Bergdala Spinnhus

clothing just for fun (almost)


This is a cape, or a jacket, inspired by a so called casaque. That was a garment with six buttoned openings: in front, in back and on each side of the arms. It can be buttoned to have sleeves, or to be a cape - or, like here, to have one sleeve and (on the other side) have place for a bound-up arm.
Here it is made of vadmal (see "vadmal adventure") , and has buttons made of old coins.
casaque of vadmal
pluder-skirt and doublet
This is a pluder-skirt, to be worn with a doublet.
Never heard of a pluder-skirt? Well - pluder-hoses did exist, so why not skirts?
The jacket is (almost) a doublet, inspired from pictures fron 16th and 17th centuries. I had some work to construct the sleeve pattern, to get the "overhang" I wanted.
If one happens to be specialized in academic dress, and finds a pattern from 1589, and the pattern is called "a learned man's robe" - then one just has to try it out...
If one then is to clothe Prospero the magician (from Shakespeare's The Tempest), then it feels natural to lend it to him. With a wand from my neighboring glassworks, he gets to be not merely learned, but also to know magic.
This and following pictures from an exhibition at Huseby (near Växjö in the south of Sweden) in the summer of 2004.

More about this gown on "Ropa de Letrado"
Prospero clad in "a learned man's coat"
Ariel is transparent
The magician's aide is an airy spirit. A spirit of the air, named Ariel, ought to be air-coloured.
In my interpretation Ariel has modern trousers in blue-green organza. He is also wearing a doublet (almost the same model as above) in light blue organza. I pondered wings, but decided an airy collar would do.
Puck and Oberon, personas from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Oberon, angry and jealous, has a robe with reflecting yarn in the warp, and can thus throw lightnings.
A winter jacket with reflecting yarn can be a serious project - one can always be seen on a dark and rainy night.
Puck has trousers from 17th century Spain, with speed markings, as he is going to "put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes". His shirt has sleeves that can be un-buttoned - the model is inspired by the doublets, which often had detatchable sleeves, even if they did not use buttons at that time.
Puck with speed stripes and Oberon shooting lightning
Titania-to-be
Titania, also from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
A queen of the fairies has to be transparent, I think. She has got five garments in organza in different colours. Some of the garments have details from 15th to 17th centuries. A problem with transparent garments is that details are not readily seen...
Here she is still waiting for another shirt and a jacket.
But I was not doing this exhibition alone - participating were also Kerstin Gyllensvärd, Ingrid K Hanssen and Viveka Lord.
Here we see Viveka's treasure chest, with Caliban in the background, accompanied by a quote from The Tempest:
Caliban: - That, if I then wak'd after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then, in dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me, that, when I wak'd, Cried to dream again.
a treasure chest

Bergdala Spinnhus
Bergdala 27
365 92 Hovmantorp
Sweden
kerstin@bergdalaspinnhus.com

www.bergdalaspinnhus.com