The Schwalm women wore a cape as a “winter coat” over their voluminous traditional costume. Such a piece of clothing is part of my extensive Schwalm traditional costume collection. This cape has a black georgette jacquard outer fabric and is lined with thick wool fabric.
Vegetable patterns are woven into the outer fabric.
The fold-over collar is made of velvet. The front opening is lined with velvet over a width of 9 cm. An original clasp holds the cape together at the neck, otherwise it is held closed with the hands on the inside pockets.
The cape is approx. 90 cm long at the front and approx. 100 cm at the back and is roughly in the shape of a three-quarter circle.
By chance, a few years ago I saw a picture of a similarly cut piece of clothing in our local newspaper: a photo of Frederick King of Sweden’s coronation coat.
The idea immediately came to me to make a similar example using Schwalm crowns. At that time I thought about a global collaborative effort. To do this, each participant was supposed to design their own crown according to given criteria, turn it into an embroidery work using the appropriate material and hand it over to me to assemble. The high shipping costs and the immense customs and customs processing fees dissuaded me from the plan. But the idea didn’t die.
I recently received an invitation to a ceremony on 22, October honoring the carrier groups of the new additions to the nationwide list of intangible cultural heritage in March 2024.
Which outfit would be appropriate for the official ceremony?
A coronation coat for Schwalm whitework would be very individual and absolutely appropriate for the occasion.
If I tried it on with black pants, the clothes would fit me. But would I dare to wear something like that? Asking for advice, I received encouragement from many sides.
Let’s go!
But how do one best implement the idea? I would have at most 14 weeks.
At first I thought of embroidering different crowns individually on hand-woven linen, later cutting them out into ovals of the same size and placing them on the cape.
But how should the ovals be attached to the cape and how should the edges be designed? And would the cape still have a nice fall?
The idea seemed too impractical and was rejected.
It would probably be best to embroider the crowns directly onto the fabric. Unfortunately I didn’t have a sample to try out and practice on. So “a jump into the deep end” – either it works or I have to give up my plan.
Using white copy paper, I transferred some lines onto smooth black silk fabric. The lines were clearly visible and didn’t rub off straight away. However, the description stated that the paper was not suitable for materials with a rough, uneven surface. But the fabric of the coat is rough and unsmooth, especially where the patterns are woven into it.
Nevertheless, I will dare.
To do this, I first have to unstitch the hem seam because embroidering through both layers of fabric wouldn’t work.
The hem is fastened twice: with a machine seam with very short stitches using very strong thread and a hand seam with the finest stitches at the bottom.
Since each stitch had to be cut individually, just unraveling the hem took hours.
And then there was the hidden seam that connected the outer fabric and lining along the center back.
What size should the crowns be and how should they be arranged?
Paper patterns – cut out from my crown books – helped with the decision.
I liked a 6cm distance from the bottom edge. At this height, the cape has a circumference of 4.30 m. With a distance of 25 cm from the center of one crown to the center of the next crown, there would be room for 17 crowns in one row.
Marking the positions with pins, I laid out the bottom row.
If there is enough time, I would like to put 3 rows on top of each other.
How far apart should the rows be? I try with a distance of 20 cm from bottom edge to bottom edge (picture above),
with a 20 cm distance between the bottom edges of the crowns of rows 1 and 2 and with a 15 cm distance between the bottom edges of the crowns of rows 2 and 3
and with a distance of 15 cm each.
I like the last version best. It also immediately becomes clear that the largest crowns must be placed in the bottom row. Since the distance within the row shouldn’t be quite as wide as the crown itself, I opt for 15 cm wide crowns and a distance of 10 cm.
My impatience is growing. The center seam at the back of the cape determines the position of a crown, so that only the distance from the bottom edge needs to be measured.
I definitely want to put that crown outline at this point, which can be seen on the oldest Schwalm whitework piece that I know of – a bed covering from 1793, exhibited in the Museum of the Schwalm. I bring this outline pattern to a width of 15 cm, use copy paper and a pen with a firm tip,
position and transfer the pattern to the outer fabric of the cape.
I get to work with a fine chenille needle, embroidery frame and stranded cotton thread 874 from MEZ Anchor. 874 is a medium-light gold tone that, in my opinion, goes very well with the crown embroidery and has an excellent effect on the black background.
I have so much to learn while working!
The fabric warps very easily and it is difficult to place stitches accurately despite great care – unlike when embroidering on tightly woven linen.
The 3-ply yarn is too thick, so I use 2-ply yarn after just a few stitches.
Despite the greatest care, the Coral Knot stitches turn out horribly. Stem stitches are also not attractive. This is how I embroider the lines and tendrils with Chain stitches. The Satin stitches cannot be positioned evenly due to the georgette fabric.
Whether fully lined or just delineated with Back stitches, I can’t achieve the desired effect.
The outlines also wear off very quickly and are only vaguely perceptible, if at all. Even touching up with a chalk pen doesn’t help. I often have to embroider “blind”.
After about 8 hours of strenuous embroidering, the first crown is almost finished and turned out absolutely not as I would have liked. The areas with the dense Satin stitches are also too tight and leave no room for the fabric to fall freely.
So give up ! ?
I can’t embroider on the black background for more than 4 hours a day; and not every day I can pick up the needle. I would have a maximum of 98 days to complete it. With 3 x 17 crowns, 8 hours each, I would need 102 days. So it’s not possible.
But……
Viewed from a slightly greater distance, the crown doesn’t look so bad – at least in the area of the stems and tendrils.
So I’m trying another crown. I can still give up.
The second attempt turned out much better in my opinion.
Many Chain stitches, Zigzag stitches instead of Satin stitch knife points and Daisy stitches instead of Satin stitches shorten the working time by half.
The less densely embroidered elements make the crown appear raised on the black background.
So, despite all the adversities, many examples
turn out to my satisfaction.
With this work I don’t want to win a prize for flawless embroidery, but rather to design a piece of clothing that is suitable for a specific occasion.
These “stripped down” versions also make clear the diversity of designs
and the wealth of ideas of the Schwalm women.
But how are all the crowns supposed to be distributed on the cloak?
At the bottom of the crowns, the distance from one crown center to the next is 25 cm to achieve 17 sections. There is only 2 cm of space on the collar. This makes it easy to fold the cape lengthwise along these dimensions and insert marking threads.
I’m learning to embroider as loosely as possible and to leave enough space for the embroidery thread on the back. Embroidering the crowns on the front edges of the cape is difficult because I don’t want to unpick the seams or separate the velvet trim. The thick layers of fabric are difficult to handle, but over time I find a workable way there too.
Little by little my embroidery is becoming more confident and the crowns are being worked less and less elaborately. After a while the first row is finished and I am satisfied.
To adjust the size of the crowns of the second row to the angle of the sections, these crown patterns are made 10 cm wide. I try to add a flatter design to a taller crown and vice versa.
After two rows the piece looks pretty good. There’s still enough time for the third row.
The crowns for this are made 7 cm wide.
I have chosen fifty crowns from all periods of Schwalm whitework from the beginning to the present day. The fifty-first should be a very current one. It doesn’t necessarily correspond to traditional models, but it fits the occasion. Based on the logo of the intangible cultural heritage “Knowledge. Can. Pass it on.” and with two smileys, the final crown is created with just a few stitches.
All that’s missing is an embroidered note. So that later viewers can find out what the coat is all about and when it was embroidered and by whom, I have chosen “Crown Coat of Schwalm Whitework, 2024, Luzine Happel” as the text.
When I was embroidering, I left some crown baskets undecorated. However, I didn’t have the idea to put writing in these baskets from the start.
And so they are distributed randomly – but all in the lower row of crowns.
A 14 font “Sageo print” with 1 pt spacing between characters is suitable and reasonably embroiderable.
I really like the almost finished work when it’s spread out.
If you ignore the subtleties, the overall impression is exactly as I initially imagined.
At the end the bottom hem has to be closed again. I notice that despite all my caution, the fabric of the outer layer has contracted slightly and is now slightly shorter than the lining fabric. Since the seam runs 3 cm above the edge, this is not noticeable when worn. I also hope that the fabric will hang out after a while.
Hanging on the hanger, the drape is beautiful. The crowns peeking out from it encourage one to take a closer look and make it clear at first glance that Schwalm embroidery is extremely imaginative and diverse.
I look forward to wearing the coat when Schwalm Whitework is crowned with a certificate with the title “Intangible Cultural Heritage”.
