16th century German – wulsthaube

Happy new year!
I start my new year with a tutorial on how I made my wulsthaube.

My wulsthaube is in one piece, I love that it is so simple to put on, I can even do it without a mirror (or running uphill the streets of Visby to attend 100 landsknecht march as I did 2011 medieval week), not pinning and tugging at a piece of fabric in the morning.
As I always wear a steuchlein my wulsthaube is never visible.

You start out with making a fabric roll. Mine is made out of a piece of linen that is 16cm wide and 44 cm long. It is cut on the bias and when it is sewn together it is stuffed with wool. You can use whatever stuffing you want to and I have also read about people using wicker wreaths padded with fabric for their wulst, I guess that it would be a good lightweight option if you want to do a super size wulsthaube.

Then I take a piece of fabric, I used a old linen panel curtain found thrift shopping. The size is based on the size of your wulst and it is not 100% important as you are draping your wulsthaube. I think that my fabric was somewhere between 65-85 cm long and and 50-60 cm wide. The linen is cut straight on grain so that the front will not stretch. you can also cut it on the bias to make it drape over the wulst better, but then you will need to add a strip of fabric in the front that is on straight grain before putting it on to keep the front solid.

I pin it in the nape of my neck (I look kind of aggressive in this picture, angryfrau!)

Put the fabric over your head.

And add the wulst.

I start with pinning it at the centre top.

Then I pull the fabric taut over the wulsthaube pinning it as I go along.

Now you are ready to start draping.
You can do this while wearing it with the help of mirrors, having a friend wear it or as I do it, putting it on a doll.

Remember to put pins where you pinned it at the nape of your neck.

Put it on your trusty helper.

And start draping.

As you go along you can cut away some of the fabric that is hidden by the pleats, it only adds unnecessary bulk.

When draping it you can decide what shape you want it to have by pulling the fabric taut in the back.

Here you can see that I have cut away some on the inside.
But you don not want to cut it all away, as you will notice in a few step. You will need a flap to cover the raw edges in the front.
My wulst looks kind of gross, but that is what happens if you use wool that is not properly washed. You smell slightly of sheep and the wool geese leaves stains. I recommend using washed wool! ;)

In my finished wulsthaube, I don’t want the ends to meet in my neck, I want some space to be able to put it on tightly and the linen will probably stretch some with use.
So I remove some cm in the neck and put new pins. The pin to the right is the old pin, and the new pin is to the left.

Then I cut away the excess and pin a nice hem.

Lots of pins! I want to sew the pleats down to make them stay in place, make sure to catch more then just the outer layer of fabric. I do the same on the inside, to make it look neat.

As you see here I have only sewn the pleats down for about 5cm

A flap have been naturally shaped on the inside by the draping, sew down the side of it.

Cut away excess fabric.

Hem the edges you pinned a few steps before.

It is now time to fix the finishing on the outside in the back.
See the flap, make sure that it is moderately the same width all along.

Fold it to the font and put some pins.

Trim it down and fold under the raw edges.

Sew it in place.

I then add a band around the head, it is cut straight on grain and is as wide as you like. Mine is 2cm wide and just as long so that I can pin or tie it.

And then it is finished!
I might had wanted to have the square lower in the neck, my other wulsthaube is like that. But as it is always covered with a steuchlein that is not really a problem.

I usually baste my wulst with big stitches to the haube, so that I can take it out and throw the haube in the washing machine after events. But you can also pin it if you want to.