Any craftsperson will tell you that tools are important. In fact, if you are reading this blog, I'd be surprised if you did not know yourself that a good needle makes for better stitching than a bad and crooked one, and that a smooth-running spindles, scissors, shears or what-have-you will help you have more fun and less stress when working.

While getting pins and needles made from copper alloy is very easy today, compared to the situation only a few years ago, there are more problems waiting for the unsuspecting dabbler in textile arts who ventures into lesser known territories. Like netting. It can be incredibly hard to get a proper netting needle nowadays.

When I first started learning how to net, I searched and searched for a netting needle. The results? Zero, nil, zip. But I wanted to net!

So first of all, I tried with a needle. You can use very little thread with a normal sewing needle, plus the chance of pricking yourself is very high. Not good at all. Even nastier, because a pricked finger will heal: There was a good chance of hitting a thread with the tip of the needle (I was really stupid and used a sharp sewing needle), thus sewing into the net and not knotting.

The next step was trying to make a simple makeshift netting needle by winding two pieces of wire together, forming the ends into netting needle shaped ends. This was better, but not much: The thread kept inserting itself between the two wires, and the makeshift thing had a tendency to bend, twist, and fall apart. I needed a proper netting needle.

So I whined and begged until I got a netting needle made from a hobby metalworker, made of thick copper wire. I had to twitch it a little, and it would only serve for rather large mesh sizes, but I had a netting needle that was actually useable. Hooray! It was much too short for significant lengths of thread, though, and rather hard to wind on and off. But at least it worked. Some time later, I tried to make one myself, which was also of the rather-crude-but-working sort.


Imagine my happiness when I found out that a proper modern company still manufactures netting needles, sells them via normal sewing shops (though they had to order it) and cheap, too! And with three gauges thrown into the packet! I ordered one at once.

Believe me: it is a good thing this was so cheap. You do not want to buy this. It is so crudely made that I laugh about myself every time I see it. I actually did try the "needles" once. Here is pictorial evidence for you:


Frankly, they are a bad joke if you are going for medieval-style netting. The material is very cheap and you can see that they are also cheaply made - no wonder, since they have a retail price of about 7 Euros. The shanks at the ends bend easily, they are much, much too thick and will catch the threads of the net much better than sliding through the mesh. If bent together too much, winding and unwinding is hard and abrasive on the thread; if there is a gap between them wide enough for easy winding, the tip is even wider and bulkier. Well, maybe they work if used with the "gauges" that accompany them (plastic sticks), which will result in mesh sizes of approximately 8 to 15 millimetres. Which is rather... huge. I would not recommend buying them, unless you have no other choice whatsoever (read: unless there is nobody at all in your acquaintance that you could beg until he makes you a crude-but-workable netting needle).

... to be continued tomorrow on Monday. (This is what happens when you don't keep track of what weekday it is.)

Before this gets buried too deep in the stack of posts that have yet to be finished, here is part IV of the Kruseler and Hairdo series. My original plan was to illustrate the description with photos, but I'm not very good at taking pictures of my own back of head, and I won't get around to have some taken soon enough.
Should you try to follow these instructions and keep getting utterly lost, you can tell me in the comment section, and I will try to provide some crude illustration.

The updo I used as the kruseler foundation is commonly called a "log roll", or at least I only know it under this name.

To make a log roll, you do the following:

• Grow hair. You will probably need mid-back hair or bottom-length hair at least. Fine hairs can usually do it with hair on the shorter end, thick-haired ladies (or guys, of course) need more length.
  
• Gather hair together in a low ponytail, and hold the ponytail with one hand.
• With the free hand, grasp the hanging end of the tail and wrap it upwards and towards your head over the hand holding the tail. Your first hand should now have hair looped around it.
• Open the hand in the loop slightly, keeping the base of the loop together with the other hand. Now you twist the hand in the loop - this will form a sort of twine underneath the loop. While twisting, pull the hand gently and slowly away from your head, to elongate the twist below the loop.
• Stop pulling and twisting when the twisted section is as long as the back of your head or only slightly longer. You should now have the twisted section, coming from the base of your starting ponytail, and a free-hanging tail of hair coming out of the twist.
• With one hand, hold the twisted section up by the loop so there is some space between the twist and your head. With the free hand, wrap the tail of hair still free around the twist, covering it gradually from bottom to top. That is why you need the length.
• Tuck ends underneath to hide them. Settle finished log roll on your head, going straight up the middle, and secure with your method of choice. Until the roll is firmly secured on your head, always keep hold of the loop, or the roll will uncoil, and you have to start over.
  

This is one of my staple updos, since it is fast and well-balanced and does not look bad. But for modern living, I do it only as a single bun worn on the back of the head, not with parted hair and put up on the temples. It is also possible to logroll a braid, something I also do pretty often, but this will not give the sleek look of the "hair horns" that can be seen on the Arnolfini wedding picture, and that was my model for this try.

My main problem is getting the two humps symmetrical and then fixing them securely. They must be firm enough not only to support themselves, but also the (admittedly light) veil, which I pin to the lumps.
I know I'm not the only person wearing or trying to wear a kruseler - so what are your experiences? Have you had problems with the symmetrical arrangement? How do you fix your fabric to the head? How long does it keep in shape?

And most importantly: If you had one single question to ask a medieval kruseler-wearing lady, what would you ask her?

Now as promised, the problems I have with this version.

First of all, the kruseler. It consists of multiple layers (I think eight layers) of fine silk fabric, woven in tabby. It's the thin quality you can buy for painting scarves, Pongé 05. The "ruflles" consists of the selvedges of the fabric. All cut edges are sealed with beeswax.
The ruffle, to me, does not look voluminous enough. This might be due to not enough layers, or it could be possible to seal/impregnate the edges in the ruffle with (bleached) beeswax and form it, still warm, into the characteristic wavy form. The next one will be better, I hope.

Then, the hairdo. I am pretty content with how it looks on the photos (though the right "horn" has uncoiled slightly), and it is actually comfortable to wear once it is arranged symmetrically and fixed securely. And that is the snag. I find it enormously difficult to do the two lumps of hair, both securely, both similarly tight and starting from the right spot. Then these two horns have to be pinned to the head. I have a lot of experience nowadays with the simple, u-shaped pins that have been used in the middle ages (and are still available today, thanks to the powers that be), but while the first one is always more or less agreeable, the second horn invariably droops. Or wanders. Or uncoils, if it is really cross.

So while putting up the hair in this way is technically no problem for me - the motions for making the horns are easy, and the single-roll-on-back-of-the-head version of the updo is one of my staples (and I wear my hair up all days, all the time, with only a handful of exceptions a year) - it is still a problem to get it symmetrical, and both twin horns secured firmly. That is probably something to come with practice, but the updo without the veil looks pretty... hmm... let us settle for weird, and the same is true for modern eyes when worn with the veil. And that is the reason why I am not running around with this updo every day. (Plus it won't fit under a bicycle helmet.)

And last of all problems, the pinning. Kruselers worn on the pictures are shown either with a rounded look or with an angular look (the one I'm aiming for). While both can be achieved with changing the hairdo, I haven't yet found any pins shown on the kruseler paintings. Some way of holding the veil to the head must have been used, and I'll assume it was not hot glue straight out of the glue gun. So the big question is: Where and how was the veil fixed (pinned, probably) to the hair? Or was there some other solution? I have had lots of problems, and I always need several tries, to find the right place and right angle for the (bronze) pins to really hold the veil, and for more than some seconds. And it's not only holding it down: the veil should cover the hairline on the forehead, show some of the hair bump beneath and then fall down in a nice, straight line.

I'll happily try out suggestions the next time I wear this, so please shoot!

Finally, I have those photos I promised to you, wearing the kruseler. Here it is:


And another one, with the demure looking-down-look:


There are a few problems left to tackle in one of the next tries - business as usual, you could say. I have listed the issues I have, but will not post them before tomorrow, to give you the chance of looking without getting biased by my evaluation first. Please feel free to comment!

This is the sewing project I finished Friday, a sideless surcot. It had been on my list for ages.
I finally started sewing it this winter, with high hopes of keeping warmer next year during the colder parts of the season.

Cut and proportions are based on the garments from Burgos de las Huelgas, in Spain. Unfortunately, I am too poor to afford handwoven silk brocade in bright colours with arabian characters brocaded into a broad strip on the fabric, or something similar.
Thus it is made from blue wool twill, sewn with linen thread, and the upper part is lined with rabbit fur (there was rabbit fur lining found with one of the royal surcots, though, so this at least is similar material).
Should this prove not warm enough, I will add in more fur, but for the moment, I am quite content.


Since I dragged the unfinished piece around folded together, it still has some creases that will gradually hang out. And, of course, there's still lots of rabbit fur clinging to the fabric. But all that is left to do is shake out the garment and brush it down once, and then maybe hang it into the damp bathroom for a few hours to smoothe the creases... and so I can tackle the next thing on my craft projects list.

Which is? Let's call it "simple precision tablet weaving" for now.