Gefrens

(May 2020)

Background

So what on earth is a gefrens? It is a late 15th century German accessory. I like Germans because they seem very extra... and this is no exception. It is essentially tassels or fringe on the back of a woman's head. So random. And oh so amusing. I kinda wanted to make one as soon as I saw it, I just never got around to making one. I have been intending to make a housebrook dress, and even got a lovely blue wool to make it... I have just been procrastinating. A gefrens in one of the common accessories you would see on a woman wearing a housebrook dress, so this was the perfect opportunity! Productive procrastination is always the best kind afterall.

Das Sächsische Stammbuch - Mscr.Dresd.R.3
Lukas Cranach

IBN BUTLÂN , Tacuinum sanitatis ark:/12148/btv1b105072169Bibliothèque nationale de France. Département des manuscrits. Latin 9333

Bern, Burgerbibliothek, Mss.h.h.I.16Papier · 806 pp. · 37 x 26 cm · Bern · 1484/85Diebold Schilling, Spiezer Chronik

Livelier than life: The Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet or the Housebook Master, ca.1470-1500

How it was made

So, a gefrens isn't something that I really have an hard example on how it would be made. It is just a fringe at the back of the head. I took a class with Mistress Agatha last year, and she had done hers by weaving a band, and having fringe through the weaving, and I thought that was a great way to do it. It probably would have been much easier to just tie a fringe to a cord, but I wanted to give this a try.

I decided to go with red since I have a clear preference towards that color. I also thought it would be a nice contrast to the deep blue housebrook dress I am procrastinating making that I plan to wear this with. I decided to use silk for my material, and decided to use tablets to do the weaving. The silk was fairly fine at 20/2. I warped up my loom to have about 4 feet of thread using 10 tablets, each with only 2 threads in diagonal holes, and used a continuous warp. I wove a simple double turn forward, double turn back pattern (double since only 2 threads were warped), so it essentially looks like inkle. I wanted to use my cards and not heddles, though either would have worked (This reminded me that I am very out of practice with weaving).

After I wove about 14", I started to add the fringe. To do this, I cut out a large pile of 8" silk threads. With every turn I added a new string, with the mid-line at the top edge of the band. In the next turn I folded the other half of the thread down and into the band, and added a new one. As such, each turn has 3 "weft" threads passing through the band... the main weft, and the two fringes acting as secondary and tertiary wefts. Once my pile of threads ran out, I returned to a normal weave to finish the band. After cutting the band off the loom, I used silk sewing thread to do very tiny rolled hems at both ends to finish them and hide any loose threads.

Between takeup and waste, the final band is 35" long, and 1cm wide. The fringe section is 6" wide, and 4" long (if I include the band). Unfortunately the fringe is not as centered as I would like (one tie is 2" longer than the other, but close enough).

Final Thoughts

I am fairly pleased with the final result. It is not at all perfect, and my edges are not at all as straight as I would like, but it still looks good, especially to the untrained eye. I had never tried to weave a fringe before, and it actually proved to be more complicated than I expected. As far as gefrens go this one is on the small and delicate side, but the silk feels lovely, and only tickles the back of my neck a little. In the future if I decide I want something more "extra", I can certainly make another. I finished this over the course of two days, so it wasn't even an overly time consuming project (ok, so it was several hours both days because I am slow at weaving, but many of my projects take weeks, so this was a nice change of pace).

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