Hairpiece for Romano-Egyptian Ensemble

The Egyptian hairnets in my place/period (mid-first century CE) are typically made of sprang and have a band or strip of fabric across the front with a drawstring to act as a tie that secures it to the head after being put on over the hair. See Rooijakkers, C. Dress Norms and Markers: A Comparative Study of Coptic Identity and Dress in the Past and Present, at 165-167, 173-175, and 185 (2016).

This one is part of my “Buy Nothing” outfit and was assembled entirely from materials I already had, including a knitted & crocheted hair cover that I made for modern wear. I intend to make some more authentic ones eventually, but this was a nice way to try out a concept and look.

Wool braids inside the net are made from brown Coopworth wool top I had in my stash. I tried a couple different kinds of wool, but ultimately that one resulted in the best color and size.

The ringlets outside the net are woven from icelandic wool singles that I spun from a fleece I washed and prepared. I used a stick weaving technique that results in a pair of floppy, connected tubes.

I added a folded length of brown linen and sewed it to the rim of the net with large running stitches, and I simply made the strip long enough to loop around my head again because the hairnet already had a fitted band. That sewn join was covered by sewing the ringlet band over it and letting them hang down on either side to imitate the Roman “corkscrew curls” look.

My friend Cassair Ni Deoraine suggested sewing the braids to the net rather than trying to make a hairpiece that would need to be pinned to my head. It worked beautifully, and now this headpiece is like a comfy hat/pillow and doesn’t require pinning anything to stay in place!

This head covering stayed in place pretty well and only needed one adjustment of during the day to counter slippage. Overall, it worked out pretty well for an improvised first attempt.

See more extant pieces/fragments this idea was based on:

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