First, I want to say that I did not make the crespinettes. Magnus is responsible for those, and they're fabulous! They are made of sheet bronze with stainless rivets for detail. And though I'll I did was cut the silk veil, hand stitch the rolled edge (detail above right), and attach the veil to the circlet, this is one of those projects that deserves some discussion.

The only place I've ever seen a pictoral depiction of crespinettes is in late 14th century, early 15th century monumental brasses. If someone has an example of this head piece that is not from a monumental brass, I'd love it if you'd share the source. In this same time period, there are broader examples of a women's hairstyle reminiscent of the crespinettes—two braids, one on either side of the head, looped back upon themselves in the same position as the cylinders.

I think the look of these crespinettes is pretty good. The veil is another issue all together. In the examples below, the crespinettes were worn both with and without a veil. I thought a veil would create a more finished look. The silk I chose was way too stiff, though I was pleased with the hand-rolled hem. Once the veil was together, I was dumbfounded at how it was supposed to work with the crespinettes. I first thought that it could sit half way back on the head, but there was nothing to hold the veil with, and the best I can tell from the brasses is that no wimple was worn. It also didn't look right. Though the crespinettes are worn fairly high on the head, you could still see the top of my head and the noticeable line between hair and veil looked wrong.

The next approach was to have the veil sit to the front of my head—snug up against the circlet front. This presented the same difficulty as the other position as there was nothing to hold the veil in place, and it was nearly impossible to line the front of the veil up in such a way that it wasn't peeking out from underneath the circlet.

Sidenote: These things are persnickety to get on without the veil. My hair isn't long enough to braid, so I make pigtails instead. The pigtails need to be in just the right position, and then held above my head when putting on the headpiece so they don't get pinched under it. Once it's on my head, I slide the root of the pigtail in the top of the small slit in the cylinder, and push the pigtail down into the tube. The veil simply adds another layer of complexity.)

The only way I could get the veil to work with the headpiece was to attach it to the front of the circlet. I did this by attaching 2 layers of felt that had adhesive on one side to the inside of the circlet, and then whipstitching the front edge of the veil to the felt. I suspect that this was not a very period way to get the veil to cooperate. This solution works reasonably well, however, but it's still a bit of a dance to get this thing on. Once it's on my head and my hair is down the cylinders, I must tuck the back of the veil underneath the circlet and attempt to adjust it so that it's not too bunchy and falls relatively well behind the cauls. If the veil is not tucked under the circlet, the resulting look is, well, a bit Egyptian.

Also, these things are heavy! Magnus felt that the bronze wouldn't hold it's shape if it were any thinner a gauge of metal. I haven't actually put them on a scale (I'll report back when I do), but they give me a bit of a headache if I wear them more than a couple of hours (Oh, the price of fashion!). I suppose they could stand a little more padding.

With the lack of pictoral represenation beyond monumental brasses and the persnickety-ness of getting them on and wearing them, I would suspect that crespinettes may be an item that was only used to depict a person's status. If they were actually worn at all it would likely have been for ceremonial events only.

If anyone else has tried making crespinettes out of metal, I'd love to hear any related experiences!