A Houppelande Wrought of Green Wool

M. Alison Kannon

Rosalind Delamere

The houppelande developed during the middle of the Fourteenth Century, perhaps in response to the rise in popularity of the shorter and tighter gippons and pourpoints which had begun to replace the once fashionable surcoat. It was a long, voluminous garment with full sleeves that was belted tightly at the waist. The excess fabric was generally arranged in plis grionnes, which were “regular, pipe-like folds” (Boucher, p.195) that ran vertically down the garment. The houppelande had a finished neck and standing collar. It also seems to have been open to the waist to make it easy to take on and off. There also appears to have been a shorter version of the garment called the haincelin which was also popular. (Boucher, p.195)

The sleeves appear to have been often bag or balloon shaped and closed (narrow) or open (flaring) at the wrist. They appear to have been equally popular for a time but eventually the “closed sleeves” gained in popularity to become the predominant sleeve style. The houppelande was a popular fashion for approximately three quarters of a century. By 1425 they appear to have waned in popularity and been replaced by new fashions. (Boucher, p.195-196)

I have patterned my houppelande after Norlund’s “G63” (Number 63) (Ostergard, p196). The pattern was obtained from Emma of Elandonan (Nicole Smithers) and the garment was made out of green wool, which would have been available during the time period. The sleeves are closed at the wrist and the style of the garment is much more similar to a common man’s garment (Figure 1) than that worn by the nobility (Figure 2). The buttons are pewter and were cast by Christopher Conniang ( Christopher Cunning) under the tutelage of Eldred Tremane (Tom Justus), who carved the molds for the buttons. Norlund’s garment was closed with button holes but I have chosen to use button loops made of a blue cotton, a style which was used during the time period, as that was the preference of the intended wearer. Norlund’s garment has sixteen buttonholes starting at the collar and three buttonholes at the hem. There seems to be some argument as to whether the garment would have has sixteen buttons at the top and three at the bottom or if it would have simple buttoned all the way down the front. I enlarged Ostergard’s pictures to the highest magnification I could and still discern the button holes using Adobe Photoshop. While it did appear to me that the buttonholes run all the way to the edge of the existing garment at the top (Figure 4) (suggesting that there might have been more buttons when the garment was intact), I could only discern three buttonholes at the bottom of the existing garment (Figure 5) suggesting that the original garment did not button all the way down the front. However, this is only speculation based on enlargements of pictures scanned from a book, which can only be as clear as the original scan allows. To truly make an educated study we must have access to the original garment, which alas, we do not have.

Norlund’s garment was also decorated with stab stitching along all its seams (Ostergard, p.198). Due to the fact that the intended wearer of this garment is rather hard on clothes and I had been looking for an opportunity to use a seam technique that would add strength and make a lovely finished seam I decided to finished the seams with the technique shown in Crowfoot et al in which strength was added to the seam by adding running stitches parallel to the original seam that were worked through the seam allowance which had been pressed flat. (Crowfoot et al, p.156) To prevent my fabric from fraying I altered the technique slightly by turning the edges of the seam allowance under and using a whip stitch rather than a running stitch as indicated by the figure, effectively hemming the edge of the fabric while adding strength to the seam. This technique of turning under the edges and using a whip stitch may not be entirely correct for the time period, but it did give a nice finish to the seam and prevented unraveling of the fabric without having to surge the material. In addition, there are examples of double folded hems being used during the time period in Crowfoot. (Crowfoot et al, p.157) The end result of the technique I used was a wonderfully finished, extra strong seam that looked quite similar to the stab stitched seams of the original garment. I did stab stitch the collar. Finally the garment was hemmed by hand.

In retrospect there are some things I would have done differently. At the time I began this garment I had not yet heard about the book Woven into the Earth which contains and invaluable wealth of information. If I had had the book when I began the garment I probably would have cut the pattern out slightly differently so that it would be more inline with the original garment. I also probably would have tried to reproduce the colored edging which appears to have been on the original garment. (Ostergard, p196) Overall though I am very pleased with the resulting garment.

Figure 1: An illustration from the Comedies of Terence. The gentleman is wearing a houppelande this is much simpler in cut than those of the nobility as befits his common station which the picture seems to indicate. It is however very similar to Norlund’s No. 63. Fifteenth Century (Boucher p201)

Figure 2: Images of the Nobility wearing houppelandes. The gentleman in red in the center illustration is wearing a closed sleeved houppelande while the gentleman and the angel in the far right illustration are wearing open sleeved houppelandes. Far left: Fourteenth-early Fifteenth Century. Center and Far Right: from Le Roman de la Rose: Late Fourteenth-early Fifteenth Century. (Boucher p195, 196)

Figure 3: Norlund’s Number 63. c.1350 (Ostergard, p.196)

Figure 4: Detail of the Neck of Norlund’s number 63. You can see that the button holes appear to run down to the edge of the remaining pieces of the Garment. (Ostergard, p.198)

Figure 5: Enlarged detail taken from figure 3 showing the three button holes at the bottom edge of the remaining garment. You can see why it is so difficult to make an educated study of the button holes as they are very difficult to see. However if we compare this picture to figure 4 in which the button holes are more clear it does appear that there are only three button holes at the bottom hem. (Ostergard, p.196)

Figure 6: Illustration from Crowfoot showing the technique for the turned back and reinforced seam. (Crowfoot et al, p.156)

Figure 7: Illustration from Crowfoot showing the technique for the double folded hem. The fragment shown in “B” also has a running stitch along the edge. Crowfoot, p.157

References

Ostergard, Else. Woven into the Earth: Textiles from Norse Greenland. Aarhus Univeristy Press. Denmark. 2004

Boucher, Francois. 20,000 Years of Fashion: The History of Costume and Personal Adornment. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers. New York. 1987

Crowfoot, Elisabeth et al. Medieval Finds in Excavations in London: 4 Textiles and Clothing c.1150-c.1450. The Boydell Press. Woodbridge, England. 1992.