A Rus Collar

Example of a Female's Ozherlya

In my reading to discover styles that fit in my husband's period and place, I came across the Ozherlya, a Russian collar, not attached to the clothing.  A highly embroidered and embellished piece, it was used for high fashion.  Extravagent ones were used as burial clothing or even passed from father to son.  It could be laid down or standing up, but however it's position it was always embellished.

Ozherlya

Again pulling from Sofia La Rus (My favorite place to go for Dmitri's garb) "For the wealthy, both men and women, the ozherel'e was embroidered with pearls and decorated with buttons. The ozherel'e sewn with pearls was very valuable. Among the property of a Moscow gentleman was listed an ozherel'e worth 700 rubles, another worth 400 rubles, and two listed as worth 300 rubles each. There were 14 collars in his property all together, both standing and laid-down collars, and the women's seemed to be more expensively decorate than the men's. A fur standing collar was also called an ozherel'e. Prince Obolenskij had one of beaver fur."

Vorotnik - Standing Collar
 Attached to the Garment

When I first started my husband's ozherel'e or ozherlya, I again couldn't find examples, other than words and a few hand drawn pieces.  I have since come across several, and while I love mine, I have come to realize it may not be 100% accurate.  I have seen several examples that seem to embellish an existing brocade.  And most of the pieces I have found seem to have either a good
deal of repetition, or are so filled with the embellishments a pattern isn't as determinable.

An example of the pearling and embellishments

Collars didn't only use embroidery though, they were often edged with pearls, precious stones and metals, and glass, all placed on the most extravagant and expensive fabric the person could afford.  Often pearls were edged with golden thread to set them off.

As I said, I didn't really know this when I began, and I couldn't find examples because, frankly, I didn't know what I was looking for, and Pinterest has only really blossomed in recent years with Russian Medieval Garb.  But I still feel the piece I am working on for my husband will be beautiful when finished (and until then its nice to let him wear it out and about.)  On Sofia's page she stated that often there was embroidery of animals, the heavens, arches, etc.  I have incorporated some of these at my husband's request.  Eventually I hope to add so much embellishment that these pieces are almost "edged" with pearls and stones, but, as I don't have 7 month winters in my home, I will settle for small pieces at a time.

An Eagle Displayed Stands front and center of the collar.

To its Left and Right  Bears

Jewels set in "Silver," and clusters of pearl. 

                 

To its Left and Right a Sun 

     

And Moon with More Pearls.

                                  

A Rus Pouch

Novgorod pouch shape

Embroidered Novgorod Leather

This is my first ever leather working projects.  My husband has dabbled in leather-working since he was young.  The first is a simple black leather pouch, the second came shortly after I found some online pictures of the Novgorod medieval exhibit.  And recently found the embroidered leather on a friends Pinterest post to back up "our theory" of how it worked.  While I haven't yet seen any embroidered leather pouches, my feelings are if it could have happened why not? - I know, I know historically awful.

Embroidered Leather

But these examples inspired me and my husband and I were in dire need of pouches.  So we put together our first (and farrrrr too big) pouch.  The size of the pouch itself was fine, but we put a 3 inch wide band to "thicken it."  We still had a daughter in diapers at that point and I wanted to be able to tuck an emergency pair of clothes and diaper/wipes in it.  But it ended up being over-kill and a bit on the floppy side when finished, though still functional, and probably coming out again this fall when our second beautiful baby is due to be born.

We did a two button clasp on the front of each we wrapped with leather, due to the snugness it actually functions really well.  The back - intended to be worn on a belt - is simply two loops with two copper-rivots to hold it together.  It's been beautifully sturdy and has lasted for three years with no maintenance what-so-ever.

We "sewed" the front to the back with the three inch strip in the first pouch, and a 1.5 inch strip on the second one.  The one and a half inch is plenty big enough, and really has been a lot more comfortable than the larger one.  We hole punched the sides and front and back together, and highly recommend doing the button embellishments and the rivoting on the belt loops first as it was a pain in the neck afterwards.  The same goes for the embroidery.

The designs for the embroidery I attempted to pull from the leather holes I saw in the Novgorod example.  I wish I would have chalked a space so the embroidery was on the front flap only and not on the bend that wrapped to the back.  It looks good still, but I would have liked it more if the two circles in the upper part of the pouch were lower.  The red jewels are rivots as well, which were purely decorative as Rus appeared to love embellishments of jewels, pearls, and embroidery.  

So there we go, our first attempts at leather working!
  

My Rus Husband; a Russian Coat

My husband, Dmitri, started playing in the SCA when he was 16 and thus has a very specific style and the base of a persona.

Scott's Shuby...or Opashen?

He is a Rus, and thus our attempts at building his wardrobe revolve around the Russian styling - though, this seamstress is still really new and therefore my pieces are not "professional" and come with much trial and error.  It doesn't help that I'm also a jack of all trades and a master of none, I'd rather try 30 things than really master any.

For example, his shuby (or shuba) sort of ended up merging with the opashen - though when I created it I didn't realize it was called either of these.  I only called it a coat.  I was following the Mordak Pack, but I think I did something wrong as when I made it for him the sides were HUGE, we ended up removing two panels completely to give it a slightly more fitted look, though it "skirts out" pretty well.

According to Sofia la Rus, the shuby "was open-down-the-front, with wide sleeves narrowing to the hand. There existed also folding/collapsing sleeves (to be pushed up on the forearms). The length of the shuba depended on the style - it could be just a little lower than the knee or long almost to the heel. The collar was fur, in various styles. It was generally a loose garment, but some versions were fitted."  The opashen on the other hand, was "formal/dressy special-occasion clothing of cloak-like type. The opashen' was sewn from smooth woolen cloth (sukno). It could have a satin (atlas) turn-down collar trimmed with river pearls on its edge. Lengthwise along the flap of the opashen’ are sewn sixteen pairs of horizontal loops and buttons. Buttons were cast of brass, pear-shaped. Sleeves were long (as long as the hem!) and narrow, with holes in the sleeves near the armholes through which the hands could pass."

Mordak

It was only after creating this piece did I start seeing examples online of other people's creations.  Frankly, I'm pleased with what we got, especially considering that my husband is a very hot man.  He simply radiates heat, and with his desire to wear the coat in the middle of summer to hot events, making it in thinner fabric than the examples I've found, which tend to be lined with heavy fabrics or furs, and created with heavy brocades.

Close up of Pearls and Buttons

In the spirit of Rus styling we added pearls to the front of the coat, and buttons.  We edged it with velvet as well, but it was a very soft velvet and had some mild difficulties staying stiff and closed, so I added a few little cheater clasps to make it functional.  I know this isn't the way a real seamstress would do it - but sometimes function is more important than realism...  Some day maybe I'll make garb that's both gorgeous and historically accurate, but for now I'll be happy with putting my hard work into it and attempting at historical accuracy, which is the true spirit of the SCA...at least to me.