Heuke Will Be Happening

I’ll have to sew every night this week, but I *will* be wearing that damn duck-billed cap thingy & the Flemish gown at March Drown Crown this weekend! There’s a 50% chance of rain predicted at the site, plus chilly temps, so I’ll be glad of all the wool & cape-like layers.

“The Four Elements – Air” by Joachim Beuckelaer, 1570 (image source: Wikimedia Commons)

No time to upload progress pix (tho’ I have taken some), but I’m finally sewing again since my eye got better. I already finished up the Flemish gown itself. There was much fiddly detail work, like adding hook-&-eye tape at the center front of the skirt opening, finishing the sleeve cuffs, & adding lacing rings to attach the sleeves. And in the end, I’m not wholly pleased with the gown’s fit, but that’s what I get when I modify something made for someone else.

The most interesting part, to me anyway, is the heuke itself. I patterned out the duck bill, & omg will that be the silliest damn thing I’ve put on my head. But historically accurate & well-documented, hah. The text description didn’t have much info about what the headpiece might be made of, so I went a bit theatrical & used wired buckram with several layers of fabric. It’s plausibly period — glue-stiffened fabric/canvas & even paperboard were used in hats & to stiffen bodices in the 16th century — & it looks pretty darn good, if I do say myself.

Then I decided on a crazy/stupid course of action: binding the whole thing with velveteen. I thought it would look great. It may, in the end, but right now, it looks a bit like arse. First, I bound the edges of the duck bill by hand (ouch), & while it’s not as pretty as I’d like, it does give the brim a lovely weight that should hold the curl well, once I get to that final step.

I’d already made a half-circle “cape” piece for the veil that hangs from the back of the duck bill. I modified a gored skirt pattern I’d drafted ages ago, tho’ I didn’t make the veil as long as in most of the period images. Mine will be about finger-tip length — this will just be more convenient to wear (& ok, I didn’t have a ton of wool on hand!).

Since the bill was bound in velveteen, the veil had to be as well. At least I could do part of that by machine, & I got it started last night. Pinned & pressed it down so I can slip-stitch the inside of the guarding down next. After that, I have to finish the raw edge of the top of the veil to prepare it for pleating & attaching to the back of the duck bill.

Seems like it’s possible to finish in just a few evenings… famous last words!