Per Mano Isabel Maria: Documentation

Per Mano Isabel Maria: Documentation - Organza Coif

This caul falls squarely into the "quick'n'dirty" category of projects.

It was a couple of days out from an event when I realised that my hair was considerably shorter than the last time I had worn either one of my spanish gowns. My hair had been chopped from mid-back to barely chin length, and there was absolutely no way I could manage either of my previously preferred hair styles.

I was faced with the horror of fronting up to an event with a non-period hairstyle under my bonnet.

That simply was not an option, and I had 2 hours in which to do something about it.
This caul is what I did.

MATERIALS:

Gold Organza (a gift from Her Excellency Baroness Chrettienne while serving as her Head Lady in Waiting)
Black Calico
Black Cotton
Gold metal thread
Black ribbon<

Due to the time constraints on this project, I only used materials that were easily accessible in my various stashes.

PIECES:

Body
A circle of organza and one of calico.
The diameter is sufficient to reach from the headband position to the base of the neck over my ponytail plus 1cm for ease and 2cm for seam allowances.

Headband
A rectangle of organza and two callico.
4cm wide (incl 2cm seam allowances) by the measurement around the head (where the band will sit) minus 8cm.

Gathering Strip
A rectangle of each fabric that is 6cm by 14cm long (also including seam allowances).

METHOD:

Using my sewing machine, I quilted the organza pieces to one of the corresponding calico pieces using the gold bobbin thread and a decorative pattern, before finishing edges.

Next I hand stitched two small, vertical buttonholes, 1cm apart in the center of the smaller rectangle (ie the gathering strip) and threaded a length of ribbon through each buttonhole. Taking the ribbons out to the corresponding short edges, I pinned them in place. After folding rectangle in half (gold side out), I re-pinned it to hold both the new fold and ribbons in place. (The ribbons sat flush with the fold.)

Taking the two remaining rectangles and laying them right sides together, I pinned along one long side. I then pined the ends of the gathring strip into the short ends of the long band, ensuring the folded edge lines up with the sewing line along the long side of the long band. The next step was to stitch around the three sides ensuring the seam allowance on the un-stitched side is left free.

With right sides together, I then pined the body piece smoothly to the gathering piece.

After dividing the remaining circumference and headband into quarters, I began pleating the body into the band with right sides together. After ensuring the calico side of the band (and corresponding side of the gathering strip) was not caught up, I stitched right around the head band.

Flipping the whole thing the right way out and gave me an opportunity to look for unevenness, catches and other examples hiccups of construction. Finding none, I hand sewed the calico flap & corresponding side of the gathering strip over the pleats hiding all fabric edges.

COMPROMISES:

Organza Fabric
While I would have preferred to use silk and metal thread organza, I simply did not have any in my stash. Since this organza was an in game gift, I felt this would be the perfect opportunity to use it to its best advantage.

Cotton Calico Fabric
Backing fabric was needed in order to make the caul opaque (to hide my short hair) and also to add body to the caul. Obviously I would have preferred to use linen, but I didn't have any suitable colours in my fabric pile. I was limited to either black, very dark blue or deep burgundy in order to get the best out of the organza, and the calico was the only fabric that was of a suitable colour that had the body I was looking for.

Synthetic Satin Ribbon
Lacking any silk ribbon wider than 3mm, this satin ribon won out over black cotton tape option because the dull cotton looked out of place next to the somewhat opulent gold fabric.

Machine Stitching
Time saver, pure and simple. While I could have made the caul by hand, I could never have done the quilting in the time available. I felt the quilting was necessary in order to ensure the organza would sit as one with the backing fabric. (This is because the organza looks like the modern fabric it is whenever it pops away from the black backing.) An added bonus to the quilting, is the way it adds interest to the fabric and makes the caul look 'finished'.

SO, WHY A CAUL?

Or, in other words, why do you think this might be a documentable option for covering your short hair?

There is a portrait of Ana de Austria by Bartolome Gonzalez (in the Museo del Prado) that clearly shows a red covering over the back of the Queens head. While not the shape of a caul, it confirms the use of headwear beyond hairstyles, bonnets and jewelled head bands while wearing purely Spanish fashions. (Ana de Austria is depicted wearing Portugese fashions on occasion, and in those portraits her head is covered in the manner of those from Portugal.)

The portrait of Isabel Valois by Pantoja de la Cruz (also in the Museo del Prado) clearly shows a pearl net or caul worn under her bonnet.   This net shows a head covering that is more in line with the standard interpretation of a caul. Although not opaque it confirms the use of additional caul-like headwear under bonnets.

Alonso Sanchez Coello's portrait of Isabel Valois (now held in the Colecction Varez Fisa) also shows a pearl caul or net, this time worn with a jewelled head band.

Also of interest are the preceeding types of hair covering. For information on this I turned to Hispanic Costume 1480-1530 by Ruth M. Anderson. The chapter on Headgear has an extended discussion on the caul, and its various different manifestations. For example: the redecilla (little net), albanega (round cap for confining the hair, some net and some described as silk and 'completely woven'), cofia (linen cap or net head covering) (Anderson, page 169). This evidence suggests that there is a history for Spanish women wearing fabric caps over their hair and also for confining their hair.

Roughly contemporary portraits from other countries also point towards cauls being worn as head coverings. For example: the minatures of The Royal Maudy (1565) and Elizabeth I (1565) (both by Levina Teerlinc) or Elizabeth receiving Dutch Ambassadors by an unknown artist. Each of these illustrations shows a lady of the nobility (or royalty) wearing a caul. The colours shown vary from red to several shades of gold or yellow.

These examples give an overview of the evidence why I believe a gold caul is a suitable head covering for covering my obviously 21st Century layered bob while wearing late 16th Century gowns and dresses.

Let us know if this page contains pornographic, copyrighted, or hate content. 250Free proudly supports TheFreeSite.com