Schwalm Costume

For the festive costumes Schwalm women wore many skirts one upon the other. It was common that 10-12 skirts (sometimes more) belonged to one set.

More than any other element, the numerous skirts gave the Schwalm costume its special appearance. For it to be possible to wear, one upon the other, so many skirts, they had to be very full. And for it to be possible to carry the weight of so many skirts, they had to be short.
In the year 1941, the pastor and profound appreciator of Schwalm habits and costumes, Heinrich Metz (1897–1973) made a survey of an average Schwalm bride’s trousseau. [Source: Schwälmer Jahrbuch 2000]

Regarding the skirts he found:

Upper class women had more, and poorer women had substantially fewer skirts in their respective trousseaus. Women of modest means often owned so-called double skirts. These were skirts with an additional piece of fabric (a strip about 15 cm high and trimmed with a border at the bottom) attached at the bottom edge to simulate a second skirt.

Most of the skirts of one set were made from “Beiderwand”. This is a linen weave fabric made of linen threads in the warp and hand-spun lambs wool in the woof. It was dyed to blue with indigo.
These fabrics were not colourfast.

Only the skirt worn on top was made of finer and more expensive fabric. I found different details.
One source tells about fine, shiny black linen for the green costumes, another source tells about fine, shiny “Beiderwand” dyed to black for the green and blue costumes and dyed to blue for the red costume. A third source mentions “Tuch” (a fabric made of wool yarn).

The matte “Tuch” skirts were worn in mourning and to the Lord´s Supper. The shiny skirts were worn for celebrations such as “Kirmes” (village fairs) or weddings. The shiny skirts, susceptible to water spots, were not worn during rainy weather. Also it is reported that the black and shiny top skirts were worn only on kermis Saturdays and during wedding parties only up to the afternoon refreshments.

“Beiderwand” and linen fabric were brought to a shine by dipping them into a special mixture made of a glue from skin leftovers from the tanners and potash. By dipping into this mixture, the fabric got both a shine and a stiffness. The shine was increased by rubbing with a special stone, the “Glänzstein”. Therefore the fabric was laid on a corrugated table and rubbed with very strong pressure. The “Glänzstein” was made of a wooden handle with an oval shaped fine-grained agate stone attached to the bottom.

In winter women wore the “Kalmuck” skirt closest to the body. “Kalmuck” was a twill fabric that had been vigorously rubbed on both sides. This treatment produced a soft and warm fabric.

For one skirt 4 meters of fabric was needed; this length of fabric was closely gathered so that the result looks like tiny pleats. (About the year 1900, five cuts of fabric 80 cm each were used, later 4 ½ cuts of fabric were considered enough.)
The waistband was fastened in the middle of the front (this area was covered with an apron later).
To the left and to the right of the middle front, sections of the fabric remained plain, the rest was gathered. To achieve an even drape, the following was done: The waist was measured and a fabric strip for the waistband was divided into 6 parts. However the width of the skirt fabric was divided into 8 parts.

For example:
A skirt has a finished waist measurement of 66 cm.
66 cm : 6 parts = 11 cm/part
So, making the skirt, 11 cm of the fabric remain plain (1 part), 44 cm (4 parts) would have been gathered, and the last 11 cm (1 part) remains plain again.
The four parts for gathering were divided in half again, so that 8 parts of 5.5 cm each were established.

The width of the skirt fabric measured 382 cm. For the two plain parts 22 cm were needed. So 360 cm of fabric remained. This was divided into 8 parts of 45 cm each. The fabric had to be divided in this way so that in the end 45 cm of fabric was gathered down to 5.5 cm.

If this division had not been made, it would be near impossible to space the gathers evenly onto the waistband.

The tiny pleats were laid and pinned. If everything fit according to the previously made divisions, the pleats were secured with Stem stitches using a thick and strong thread, from the back and about 2-3 cm from the top edge.

Along the top edge, a fabric strip for the waistband was laid right sides together and sewn.
It was then turned and secured on the backside approximately in the middle of the pleats. In this way the pleats were stabilized once more, and a waistband is attached.
Because adding skirt upon skirt increased the waist measurement by 2-3 cm per skirt, each skirt´s waist had to be increased accordingly.
The skirt was sewn closed along the center front seam about half way up from the hem. And the waist was closed with hook and eye.
If, later on, there was need to increase the waists, there had to be a way to adjust the waistband.
The women solved this problem by adding small chains or bands to bridge the gaps.
The length of the skirts differed. It was not only determined by the height of the woman, but also on the range the skirt would have – that is, how far they would lie up and away from the body.

The bottom skirt would have been short enough so that the undershirt could be seen peeking from underneath about a hands width. Every additional skirt must be cut somewhat longer (although in the end it would look as though it is shorter).

Only in a few villages of the Schwalm, were the skirts’ lengths cut so that all – one upon the other – looked the same length. Usually the upper skirt fell a little above the hem of the previous skirt so that the whole magnificence of the bands could be seen.

To eliminate confusion when dressing, the skirts were numbered.

It would be difficult, to establish a nice drape by hemming such sturdy fabric. So at the bottom edges the skirts were trimmed with narrow strips of fine coton fabric and often decorated with additional borders.
The skirt bands are worth their own chapter, so I will report about this subject in the future.

The “Geschirr” (harness) was needed to prevent the numerous (one on top of the other) skirts Schwalm women wore for festive occasions from sliding down. It was worn over the knee-length undershirt. The image below shows a harness being worn. The photograph is from 2004, and is found in `Der Tracht treu geblieben´, Volume 3, by Brunhilde Miehe.

The harness was made of fine linen fabric, and consisted of a thick bolster attached to a flat band of fabric and straps.

The bolster was tightly filled

with material people had at their fingertips – hackled flax, sheep´s wool, horsehair or anything else soft and appropriate for stuffing.

The straps crisscross on the back to prevent them from sliding off the shoulders.

The bolster ends are secured to keep stuffing in place, and several inches of flat band extend beyond the bolster.

The harness was fastened, in the front, with a hook and eye closure.

Whereas the straps were placed in the back relatively close to the center, in the front they were attached off to the sides to accommodate the bosoms.

Little girls did not have to wear such a harness. For them the bolster was fastened to the bottom edge of the waistcoat.

The Schwalm buckle shoes were closed with buckles. There were different buckles for special uses.

For everyday life women wore pearl buckles. On the surface of these buckles, there was a beady decoration which was created at the foundry.

On Sundays, holidays and special festivities the coloured “Eckenschnallen” (corner buckles) were worn. They were the same for men and women, the only difference being in the size. The buckle maker soldered pieces of copper sheet (also as heart or tulip shapes) or added copper rivets. Also the remaining brass areas were decorated with fine chiseling.

In mourning or for grave occasions, oval buckles (also called “mourning buckles”, “round buckles” or “plain buckles”) were worn. These buckles had holes on each side. Women´s oval buckles had 12 round holes, men´s oval buckles had 8, not always round holes.

The outside ear of the shoe was turned as wide as possible so to still be able to slide through the heart of the buckle

and then the ear was folded so that the tip of the ear was lying on the opposite side of the shoe tongue. Thereby the tip of the heart clawed into the ear.

The inside ear was passed through the buckle. The tongue of the buckle bored through the ear and positioned it

so that the ear was draped at the outside of the shoe.
Remember, the Schwalm shoe fits either the left or right foot. This buckle treatment meant that no matter which foot the shoe was worn on, the ear could be draped to the outside of the foot.

In mourning the inside ear was only passed through the first part of the buckle. The ear part was then laid under the other side of the buckle.

Women always wore buckle shoes with the festive Schwalm costume. Men also had, in addition to the high-necked buckle shoes, lace-up shoes or boots.

The buckle shoes had rounded toes. The heels were not high and some were smaller than the shoes so that it looked like small blocks lay below the shoes.

For better footing and longer life some heels were shod.

For women’s shoes the shoemaker had only one shoe last, this means, there was no left or right shoe; both were the same and the ladies would alternate wearing them on the left and right feet so that the shoes would wear equally.

Mostly, the shoes were made from calfskin. The punch-decorated tongues of the women’s shoes were serrated at the top edges and accented with white sheep hide.

The tongues of the men’s shoes had red piping.

On the sides, there were large tabs in a shape similar to a heart – the “ears”.

These were decorated with hole ornamentation made with prickers. For marriage shoes, the year was also pricked into the tabs.

The “ears” were slid through buckles and draped. Thus the Schwalm buckle shoes made an extravagant impression.

Besides the buckle shoes, the Schwalm women had some more comfortable shoes, the so-called “Kommod” (=commodious) shoes. With flat heels and low cut, they were worn for everyday life and during old age.

Originally garters simply held up stockings, but as the skirts became shorter the garters became more and more ornate. The result was a wide variety of decorated garters.

Garters are approximately 85 cm long and 3-4 cm wide. The colour of the garter bands matches the colour of the costume worn. All bands have decorated plates at both ends.

To hold up the stockings, garters were placed around the leg above the knee and were tied so that the plates peeked out below the skirt hem at the side of the leg.

The embellishment of the garters varied greatly. Simple garters had plates of colourful, silk jacquard ribbons.
More elaborate examples had an additional decoration of needlelace at the bottom of the plate, or had sequins, or were trimmed with fine metal Purls.

Older pieces often were decorated with “Tritzern”. These are rosettes made from silk ribbons. They were attached to the plates with beads, little blooms of coloured metal or sequins.
More expensive examples were richly decorated with Purls and sequins. The red costume would have gold accents, while the green costume would have silver accents.
The most impressive garters were those worked in the finest colour embroidery using silk threads.

Only the wealthiest women could afford garters worked in the finest colour embroidery using silk threads, additionally decorated with sequins and Purls of gold and silver. Of course, these examples are so rare that I, unfortunately, was not able to get an example to show here.