16th Century German – Dockenbaret – HSM June 2021

My second attempt at a black wool Dockenbaret using a different pattern

As I was doing my analysis of my German wardrobe in my German Capsule Collection post, I recognized that one of the things I wanted to add to the wardrobe was a hat in a more historically-informed colour.

I have three hats for this period already – a blue-on-blue Tellerbarret, a teal tweed Dockenbaret with ostrich feathers, and a black wool Dockenbaret which I shared for my January Historical Sew Fortnightly entry.

While making that one, I found a different pattern approach I wanted to try… hence.. yet another hat!

My existing German Ren hats

Tellerbarret – German platter hat (iphone photo)

My German Renaissance Split-Brim hat with grey ostrich feathers worn with my black velveteen Gollar and my Cranach gown costume.

Black Dockenbaret worn with a Goldhaube & Gollar

When I was making the black wool version, I came across another pattern option as shared by Daisy Viktoria on her Youtube video. I liked her final result, so decided to try the pattern from ThimbleAndPlume to make a similar version. I liked that this hat included the little “bites” that were missing in many versions when I was first making the teal hat which I called a “split brim” hat at the time.

Dockenbaret is most often called a “starfish hat” apparently, (and not “split brim” ) and is often seen in portraits and woodcuts of a wide range of people. Individuals appear both male and female, of varying class representations from the Landsknecht to Saxon princesses. This hat seems common in the first half of the 16th century in German-speaking regions of Europe. 

My second black wool Dokenbaret – worn with an impromptu attempt at a white linen Wulsthaube

After sorting through all of my fabrics and dividing them up into project categories, I had a good amount of black wool for German hats. Since most of the hats seen in portraiture are red and black (with the occasional white) this was a great start. I actually ended up using fabric leftover from the black wool Dockenbaret. This fabric is a wool jacket weight fabric with enough density for slashing. It was given to me, so I can’t guarantee the fiber content, but I’m pretty sure it’s 100% wool based on a burn test.

While my other black wool Dockenbaret has a silk lining to be worn over a Goldhaube or bare hair, I decided that this hat would be worn over a white linen Wulsthaube, so opted for a linen lining instead. Since there’s no hatband, I opted to use black linen to blend more with the wool. Unlike my other black hat, there’s no buckram or wire in this one. I also opted to make the hat a fair amount larger than normal, to fit over the Wulsthaube…. though I definitely made an error in judgement here…. making the hat before the haube – and I suspect it might be too large.

Construction

Adding the linen lining to my (second) black wool Dockenbaret

The construction of this is super simple. I think that from copying the pattern to completion including hand-sewing, (but without embellishment) this took about 2.5 hours… while I was in a zoom meeting for some of it.

The crown pieces were sewn in halves and then together, the brim pieces were folded in half and sewn down the short ends. The brim was attached to the crown, sewn down, and then the lining added by hand. The brim was slashed, and then although I think the fabric will resist fraying, I did use black thread to do a blanket stitch over the slashing.

Embellishment & regret

As mentioned in my previous black Dockenbaret post, some of the hats seen in noble class portraits show no embellishment at all, while others have feathers, brooches, embroidery, etc…  I wanted this hat for more of a Landsknecht costume, so opted at this point to not include any fancy embellishment – though the feathers on pins from the previous hat may go on here if I choose.

However….. as mentioned above – I made this hat before making the Wulsthaube, and suspect I may need to alter this hat or re-make it in a smaller size. With that in mind, I’m also leaving this hat unembellished until I know more…. after I have the haube!

My second black wool Dokenbaret – worn with an impromptu attempt at a white linen Wulsthaube

If you’re seeing this post long after the original posting date, find out if I have made that Wulsthaube yet by clicking the German Late period category to see all of my posts about late period German garb.

Impromptu Wulsthaube mock up

An impromptu white linen Wulsthaube just put together to photograph the Dockenbaret

When I wanted to take photos… as noted above, the hat was WAY too big. I really wanted to make up the Wulsthaube, but also wanted to get this post out “in time” for the Historical Sew Monthly challenge…. soooo I made a mock up of a Wulsthaube out of things I already had kicking around.

• Bottom layer – white linen coif
• Coil – a heavier weight white linen semi-circle veil rolled into a tube and then into a coil, tied onto the top/back of my head
• Top layer – a light weight white linen semi-circle veil over the coil and tied at the back and wrapped around to the top.
• … and also – a modern white elastic headband to put over the coil area to make it pop more, and to tuck some of the stray linen bits into. Obviously this could have also been a linen strap – but hahaha I had it sitting on my bedside table while getting dressed!

The result.. well it’s not perfect – but it stayed on my head quite well for photos – as well as the post-photos run to take the garbage out to the bin in the back! Without the hat on the top, it’s not quite as neat & smooth as I hope my eventual version will be…. but under the hat – it’s not bad! It does give me a great idea about how big I’ll want my Wulsthaube to be though – and not nearly as huge as I thought I’d need to fit this new, large Dockenbaret!

An impromptu white linen Wulsthaube just put together to photograph the Dockenbaret

 

Historical Sew Fortnightly

The Challenge: June: On Your Head: Create an item you wear on your head.

This is just one part of what I’ll eventually wear on my head.  For this challenge I’m entering a black wool Dockenbaret, which will be worn with a Wulsthaube. For photos I sort of mocked up a Wulsthaube, but that will be another project I want to tackle.

Material: Second-hand black wool jacket weight fabric – burn tests suggest 100% wool, and 100% silk lining.

Pattern: Self drafted based on the ThimbleAndPlume pattern.

Year: early 16th century German

Notions: Thread

My second black wool Dokenbaret – worn with an impromptu attempt at a white linen Wulsthaube

How historically accurate is it?: Materials are period-correct (minus the polysester thread), however I don’t know the source of the pattern but suspect based on information available about patterns from this era that it’s speculative based on portraits and wood cuts.

Hours to complete: About 2.5hours

First worn: Just for photos… Covid = no events

Total cost: 0$ out of pocket at the time. The wool was given to me, but if I were to buy it, it would be about $40/meter, and used less than a meter. The lining was from stash, but I think was originally $20/meter, and I used about half a meter.

 

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My second attempt at a black wool Dockenbaret using a different pattern

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