Muff - Complete

Completed Muff

This muff was made completely by hand with the exception of piecing some of the fur together by machine. This seam is virtually undetectable and is only there because of the nature of the fur I used, being re-purposed from an old coat and thus the shape was awkward to use.

Back side of Muff

Trims used were an elaborate goldwork vine on black velvet, layered with yellow braid, all used from my stash.

Close-Up of closures.  Black enamel and gold buttons from my stash

What the muff looks like when there's something in it

Close-Up of loops

Loops were made from cotton embroidery floss with a lucet. While lucet weaving is speculative during this period, it was almost certainly used in the Viking age based on archeological finds of bone and bronze lucet tools. No extant lucet cords exist. Other cording techniques were commonly used such as fingerloop braiding, plaiting, etc, with similar looking results, so I feel confident that the overall look and feel of my loops are accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucet
http://cunnan.sca.org.au/wiki/Lucet

Fully lined in faux fur

I used faux fur simply because of how cost prohibitive real fur can be, particularly since my modern beliefs lean toward only using vintage fur rather than something new. I would have had to use different needles should it have been real, but otherwise the sewing techniques remained accurate to sewing real fur.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how this turned out, though if I were to do it again, I would have used an interlining out of canvas or trigger to give the tufted brocade a stiffer hand. This is purely because the goldwork trim makes the edges have a very stiff hand and so the non-trimmed areas contrast more than I'd prefer.

Productivity vs. Couch Lounging...

I have intellectually wanted to be productive on my projects, but physically felt "meh" when faced with the prospect of actually making progress. This doesn't bode well for the overall outcome. Hah!

For my muff, I did finish sewing down the trims and prepared the fur for lining by piecing together scraps of fur salvaged from the sleeve linings of an old coat, and stitching down strips of hem tape on the edges. I also created some cording for button loops with a lucet. I must say that I am quite happy with how rich in textures this is coming to be. I think it more than makes up for the simplicity of the fabric.

My boss insisted that I take tomorrow off (oh darn, twist my arm!), so I should be able to be more productive this weekend than I've been in a while.

ACC - Muff Progress

I have finally put needle to fabric in the ACC. Finally. Between scroll work, Sven's tunic (of which I still owe you pictures), and my exchequer duties, I feel like I'm very behind.

This image is reflecting the fierce yellow of my living room walls (I usually photograph things down in my studio with my special art lamps), so while the color is off, it's proof I've done something.

Due to the delicacy of the gold worked trim, I have to hand sew everything for maximum control. I have sewn down the two border strips and have begun sewing down the edging braid to "hide the ugly." So far, so good. I'm not really looking forward to hand sewing the fur though...

I have selected some buttons from my stash that have a bit of a gold filigree/black enamel look. I think they will work well. They're extras from my black/red corduroy "doublet" circa 2002. I remember being so proud of that thing, and now I look at it hanging sadly in my closet and wonder what I was thinking at the time.

ACC - Muff Update

My last few days have been spent cleaning up from Midge Marsh Melee (the event in which I neglected to get photos of Sven in his new red tunic... D'oh!). We went to Thrown Weapons practice on Tuesday, and yesterday had to run errands to get supplies to fix a giant hole in our garden hose which is preventing us from watering the lawn. One week without watering in this weather = dead grass. My landlady would not be too happy.

I did steal a few minutes to start disassembling the faux fur lined coat to get pieces to use in my muff.

I have learned that pulling apart old coats is nasty business. Dusty, musty, and the outer fabric is a gross plasticy vinyl that is icky to the touch. Little furry bits fly everywhere.  I did have some success though, and have enough fur from pulling the sleeves apart to line my muff. It will have to be pieced to get the right shape - the sleeves were several pieces of tapered fur, much to my dismay. C'est la vie.

ACC - Muff

Wherein my brain gave birth to an idea for a muff...

Muffs became fashionable in Italy during the early 1570’s, and from there it spread pretty much everywhere. Harrison, as quoted by Janet Arnold, records that “Women’s Maskes, Buskes, Muffs, Fanns, Perewigs, and Bodkins, were first devised and used in Italy by Curtezans, and from thence brought into France and there received of the best sort for gallant ornaments, & from thence they came into England about the time of the Massacar in Paris.” (St. Bartholomew’s Day, 24 August, 1572).

Cesare Vecellio, in the second edition of his fashion book Habiti antichi, et moderni di tutto il Mondu, published in 1598, shows a woodcut entitled "Winter Costume of Venetian noblewomen and wealthy ladies."

There are no extant muffs that I am aware of, but there are quite a few pictorial images of muffs, and documents referring to them.

According to Andre Blum, in his volume "The Last Valois," it is reported that King Henri III of France was fond of "perfumes and cosmetics, ear-rings, velvet or satin muffs lined with fur -- in fact, a whole range of modes formerly reserved for the use of women." Another reference to Parisian fashion for wearing muffs appears in Janet Arnold’s "Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd (QEWU)": “Amyas Paulet was also instructed to get Elizabeth [Queen] a muff or ‘countenance (so they call it here)’ in Paris in 1579. He sent one, ‘the best I can find at this time thinking it better to send this as it is when there is some cold stirring, than to wait for a better till the cold be clean gone. I have caused this countenance to be furred as well as it can be done in this town, but have not perfumed it because I do not know what Perfume will be the most agreeable to her Majesty.”

Venetian costume of noblewomen and wealthy ladies. c. 1598.

Eleanor Verney, Mrls. William Palmer. c. 1590.  William Segar. 

Detail from an embroidered valance, c. 1588-90.  Victoria and Albert Museum, London

 Illuminated miniature of Queen Elizabeth carrying a muff.  c. 1586. Bodleian Library, Oxford.

I've had this black gold worked trim for about seven years - there's only about a yard or so of it, which isn't enough to do much, but after measuring a few things out, is long enough to act as bands on the edges of a muff. The edges of the trim is not even though, as it appears that it was worked on stiffened velvet and then cut into strips. After digging into my stash though, I found this creamy braid that goes smashingly with my pale yellow tufted brocade. I will use this as vertical bands on the edges of a muff.

I have purchased a faux fur lined coat at a thrift store which I intend to disassemble and use the fur to line the muff, as well as add fur trim to my mantelline when the time comes. It is a dark brown mink-ish looking fur. I will use some buttons from my stash as well.

Bibliography:

1. Donald King and Santina Levey, The Victoria and Albert Museum’s Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750, V&A Publications, 1993, 160 Brompton Road, London SW3 IHW.

2. Santina M. Levey, An Elizabethan Inheritance: The Hardwick Hall Textiles, 1998, National Trust Enterprises, Ltd, Great Britain.

3. Cesare Vecellio, Vecellio’s Renaissance Costume Book. Dover Publications, Inc., N.Y.

4 Blum, André, The Last Valois 1515-90, George G. Harrap & Co, LTD. London, England.

5. Janet Arnold, Queen Elizabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d, 1988, Great Britain, W.S. Maney & Son, LTD, Hudson Road, Leeds.

6. http://www.houseffg.org/belphoebe/Research/Muff/Index.htm

7. http://katerina.purplefiles.net/garb/diaries/FL_Manichino_Muff_1.html

8. http://renaissanceitaly.net/mygarb/muff.htm