Brown wool kirtle update 2: eyelets!

Okay, so I've committe to making a last ditch effort at finishing the kirtle before I go back to uni. As long as I finish something major in every uni break I'll be done in... 4 years. Or something. Feh.

Aaanyway, tonight I finished a 13 hour shift (I know >_<) so I came home, planted myself in front of Mad Men and finishe the eyelets on the skirt section of the vent. Here's an image of the finished product! I know its poor quality but I haven't charged my camera... I promise I'll do it for next time.

It closes!

Closeup!

I whip-stitched the eyelets using black linen Gutterman thread. It's really waxy and strange when you first work with it, more like fishing line than thread, but I found that if you pull it through your fingers a few times before you thread it to softens up a bit. I love it for eyelets because the shiny nature of the thread means its really easy to pull your lace through and I've never had an eyelet done in linen thread that has frayed or worn or pulled out.

The eyelets are 1" apart and there I've ended up using two lacing formations to get the result I've seen in period carvings (I'll find the image for the final post for this kirtle - I can't seem to dig it up now). In the bodice section I've laced using generic spiral lacing. In the skirt section I've actually switched to ladder lacing. The period example shows the visible laces on the bodice on the diagonal and the visible laces on the skirt being horizontal. It's an interesting effect but I'm not persuaded that the laces shouldn't be spirals that do their diagonal on the inside where the lacing is invisible. When I tried this the vent scrunched up and didn't sit as well But I'm going to keep at it. The main problem is that there is tension in the bodice and no tension on the skirt owing to the fullness of the panels. I'll work on it for next time, in any case.

The sides of the vent in the skirt overlap each other but on the bodice they don't. It's not a major problem, I can lace it to overlap without trouble, but it's not "working as designed". Anyone have any advice on whether this is just the way it's meant to look? I can't find a period example showing enough detail to help me!

I also started to contemplate what I should move onto for after this! I think the obvious (and most rewarding) choice would be a gown to go over the top so that I can feel as though I have a completed outfit. It would be nice to have something done in its entirety for the Barony of Aneala's XXV Anniversary on the Anzac Day weekend! So, with that in mind:

NEXT TIME: The completed kirtle! Only binding the right armscye and hem to go, plus luceting a lacing cord to go with it. I've decided that each of my articles of clothing will be considered unfinishe unless they have their own laces - I ALWAYS lose them D: The trouble will be finding a colour to suit, I think I'll try with a small ball of bobbin-lace cotton in gold to match the binding.

COMING SOON: A gown to go over the top! I have some charcoal/black wool of a similar type to the one I used here - that might be a good place to start if nothing else presents itself :) Also, a pair of hose as well as a smock suited to this period (the ones I already have are too late in period / not English).

That's it for now, it's late and I need bed! Oh wait, I found a photo of the comfortably-curved bust.

The reason I make a fuss of it is that I've managed to overcome my previous habit of having boobs everywhere - it's really pretty easy to yank everything in and leave nowhere for them to go but up (and out the top >_> ). This is the shape I've been aiming for over the course of making my last couple of things, some of which I'll hopefully post up here in time. The curve is smooth and although everything is comfortably supported there's no ZOMG BEWBS action going on, thankfully.

That really is it, now. Nini!

~ E.C. xxx

Brown wool kirtle

 Well here is my first post about a project! I'm so so so so excited about finally getting this up here! The kirtle is the first item I've made specifically for my Wardrobe project and it's coming along so well that I just don't want to work on anything else. I want to make ALL OF THE CLOTHINGS!!! Aaaanyway, I've done most of the hard yards for this one already so I thought I'd just post about what I've done so far and share a few pictures about where I'm at with it.

The kirtle is the first I've made and it's supposed to be the first "workaday" kirtle for my wardrobe. I have a real attachment to this piece because the wool I've used for it was purchased when I bought a bunch of fabric for my very very first ever recreation costume for the Investment of the Lucas and Madeleine, the gorgeous B&B of Ynys Fawr in Tasmania. I haven't managed to use it before now but I'm really happy to finally have the chance to put it to good use. The wool is a dark chocolate brown (pretty close to the "poor black" of the 16th century, I think) broadcloth where the nap has been raised and sheared to make it felty. I've done a burn-test on it and as far as I can tell it is 100% wool (pretty good since I think I bought it from Spotlight and I wouldn't have paid more than $10/m). The lining is undyed and unbleached linen (apart from the obvious expense involved in lining wool with wool, I just don't think I could stand it in the Perth heat >_< ), interlined with the last of some scraps of linen canvas and the edges are bound in some scraps of gold silk taffeta.

The kirtle has a sleeveless bodice with a V-neckline front and back and an attached skirt. The vent (opening) is in the front and is bound with silk scraps like the neckline and armscye. I really wanted to add small sleeves but I just didn't have enough fabric. In the end, it has been cut from 3m (and a little bit) of wool 112cm wide which I folded in half lengthways and cut to give me 6m x 66cm so that I could learn about piecing the skirt. each skirt panel (2 front, 2 back) was made by joining 2 pieces together. 

Side-front view

Front view

 The design is taken from the kirtle pattern on p40 of Caroline Johnson's The Queen's Servants and fitted on myself by virtue of putting a zip in the front of the toile. In fact, the next time I make a toile like this I'll try to take photos so I can make a tutorial. It's the best way to fit anything on yourself that I have found - it's basically the same method used by some ladies to fit cotehardies to themselves. If you're fussy and finicky about your patterns like I am, it's awesome because you can zip it off and make adjustments as often as you like without pissing off the person who is trying to help you (put up with your perfectionism). 

I want to mention that there's no boning, just the linen canvas interlining. Obviously it'll be worn over a smock but there isn't a corset and I haven't found any indication that there would have been any boning in this kind of kirtle or that there would have been any supporting undergarment. To be honest, the shape is excellent and it's incredibly comfortable. It looks just right in terms of fit, though the neckline turned out a bit lower than I wanted. Oh well, I'll be wearing a gown over it and the chemise will help to preserve my modesty too :P

Anyway, at this stage I've done all of the major construction work and now I've just got to finish off the eyelets (I just one side below the waist seam), binding the right armscye and binding the hem. Oh, and I'll lucet a lacing cord for it out of something, if I can! I'll try and find some dark-coloured cotton perle of something and get back to you on that. 

I had to include this last picture of the side for two reasons: (1) you can see that there is a nice curve over the bust that is created by fitting the bodice most snugly directly under the breasts. When the tension in the shoulders is correct it's more comfortable and supportive than any fancy bra! (2) My fingers somehow conspired to get in the way and make themselves look like a butt. Hurr hurr hurr <_<

Hopefully I can finish this tomorrow night when I get home from work, so that I'll actually have finished something over my summer break!

~ E.C.

1525 Wardrobe Project

After thinking a lot about my goals for costuming, I eventually decided to do my best to recreate the wardrobe of an upper-middle class woman, likely a yeoman's or possibly a burgess' wife or daughter. I need something that will keep me interested but also let me pick things up and put them down depending on what I feel like working on at the time.

Over a period of a few years I've managed to track down and read a few primary and secondary references to what was worn, when and by whom in a way that could be applied to considering the total number of garments a person might have. Books and papers have been produced concerning the issue. There are a number of records and papers around that relate to bequeathment made by men and women of the Tudor period. These lists of worldly belongings often included items of clothing, and give a reasonable idea of the kind of clothing that may have belonged to a single person during the early 16th century.

My current plan is to eventually make these items:
- 5 smocks
- 5 pair hose
- 2 "workaday" kirtles
- 3 workaday gowns of varying styles for every day
- 1 fine petticote for special occasions
- 1 fine kirtle for special occasions
- 1 gown for special occasions

- 3 pair gloves

- 3 coifs
- 2 hoods
- 3 frontelets for early style hoods
- 1 fine gable hood and lappets for special occasions
- girdles
- Rosary
- purse
- modest jewellery
- 2 pair shoes
- 1 pair boots

I've probably left out a whole bunch of essential things but that will give me something (read: "a lot") to be getting on with. I'll keep adding the projects one by one as I start them!

 ~ E.C.

Tailoring Diary!

Hiya!

With the vague hope that someone will be interested enough to read about my historical patterning and tailoring projects I've decided to make this blog. The other obvious advantage being that I can have a single place for tracking my progress and hopefully one day exchange ideas and plans with other costumers and SCAdians.

My long-term project is to create a wardrobe for a yeoman's or burgess' wife from England in 1525. I find the transition period fascinating and I'm hoping to be able to recreate the number and variety of garments an upper-middle class woman of this period would own at a given point in her life.

Aside from the construction process, I have a real passion for patterning garments. Hopefully I can find enough volunteers to let me help with the patterning of their projects! If the wearer is comfortable with the idea, I'll do my best to take photos and try to track those projects as well.

Because I'm balancing uni, work and home commitments with my sewing time I expect my progress will be slow but I hope you will bear with me! I would love to get some feedback and hear about any of your own ideas and experiences.

Excitement!

~ E.C.