I don’t -know- what was actually used as the unterhaube.. so I’m taking my best guess. It turns out that using something -like- the St. Brigitta coif is actually very convenient. It ties on top of the head and the steuchlin is tensioned over it and pinned into place.
The unterhaube:
Cut two pieces of white linen about 8″x14″.
Hold them up to your head and pin them together along the curve of your head.
Cut off and discard the portion marked in grey.
Do a flat-fold seam along the edge marked in red.
Do a simple rolled hem around the other edges of the coif (marked in blue).
Pleat the bottom back portion of coif and add your ties to the bottom corners of the front edge.
The ties should be long enough to go from the center of the back of your head to the top of your head (leave excess and cut them off when you figure out how much you need.
I did my hair up into two braids and then bobby-pinned them across my head.
Put your new coif on your head. Cross the ties at the back of your head and bring them up to the top of your head. Tie firmly. This should keep your unterhaube in place.
When you’re satisfied with your unterhaube, create the wulste (bulge). A tapered sausage shape that will run over your head from ear to ear. It’s a tapered linen tube that I’ve stuffed with some extra wool roving I had from an abandoned spinning project.
Whip stitch this to your unterhaube. It should be placed about the top-middle to the back of the middle of the top of your head. When tied on, the ties should sit in front of the wulst.
The Steuchlin:
Drape this with your steuchlin.
For my current steuchlin I’m using a wool pashmina(28 inches wide x 68 inches Long with 3 inches fringes) I acquired for $8 ($0.99 item, $7 shipping) from Ebay.
I folded back ~20″ of the pashmina so that the fringe will be on the inside near the back of my head. Then I did a line of stitches along the edge of the pashmina on the inside to make it into a tube.
To put it on, I pull the sewn portion of the pashmina around my head and onto my neck. Then I pull it back over the wulsthaube to get nice tension. Lastly I pin it with a single (really strong) pin at the back of my neck (be careful that the pin point isn’t going to stick you in the back of the neck when you look up). I think if I measured carefully enough I could probably attach it without the pin.. but that would depend on the elasticity of the wool to keep it in place.
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