely from pea flour and prepared in the same way as normal bread is made tastes fowl. There is no gluten in pea flour so the loaf is like a brick. This would be a famine bread. But, if you use a quarter in total or less of pea flour it tastes quite good.

A Busy Weekend.

No rest for the wicked...

Saturday was spent at the re enactors market.

Yesterday I was tudor spinner!

I managed to spin quite a bit on the great wheel. It is a fun thing to use.

Spinning was one of those tasks that was  not a priority. You would do it in between all the more important tasks. Such as the garden this time of year. Sorting out the veg and herbs to sustain the family.

Spinning was a way of bringing a little more money into the household.
It is thought the term pin money originated from this extra money earned, you may use it to buy your pins. A lot of your clothing would have been fixed with pins and you may want to arrange a fancy head dress by folding and pinning a piece of linen over your coif. It was a way of expression that was allowed.