The
Moselund Kirtle
 |
| Top, Extant Garment; Bottom, My Reconstruction |
Crafted
and documented by Tiarna Bránn mac Finnchad
The Find
The
Moselund gown was discovered in a bog 1884, in the Moselund Region of Central
Jutland (Denmark), on a male bog body.
The body is stated to have been 180cm (6 feet) tall, and has been
radiocarbon dated to between 1050-1155AD.
It does not seem like there has been much in the way academic studies on
the find—just
about every page I have found refers to Ancient Danish Textiles from Bogs
and Burials by Margrethe Hald[1].
The
original museum reconstruction—since the threads had dissolved and the
garment was in all of its separate pieces—was as some kind of strange trouser suit
with a matching cape[i]. In 1938-1939[2]
it was re-examined and sewn together in its current configuration.
 |
| Central Jutland |
Description
The
Moselund find is a tunic, corresponding to Nockert Type 2[i]
or Nørlund Type Ic[ii],
with front and back slits. It is a
fairly loose fit, though with close shoulders, and semi set-in sleeves
(complete with ‘S’ sleeve heads). It appears to be mid-calf in length
(approximately 49 inches in length, according to my calculations). There appears to be little to no signs of
wear before it ended up in the bog, with its unfortunate wearer.
It has
been declared as the only surviving example of the blaðakyrtill (of the
Icelandic Sagas)[iii]. Looking into the term, kyrtill does
mean kirtle—nothing odd there…but blað
means leaf, blade, or skirt (of a kirtle).
Blaðra can also mean “to flutter to and fro”, which
may be an apt description of the skirts of this garment when being worn in the
wind or whilst riding.[iv]
Construction
 |
| From Marc Carlson's Webpage |
Due to the decomposition of the threads, we do
not actually know for certain how the garment goes together…however,
the museum in 1939 made its best, reasonable guess, based on their current
knowledge. I did look at a couple other
options (rearranging pieces, etc.) and, personally, I feel that this is the
most reasonable way to assemble the pieces, based on the various measurements
(which match up nicely, in the side seams).
The
pieces: Back—rectangular;
Front—both
narrower and shorter than the back, with curved armscyes and slanted shoulders;
Two side gores, consisting of three (left side) and four (right side) pieces,
which slant up behind the back shoulder; Two “pleat topped” center gores (front two pieces, back is one
piece with a slit); Two sleeves with ‘S’ curved sleeve heads and what seems to be an
“elbow
pocket”.
Extant Materials
The
Moselund kirtle was sewn of a “brownish vaðmal”[i] in a 2/1
twill weave of Z and S spun wool, at 14/10 threads per centimeter[ii]. The woven fabric was fulled. No traces of thread were found—based on
this, I believe it was sewn with linen, which would dissolve in the same acidic
environment which will preserve wool[iii].
My Goals
My goals
in making this garment were:
·
To discover, for myself, exactly how the
garment fits and goes together.
·
To show my ability to draft a pattern off of
an extant garment, and my crafting ability.
·
To challenge my ability to document a
project like this, to draft proportionate measurements, and to force my faith
that those measurements are, indeed, correct.
I chose
the Moselund Kirtle for my Queens Artisan’s project for the following considerations:
·
I felt it was a project of sufficient
complexity to “qualify”, in my mind;
·
The style of project suits me—making a
garment as close to period as I can, focusing on the detail of accuracy of cut
and construction, and not the decoration (I don’t particularly enjoy wearing fancy
clothing).
·
The Moselund Kirtle is something that had been on my project
list for several years (complete with fabric).
·
And finally, because I have been unable to
find any documentation for close reproductions of this garment online—thus
forcing me to make my own decisions (right or wrong) when constructing this garment.
Seams
There was
no information available on the means by which the pieces were put
together. Therefore, the following are
my own decisions (which I will attempt to outline the reasoning for) based on
my knowledge of period seams[1],
application of a magnifying glass to an image of the Moselund kirtle laid out[i]
as I looked for evidence of stitching, and my theories as to the meaning of the
evidence I did see[2].
 |
| Main Seams (outside) Stab stitch and whipstitch |
 |
| Select "invisible" seams (inside) Fine stab stitch, and blind whipstitch |
I chose
two treatments for the construction. The
majority was done by felling the seam allowances to the side with a stab stitch
(chosen because it is similar, but neater than a running stitch), and the
pieces sewn together right sides together with a whip stitch. The second seam type is the opposite, with
the pieces sewn right side together with a stab stitch, and the seam allowances
felled with a “blind” whipstitch (which is invisible from the
right side).
I am now—after the
construction is complete—having doubts about my theories. I will discuss this in the section on
construction.
Looking
at the majority of the edges on the pieces (exceptions being the long seams
down the arms, and the horizontal seams on the side gores), you can see that
they are folded under and you can see a faint puckering, such as that left by a
running stitch. I also felt that the
fact that the allowances were still pressed under after all these years was due
to the use of a whipstitch (to join the pieces), which would compress the edge
more—possibly
leading to what I saw.
In the
exceptions mentioned above, the seam allowances, while still pressed under, did
not have as pronounced an edge. I also
did not see the puckering that led me to believe that a running stitch was used
to fell the seam allowances.
My Materials
I chose,
of course, a twill woven wool which had been washed and fulled, from my fabric
stash (and originally from Joann’s).
The colour is a dark chocolate brown I like, and that I felt would
contrast nicely with the white of the stitching that forms the only decoration. I believe that it is more loosely woven than
the material in the extant garment.
The
thread used was a 60/2 white linen thread[i],
waxed for stitching. However, I ran out
of this about half way through the project, and was unable to get any more in
time to continue—therefore, some of the stitching is with a
bleached cotton thread[ii],
which I chose as it has a similar size to the linen.
Drafting the
Pattern
To draft
my pattern I relied heavily on the images of the Moselund gown laid out prior
to the stitching in 1939[i]. I took measurements of every piece in the
photographs, in millimeters, and noted them down (using the image on Marc
Carlson’s Moselund page to keep track[ii]). I then figured out the scale of the pieces to
my own measurements, by dividing the shoulder measurement of the garment (in
mm) by my own (front) shoulder measure.
I chose to go off from the shoulder, as I felt that the garment was
fairly fitted at that point. This gave
me the number I had to divide every measurement by. At that point it was a simple matter to
figure out the dimensions of each piece.
One of the things I found at this point was that the build of the man
the extant garment was made for was likely extremely similar to my own—one of
the exact measurements I have of the original[iii],
came out to less than a 0.04 inch difference from my proportionate one!
However,
when I came to the sleeves, I found that I would have to use a different scale,
since my arms are longer. This was based
on my sleeve length measurement, to the similar one on the pattern. For the sleeve width measurements, I used the
average of the two proportions.
 |
| Notated pattern and my cutting layout |
To
determine the grain lines, since is wasn’t the easiest to see in the photos, I
cut out a little triangular piece of paper; with one side vertical, the other
edge was at the same angle as the visible twill line. Therefore, all I had to do was line up the
one second edge with a portion of the twill and it showed which way the grain was
actually running.
Body
and Side gores
Both the
front and back slits are slightly off center at the bottom—they do
not have even amounts of fabric on both sides.
In the case of the front, there is a 1.45 inch difference between the
widths of the right (narrower) and left sides.
In the back, it’s about half that—0.7 inches, again with the left side
wider. In addition, the slits are more
of a very narrow triangle—1.2 inches were removed from the back, and
2.85 inches from the front[1].
 |
| Top of a side gore (right side). It's not a straight edge for a reason... I miscalculated the seam allowances. |
Another
set of pieces which are bi-laterally asymmetrical are the bottoms of the side
gores…once
again, the left is 1.4 inches wider than the right side. What this means, is that in the museum
construction of the Moselund gown the left side of the skirts are 4.3 inches larger (at the hem)
than the right side. When I got to
thinking about this, I started wondering if the side gore bottoms should be
reversed (which would be a 1.42 inch difference). What brought me to that thought is trying to
ascertain a reason for the slits being off center—my main thought being that it was a mistake…which
would be slightly corrected on the sides, if I am correct.
Center
Gores
The back
gore is just a trapezoid, with a hemmed center slit part of the way (about 5/6ths
) up. The four prongs are even,
with the center two being slightly wider than the outside ones. The front gores are, once again,
asymmetrical; with the left gore being about 0.35 inches wider than the right,
and the pleat prongs reflect this. I did
not make them so on my rendition, due to neglect.
 |
| Back Gore, prior to any stitching. |
Sleeves
The
sleeves of the Moselund kirtle are interesting, since they are--to the best of my knowledge--the earliest found "set in" sleeves. As you can see,
they have an ‘S’ type sleeve head, putting the seam down the
back of the arm. The photo is of the
right sleeve—once again they are asymmetrical, with the
left sleeve having a deeper curve (by about 1.3 inches), to accommodate the
slightly larger armscye measurement (which was replicated on my replica, though
not intentionally). They start to taper
like a regular sleeve, then flare out at the elbow to give additional room to
bend, then taper to the wrist. There is
a possibility that the sleeves on the original were closer fitting than on
mine, depending on the bicep measurement of the man found wearing it.
In
retrospect, I probably should have followed the same measures, but was
concerned about the armscye measurement not being large enough (it was, by
plenty). If I make another kirtle to
this pattern, I will do so.
 |
| Right Sleeve |
Construction
After
cutting the majority of the pieces out, with the exception of the sleeves, I began sewing,
starting with the back gore, then progressing around to the front. Before being sewn together, almost every edge
got hemmed with a stab stitch. Once all
of the body pieces were assembled, I had to work on the sleeves.
 |
| Assembled Back |
I
essentially took the measures from the extant again, marked where the high and
low points of the head were, and drafted the sleeve[1]. It was sewn into the armscye with a
whipstitch, with extra reinforcing at the bottom, where the side seam is.
 |
| A sleeve |
I chose
to sew the hems—both bottom and sleeve—with a blind
whipstitch to cover the raw edge, then supported with rows of stab stitch (only
one, in the case of the bottom hem).
On the
center gores, I first hemmed them (including the slit on the back), measured
and cut the pleats, then sewed the raw edges to the inside with a stab
stitch. They then got sewn along the
long edges with a whipstitch, making sure there was one half to a third of an
inch of overlap at the top. This was
sewn under the seam at the top of the slit.
Seams: Once I completed the garment I realized that
the seams should have been treated slightly differently, particularly for the
gores. I now believe that the center,
and side gores should have been sewn in so that they would lay underneath the
body—i.e. sewn
in, and had both sides of the seam allowance stitched down to the body side of
the seam. What this would do is change
the drape, so that it would “fold” in at that point. When I was planning the seams out I did think
about this, but somehow missed the meaning of the partially unfolded allowances
on the gore edges.
Conclusions
For the
period (1050-1155), it is a very interesting garment, what with the fitted
shoulders and set in sleeves. Even
though I was uncertain about some the fit of some pieces, such as how the back
works, since it is larger than the front, it has come out correctly because I
followed by measurements. After taking a
number of measurements, I found that it was not bi-laterally symmetrical.
What
I learned
For one,
that I really don’t like dealing in 1/10th inch fractions (or less)—partially
because of this, I made some errors in working out the piece widths including
seam allowances. I think that before I
attempt another project like this I will invest in an engineer’s ruler,
with its decimal measures, and pay better attention. I figured out the best way for me to keep a
line of stitching straight (weight the fabric against the table, and keep the
seam perpendicular to myself).
What
I Would do Differently (if I made this again):
I would
pay better attention to the seam allowances, and measuring them out. I would also sew the gores in so they are “under”
the material of the body. Another
adjustment would be to make the sleeves to the standard scale instead of an
averaged one.
Time: 54 hours and 40 minutes
Please feel free to comment.
Please feel free to comment.
The Footnotes and Endnotes should be in the correct order, even if they do not have the original numbers
[1] Mostly from the Archaeological Sewing page, by Heather Rose Jones. http://heatherrosejones.com/archaeologicalsewing/index.html
[1] As per this tutorial. http://www.curiousfrau.com/patterns/pattern-drafting/126-drafting-a-basic-fitted-sleeve
Bibliography:
Ø
Ostergard, Else Woven into the Earth. Aahus University Press. 2009
Ø
Map of the Moselund region http://www.satellitecitymaps.com/europe-map/denmark-map/region-central-jutland-map/moselund-map/
Ø
Carlson, Marc http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/type2.html . Image 2 is from here.
Ø
McNealy, M.
http://www.curiousfrau.com/patterns/pattern-drafting/126-drafting-a-basic-fitted-sleeve Drafting a basic fitted sleeve.
Endnotes
[i] http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/garments/Moselund/Moselund.html First paragraph
[ii] Woven Into the Earth. Page 128
[iii] Woven into the Earth. Page 141
[iv] The interpretation is mine (someone who does not know any Icelandic). Dictionary used: http://norse.ulver.com/dct/zoega/b.html
[i] Woven into the Earth. Page 135. Referencing Ancient Danish Textiles by Hald.
[ii] Woven into the Earth. Page 138
[i] Woven into the Earth. Pages 136, 137
© John Frey, 2014. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research or educational purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
No comments:
Post a Comment