Man’s Hanbok – Jeoksam

Korean
A jeoksam from the late 16th or early 17th century

The jeoksam (적삼) is an under layer worn by both men and women, and is fairly simple in construction. There is a wide variety of methods for constructing the collar, underarm gusset, and sleeve available. I based the proportions for my jeoksam on the pictured example, but with a wider collar and without the pleats in the crossover panel in the front. The underarm gussets are squares cut in one piece with the sleeve and folded in half, a common construction in 16th century examples.

Possible materials that could have been used in period are silk, cotton, hemp, or ramie. I opted for cotton for my first attempt. The collar is doubled, but otherwise the garment is a single layer. The construction is mostly by machine, with French seams where it was easy to do so. Hems and final collar attachment were done by hand.

Seong Myeong Su Daegam provided a large amount of research and translation help with this outfit.

Man’s Hanbok – Beginning

Korean, Uncategorized
Details from a 1567 painting depicting
a social gathering of Joseon aristocrats [1]
A drawing of an outfit similar to the above detail. [1]

With the research assistance of Seong Myeong Su, I am going to make an attempt at a 16th century (Joseon: 조선) Korean man’s outfit, or hanbok (한복). My goal will be clothing appropriate for daily wear for an aristocrat or official.

The items for this outfit will include the following:

  • Jeoksam (적삼) – undershirt
  • Baji (바지) – pants
  • Beoseon (버선) – socks
  • Jikryeong/jingnyeong (직령) – coat with straight collar

Sources:

  1. Bae, Jin-Hee, Eun-Joo Lee. A Study on the Costumes of the Characters of Higyongru , Annual review in cultural heritage studies v.51 no.4 , 2018, pp.44 – 65  

Seong Myeong Su Daegam provided a large amount of research and translation help with this outfit.

Rondeau: “The dream lives on”

Poetry

The dream lives on after I rise
And veils of sleep lift from my eyes
Though details blur and drift away
Like midnight fog at break of day
Or dew that sparkles as it dries.

I wrack my brain to memorize
The imagery before it dies,
For this must be the only way
The dream lives on.

But even as the last bird flies
And I am left without my prize
My inward ears perk up and they
Hear echoes of that nighttime play
That fill my heart; to my surprise
The dream lives on.

This was written near the beginning of the 2020 quarantine.

Filling The Cups, Or How To Be a Laurel

Philosophy

I was jokingly asked recently, “What are the five easy steps to become a Laurel?” Never one to miss an opportunity, I gave a serious answer, though I failed to limit myself to five. Here I shall try to recreate that answer. I preface this with the disclaimers that this is all my own opinion of what I look for in a candidate, and opinions about such things are widely variable. This also very much reflects my experience in Meridies, and its applicability outside those borders may be imperfect.

Knights often use a metaphor of cups representing virtues that must be filled so that, once combined, they fill the bucket of Knighthood. I am going to appropriate and redefine that metaphor for my own uses. Before trying to define the cups, we must first define what exactly the bucket is. Here I point the reader to my old post “What is the Laurel?” In short, I define the Laurel as a recognition of an artisan’s ability to teach and guide others toward the goal of recreating and understanding historical arts and sciences. With that in mind, we can begin to look at the cups needed to fill that bucket.

Prowess

To be able to teach a thing, you must first be able to do the thing. It is not necessary to achieve the highest levels of mastery to be an effective Laurel, but you must have enough skill and experience in your chosen field to guide others down the path. An easy way to display prowess is by presenting your work at A&S faires. There are other opportunities to display, teach, and showcase your talents, but faires are unique in that Laurels are on hand as judges to give close attention and detailed feedback.

Knowledge

As our goal is not only to make and do things skillfully, but also to recreate and explore the historical arts and sciences, it is important for a Laurel to have deep knowledge of the tools, techniques, methods, and materials used by our forebears. There is always more to know, new subjects to explore, and fresh research to seek out and examine. An effective Laurel is never satisfied with what they already know; they are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to learn and reexamine the things they think they are sure of. Like prowess, this can also be put on display at A&S faires, as well as by teaching classes or publishing in print or online.

Teaching

Unsurprisingly, a job whose primary function is being a teacher requires some skill doing just that. Teaching is an entirely separate skill layered on top of whatever thing it is you actually want to teach about, and it doesn’t come naturally to everyone. There are many ways to teach: large classes, workshops, one on one mentoring, how-to videos, anything that allows you to pass your knowledge and skill along to others. It takes practice to get it right, and even a seasoned teacher will need a couple of test runs when they start teaching a new subject or aspect of one they’ve taught before. As a Laurel trying to judge a candidate’s teaching ability, it helps if at least some of that teaching is in a public setting.

Humility

Being able to put others before yourself is an important and often difficult thing. Teaching is about educating the students, not the brilliance of the teacher. Mentoring should focus on the person being lifted up, not the one doing the lifting. Willingness to re-examine what you think you know helps avoid perpetuating bad information. Admitting your mistakes helps you move past them. All of these things are important for someone who seeks to be in a position of respect and leadership.

Wordfame

A Laurel is a resource that should be available to anyone looking for knowledge and advice. Usually they are a “go-to” person in their field. However, people can only go to you if they know who you are and what you do. Humility is a virtue, but any virtue taken to an extreme is detrimental. Don’t hide your light under a bushel; make yourself and your work visible so people know that you’re willing and able to share. Both travel and a strong online presence are helpful tools for achieving this.

Engagement

The flip side of wordfame is knowing who else is out there. Laurels are inevitably asked questions about things they have no knowledge of, and at those times it is very useful to know other artisans you can redirect those questions to. You may also have an opportunity to promote someone else, or to put two people in touch who would benefit from the connection. Get out and meet people outside your group, outside your field, outside your kingdom. Know who the movers and shakers are, both artisans and otherwise.

Communication

While it is tempting to lock yourself away in your shop or studio and focus on your work, it is part of a Laurel’s job to be able to effectively communicate with others. As mentioned above, teaching, mentoring, and networking are all part of the job, and all of these require a proficient communicator. Knowing what to say, when, and how require as much practice as any other skill. Empathy and active listening will help you know when you need to change your tack. You will need to be able to encourage the timid, rebuke the unruly, and advise the unsure, all without causing more problems than you solve.

Leadership

All Peers are leaders in their field, and in the SCA as a whole. Look for opportunities to create, support, and promote communities. This might take the form of a group project, a guild, or an office. A good leader can make a community into something greater than the sum of its parts. A leader must inspire confidence and trust in those they want to lead. Build a track record of good stewardship and participation in communities that you value so that when a leader is needed you’ll be ready to step in.

Wisdom

“To speak and to be silent… to do and to let be.” Recognizing the right time and way to take action is a subtle but important trick. Sometimes the right thing to do is nothing, or to make space for someone else to act.

Franchise

I have written at length in the past about this subject, but my personal interpretation of Franchise is confidence in the fact that you are worthy of your station; essentially the opposite of impostor syndrome. It must be tempered with a healthy dose of Humility, but as a teacher and a leader it is important to have trust in yourself so that others can feel comfortable placing their trust in you as well.

In Conclusion…

All of the things I have mentioned are important, but it is not necessary to fill every cup to the brim to be a good Laurel. Some things that are easy for one person are difficult for another, or vice versa. Personal circumstances or the specifics of your art may make it hard to teach or display or travel. The “soft skills” of communication and leadership may be daunting for the introverted. It’s a lot for one person to take on, and it may take years to fill those cups. Take your time, ask for help and advice when you need it, examine why you may feel blocked in one or another aspect of growth. It’s also okay to look at the responsibilities that come with the wreath of the Laurel and decide it’s not something that you want to take on. When we look at candidates we not only consider value they would bring to the kingdom, but also the burden that they would have to bear and whether they would be able to bear it better with more time to hone all the varied skills that are required. If this is the path you want to take, know that we want you to get to the end of it as much as you do.

Virtues: Humility

Philosophy, Uncategorized

When discussing virtues in the past, I have tended to gloss over Humility because it’s one of those things that seems obvious. However, I recently heard an explanation of Humility that was simple and elegant, and yet made it vastly easier to actually put this virtue into practice. Essentially, the description was “thinking of others before yourself”. It’s arguable that Humility is the most important virtue, since the entire purpose of having virtues is to promote right action within society; if you don’t think about the other members of that society you can’t even begin.

A quote from Cosimo I de Medici speaks to this:

amongst all the things relating to civil life and the good government of any prince or republic, modesty is most necessary and decorous, as it restrains human actions, and orders and moderates both the universal and public, as well as the domestic an private.

Often Humility is approached as a admonition against action: don’t talk about yourself, don’t show off. When deciding how to proceed in a given situation, however, what we need is guidance about how to act, as opposed to counsel toward inaction. If the expression of Humility is to act in a way that benefits others before oneself, it becomes a more useful guidepost.

Humility is an enabling virtue, providing a basis for Largesse, Compassion, Justice, Mercy, Loyalty, and others. It is by valuing others above the self that the value of these and the path toward them becomes clear. The root of “humility” is the Latin “humus”, meaning the earth or ground. To place oneself in the lowest place, eschewing concerns of one’s own position, enables the uplifting of others from a firm footing.

Likewise, Humility tempers — and is tempered in turn by — Franchise. As I have interpreted it in the past, Franchise is the acceptance of one’s station as being deserved, so that the power granted by that station can be effectively used. Humility is there to remind us that any power that comes from our position is to be used for the betterment of others, and not simply for further self-aggrandizement. Conversely, all of our energy must not be spent on others at the expense of ourselves, and Franchise is there to remind us of this. This seeming contradiction is yet another situation where two virtues must be held in dynamic equilibrium for greatest effectiveness.

Virtues: Loyalty and Justice

Philosophy

I recently posted about my realization that the word “loyal” comes from the same root as “legal”, growing through the feudal era where law and personal obligation were closely intertwined. This led me to contemplate how the virtue of Loyalty might be applied in balance with another virtue: Justice.

As usual, let us come up with some working definitions. Loyalty, in this case, is allying oneself with others in a organization defined by rules: a nation, a club, a family. Loyalty of this sort is key to the functioning of society, the binding force that makes “e pluribus unum” happen. Justice as a personal virtue is creating and maintaining fairness and equity when you encounter injustice in the world around you.

In an ideal world, these two precepts would not come into conflict. However, in an ideal world, guiding principles would not be necessary at all. In practice, the hierarchy of any organization is prone to corruption by Greed, Cowardice, Wrath, and other vices. The equity that should flow naturally from a well ordered society is lost, and it falls to the individual to right the wrongs that the system does not address.

Now in this non-ideal situation, the easy path is to choose one virtue over the other and stick to it. Loyalty dictates that the structure of society must be maintained, despite its flaws, to avoid falling into chaos. Justice leads one to do what is right in spite of — and sometimes in opposition to — the flawed system. The former path perpetuates injustice, while the latter is inefficient, uneven, and hard to sustain. Those who dig in and maintain Loyalty to an unjust status quo often end up on the wrong side of history despite their best efforts and good intentions. A rebellion in search of Justice that intends to secure its gains must inevitably create a new system to replace the old. This new system will face the same challenges, and the cycle will begin anew.

So what is the middle path between Loyalty and Justice? Those who truly seek to fix an unjust system must work within it, not simply against it. Those who seek to maintain order must work to root out corruption and create justice where it has been lost. This is the hard work of governance and leadership, unheroic and neverending. It is a place of small victories and uncomfortable compromises, but it is work that must be done if we want to live in a society that we can truly be proud of.

IRCC 2019: Guibbone – Body

16th century

This guibbone (doublet) is based on a number of images of similar garments. The common features are:

  • wide, round neckline
  • center front opening (often unfastened at the top)
  • sleeves that are full to below the elbow, then narrower (but not tight) below that
  • a square front panel up to the mid-chest

The first step is to create the body that all the other pieces will attach to. The outer shell is green silk taffeta, interlined with cotton canvas for stiffness, then lined with medium weight white linen.

Since the heavy interlining made bag lining impossible and there was no evidence of a bound edge in the images, I decided to cut the interlining without seam allowance and wrap the silk around the edge, then sew the lining in by hand. The side, back, and shoulder seams were done by machine, and then it was just a lot of hand sewing to get all the layers together. Normally I would do a lot of basting to keep thing in place while sewing, but taffeta is very bad about showing pin holes. Instead, I used mini binder clips to hold the edges together as I worked on them. It worked surprisingly well, despite being a little cumbersome.

The front is closed with seven pairs of hand made hooks and eyes sewn in under the lining.

IRCC 2019: Camicia

16th century

I have made a few camicie with gathered necklines for both men and women, usually using the raglan sleeve pattern that has been running around the web for ages. Invariably these fit poorly when I make them, especially in the armpits. This time around I took a look in Patterns of Fashion 4 and found two boys’ shirts with gathered low necklines and these were made in a way that I was unfamiliar with. They are basically T-tunic shaped, with a large rectangular neck opening bounded by a front and back panel and two small strips on the shoulders. While the earliest date mentioned for either of these shirts is 1550, the pattern seemed simple enough that it was entirely plausible for a similar shirt in 1515.

This camicia is made entirely of 3.2 oz white linen. The main seam for attaching the shoulders to the body panels and the initial attachment of the cuffs and neckline binding are done by machine with polyester thread. All other construction and finishing is done by hand with waxed linen thread. The seams between the shoulders and front and back panels are flat felled. All other seams for attaching the body, sleeves, and gussets are done by hemming the edges of the pieces and whip stitching the finished edges together. The side seams are left open from the hips down, and the total length is about mid-thigh.

The cuffs are gathered with a 1/4″ inch double running stitch into plain cuffs with a cloth bag button and buttonhole. The neckline is similarly gathered and bound with a strip of straight cut linen.

IRCC 2019: Brache

16th century

Francesco del Cossa, Allegory of April (detail) (1476-84)

While there are no extant brache to go from, there are a number of images depicting underwear of various sorts. Mutande are shorter and tighter fitting, while brache are longer and somewhat looser.

I have used several different patterns for these over the years, but in this instance I chose to make two separate legs with a curved crotch seam and a rectangular panel between them. I added a casing and drawstring at the top.

The fabric I used is medium weight white linen (from fabrics-store.com). The construction was done by machine and the finishing was done by hand with waxed linen thread. The drawstring is a plain weave tape made from cotton crochet yarn on an inkle loom.

IRCC 2019: Beginnings

16th century

I was encouraged by my dear friend and apprentice Alessandra to enter something for the Italian Renaissance Costuming Challenge. I haven’t done a lot of sewing for myself in recent years, so I thought it would be a good excuse to get back in the swing of it.

Lorenzo Lotto, St Dominic Raises Napoleone Orsini (1513-16)

I have done a lot of 15th century Italian clothing already, and enough later 16th century clothes to be interested in trying something new. I came across this Lorenzo Lotto painting while looking for evidence of stay tapes on pleats for 15th century men’s giorneas. While this is not a smoking gun for that (I found a better source elsewhere), it does do a good job of showing the various layers of this style.

The first layer of the outfit will be brache (drawers) and camicia (shirt), both made from linen. Next will be a guibbone (doublet) of silk and calze (hose) divided into upper and lower parts, both made of wool. The outermost layer will be a saio (gown) made of wool lined with silk.

I will not be including the riding boots shown in the image, but will likely be making some sort of hat (one can be seen in the right side of the painting, but there is little detail as to its shape). I have already acquired the fabrics I plan to use, assuming all goes to plan.