Phrygian Cap
Being an entry
into the Viking Stitchery Competition at Summer Coronet, AS 47
A Phrygian cap
to match my new ionar, in green/black herringbone wool, lined with green linen.
Goals
This piece,
aside from being a clothing accessory, is intended to example several seams and
stitches appropriate for Norse clothing.
What it is not intended to be is a period perfect replica of an existing
garment.
Pattern
After
trying out several possible patterns, I decided upon a simple three piece one,
consisting of two sides, and a circular top.
This pattern, I feel, gave me the best combination of utility (as the
hat will be actually used for warmth) and drape for the desired profile.
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| The pattern used. |
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| The three different versions I made mockups of. |
Materials
The
materials used for this piece were primarily linen and wool.
The lining is sewn of a medium weight
green linen, which, while if the period hat would have been lined at all, would
have been a lighter weight wool or white/natural linen. I chose the green linen because I had it sitting
in my stash and wanted to continue with the colours of green and black (plus
white shows dirt too easily).
The exterior on the other hand is a
coat weight, worsted, herringbone wool woven in green and black (and was also
from my stash). I believe that the
fabric contains 5% nylon, which, while unfortunate, is not noticeable.
Most of the stitching is done in one
of several colours of linen thread—wool (on the exterior) or plain linen would
have probably been more appropriate--however, I do not have any wool thread and
wanted coloured thread to either match or contrast the fabric. The yellow cotton crochet thread was used for
reasons discussed below (having to do with aesthetics), and should have rather
been wool or silk thread.
Stitches used
The two stitches used for the main construction—running or
stab stitch, and overcast/whip stitch—require no introduction and may be found
on most extant garments (and modern pieces of handsewing as well). However, a brief mention of the difference
between the running stitch and stab stitch is necessary;
While the two stitches are
essentially the same and are mostly interchangeable, a stab stitch is taken
only one or two stitches at a time and goes through the fabric vertically or
slanting inwards like so (diagram below).
Herringbone or Catch stitch can be
found on a couple of hems in period, from Hedeby and York I believe[i].
The reference I found on this form of
buttonhole stitch with a detached overcast stitch was on the Archeological
Sewing page, by Heather Rose Jones[ii],
and is documented to an Danish Bronze age find.
I use it here partially because I did so on my matching tunic, and found
it to be an interesting piece. I can not
document it to the Viking Age, although the standard buttonhole may be (Bjerringhøj, Denmark[iii])—the
buttonhole stitch does not seem to actually be very common in clothing from
this age.
The only scholarly reference I could
find (online, at least) to the ösenstitch was in a paper from The Antiquaries Journal[iv]
saying “Crowfoot suggested that the distinctive Scandinavian style of wire
embroidery, known as Osenstitch, is also a southern Swedish trait, and is
certainly found in Birka.” and continuing on to say that it is related to
nalebinding. I chose to use thread
rather than fine wire because I felt that the use of wire would stiffen the
material, and not allow it to fold properly.
Lining
The top seam (that will have the
circular piece sewn to it) was turned under twice, and sewn down with a close
running stitch. The circular piece got
the seam allowance turned under once, and fastened down with a stab stitch then
sewn to the main body of the hat with a whipstitch, both stitches are in blue
linen thread.
The straight(ish) seam up the back is
sewn with a fine stab stitch for the main construction at which point the seams
are double turned and stitched down with an Osenstitch (Vandyke stitch) in blue
linen thread.
The seam up the front has the double
turned seam allowances sewn down with a fine stab stitch in blue, and has been whip-stitched
with gold linen thread with wrong sides together.
Bottom hem of the lining is single
turned to avoid bulk, and is stitched down with a herringbone stitch, in gold
linen thread. I then added a row of
running stitch in green to couch down the herringbone and keep it from catching
on things.
Exterior
The top seam has been double turned
and sewn down with a nearly invisible overcast stitch in green linen thread. The circular center piece has a single turned
hem sewn down with a stab stitch in blue thread for a light contrast, while
this piece was sewn to the main body with a whipstitch, also in blue.
The back seam is sewn with a stab
stitch in green and the seam allowances have been rolled to one side and stab
stitched again.
I applied the trim over the back seam
and top with a stab stitch in the same yellow cotton thread that the trim is
constructed of. In order to hide the raw
edge (of the trim) I first partially sewed the top of the hat on, then applied
the trim—this way I could get everything lined up, and be able to hide the end
of the trim in the seam.
The
bottom hem was basted down with green linen thread, but the actual construction
stitch is the herringbone. Unfortunately
the herringbone is in cotton thread (yellow), as I needed a thicker thread than
what I had in linen in order for the stitches to be larger on the looser woven
material. After I sewed the front seam
together I completed the herringbone, so that it would not have any break in
the stitching. I also chose to leave the
basting stitches in to provide additional structural stability.
The seam up the front first had the
seam allowances turned to the side and pinned down. Following that I used a whipstitch in green
linen thread to sew the two pieces of the hat together. When this was completed I fastened the seam
allowances down with an Osenstitch in the same yellow thread as the herringbone
along the bottom.
To complete the hat, I stitched the
exterior and lining together (wrong sides together—this is important) with a
small buttonhole stitch in gold linen thread then ran a length of the cotton
thread through the openings in the buttonhole in a spiral manner.
What I learned
First off, I learned a couple of new
ways to make a Phrygian cap, and found my preferred way, although the others
are there if I need them. I learned how
to do an osenstitch, as this was my first time doing that particular form of
topstitching (I Like it). I also figured
out how to get my herringbone stitch more even than it was the last time.
Time
spent on construction: 13 hours 45 minutes
[iv] Excavations
at the viking barrow cemetery at heath wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire by
Julian D Richards, FSA, The Antiquaries
Journal, issue #84
©
John Frey, 2015. 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
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be duplicated.
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