Schwalm Costume

There was a wide variety of embroidery on the cuffs of the Schwalm bodice sleeves. The bottom edges (looking at the cuff unfolded) always had a more
or less elaborate needlelace.
At the top edge of the cuff, either a Peahole hem,
a needle weaving hem,
or a needle weaving hem with an additional Peahole hem was worked.
Between both, a band—the widths varying—was fully,
or even partially, filled with Schwalm whitework.
The most extensive cuff decoration I have at my disposal has a total width of 22 cm, and the whitework border has a width of 14 cm. The width of other cuff decorations measured between 10 and 20 cm. Only the decorations for children´s bodice sleeve cuffs were smaller.

The whitework borders of the Schwalm bodice cuffs were always lined. There were two methods of lining:

1. The sleeve was cut to length so that an extra deep seam and an additional seam allowance were already included.
Here the problem was that the sleeves, from the shoulder, were tapered down to the cuff. So, when folding back the lining, the width was not adequate to cover all the embroidery.
2. The sleeve was cut to size with a bottom seam allowance of about 2–3 cm. An additional linen strip the width of the sleeve cuff was put on the seam allowance to line the section between the needlelace and the bottom edge of the hem decoration.
One started with withdrawing a thread at both the top and the bottom edges of the border. Between these lines the chosen design was embroidered. Sometimes, as seen in the example below, some more threads were withdrawn to work curved lines between. (More curved line patterns can be found in my publication Schwalm Curved Lines, Narrow Borders, and Ornamental stitches.) The withdrawn thread lines were covered with Back stitches.
Then the hems were worked; they usually reached from side to side of the sleeve.
In only a few cases did they end before reaching the side edges.
At the bottom of the sleeve, the seam was folded and held in place with a row of Back stitches along the initial withdrawn thread line.
t a short seam allowance a strip was added. The top edge of the strip was folded along a seam allowance and then fastened with Antique Hem stitches at the bottom edge of the hem.
At the bottom edge of the cuff, needlelace was worked. It usually did not run across the entire width of the sleeve cuff, but started and ended about 1 cm from the side edges.
A wider needlelace was tapered down.
The sleeves were closed. If lining did not reach to the sides, the edges were folded under and the lining was secured with fine stitches.
The sleeves were turned inside out
and then inserted in the armscyes.
Folded up nearly reaching the shoulders, the genteel adornment developed its full magnificence.

Schwalm bodices are easily overlooked; this is not surprising since the bodice was worn under so many other costume pieces. Of the entire bodice, only the sleeves—with the their richly decorated cuffs—were really noticeable. The embroidery on the sleeve cuffs is very special and makes the bodice one of the most magnificent pieces of the festive Schwalm costume.
The bodices were worn over an undershirt and harness. They were slim fitting, short waisted, and did not have any closures. The sleeves were disproportionately long.
Often fine handwoven linen was used for making the bodices. A bodice was composed of the following parts: 2 sleeves, 2 gussets, 1 back, 2 fronts, 2 small side sections, and 1 neckline facing.
Most of the bodice components had straight edges, only the armscyes were slightly curved.
Felled seams were used for sewing together the body sections, shoulder seams, closing sleeves, and inserting sleeves.
The center front edges were hemmed, and the edges of the neckline were finished with a facing.
All body sections were cut to size so that a selvage was at the bottom edge making hemming unnecessary. In this way additional layers of fabric in the waist area was avoided (and we have seen already the quantity of fabric at the waist with the multiple skirts).
The fronts of the bodices were cut somewhat smaller than the back: so, the front edges did not reach the middle of the body.
On the right front of a bodice, the initials of the owner were embroidered using coloured thread and Cross stitches. Sometimes also narrow ornaments were embroidered between the single letters of the initials. (Such charted ornaments and letters can be found in the book Schwalm Crowns.)
A small strip of fabric was inserted at the sides (between the front and back sections);
the width of this strip was the same as the widest edge of the sleeve´s gusset.
The sleeves, from the shoulder, were tapered down to the cuff.
The excess width of the sleeves at the shoulders was gathered down to 4 cm.
The tiny pleats were secured and stitched in place for about 1–1.5 cm with some rows of Running stitches. Curved line patterns decorate both a section of the seam adjacent to the pleats and a section of the shoulder seam. (More curved line patterns can be found in my publication Schwalm Curved Lines, Narrow Borders, and Ornamental stitches. Often additional small motifs were embroidered in the corners of the decorated seams.
The sleeve cuffs were decorated with embroideries. These developed variously and, depending on the status or wealth of the wearer, were more or less brilliant. There was always a whitework border, a Peahole hem, and needlelace. Often there was also a needle weaving hem, and sometimes a needle weaving hem in addition to Peahole hems can be found.

The decorated sleeve cuffs are folded up to the top of the sleeves,
the remaining unembroidered part is folded
so that the bottom edge hangs around the elbow.
The decorations of the sleeve cuffs will be discussed in a separate article. You can read it in my next post.

Tritzers are roses made with silk ribbons. They are used for decorating the equipment of infants, children, and poor women. Because tritzers are small and cute, they are well suited for children’s adornment. And because they are quick and relatively inexpensive to produce, they are a good embellishment choice for low-income women.

Tritzer can be found on infants’ caps, baby christening caps, dresses for little girls, baby slings, garters, apron strings, and parade cushions.

Children’s tritzer are additionally decorated. This means, for girls 1-3 (sometimes 5) berries stuffed with peas are sewn in the center, and for boys 1 berry stuffed with a bean is sewn in the center.

Tritzers for adults are either sewn to the item without any additional decoration or they are embellished with bullion, sequins, and stamped metal flowers or stars.

Small tritzers are made with one silk ribbon, large tritzers are made with two or more silk ribbons.

At the bottom edges, the skirts of the Schwalm costumes were trimmed with narrow strips of fine cotton fabric and often decorated with additional borders. For the festive costumes there were many variations, and there was a clear scheme in the order of wearing the skirts with different borders. In Schwalm the borders were called “Schnur” (ribbons).

The first examples show solid colour cotton chintz fabrics which came from England or India. In Schwalm it was called “Tamis”, “Dames” or also “Damest”. (From about 1900 these were no longer available, so velvet was used.) These fabrics had a linen weave and were finished with an intense shine or glaze. The colours used for this purpose were red, green, blue (violet) and black, matching the respective costume set.

Using this “Damest” the bottom skirt was trimmed so that the finished border measured about 2 cm deep. Depending on the number of skirts women wore – young women had to disclose their abundance in wearing as many skirts as possible, older women wore fewer skirts – two or three more skirts were trimmed in this way.

On top of these, one or two skirts with extravagantly coloured ribbons were worn. The “Damest” on these were not as deep, but they were additionally decorated with a multi-coloured silk ribbon.

Both pictures above show – although the colours may vary a little bit – that, for example, a violetgreen ribbon could be used for both the green and the blue costume. The deciding factor is the colour of the “Damest” trimming.
The woven silk ribbons were found in a wide range of different patterns. Here I can show only a few examples; so, I will report about this special subject in the future.

On top of the skirts with the colourful woven ribbons, one or two skirts with curved bands were worn. A silk ribbon was laid in a zig-zag line and sewn onto a strip of “Damest” or onto a ribbon of silk.

On top of these, a skirt trimmed with an extra fancy ribbon was worn. The extra fancy ribbon was woven with metallic gold or silver threads.
On top of this, one or two skirts with double curved bands were worn. Two silk ribbons in different colours were laid in a zig-zag lines and sewn staggered on a strip of “Damest” or onto a silk ribbon.
Upper class women had an additional skirt decorated with three different silk ribbons creating a triple zig-zag line on a silk ribbon.
On top of this skirt, another with a double zig-zag line was worn.

The last skirt before the top skirt was the most magnificent one. It had both a ribbon with a double or a triple zig-zag line and a multi-coloured silk ribbon. Or sometimes two ribbons, one with a triple and one with a double zig-zag line.

The final skirt displayed only a small amount of colour. Inside the skirt the coloured “Damest” was about 10 cm deep.
All these colours and all this splendour inspired many artists to feature the costumes in their paintings. Shown here is a painting by Carl Bantzer (1857-1941); it is called “Schwälmer Tanz” (Schwalm dance) and is dated 1898.
It is on display, also virtual, in the Philipps University in Marburg,Germany (Museum für Kunst und Kulturgeschichte Marburg, Biegenstraße 11, D-35032 Marburg)