snoods-cauls-msg - 12/27/01 Snoods (netting) and cauls (cloth) close-fitting, non-hat women's headgear in period. NOTE: See also the files: headgear-msg, netting-msg, veils-msg, belts-msg, gloves-msg, coronets-msg, chasity-belts-msg. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ From: Don Hicks Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Cauls, was Re: Circlets & Veils Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 06:53:17 -0700 DennisJKim wrote: > renscribe at aol.com (RenScribe) writes: > >I always wear a pair of cauls and a veil. > > Would someone please explain what a Caul is, & how to wear it/them (she > mentions 2). I am trying really hard to get as much info on total look as > possible. Thanks. Dennis Maridonna says: A caul is a *hairnet*. I have heard it called a *crispinette* in earlier times. From: liran at mail.tdl.com (lea bob ) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Hair-net help? Date: Sat, 08 Nov 1997 02:08:09 GMT Anna.Troy at bibks.uu.se (Anna Troy) wrote: >I'm planning on making a hair-net for my mid-16th century persona but >I'm unsure which technique I should use and I could use some general >pattern help as well, > >Anna Biggs i'm not an authority on this, BUT what you're looking for is a "caul" & is made from cloth rather than an open-work crochet (snood). mine are made from a strip of fabric that finishes to about 1-1 1/2 " & decorated. pleated into that is a circle of fabric (smallish - it shouldn't hang down). both the band & the circle are decorated - i frequently sew cord, narrow velvet ribbon or other small trim in a diamond pattern on it, catching it only at the intersections & jeweling or pearling them. in my experience, the biggest error i see on these is that they are made too large & droopy. they should hold your hair close to your head & clear your collar, not cover it. to wear it, since my hair is relatively short, i've found that those circular comb-things work well. i also sew three combs (one at each temple, one at the nape of the neck) into the caul & flip it wrong side out. stick in the two upper combs, flip the caul, tuck your hair in & tuck in the bottom comb. it works for an entire day at RenFaire & is comfortable. liran From: sclark at chass.utoronto.ca Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Womens headcoverings Date: Sun, 06 Sep 1998 01:11:05 GMT poohptdeux at aol.com (Poohptdeux) wrote: > I am given to understand that snoods came very late in period. I am also given > to understand that they were never worn alone, that in SCA period they were > always covered by a hat. If by "snood" you mean a hair net (snood is a 20th century term for them; originally a snood was a hair ribbon used in Scottish dress), you will be happy to know that they have been documented as early as the 13th century. (Crowfoot et. al, _Textiles and Clothing_, HMSO 199-something--often called one of the "Museum of London" books). These nets were made by the technique of netting (rather than crochet) and were done on quite a fine scale. I learned how to make them early this year; if you'd like to see a handout from the class I taught at Pennsic, check out www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5145/hairnet.html. If you don't want to make your own, you can often obtain decent substitutes at beauty supply stores. > Also am I correct in the fact that unmarried women wore their hair down and > uncovered. And Married women wore a barbette or a veil. > Would a veil be appropriate for a widowed 13 century English woman. If it > isn't what would be the right headcovering. > Hannah Goodwin. Also on my page, I have a scanned picture of how the hairnets were worn in the 13th century. Essentially, you wore them with a barbette and either a kind of "pillbox" cap or a fillet (a band of cloth, tapered out--kinda looks like a crown--worn around the head). You could also drape a veil over top of this. Also being worn in this period were the wimple and veil. And many 13th century manuscripts do show young women with their hair down, often pulled back at the neck. For a widow--depends--are you a fashionable widow? If so, the hairnet with the fillet and barbette would be fashionable by about 1230 or so. If you are a more sedate widow, the veil and wimple would be the ticket. Nicolaa de Bracton From: Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Snood patterns Date: Fri, 24 Dec 1999 08:22:08 -0500 I have found a "simplicity" pattern for a very nice snood. It is pattern number 8735 "courtly love" From: "Ellen Anglin" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Snood patterns Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 06:03:48 -0800 Organization: Verio I can crochet a snood- problem is I am not a knitter, or really a crochet-er, and I am not familiar with standard notation for knitting and crocheting patterns. I learned by watching a woman sitting in front of me in court do one- after about ten minutes, I knew I could do one easily! Forgive me if I am not very clear. Crochet a chain about 6 stitches long- join it into a ring by stitching thru the first stitch. Your ring should be smaller than the tip of your pinky. Chain off of this loop about six times. Anchor your chain by putting your hook thru the ring, not thru any single stitch. Hook hold of your yarn tail, and pull it thru so you have two loops on the neck of your crochet hook. Pull a fresh loop thru these two so you are back to a single loop. Chain off six more, anchor again. repeat 8-10times untill you have formed a "Daisy" with close set petals. The original ring should be nearly covered by the anchoring threads Now chain off about 7 stitches- this will form the first petal of your next row, and if the petals are not large enough, your snood will be more tube shaped than a flat circle. This is OK, if you prefer a tube shaped snood- (Good if you have very long hair) but keep it in mind as a design option. If your petals are not large enough to lay flat, make your chain a stitch or two longer. Don't be afraid to tear back and rework a row- these go fast so you aren't losing much time. Anchor your chain by putting your hook thru the loop formed by your previous chain, not thru any single stitch. Hook hold of your yarn tail, and pull it thru so you have two loops on the neck of your crochet hook. Pull a fresh loop thru these two so you are back to a single loop, and do your seven stitch chain again. Anchor to the next petal of you daisy as before, and repeat until you have made a full circle. The next row should be make with chains that are slightly longer than the one before it. after several rows, when the petals are getting too big (Big holes in the snood- a matter of personal preference.) It is time to do an increase row Increases increase the number of petals around the edge of the item. Lay the "Daisy" out flat, and mark it into quarters, or sixths, with safety pins, or just note how many petals divide it evenly. Go back to about six stitches in your chain (Small holes) Anchor twice to each marked petal, so that you have two petals coming off of these, instead of one. (They call this increasing) Go around a few more rows, increasing the length of your chains slightly in each row, and every 3-4 rows, as needed, work in some increases (after a while you will be able to estimate where they should go without making with safety pins.) Make as large as you need for your hair length. The flat piece looks like a big round fishnet doily. Your final row of petals should be small ones. Anchor off the last one firmly. weave a ribbon or elastic in and out around the edge, and you have a snood! Tips- keep your stitches very loose so the snood is soft and elastic. If you want to put beads into your work, string them onto your yarn before you begin. Slide one into your loops when you loop around to anchor to a petal. I have found that beading every other row provides plenty of sparkle, without making the snood too bulky or heavy to wear. Have fun and experiment- they don't take long to make, so don't be afraid of tearing out and re-doing parts that don't turn out the way you want. Mistress Ellen Greenhand MKA Ellen Anglin From: "Schumacher, Deborah (AZ15)" Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Snoods Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 08:48:59 -0700 Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy There had been a question whether snoods could be documented to our period a couple weeks ago. I can't see the original thread from work, and don't know if anyone brought this up, but in Medieval Woman calendar for 2000 the picture for March shows what to my untrained unresearched eye sees as a beaded snood. The illustration is "A Fashionable Lady of Wealth" (Detail) School of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Portrait of a Woman . Like I said I havent researched it, it just looks like it could be similar. Zoe Barony of Sundragon Kingdom of Atenveldt From: Eloise Beltz-Decker Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Snoods Date: Thu, 30 Dec 1999 17:51:39 -0600 On Thu, 30 Dec 1999, Schumacher, Deborah (AZ15) wrote: > There had been a question whether snoods could be documented to our > period a couple weeks ago. I cant see the original thread from work, and > don't know if anyone brought this up, but in Medieval Woman calendar for > 2000 the picture for March shows what to my untrained unresearched eye > sees as a beaded snood. > The illustration is "A Fashionable Lady of Wealth" (Detail) > School of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Portrait of a Woman . > Like I said I havent researched it, it just looks like it could be similar. The trick with snoods, as I understand it, is to make them out of net instead of crocheting them (crochet was only used as an embellishment kind of thing until fairly late in our period - so far as I've heard). Netting is actually quicker than crochet, once you learn how to do it. I highly recommend Mistress Nicolaa de Bracton's site at http://members.tripod.com/nicolaa5/articles/hairnet.htm Eloise of Tree-Girt-Sea, she of too many crafts. [web address updated - 12/27/01. Stefan] From: noramunro at aol.com (Alianora Munro) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Snoods Date: 31 Dec 1999 04:17:17 GMT Beltz-Decker writes: >On Thu, 30 Dec 1999, Schumacher, Deborah (AZ15) wrote: > >> There had been a question whether snoods could be documented to our >> period a couple weeks ago. I cant see the original thread from work, and >> don't know if anyone brought this up, but in Medieval Woman calendar for >> 2000 the picture for March shows what to my untrained unresearched eye >> sees as a beaded snood. >> The illustration is "A Fashionable Lady of Wealth" (Detail) >> School of Lucas Cranach the Elder. Portrait of a Woman . >> Like I said I havent researched it, it just looks like it could be similar. The item shown in that painting is what is more commonly called a "caul" -- a head covering made of cloth (usually silk or linen, depending on time, place, and social class). When most people say "snood" they mean the netted item, although for both items the use is similar. > The trick with snoods, as I understand it, is to make them out of >net instead of crocheting them (crochet was only used as an embellishment >kind of thing until fairly late in our period - so far as I've heard). One day soon, I hope, the H-Needlework FAQs will be available for reference (I know some are in progress and one about crochet is in draft form). Until I can point you to those, however, if you trawl through the back digests of that list, you will find many discussions about the age of the technique, with sources, citations, and all the rest. Crochet is not mediaeval or even Renaissance; the first examples don't seem to appear before the late 18th or 19th c., IIRC. Mediaeval hairnets were sometimes finished with fingerlooped braids or tablet-woven edges, but crochet was emphatically not part of the picture. >Netting is actually quicker than crochet, once you learn how to do it. I >highly recommend Mistress Nicolaa de Bracton's site at >http://members.xoom.com/nicolaa/hairnet.html Hear, hear. Netting underwent something of a revival in the 70s and there are numerous how-to books of that vintage, often in local public libraries. The technique is the same -- just stay away from avocado green jute. ;-) Alianora Munro, Bright Hills, Atlantia From: more2luuuv at aol.com (More2Luuuv) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Snoods Date: 31 Dec 1999 09:12:50 GMT >There had been a question whether snoods could be documented to our >period a couple weeks ago. I have been told that certain hair net type headdresses are period. I like the big open stitch crocheted snoods because they closely approximate what I have seen in portraits. Also I live in a hot and humid climate area so wigs and heavy headdresses are out of the question. A snood is the best solution for me, because it covers most of my hair which is just to the shoulders in a "bobbed" cut, warm black with a brilliant violet-plum overlay to it that shimmers in the bright light (definately NOT a period hairdo!) And it keeps my hair up and off my neck in the heat and humidity and it looks periodish enough to pass for my purposes. I am not interested in learning netting, but I am willing to purchase some netted snoods. I finally found a great retail source for beautiful crocheted snoods and got my gold thread and pearl snood I had been coveting for ages! If anybody wants to make some post-holiday cash and is willing to net me a couple of nice netted snood type headdresses, maybe one in black and one in gold, I am definately interested..... Tracy From: noramunro at aol.com (Alianora Munro) Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: Snoods Date: 01 Jan 2000 17:24:37 GMT CJ writes: >Looking at the picture it really did look like a snood, so I have a few >questions. Were the cauls done with some sort of cutwork I can see the >subjects hair clearly through the large holes. Any suggested resources >on this? Were cauls beaded? (I know I know if it doesnt move it can be >beaded, and if it does move hit it over the head and bead it anyway) I have the calendar in my lap and open to the picture in question right now. I do not see the subject's hair through large holes; what I see is a golden yellow silk (possibly cloth of gold) caul with an overlaid black lozenge pattern (which could be produced by a variety of techniques, including embroidery) and pearls sewn onto it. The caul has a "headband" portion into which the hair cover portion is sewn, and which is the same golden colour as the rest of the piece, but has a floral pattern on it. A bit of the lady's hair is visible over her ear, where it tucks into the caul., and appears to be an ash blonde colour, distinct from the colour of the caul. Over the caul she wears a red bonnet trimmed with black and white feathers Cauls might be beaded; I've seen no evidence for the use of cutwork on them but someone else may have. Blackwork and whitework embroidery were used for ornamentation, too. They're all over the place in 16th-c. portraits, especially German ones like this one, so the best advice I can give on finding out how they were decorated is to go look up books on Lucas Cranach and people like him. Alianora Munro, Bright Hills, Atlantia Having had sufficient experience with princes, now seeking a frog From: Charlene Charette Newsgroups: rec.org.sca Subject: Re: netted cauls Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 03:40:56 GMT Ysabiau wrote: >>> I'm wondering if anyone out there knows of a book or website showing examples of Elizabethan netted cauls (snoods). I've recently learned how to do netting, and would like to see some examples of period headwear to get a better idea of how to finish the caul and how to decorate it. I'm guessing pearls/beadwork and gold or silver embroidery may have been used. "Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd" mentions "cawles of fine nettworke" and describes some examples, but it's easier for me to figure out how they were made by looking at them. <<< http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/headwear/snood.html --Perronnelle Edited by Mark S. Harris snoods-cauls-msg Page 7 of 7