Today’s random calendar post is about some garments from the 17th century.
It is King Gustav II Adolf’s doublet, his shirt and a pair of trousers belonging to a page. Here comes a mixed cavalcade of pictures of these objects. Today all can be found in the collections of Livrustkammaren.
Here is a link to the doublet
Here is a link to the shirt
Here is a link to the trousers
Our calendar is indeed random… but now it’s like this and hopefully there will be more blog posts even outside of December. Fingers crossed!
This day we focus on a needle-bound wool glove found in Kalmar castle bay in the 1930’s. The glove is a rather unusual find as it is a textile technique that is often used for mittens and less often for gloves.
We don’t know what kind of stitch it is made with. But it is dense in quality and the stitches are quite small and tight.
Dating is 1100-1500.
Here is a link to the database.
Photos: Historical Textiles
/ Amica and Maria
All history nerds in Sweden are very happy right now. Swedish national television is currently showing a series about history in Sweden, from the Stone Age to the 1950s.
The episode that was shown on Sunday, was about the time from 1361 until the death of the Swedish king Gustav Vasa in 1560.
We were asked if we could lend a gilt leather coverlet to one of the episodes to create a more cosy environment. Of course we did. and it was especially fun to see the coverlet in the background of the scene of Gustav Vasa’s haircut.
The Dalhem II coverlet comes from Dalhem’s church in Småland and is believed to be the work of the Birgittine nuns in Vadstena around the early 16th century. Today, the embroidery is in the History Museum’s textile collection.
There are about 12 medieval gilt leather embroideries preserved to this day, thanks to wills and inventory lists we know that there were many more, which are no longer extant. Among other things, there are gilt leather embroideries recorded in inventory lists from several of the Vasa family’s castles. They appear both in the form of coverlets and cushions. The colors mentioned are black and yellow which were the colors of the Vasa family.
The recreated coverlet has been sewn by several people, no one mentioned no one forgotten. Read about our first attempt to recreated two full size coverlets here.
/ Amica Sundström and Maria Neijman
Photos: CC by 4.0
2023 has sometimes been a really shitty year. Cancer and everything that comes with a treatment has made our business year … different and sometimes a little less energetic than usual years. Initially, we didn’t think we’d be able to make an Advent calendar. But… we got feeling and therefore we will make some posts when we feel like it. So it will be a Random Advent calendar.
Hope you think it’s ok?!
We start with a decorative textile.
Some textiles are a bit cooler than others. This is a brocaded tabby Swedish “krabbasnår” preserved in the medieval church of Roslagsbro. It has been incredibly nice when it was new. But what makes it really special is that it has a set that tells you that it is woven in a different type of loom than a treadle loom. A warp weigh loom or a tapestry loom. Warp in 2-plied linen/hemp thread, pattern in 2-plied wool yarn, in various colors.
The dating needs to be done on stylistic grounds and it is difficult to determine how old the fabric is because this type of pattern forms have been used for quite a long time. But the mix of colors and the asymmetric pattern sings medieval to us. The choice of loom type in combination with the pattern makes us think that the weave belongs in the Middle Ages.
Read about it in the database.
Photos: Historical Textiles CC BY 4.0
/ Maria Neijman and Amica Sundström
Today we celebrate Christmas in Sweden. And we would like to end this years Advent calendar with an old textile. This time we go back to Valsgärde grave 15 and one tablet woven band. This piece has got a silk fabric attached to it. The broaching is done with a gold/gilded metal tread, wrapped around a silk cord.
This piece dates to 10th century.
Another favorite of ours is this gorgeous pillow. Embroidered in long armed cross stitch. Silk and wool on linen Dated to the 15th century. Note the slightly offset pattern. The band is woven in wool and placed where the top and bottom part are meeting.
Thank you for hanging out with us during this Advent calendar! See you next year!
/Amica and Maria
Today it will be a mix of slightly different medieval silk embroideries. Some display incredibly meticulous craftsmanship and astonishing detail. You can understand that they were produced in a studio. Others are perhaps not quite as professionally executed.. But, what they lose in accuracy, they make up for in charm.
Of the preserved embroideries found in Swedish History’s collections, the overwhelming majority are connected to Catholicism. The most common motifs are saints. Often the saint him/her-self has been embroidered separately and then applied to a background. Sometimes only the saint remains and sometimes only the background remains.
They have been embroidered on linen fabric. Very often it is reused towels or other rather worn fabrics that can be found on the backs of the embroidery. The backside of embroideries can tell a lot!
In addition to “painting” with the stitches, the gilded thread can be sewn down with different colors on the silk thread and thus create another possibility to create the pattern effect.
Our sewing teachers at school must have had a heart attack from the backs of the medieval embroideries. What the back would look like has been completely uninteresting and strikingly often it is pure chaos and maybe also a bit of glue to make sure the silk yarns wouldn’t unravel.
Dating on these are 15th century.
Please cred if sharing photos
/Amica and Maria
Today we share pictures of a very unique object. It’s a falconer bag with associated hanger. Even the training toy remains. The bag once belonged to Carl Gustav Wrangel.
The bag has a direct medieval look and the function is also the same.
The text in the database says:
Bag consisting of two pockets. Embroidered on stramalj with silk thread – two shades of green and gold thread, point d Hongrie technique in scale-like pattern. A report: 25 mm. The smaller pocket: 300 x 300 mm (tapering at the top) sewn to a gilt silver buckle, collar edge 75 mm high, lined with suede. Drawstring of gold and silk cord, a round button covered with gold thread sewn to the edge of the collar. The pocket is lined inside with green parkum. The larger pocket 335 x 310 mm (tapering at the top) sewn to the gilt silver clasp. Lid made of the same material as the rest of the bag – folds down.
The bag is dated to 1640-1660.
It belongs to Skokloster Castle’s collections and the link to the database can be found here.
Photos by Historical Textiles. Please cred.
The Middle Ages is a time of “almost near is near enough”. What does that really mean, you might be wondering now? Well, it means nothing less than that you weren’t very careful back then. If one fabric ran out, another one was taken that had a similar color, as in this case with the gilt leather embroidery from Skokloster church.
Here, the intention was to use a surface with a blue wool fabric. BUT there hasn’t been enough so they’ve been forced to join several to get a piece big enough. As you can see, there are three blue fabrics. Quite different in both shape and appearance.
We get so happy when we see this embroidery. There is something very liberating about the fact that they didn’t feel limited by the lack of a blue fabric in the right size, but they solved it all in a simple and creative way. This in particular creates character and feeling for the entire embroidery and says a lot about the frugal and material-efficient work then. We hope to see more reconstructions made in the same spirit.
It’s dated 14th century.
Today we find the embroidery in the collections of the Swedish History museum.
Link here:
Photo by Historical Textiles. Please cred
/Amica and Maria
Today it will be a slightly younger item. But on the other hand, we can tell who the object belonged to, which makes it extra interesting. It is none other than a king, Gustav II Adolf, Gustavus Adolphus.
King of Sweden between 1611-1632, known as the king who is credited for the rise of Sweden as a great European power (Swedish: Stormaktstiden). During his reign, Sweden became one of the primary military forces in Europe during the Thirty Years’ War, helping to determine the political and religious balance of power in Europe. He was formally and posthumously given the name Gustavus Adolphus the Great.
He was shot and died on the battlefield in Lutzen on November 6, 1632. Many of his clothes are still in the collections of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm, Sweden. And also some clothes he wore when he was shoot. Still with stains of blood. Very dramatic.
We have taken a look at his collar with an absolutely astonishing bobin lace. The fabric is super thin linen and woven in plain weave. The collar is divided in 6 pieces with a lace in-between the fabrics. It’s sewn with superfine back stitches. The lace is made of linen, the threads are two plied. His portrait show how to use such item. According to tradition, it was worn by Gustav II Adolf at a ball in Augsburg on May 30, 1632, and was torn by the king’s dancing partner, maiden Anna Maria Breesler (Breissler) and given to her as a gift.
More pictures of the collar can be found here:
Photos from Historical Textiles, please cred.
/Amica and Maria
Knitting. A fairly young textile technique in Europe, likely imported from Africa. There is solid evidence of knitting in Europe by the 13th century and among the earliest finds are a silk cushion from late 13th century, Spain, and a fragment of what is believed to have been a mitten in Estonia. Alms purses appears during 13-14th century. Also knitted in silk. Gloves and caps shows up around the same time.
Bertram von Minden aka Master Bertram painted the knitting Madonna around 1390/1415. The knitting Madonna is knitting a jumper to baby Jesus on four needles. The knitting is from bottom to top and the needles are thin and looks like metal. The yarn balls are kept in a basket.
Today you can have a look at the whole altar cabinet in Hamburg at the Kunsthalle, see the full altar cabinet here.
Phots by Historical textiles, cred if sharing.
/Amica and Marria
