I had the very good fortune to be able to attend a lecture by Robin Netherton. She lectured on her method for achieving this type of fitted dress and she also talked about her reasoning why the garments found in Greenland around that time (the so-called 10-gore dress) aren't good examples of the fashions on the mainland. All-in-all, she was very convincing (which made me horribly unhappy that I'd used the 10-gore method to make my dress for Twelfth Night. Ah well, live and learn).
Research Dumping Grounds
An easy-to-edit dumping place for my SCA research venues. A combination research/project tracking tool.
Yellow Cote (late 14th - early 15th Century)
Dress finished January 7th 2005
Summary
It seems like such a simple thing. I'm Sylvie. I'm french. I'm from the late 14th/early 15th century. It seems obvious that I would have a "cote", "cotte", "cotehardie", "gothic fitted gown", "kirtle" whatever you want to call it.. the fitted supportive layer seen in late 14th/early 15th century illuminations. It's been a long road to get here. I'm at the middle of my third year in the SCA and I'm just now getting around to making a dress that's appropriate to my persona.
This will actually be the second fitted gown I've made. I was terribly proud of the first gown (I blame the pride on the pain from my gall bladder (but that's a different story)). A friend is now wearing it.. everytime I see her in it I want to tackle her to the ground and give her a proper fitting just so I can burn my "gothic fitted greenland gown". It makes my teeth hurt. (my friend still looks perky and lovely in it.. but she'd knock their eyes out in a properly fitted dress). [Edit: The first cote sold for $45 at Ducal in 2006]
So when Etaine proposed "let's all wear similar dresses for Twelfth Night" it seems like a really fantastic idea to push for the 14th century fitted gown.
Proposed dress fabric. Yellow wool on bottom, yellow lining linen on top.
So cross your fingers for me. With luck and a bunch of work I should have a fitted yellow cote for Twelfth Night. If I get really ambitious (and ahead of schedule) I may even make up a lovely red overdress. I'm not holding my breath.
Research and Background
No one yet knows what this dress would have been called at the time when it was worn. I tend to call it a "cote" or "fitted gown". The current recreationists theory says that this started out as the loose tunic of the 13th century and became more and more fitted as time progressed. Eventually this garment became the supported under-layer for the houppelande, and possibly even for some later garments.
My goal is to create a garment that is consistent with the fashions in 1425-1440 France.
My primary sources are the "Tres Riches Heures de Duc Berry" illustrated by the Limbourg brothers between 1413-1416 and a french translation of "Boccacio's Decameron" illstrated by Flemish artists between 1430-1440.
Details to include:- Fitted dress of four panels (illus. 1) with gores for fullness
- Front spiral laced closure (illus. 2)
- Rounded neck opening (illus. 2)
- Wrist length tight fitting sleeves (illus.1)
Illustration 1
Boccacio's Decameron, 1430-1440
Notice the seam lines in the underarm then going down her sides.
Illustration 2
Tres Riches Heures de Duc Berry, 1413-1416.
Inspirational Pictures
Process
January 27, 2003
October 12, 2004
Edith fit me for the dress using Robin Netherton's methods (super secret, she made us promise not to publish them). Yes, it's only been a year and a half... but in that time we've fit lots of other people for the dress. So we weren't too rusty on the methods. We used some aweful chunky linen with thin black stripes on it. It was kind of fun to see the stripes wiggle with all the pressure we were putting on it. So now I have a pattern. I'm very pleased with the fitting.
October 13, 2004
Not much done at this point. I cleaned up the pattern pieces. I used a T pin (head of the pin is about 1/2 inch (1 cm) long) to mark the seam allowance on the dress. I then trimmed all the excess off of the pattern.
Place the T-pin so the body of the pin is parallel with the seam mark and the edge of the pin head is on the seam mark. Use a sharpie (black marker) to make a dot at the other side of the head of the pin. Do this about ever 1/2-1 inch (1-2 cm) along the seam. Trim seam to follow dots.
October 19, 2004
Last night I ironed the yellow linen and cut out the lining. I noticed that a lot of the details of the fitting got lost when I added the seam allowance. To fix this I laid the yellow lining on top of the pattern pieces and traced the fitting marks onto the lining with purple chalk. The yellow was just see-through enough to allow me to trace these lines. Hopefully this will help with getting the right fit.
October 20, 2004
Ok, all the pieces of yellow lining linen are sewn together. I tried it on and found that the yellow linen is a lot lighter and stretchier than the linen we used for the fitting. After fuming about this overnight (and talking with Edith) I've decided to re-cut out the lining from some heaftier white linen I have in my stash. I'm pretty certain I'll be able to use the yellow linen as a lining for the overdress (red or green still undecided). Very frustrating.
Lessons learned:
When you do a fitting, use linen that is of the same weight as the linen you mean to use for the lining of your fitted dress.
AND
When you're a big, busty woman, don't expect light weight linen to support you.
Though.. putting positive spin on this.. it means I'm 1/2 done with the overdress for Twelfth night.
October 21, 2004
Second verse, same as the first
I cut out the lining -again- only this time in some lovely white/natural linen. I sewed it all together and tried it on. This lining is a -much- better fit. I still think I'll have Edith fidget with the fit a little bit but this is MUCH closer to the real dress that I want.
October 28, 2004
At sewing night this week I had Edith fidget with the fitting. We had some success but then it got frustrating and very hard to work with. With only a little itty bitty seam allowance to tug on it was very hard to get a tighter fit. Eventually we gave up for the night and went on to other projects.
I really wanted to get done with the fitting (until the fitting's done I can't go on to adding the outer fabric). So on Thursday I decided to see if I could do it myself (don't laugh it was a good plan)(edit: At 12th night Edith said I have "freakish play-dough boobs". I think she's just jealous.). I pinned the lining on the front seam line and then pulled it on over my head. Even with the under bust pulled as tight as possible I'm still able to wriggle into it. So I wriggle into it, decide where I want it tighter/looser, wriggle out of it, re-pin, wriggle into it. After not too very long I had it nicely tight like I wanted it. I did get a couple of pin scrapes. I'm willing to put up with that to get it fit like I want and so I won't have to impose on my friends.
So now the lining's done. The next part is adding the outer fabric to the lining.
December 7, 2004
Lots of procrastination (and being too busy to breath (damn holidays)). Two nights ago I -finally- sat down and cut out the wool for the dress. I think the procrastination was caused by having to make the first cut in nice fabric. Luckily I got past it. The cutting went really fast. After cutting it all out I started sewing the outer layer to the inner layer. I finished the sewing last night.
At some point I'll do instructions and pictures about how to sew the wool to the linen. For now.. words just aren't enough to descibe the process.
Without ripping apart the seams on the linen lining I made a fabric sandwich and sewed the outer fabric to the lining fabric by following the stitches of the lining.
December 13, 2004
The seam between the wool layer of the two halves of the front gore were sewn wrong (which I guess is what happens when you get impatient). It didn't lie flat at the top. I ripped out that seam and sewed it together again. It's lying much flatter now. I also finished the edge of the front opening. Lastly I marked off and started sewing the eyelets. They are about 1/4-1/2 inch from the edge and 3/4 inches apart (the spacing recommended by Robin Netherton). They're offset a la "The Zen of spiral lacing".
December 18, 2004
More eyelets.
December 22, 2004
Yet more eyelets. Finished all but one eyelet. Good enough to try the dress on and mark the hem. When I went to try on the dress I realized that the lace that I'd set aside for this dress was too short. I fingerlooped a new lace in white silk (5-loop round braid)(about 1-2 hr to fingerloop). Flying to Montana tomorrow. Won't be able to sew on plane. *sigh*
December 25, 2004
Merry Christmas.
December 27, 2004
I instructed my cousin Mary (15 years old) how to mark the hem. She did a fine job for her first ever hem. Started hand sewing hem.
December 28, 2004
Still sewing hem.
December 29, 2004
Finished hem. I also finished most of the neck opening. Flying back to California tomorrow.
January 1, 2005
Happy New Year!!
January 3, 2005
Edith came over and graciously agreed to help me fit sleeves for the dress. We fit them tight and then marked where the "real" seam should be. Then I cut them apart and moved the gap to the edge so that the "real" seam would be in the right place. I ended up trying on the dress several times to make sure the seams were in the right place.
January 5, 2005
One sleeve is done. Just one more to go. I decided to hand sew the sleeves as it gives them the right look. I'm using back stitches to attach them to the body of the garment and then a running stitch across the seam at the back of the arm. At the wrist I used a running stitch to roll back the edge and then a hemstitch to tack down the edge.
January 6, 2005
Finished sleeve two.
January 7, 2005
We got to 12th night and I finished the last eyelet in the hotel room (it wouldn't be 12th night if I wasn't madly sewing in the room.)
It's done!! It's done!!
Post Mortem
It turns out that I didn't completely remove some of the markings on the inside of the garment. Just over my left breast it says "LF" in really large faintly purple letters. To hide this I wore a veil and wimple all day (as an aside, the wimple really did keep me nice and warm). I do think this will come out with the first washing.. but I was hesitant to wash this until after I wore it (what if the wool shrunk horribly and the garment became unwearable).In the future I think I'll mark the "LF", "RF", "LB","RB" at the hem edge of the garment.
The neck is too high in the back. It cuts into the back of my neck. I'll need to rip out that seam and make it deeper.