Clothing for 1420-82 in the low countries: part 2 Women's hosen

This is a guide to show you how I make my hosen. This pair were made for sale and teaching, and as such are machine constructed. My own 15th century clothing is all hand sewn; the order of steps is much the same, with just a little more time involved.

This post will show you how to make some hosen using woolen cloth and a sewing machine. I would be delighted if you tried hand sewing, as I am convinced that it produces a better result but most people prefer to attempt new projects on the machine. I believe, now, that I need to adjust my pattern to remove the ankle seam. Though there is some (very vague) evidence that it could be acceptable, its absence in most illustrations makes me think that it must not be a common feature. First, some background.

 In Boccaccio's Decameron, you see women wearing footed hose, without shoes over the top, as well as hosen inside shoes. The left image shows a dark covering on the calf and foot, with a self-sole, not a shoe over the top. The middle image shows red socks worn alone and the final image shows red socks worn inside orangey red pattens or slippers. While it is not possible to see full length of these hosen, they are distinct from the images of women wearing shoes, and fit the foot and ankle closely, like men's self-soled hosen in the same document and many others of the time. None of the women's hose pictured shown seams though men's hose from the same document clearly show a seam running straight down the back of the leg.

  

 

http://www.wga.hu/index1.html   1412-1416

Women are also depicted wearing hosen in the Limbourd brothers' February. The lady in blue, seated, seems to have some sort of lumpy ridge around her left ankle and some wrinkled on her right shin. Her shins are also a slightly different colour to her hands and face, implying it is not visible skin. The woman in the background on the left (sorry for flashing their genitalia at everyone) clearly wears reddy pinkish hose, rolled down to under the knee. Since the bulk of the roll under her knee is finer than that of the man pictured in the upper right detail, it is possible that she wears short hosen.

http://appalachianforums.com/archives/Dickenson_County,_Virginia_Archive.pl/md/read/id/249290
The 15th century artist Israhel van Meckenem created this image. The hosen the woman wears are loose at the knee, and collected by a garter. The pattern is clearly extended straight up from the widest point of the calf. We cannot see if the garter is tied or buckled, though no loose ends are visible. No seams are visible on the front or sides of the legs, or around the ankle region.

http://romandelarose.org/#read;Douce195.001r.tif

France, 15th century, Roman de la Rose, Bodleian Library MS Douce 195, 66v, p. 138

In Roman de la Rose we see a woman wearing black hosen with black shoes. Only the edge of the shoe leather shows up, and there is a similar light line seen under the knee where a garter would sit. Since we know shoes were made from leather and the artist has depicted these edges in the same manner, it is possible that the garter is also made from leather. The woman again wears the hosen rolled down to under the knee, and no seams are visible.

Heironymous Bosch, Adoration of the Child, Detail  http://www.wga.hu/index1.html

From looking at the wear patterns seen on images of beggars and workers who had worn out the bottom portion of their hose, it appeared that it was reasonably common for hose to be worn away to the ankle. The logical progression from there is that it would seem sensible to replace hose feet when they wore out, since the remaining leg was still functional. I know that is all conjecture rather than fact - it simply explains my thought process when starting to make hose a few years ago. The image above shows a man sitting in front of a fire with either no foot portion on his hose or a single stirrup strap under the foot - I have a large poster of this image and it is still hard to tell if the line under his foot is a strap or a stick. I feel that he is holding his calf and there is a strap under the foot. Either way, this image was another that compounded my desire to attempt making hose with a seam straight up the back of the leg and another around the ankle. I have been wearing this style for a few years now and can say it is very comfortable and wears evenly. The next batch will be based on another pattern, probably something like this or this.

More pages to look at
This page has some useful related information including an extant garter. This page has a great picture showing some over-the-knee length hose hanging in a workshop, as well as very good information on construction and research.

So, I type this up and have a bit of a search only to find this page. Bettina's website has some new pictures of hosen, including an extant pair from the fourteenth century.

Construction Process

After deciding that I wanted make hose with a separate sole and a seam straight up the back of the leg, I began to pattern. I do not pattern from numbers, rather I pattern directly. That means that to make a new pattern I take some fabric with minimal stretch or stretch comparable to the finished material and I pin it on until it fits. This part of the process means you need to have a good idea of where you want the seams to sit, before you start pinning. The ankle seam came about after finding it was the only way I could get a truly snug fit around the top of the arch and back in to the lowest point on the calf. Evidence does not point to its existence, though it does not comprehensively deny it either. Not great research - more of a work in progress.

1. Make a pattern 

This document is not going to show you how to make a pattern, just how the hose are constructed. I will record some instructions to give a rough idea, though. 

Draw around your foot onto firm, non-stretch fabric and cut around this shape, making it at least a 2 inches too large. Drape fabric over the arch and pin it as tight as possible to the sole piece. Mark a neat line around the ankle. Try to remove your foot and ease the pattern off 3-4 mm at a time until you can work your foot out - it should be difficult but not impossible. Remember that the ankle will firm up as you sew a seam at that point. Trim the ankle line, remembering to leave 1 cm seam allowance. Sew the sole and upper together and try it on. Make adjustments until you have a nice fit. If this takes 10 goes, who cares. Better to get a good fit. Put the hose foot on and repeat the process to get a pattern for the calf piece.

2. Choose your fabric

I have selected a medium weight wool that has been lightly fulled. This type of fabric was becoming more common in the 15th century. It should be prewashed to reduce the chance of felting, shrinking and dye runs. Choose something that feels all right on your ankles, as there will be a lot of contact. Choose something with at least some bias stretch, as this will give a better fit. To check the bias stretch, look at the threads in the fabric. The grain goes along the same line as the threads, while the bias is along the diagonal line, 45 degrees to the threads. Pull it on 45 degrees to check the stretch. If you are looking for other options, silk hose were known in the fourteenth century and linen lining was present inside garments throughout the fifteenth. Wool, however, has usually been woven to provide the most give and provides warm as well as cushioning, making it ideal.

3. Cut the pieces out

Lay your pattern pieces so they are on the bias. Don't forget to cut a seam allowance. It is useful to mark the seam allowance on each side of each pattern piece. 

  sole

 upper

             calf

4. Constructing the Foot

Lay the upper on the sole. Pay attention to marking the left and right soles and uppers as well as the correct side of the fabric. 

Position the seam up the back of the heel. It can help to make positioning marks on the pattern pieces. Spend some time easing the pieces around the curves and pinning in place.

 Sew around the foot, taking care to ease the fabric of the upper to match the curve on the foot.

 When you are happy with the lower seam, sew up the heel. If you are going to flat fell the seams (which is certainly more comfortable), now is the best time.

Before flat felling the sole seam, clip the curve. On this fabric, I clip three quarters of the way in to the stitching, 1 cm apart on the curves and 5 cm apart on the straight.

 The flat felled seams join up like so on the heel. Try not to sew over the top of other seams. Hand sewing leaves much less visible seams.








The finished foot.

5. Adding the calf piece

 Pin the calf piece on to the finished foot. Be careful to line up the back seem with the heel seam. The hosen can look very messy if this is out even by a few millimetres. It can be beneficial to take a needle and thread to put a few tacking threads through the foot and calf pieces at the + intersection, in both directions.








After attaching the calf piece, flat fell the lower edge of the seam.










Sew up an inch of the calf seam and then flat fell upper portion of the ankle seam.










6. Finishing the hosen
Hem the upper edge and try on your new hosen. Don't worry if it takes 10 seconds, 20 seconds, a minute to ease your foot into the hosen. Once your heel is past the narrow ankle point, your foot should pop into the hosen for a smooth, comfortable fit.

Merchant: Medieval Design

Just stumbled across this online shop. They seem to have a wonderful range of items for the 15th century. I especially like the lacing rings and clothing hooks in the Findings section. I have not bought anything from them yet, so can't speak to the quality by feel, but the images and referencing looks promising. The prices are reasonable, too. Mmm bear cup...

http://www.medievaldesign.com/english.asp

Book: Medieval Craftsmen - Painters

This is a fantastic little book that I was lucky enough to chance upon in a second hand book shop, yesterday.

Binski, Paul (1991). Medieval Craftsmen: Painters. British Museum Press, London

It set me back a whole $4 but it is worth much more because it has information on mixing paint, artist contracts, Ghent and Flanders, a helm crest, gesso, utensils, easels and gilding. Jackpot!

Some of the interesting tools shown are two brush rests, as used by painters. They are both pictured as grey. The same colour is used on several containers of different sizes around the studio tables, making me think that they are either representing a metal or pottery. I have seen small pigment pots of ceramic or stone in other images, though metal could make sense as well. In the case of the painting of Thamar, the brush tray is grey while the pigment pots are brown, like a earthen ware clay, and some smaller vessels are more white, like oyster shells. In another image, also from the Boccaccio manuscript, Marcia uses a stick to rest her brushes, to keep the heads from contact with the table. This method is shown in other images of painters studios during the middle ages.

The blue lines show how the brushes rest. The right hand side of each blue brush is resting in to a part of each tray that is tilted down. It doesn't seem that there is any liquid in these depressions, and some of the brushes appear loaded.

There are some spectacular easels, too, but that will have to be a post for another time.

Wax tablets documentation

The following is the documentation for my wax tablets and tooled leather pouch. It is not a helm crest, but some of the leather work techniques will be used in making the leather base for a crest. 

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Kingdom Arts and Sciences Competition

Storage

Event                                                                 12th Night, 2013

Entrant             Lady Heilwich Gheerts                                         

Wax tablets to store information 

&

A tooled leather pouch to store the tablets

Summary

I made a wax tablet with 3 pages to record market takings and a leather pouch to store it. The tablets are based on15th century pieces from Switzerland (Asplund 2012).

The pouch is based on a tooled leather purse, Metropolitan Museum of Art (see reference pages at the end of this document).

I planed the timber by hand and used a reproduction bow saw and reproduction knife to cut it to size. I chiseled out the recess and poured blackened bees wax in. I cut and stamped the leather to decorate the front of the pouch which I then sewed together using waxed thread.

Next time I would get more appropriate timber, such as oak (European) or Huon Pine (more local and better for carving). I need to practice my plane maintenance, general woodworking skills and lining up holes to prepunch for stitching leather. I enjoyed tooling the leather design, I really enjoyed planing (very rhythmic and the wood shavings are beautiful) and am happy to have finally entered a Kingdom competition.

Comprehensive Documentation

Inspiration pieces

The set of wax tablets in a pouch are based on an extant set of wax tablets from the 15^th century, found in a monastery in St Gallen in Switzerland (Asplund, 2012), and an extant piece of tooled leather from an incomplete purse, also 15th century, held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 
   

Tooled leather purse, French, 15^th century

17cm x 18.9cm x 1.9cm

Wax Tablets - Planning and Construction

Wax tablets have been in use for many centuries before the Middle ages – Arculf, the Frankish Bishop was said to have drawn maps on wax tablets and extant examples exist from Ancient Egypt and the Bronze Age. The main extant waxed tablets that I have aimed to replicate are listed on Randy Asplund’s webpage as follows;

‘I had the good fortune to visit the medieval monastery of St. Gall in St. Gallen, Switzerland where I was permitted to examine and measure a tablet codex (book) of eight panels quite closely. They still had the 15th c. German writing cut in the black wax. All of the interior panels were two-sided while the end panels were only waxed on the inside surfaces. There were no holes cut for binding cords, and instead there was a sort of glued-on parchment along the spine. I do not know if this parchment hinging was added at a later date. …

The dimensions of the tablets are about 14.8cm tall x 8cm wide x 4-5mm thick at the edges. The border surrounding the waxed recess is about 7.5mm along the length and about 1.1cm wide along the short sides. The depth of the waxed recess is about 0.75mm, which leaves about 2.5mm to 3.5mm thickness of wood under the wax of a two-sided tablet… A set of eight boxwood tablets were found in York …Her description also reports that there were no hinges or other bindings, and that the tablets were discovered inside a leather case which also contained a small metal stylus.’

The examples shown in the references section display enormous variety.

Process

I have tried to use as many hand tools, materials and techniques as close to the original as possible.

  

I started by trying to source a timber that I knew was in use during the 15th century in Europe. I was unable to buy an oak, rosewood or beech in suitable quantities and I did not like the ivory substitutes. An Australian wood sculptors and workers organisation suggested that the darker merranti timbers were suitable for carving. Although merranti is an Indonesian timber, not European, it was free, came recommended and made a suitable colour substitute. I tried planing down a piece and found the grain far too coarse to chisel out the 0.75mm deep wax recess. Then a friend helped to remove some pews from a church and had excess timber. I have not been able to get the timber identified but at a guess I would say it is probably Silky Oak (an Australia grevillea tree with oak-like leaves, often used around the time of the time these pews were made, for cabinetry). These pews already had 15th century style arched fretwork on either end, showing the timber to be suitable for carving.

The timber pieces were far too thick so I used a table saw to rip them in half (from 34mm thick down to two pieces of uneven thicknesses). The smaller of these pieces was 10mm - 7mm thick. I bought a wooden boxed hand plane of a similar style to those shown in 15th century images and sharpened the blade. It was quite a challenge to learn how to align the blade only using my eyes, hand and the wooden wedge. I used a frame saw of a similar style to 15th century saws to trim some nail holes from the end of the piece and began to plane it to a uniform thickness. The base of the wooden box plane was not smooth enough and my skills in aligning the blade made it necessary for me to finish the timber with a better quality metal based hand plane. After another hour or so of planing, I was able to get the timber down to 5 mm thick. The beautiful shaving curls were gathered up in a basket and put aside for fire lighting and stuffing, just as you see small children doing in some images of carpentry workshops in the Middle Ages.

I used a sharp knife to trim the pieces to size by repeatedly scoring until the pieces were cut through. The thin pieces of timber were starting to bow in the humidity so it was necessary to sort the pieces into pages in a certain order to ensure they fitted well together. 

I measured the internal recess for each page and marked it out. Given there is such variety in wax tablets from the period, I chose to use dimensions that are reminiscent of the scale of the extant item but more suited to my pieces of timber. I scored the wood to 1 mm deep and used a wide, shallow carving chisel to remove the void. 

It was necessary to work with the grain and even removing such a small volume of timber produces masses of lovely wood shavings. I found the use of a work board with an end stop board and another chock holding it to the table, invaluable. I made the one in the picture above from pieces of scrap pine.

I lit a candle with steel, flint and char cloth, and then held a reproduction 15th century eating knife over the flame to collect the soot. The wax was cut from a large block and heated in a small ceramic cup in the oven. The soot was mixed into the liquid wax to darken it.

Filling the void in each leaf with the blackened wax proved to be a major challenge. I tried to paint to wax on with a thick brush, as suggested by Randy Asplund. Randy was able to see the extant item in person and wrote in his article that he believed the wax had been applied with a brush rather than poured in. I tried this but the wax seemed to cool and harden as soon as it touched the wood, making a clump on the brush that stopped any more wax spreading on to the tablet. I tried heating the tablet in the oven before applying the wax but it still cooled too quickly. I tried pouring the wax from a spoon and this made the wax form smooth pools.

In the end, I used the spoon to fill the recess with several hardened pools of wax and scraped the excess wax back with the back of a reproduction 15th century eating knife. This left scrape marks on the wax and dug out a few chunks of cool wax. A warm oven melted and smoothed the wax surface but also melted the wax into the open pores of the timber. I found it easiest to smooth these marks with my finger.

Leather pouch - Planning and construction

Inspiration pieces

This pouch was made in the style of a kidney purse, due to the similarities in the basic shape of the cover piece with belt holders and the popularity of the kidney purse in the mid fifteenth century. The leather piece the front is inspired by was a single piece of tooled leather, with a basic rectangular shape and slightly rounded corners. The text on mine says 'armours metient' which is a portion of the full text from the extant item;

'armours•metient

metient•ence•prigon

armours•metient  

'love holds me

holds me in this prison

love holds me'

Translation by the MMA

The concept of a love focused inscription is a common theme in the fifteenth century.

It seems that during the fifteenth century, leather was decorated using tooling, dying and cut work (examples in the references). I chose to decorate my tabulae pouch with tooled work.

I used the same font as was shown in the original leather piece and used design elements that were in a consistent style, such as the single motif to fill a space and bars of less decorated leather between the rows of text. 

 I measured the required pouch size and formed a pattern. I transferred this to the leather and cut it out used a sharp knife and metal ruler. I transferred the lettering to the leather using rubbing and then cut around the letters to about 1mm deep. I cut along the border lines and around the other images. Then I sprayed the leather with water, flexed it to open the boundary cuts and began to stamp down the background with a metal stamp and a hammer.

It was necessary to use a smaller triangular stamp to ensure the corners were imprinted before going back over the stamped area with a larger stamp to smooth the indented surface. The stitching holes were pre-marked, lined up and pre-punched. The seams were stitched and the pouch was oiled.

  

When stamping the leather, the first pass with the triangular tool differentiated the raised letters from the printed background (top left of image). The second pass was made with the larger square punch (upper right). The final pass used the larger flatter tool to smooth the background further and the edge to clear up the visual edge of the lettering (bottom left).

Evaluation

In order to get timber that is more historically accurate, I will purchase 6mm pieces of timber in what ever size pieces are on offer next time, instead of trying to make do with free timber, or would like to try quarter splitting and then sawing timber to size.. I enjoyed planing the timber down and my technique improved noticeably during this project, though I need to learn how to correctly position and chock the blade piece of my wooden box plane. Having a recess of less than 1mm on the tablets was actually achievable (I was not sure this would work when I started). Painting on the wax to create a smooth surface was not. Next time I would try to add more char black to the wax to ensure the under surface was not visible, or even try using other dye stuffs to make the yellow and green wax you sometimes see in wax tablets in images. Next time I will get to work while my friend has his forge running and try to make a stylus from metal.

References

Tooled leather purse, French, 15^th century. Accessed December 2012

http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/170018848?img=0

Asplund, Randy (2012). Wax tablets and Stylus. Accessed December 2012.

http://www.randyasplund.com/pages/article/waxedtabletstylus.html

Priest-Dorman, Greg and Carolyn Priest-Dorman. Making and Using Waxed Tablets: Some Highlights in the History of Waxed Tablets. Accessed January 2013.

 Ivory Waxed Tablet (accession number 71.279 )

France, ca. 1330-40, by an unknown craftsman. 

H: 4 9/16 x W: 2 1/2 in. (11.6 x 6.3 cm)

~*~

The Summoner’s Tale in Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales tells us of a friar who

‘…bore two ivory tablets, well appointed

Also a stylus elegantly pointed

He always wrote the names down as he stood

Of those who gave him offerings or food…’

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Wood and wax tablet showing the birth certificate of illegitimate twins

 April 29, 145 AD, from Alexandria, Egypt.

13.5cm x 18cm

Advanced Papyrological Information System website

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-2222/4529P2.TIF?lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;med=1;resnum=6;size=20;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=apis_all;q1=wax

*NOTE* This is one of many wax tablet birth certificates shown on the this website.

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6 wax tablets in pouch, late 14^th century, French

KBR, ms IV, 1278

http://www.kbr.be/collections/manu/nouveautes/iv1278/iv1278_eng.html

Accessed January 2013

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14^th century ivory wax tablet

KBR, ms. IV 1277

http://www.kbr.be/collections/manu/nouveautes/iv1277/iv1277_eng.html

Accessed January 2013

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William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.: Tabulae

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.

‘ Tabulae and Tabellae more frequently signify waxen tablets (tabulae ceratae),

 which were thick pieces of wood usually of an oblong shape, covered over

with wax (cera). The wax was written on by means of the stilus. [Stilus.] ‘

~*~

A boxwood writing tablet with a three-piece ivory hinge

Found in a ship wreck in Uluburun from 1300 BC.

http://www.bloganavazquez.com/2009/12/19/el-barco-de-uluburum-causa-y-consecuencia/  Accessed January 2013

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Two boys go to school, Livre des Vices et des Vertus

BNF Fr. 20320, fol. 177v, 15th century

http://www.larsdatter.com/tablets.htm

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Leather tooled pouch from Novgorod Archaeological Museum showing carved lines and external stitching.

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/slavic/leatherpouch.html

Accessed January 2013

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 Cut and tooled leather pouch from Novgorod Archaeological Museum

http://users.stlcc.edu/mfuller/slavic/leatherpouch.html

Accessed January 2013

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     75 AD     A Fresco showing a couple in Pompei painted with a wax tablet and stylus. Currently housed in Museuo Archeological Nazionale

http://www.historyofinformation.com/expanded.php?category=Paper+%2F+Papyrus+%2F+Parchment+%2F+Vellum                                      Accessed January 2013

~*~

 Jean Bourdichon 1505-1510

The four conditions of society: Work

http://frenchhistory.tumblr.com /post/33633417405

*NOTE* This image shows several tools, including two versions of planes, gouges and chisels, knives and a frame saw resting behind the man. I now have a lovely big basket of wood shavings, just like the child.