With lots of fudging, and catlins2busy's patented "half-life method," I've managed to get the sleeves in without them causing too much wibble in the fabric right around the armscye!

Woo!

A while ago I did a first mockup of a Sture doublet using a bought pattern, and had epic fail. The length of the front and back pieces were different, the armscye was way too big for the sleeve (which many people blamed on my adding extra width to the sides to accommodate a beer belly as I felt had been done in the original), and there were niggles that I had with the overall look.

( The second muslin has fared better. )

I'm making a Sture outfit for thirteenletters, and it's not going well yet.

Normally, when I sew, I apply fabric to the end wearer, and remove what isn't the garment in question. I decided to use a paper pattern for this particular outfit--Reconstructing History's 506, informed by Janet Arnold's take on the same outfit--and I feel I'm way outside my comfort zone. I have several problems in this garment so far that tell me I simply do not grok what's going on.

( Cut for photos and lengthy text )

Pennsic being pretty damn close at this point, I'm definitely in garb sweatshop mode, mostly as unicornlatte needed garb and I'm an awesome person. So far this week, I have made:

• 2 sleeveless tunics, in blue cotton plaid and green linen


• 4 short-sleeved tunics in cotton, in cranberry plaid and sage, rust and white broadcloth, respectively


• 3 short-sleeved tunics in white linen

...or, I was supposed to have the linen tunics done, but I made a grievous miscalculation in sleeve size and have had to unpick and put in larger sleeves. May have to put off the other two (three?) projects I was hoping to finish before War this year, but this is what happens when one has too many things to think about at once.

Since catlins2busy helped me hem the bottom, I've a dress in a wearable state. I've yet to do the tippets and fitchets, but I'm waiting until I have the fur to do that properly. Am debating whether to reinforce the buttonhole side of the front opening with tablet weaving--I did it in the underdress, and I like the look, but I haven't any string in an appropriate colour for the green layer. Might wear it as-is, or with just faced fitchets, at Pennsic.

Have the seams all finished, the sleeves hemmed, and the facings installed around the neckline and the left front opening. (The extant Herjolfsnes clothing all seemed to have the buttons on the right side as worn, hopefully corroboratable with London material, so that's what I'm planning.) I've made all the buttons with the scraps left from cutting the dress. I have those to sew on, as well as sewing the buttonholes and probably adding a little tablet weaving to that edge of the opening, and then hemming the bottom (for which I'll probably offer a local friend a bribe of baked goods) and it'll be wearable.

Am still having difficulty planning the tippets and fitchet outlines, mostly because while I understand how to sew fur to itself am not too sure whether it all translates to sewing fur to cloth. I've found remarkably little information about it on the internet, even from PrimitiveWays, my usual first stop for bushcraft. Am hoping to order How to Sew Leather, Suede, Fur to see if it has useful advice, and look for recommendations from other enthusiasts I know.

After two separate chalkings of the pieces, I've finally cut and started putting it together. I did most of the long seams with the machine, but have done the two side seams and the centre front seam--as well as putting the sleeves together--by hand. I think all the rest of the sewing will be by hand, as it's all finicky stuff like setting in the sleeves.

I used the same pattern from my red dress, but added a much larger seam allowance so it'll be just a teeny bit bigger--hopefully enough to fit over the red dress without incident.

Am still not entirely sure what to do about attaching the fur. I think I'd like to make it removable so that I can machine wash the linen part of it after Pennsic.

I think I've had a major breakthrough with my understanding of tippets. Through a rather enlightening converstion with gwacie, I'm agreeing that tippets are much more likely to have been integral pieces to the garment, comprised of a turned-back sleeve lining and extension--very obvious in pieces like Machaut's Le Remède de Fortune where a little seam line appears down the back of the tippet that seems to indicate it was pinned or sewn to show the lining off most effectively.

What was sticking in my acceptance of such a construction for tippets shown after 1360 or so was the fact that most of the earlier garments showed the tippets hanging down behind the elbow, while most of the monumental brasses for 1365-1390 showed them hanging down before the front of the elbow: the ladies Foxeley, Joan de la Tour, Joan de Ingham. I couldn't necessarily say that the sleeve opening was being turned back to show the linings in these because they hung differently, and none of the monumental brasses I've seen show that seam.

Now, however, I've seen a brass for Joan de Cobham, wife of John de la Pole, from a brass c. 1380. The tippet for her left arm hangs down in front of the elbow, but her more active right hand (holding that of her husband) shows the tippet hanging down exactly where it seems to be in early-14th-century depictions of tippets. This seems to be my missing link in accepting the construction method for the later-14th-century tippets, so I'm convinced that's a plausible way to do it for my 1365 gown.

Fitchets seem to have been done in a similar material to the tippets--most of the depictions I've seen seem to show the tippets and fitchets in coordinating colours or patterns, so I think I'm going to follow suit.

I just hope I have enough white rabbit saved up to make all the pieces big enough. If not, I may have to find additional quantities of dead bunny.

I found the correct attribution for the monumental brass that shows the dress I like! It's of Sir Miles Stapleton and Lady Joan de Ingham, dating to c. 1365, from Ingham Church, Norfolk. The brass itself has been lost, but I've ordered a book though ILL that's supposed to have a clearer illustration, so I can see whether there's any kind of closure to the front of her dress.

Have a much clearer design now that I've stared at my fabric for a while. I'm glad that staring at it, rather than cutting it, is what gets creativity going.

Am intending, as of today, to do a short-sleeved GFD with tippets and fitchets, like in the oft-reproduced effigy of Joan de la Tour as a weeper on her father's tomb. Admittedly, that representation is at least a decade later than the 1365 date for my red dress, which I intend to use as an underlayer--not to mention that her underlayer doesn't have buttons on the sleeves like mine. I have found a representation, however (digitally reproduced in a Swedish reenactors' forum), that's supposed to be of "Lady Joan Ingram" and her husband from 1365, which shows the tippet and fitchet elements I want in combination with sleeve buttons on the underlayer, and exactly the right date, but I can't corroborate its attribution. Shall have to continue to search for it. ETA: The Church Monuments Society not helpful for this brass.

Have never done tippets before, but I should have enough white linen still stashed to do them (and the short sleeves might save me a little more of the green linen for an extra tunic). Re-read Robin Netherton's MC&T article on tippets where she suggests they were a fashion afterthought, so I'm wondering whether it might be a good idea to sew those entirely separately, then baste or pin them on.

As far as the fitchets, intellectually I might like to embroider them, but nearly all of the fitchets I've seen today that have some exterior embellishment are a plain solid colour. One of them looked a little looping, like it might be embroidered, but I can't be certain. Worst-case, I've done set-in pockets for one of smarriveurr's 18th century waistcoats, so I can put in a facing that way and leave them as slits if I have to. Have any of you worn 18th-century style pockets under fitchets?

Yay for having a plan!

I've decided to cut out a new green linen cotehardie/gothic fitted dress, and I've the hard pieces plotted out in chalk already. Now, I'm considering godets and gores, and the most economical use of fabric. It's hard to get out of the starving artist mentality.

Would appreciate a second opinion: ought godets and gores to be the same width, or doesn't it matter? Was thinking of using thinner godets than gores, as I've a very long, narrow strip of fabric down one selvedge and I'd rather use it up.

...not least because I may still be able to get a Viking tunic out of what I have left!

For a couple years now, I've been saying that I should make myself a hood and hose to go with my fantastic red cotehardie/GFD. I'm partway closer to that, having just finished a version of London Hood nr. 246, as presented in Textiles and Clothing.

I chose this design to coordinate with my dress, specifically in reference to time period and location, as many of my dress elements are also from London, or at least are English in design, from the mid- to late-14th-century. I haven't seen hoods in funerary brasses at all, which leads me to think they're either a more gentrified or lower-class garment, or one would never be caught dead in one's outerwear. ;) Poking around among various illustrations of hoods in the period, I've figured out that women didn't dag their hoods, which is fine by me. Another bit of research ruled out sewing it in linen, like I was originally intending, and instead opted for a tabby-woven wool. The colour was also a specific choice out of my stash, as one seems never to have matched hood to dress, but used a contrasting fabric and lining.

( Read more... )

More complete "dress" diary to come, but as I've been sewing, I've been wondering, so it's time for a poll!

Poll #1327049 On Hand-sewing Techniques
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 17

When hand-sewing buttonholes:

When lining a garment:

I have been desperately lax in my historical sewing as of late, in favour of more modern pieces. One of these is pictured at right: a new duvet cover to keep some of my linens from needing washing so frequently (I've had to launder one quilt twice in three months, and that's just a pain). The fabric was part of the 60%-off-brocades-and-sari-fabrics at our local fabric shop, which brought the price down ludicrously. Buying a duvet cover would cost me at least $80, and for one in a fabric like this, it'd be well over $120. I paid a little less than $30 for all the materials involved, including topstitching thread and buttons.

I used a full width of the cloth (dark fabric) plus a panel of the reverse of the fabric (golden fabric) on each side to make it sufficiently wide to encase the quilt. I sewed the bottom and part of the opening shut, so that the corners lay nicely, and put in button-and-loop closures along the rest of the opening's hem. Finishing the seams with a quasi-French-seam treatment, by hand, took the longest of all of it.

Have also made up a new version of this shirt in new fabric, as I wore the old one out. Sewing knits is kind of scary, and I'm glad I've finished. I don't think I'll be doing that too frequently.

Having extrapolated from the Queen Arnegunde material that women in the Iron Age quite possibly wore leg wraps (or at least something to hold up with garters), I'm sewing myself a pair from reclaimed materials. So far, mine only go partway up my calf, but I can always add length.

Those of you who've used them in the past--how do you get them to stay up?

Having adopted an older-model Universal sewing machine, I set about this evening to read the manual, familiarise myself, and finish an in-progress project.

Yeah, I'm waiting for the gremlins to happen, but they didn't this evening.

The machine works decently. It's rather a lot like some of the Singers of a similar age I've used previously, but with somewhat wider functionality (button holing, multiple zig-zag stitches, etc.). Using it isn't entirely intuitive yet, and the diagram of the components in the manual is actually mis-numbered, but I've managed so far.

Worked up to patching the rest of the holes in the purple-and-black dragon-and-Celtic-knotwork sheet/tapestry I own that appeared after prolongued use over the "velour top" of the air mattress. Had been hand-darning those, which took half an age each, and now I believe I have learned how to close holes in fabric using a machine--something I've never really tried to do before. Shiny new skill, finished project.

Have updated my green linen apron dress, like I've been meaning to do for a couple months. Changed out the straps for more period fabric ones, though I can't remember which book told me white ones had been used. There were lucetted examples on Gotland, but as Gotland is eastern and a weirdness anyway, I'd rather have the more widely used fabric straps. These white ones were sewn up from scraps in my project box; am still using the 6-loop variety.

The new card weaving looks proper spiff, as much as this was a slightly more-complicated-than-normal pattern for me. The Danish motif was stretching my skill level with card weaving, as it involved a lot of individual twist to the cards, but the result pleases me, plus I can say I spun, dyed and wove it myself, which makes me happy. Have about half a metre extra, but that's fine.

Talking of extra card weaving, I have three pieces I'm getting rid of. If you'd like to adopt any, let me know by tomorrow morning what you'd like, else it's going in the Baronial garage sale at the event tomorrow. All adopted! Thank you!

If one is discussing the "skjort" separately from the "tröja", would the latter be an overshirt or jerkin? The author of this modern article on 16th-century pieces seems to be using "tröja" interchangeably with "jackor" but I can't be entirely certain she's discussing the same garment. Is it possible to use "tröja" and "jackor" in such a way?

thirteen_letter is so lucky that this shirt is too big for me, else I might be tempted to keep it for myself. ;)

Have all the pieces together again, having done them in a second iteration of the insertion stitch seams--though I have yet to do the actual interlacing. Have also done most of the buttonhole stitch outlining of the shirt in general, so there's really very little left to do on this shirt.

I think it looks fantastic.

There may be three separate panels, but I'd like to think this collar looks pretty spiffy.

Am considering redoing it, as I've gathered unevenly (didn't notice until the last 10 cm or so) and the edge left inside is awkward. I do still like how it looks, but I think it could be a bit better.

Still need to embellish the front slit with buttonhole stitch, but that's for another day, when I'm not expecting company. Does the bottom edge of the collar look like it needs edging, too, or is that over the top?