Recently I created a puntu vanu (shirred) 16th c. German man’s hemd (shirt) for a SCA competition. I needed to take photo with it on and decided I need an outfit to picture with it. I didn’t have a ton of time, a couple days to make the pants to be able to take pictures. I finished (mostly) in time and then decided to make some wams to go with them. I had about 2 weeks to get it done to wear to an event. I did not document all the steps, but here are some construction pictures, explanation, and finished photos. Indoor photos of the wool in this outfit does not pick up correctly, it always looks a lot more bright yellow, in person it is more mustard gold.

Upper Hosen or Pants

Outer wool of some old pants. Don’t come at me, I know the cut is not correct. I had the shells of the pants already made and didn’t want to waste all that hand sewing.

A long time ago when I was getting going in 16th c. German costume I wanted to make my spouse a new outfit, it didn’t work out so well. I did not look up patterns to find the correct cut and I he was not overly fond of them. As a result they were never finished. I decided I would use the outer fancy slashed wool layer of the unfitted pants and try to turn them into some pants for myself. I wanted to take a Matthäus Schwarz- esk photo and needed a sweet outfit, something along the lines of rich guy playing mercenary at a festival to celebrate some visiting Holy Roman Empire Nobels in the 1520s.

I am a member of Marion McNealy’s Patron and reached out to her for a hosen and codpiece pattern. They have a 15th-16th c. historical pattern company in the works https://www.woodcutwardrobe.com and Marion was able to provide me with a hosen and codpiece pattern. Unfortunately, the pants were already cut in a modern fashion, as a result I was unable to use the hosen pattern. However, the codpiece pattern worked and I was able to adapt it for this outfit.

I sewed a black linen base for the pants separately and attached them to the outer shell. All the interior seams were sewn by machine and any facing stitches are sewn by hand. I hem stitched the layers together at the waist and hemmed the legs below the knee. I sewed simple whipstitch alternating eyelets along the “fly” opening. I hand sewed pin prick stitches along the seams for support. I ended up taking a piece of the leg and using it for the codpiece. My initial pass was a little off, larger than the look I wanted, but it worked. The codpiece wasn’t finished (not quite fitted right) and I didn’t get the laces done. For the original purpose they worked great, I was able to get a very Matthäus Schwarz- esk pose and photo for my shirts research paper.

Don’t come at me, I know the cut is not correct. I had the shells of the pants already made and didn’t want to waste all that hand sewing.

Matthäus Schwarz- esk pose for the hemd documentation, the pants were not quite done but close enough.

Your going to need some wams for that outfit…

Well I went this far, I might as well finish an outfit. I decided I would make some wams to go with it and fix the codpeice. Luckily I had more in the lot of the mustard gold yellow and peacock blue wool I had dyed. I’ve never made wams before, so this was a bit experimental.

Back of the wams without the sleeves set.

I knew from images the wams have a square cut and high waist. However, I wanted the under shell to fit pretty tightly. I went with a fitted front lace up front to account or my bust. Then added a tie on square panel in the front. I started out with square arm scythes, however when I finished they looked curved, but the fit was great.

The sleeves were rectangular in cut. I basted the outer wool to the linen lining, then cut and sewed each slit by hand. I used a hem stitch along the slit and whip stitched the slit ends. This particular wool is not 100% fray proof and I wanted to secure it to the lining. I set the rectangular sleeves directly into the arm scythe, like I said, came out kinda rounded, but it worked. I then gathered the sleeve and added cuff bands in the contrasting color.

I attached the front panel and codpiece using handsewn eyelets with ties. I lucked out, at some point and bought wool laces and aglets that were just hanging out in my sewing stuff. I was really able to finish out the look.

I did not track and record this project very well, I was going super fast. I hope you enjoy the photos. I will need to add some ties to hold down the wams to the hosen, I have a bit of tummy top Whinny the Pooh action going there.