A Cap of Maintenance

So now that this has been given, I can write about it.

My very good friend, Baroness Johanne ap Wisby was elevated to to the Order of the Pelican on 6 January 24 March 30 June.  In case someone who's not involved with the SCA happens to be reading this: the Order of the Pelican is the SCA's highest honor for service to the Society and is considered one of our peerage orders.  As such, during the elevation of new member one of the things they are given is a 'cap of maintenance'.  You can read more about caps of maintenance here.

The cap of maintenance is a red cap with ermine fur trim.  While the cap of maintenance is usually in the form of a bycokcet (the "Robin Hood" cap), this is not really in line with Johanne's persona.  Plus, she doesn't often wear hats.  Johanne usually wears 12th-13th century Scandinavian garb.  So, in an effort to give her something that she might actually wear in the future, it occurred to me that she might like something in the form of the St. Birgitta cap.

The cap, or coif, of St. Birgitta is a relic.  Birgitta was a 14th century Swedish saint.  This head covering can be called a coif, 'huva', or 'huvete'.  There are many descriptions of this type of cap online.  This page has some good information on the relic itself, which has an embroidered band along the front edge and insertion embroidery for the seam.  This one has some good images from period artwork showing this type of cap in wear.  These sort of hair coverings are almost universally made of white linen.  However, in order to make it into a cap of maintenance I would make one out of red linen.

I mostly used the pattern on this page which is pretty good.  The main difference in my construction was that I made small gathering stitches along the bottom rather than pleating, since I didn't feel I could easily pleat 10 inches down into 2 (although, I suppose that you could consider what I did to be cartridge pleating).  There a wonderfully detailed description of the complex insertion seam embroidery on this page but I chose to use a more simple version detailed here.  The seam is worked in red silk embroidery thread.

The edges were hemmed and then basted to a piece of graph paper.  This helped me keep the spacing even.  This first photo shows the herringbone stitch which is the base of the insertion seam.  The second photo shows the first pass of the interlacing stitch.

And finally, the other side is interlaced.

Originally, I had asked a friend who does silk painting - Lady Angelica de Nova Lipa - about creating a strip of silk printed with heraldic ermine spots.  She found the small scale and detail a bit difficult, though.  In the end, she embroidered ermine spots onto the silk for me.  I used this both for the embroidered band on the cap itself, as well as the straps (which are really one continuous band with the edge treatment). Here is the attached ermine band and the finished cap, posed on an upside-down pitcher.

This was a fun little project.  I particularly enjoy adapting historical styles and techniques in novel ways, either for some interesting "modern" use or for our unique SCA customs.  I don't think there's any evidence for this type of cap in anything other than white linen in the Middle Ages.  Likewise, a traditional cap of maintenance is always in the form of a bycocket.  However, this project really highlights the "creative" part of the Society for Creative Anachronism - which makes me smile.

For bonus, some pelican embroidery with Johanne's arms that was put on a cloak that was used as a "vestment" for her elevation: