Women are not cones. We are (for the most part) hour glass shaped. In order for a bodice to be supportive and look flattering at least one of the seams needs to have a vaguely hourglass shaped hunk taken out of it. This is an ongoing debate in the re-enactment community. Do you pull the fabric out of the center…
One of the nice things about following more period correct methods of construction (ie, the methods laid out The Modern Maker series of books) is that the methods lend themself really well to alterations. That is, without very much fuss at all I can fix a fit issue (or make a garment fit someone else) without having to completely de-construct…
Autumn Gold sleeveless waisted kirtle started 7/24/2019. Worked on sporadically, and then finally finished on September 25, 2019. Details: – kirtle will be side laced. – edges will NOT use bias binding – this one will use one layer of interlining in the whole bodice and a second layer of interlining at the center front. I’ll be pad stitching them…
Last night I finished stitching the tuck** onto the bottom of my Autumn Gold kirtle. Just as I finished stitching the tuck I looked at it and had the following mini-conversation and epiphany. Me: This tuck would be really convenient for pregnancy.Also me: Or for young girls who have not gotten full height… or hand-me-down clothes.Me: Yeah. But that stitch…
Antwerpen white linen coif started April 2, 2019 and finished April 7, 2019. Special thanks to Aleit Pietersdochter over at The New Cut who is working on documenting 16th century Dutch costuming terms and dug up the terms “Huve”, “Huive”, “Huyfd” which seem to be the proper name for this white linen coif. Although a lot of the Antwerpen market women wear their hair…
Blue sleeveless waisted kirtle started June 21, 2019. Finished on July 2, 2019. I’m getting back into the swing of things. I need a new dress. The plan is to make a cobalt blue linen kirtle and wear that under a bright coral wool Antwerpen gown. This is the second kirtle I’ve made using the Cobalt blue linen from Fabric-store.com.…
Grey linen lined in light tan linen doublet sized for a 5-year-old started March 9, 2019. Finished March 20, 2019. In order to be a “properly dressed little boy” my son will need a doublet. This will be used both to cover his under shirt and to point his breeches to keep them from falling down. The doublet I’m making…
Brown wool lined in natural linen breeches sized for a 5-year-old started March 6, 2019. Finished March 11, 2019. Continuing with the theme of “clothe the child” I made a pair of “Gorinchem breeches to fit a child aged ten years” shown in “The Tudor Child” (p. 94-95)(https://amzn.to/2ld5iZS). My son is only 5.. but he’s a HUGE 5-year old. Technically…
White linen shirt sized for a 5-year-old started June 15, 2018. Finished March 4, 2019. To be fair making this shirt went fairly quickly. Unfortunately I started making this for my son and then got pulled off to a lot of other projects. It probably only took about a week to sew it together but that was spread out over…
My notes about the original Kragelund tunic are saved in another post. I recommend reading that for more background information. Quick paraphrase: – Tunic made of Wool found in Fattiggårdens mose near the village Kragelund, north west of Silkeborg, Denmark (also approximately 15 miles south of Viborg, Denmark) carbon dated to c.1040-1155 (which is also within ~50 years of the…