16th Century, Accessories, Antwerpen

Halscleet – Antwerpen white linen partlet

Detail. Joachim Beuckelaer (circa 1533–1575) – The Four Elements: Fire. A Kitchen Scene with Christ in the House of Martha and Mary in the Background – 1570 image on Wikipedia

Antwerpen White linen partlet started May 12, 2018. Finished June 9, 2018.

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 “Halscleet”/”Halsdouck”/”halscleer” which seem to be the proper name for this white linen partlet.

Single layer of white linen for the body of the garment (doublefold hem on all exposed edges)
Two layers of white linen for the collar (20″ x 3.5″)
Single layer of white linen (selvedge on one side, rolled hem on the other) for the cartridge pleated ruff (1.5″ x ~100″. pleated with 1/2″ cartridge pleats)

Eyelet at the back corners
White silk fingerlooped strings attached at the front bottom corners (long enough to go front to back to center front and tie)
Hook and eye at the bottom center front corner

It’s been a really long time since I did a collar with a ruff on it. I do remember last time that I was not terribly pleased with the method I used to attach the ruffled portion to the collar (cartridge pleat a folded piece of fabric and then enclose the end of the cartridge pleat inside of the collar portion). That and I’m a bit miffed about the lack of exacting details on diaries that others have done. I want to know how big are the pieces you used? How deep are the cartridge pleats? and how exactly did you attach the pleats to the collar? I didn’t really find this information so I’m just kind of making it up entirely for this version. So MMV.

Looking at some of the pictures it looks like cartridge pleats were sometimes used. I like the way those partlets look so I’m going to use those pleats for this partlet.

I made this up using one method to attach the ruffled portion(stitched the top of the inside of the ruff to the top of the collar portion so that the ruff stood out at 90 degrees), then decided I hated it, removed the ruffled portion and re-attached it.

The eyelet/tie setup is inspired by the extant Gollar posted by The Curious Frau. The back bottom corners each have an eyelet. The front side corners had a long string attached. I ended up making a pair of 5 loop round fingerlooped braids. In retrospect, in keeping with the “Market Girl” vibe I probably should have used some linen as silk is a bit higher class than the outfit really warrants. I may swap these out at some point. The tie goes from the front side, through the eyelet in the back then back around to the front where it ties in a bow at center front and that bow is tucked into the top of the bodice. Like the image here and here.

Inspirational Images



TODO

– (done) Cut out body portion.
– (done) Cut out collar pieces.
– (done) Cut out ruff piece (1.5″x100″. Selvedge one one side)
– (done) Cartridge pleat ruff piece (1/2″ wide stitches for cartridge pleat).
– (done) Add rolled hem to the raw edge of the ruff. (would have been easier if this had been done before drawing it up in cartridge pleat but whatever, it worked)
– (done) Attach the collar pieces to the body of the partlet.
– (done) Attach the ruff to the collar pieces (finish it, hate it, remove it, reattach it)
– (done) Make white silk finger looped string.
– (done) Add eyelets to the front and back side corners.
[First time trying it on. The front is too long. Adjusted the front.]
– (done) Add hook and eye to the center front corner and collar area.

Lessons learned:

– I suppose I could leave the non-exposed edge of the ruffled portion as a raw cut edge. It does end up enclosed inside of the collar portion but this bothered me so I ended up finishing the ruffled portion with a rolled hem. Then I liked the structure given by the rolled hem so much I flipped the ruffled portion around and put that on the outside edge and the selvedge edge inside of the collar. Regardless, I feel better with both edges of the ruffled portion finished.
– I did the collar portion as two pieces of fabric with the seam allowance all around folded to the inside of the collar. Looking at it now I can see where the seam allowance of the collar is folded inside of the collar. I don’t like it. This leads to the next point.
– I cut the body of this partlet as a single piece (no shoulder seam). I suspect that if I cut it as 3 pieces (RF, LF, Back) that I could cut it with integral collar. I think I will try that on the next one. This would still have an additional small piece of fabric for the outside of attaching the ruff to the collar of the body but I think it would work better.
– When I initially tried this on the front edge was too long.  I cut it shorter, in line with the top edge of my kirtle.  It turns out I cut it too short.  I wish I’d cut it at least 2 inches longer in the front.  I’ve now worn this for 4 years and I just want something a bit longer.

Progress pictures:

Costs:

White medium weight (IL019) linen from the stash
Silk string from the stash

What others have done:

Esperanza de Navarra of Maniacal Medievalist: Making the 16th Century Flemish Working Class Woman’s Partlet

Sources

Leed, Drea. The Well Dress’d Peasant: 16th Century Flemish Workingwomen’s Clothing. Trinidad CO: Costume & Dressmaker Press, 2000. PDF. http://www.elizabethancostume.net/welldressdpeasant.pdf
Sturtewagen, Isis. “All together respectable dressed: Fashion and clothing in Bruges during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries”. Antwerp Belgium: Printed by University of Antwerp, 2016. PDF. https://repository.uantwerpen.be/docman/irua/2cb264/11226.pdf
http://www.stgeorgenorth.org/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/How_To_Construct_an_Authentic_Ruff_wth_Pictures_and_FB_Tutorial_and_Diagrams.202202539.pdf
The Curious Frau: Gollar from Schwäbisch Hall https://www.facebook.com/pg/curiousfrau/photos/?tab=album&album_id=267490843408686

Binge list

When I sew I tend to have something on TV in the background. I’ve decided it amuses me to record what I watched with the item.

The Expanse – I’ve moved through season 2 into season 3. It’s aliens (sort of). Initially I stopped watching it because it was political drama in space (and if I wanted political drama I could watch the news) but someone I suggested I check it out.. and it turns out there’s aliens (sort of). So okay. I’ll finish this off and at this point I’m glad to hear that Amazon has picked it up for at least one more season.
Dietland – This is a new show available from AMC. This shines a light on a lot of the female, plus sized day-to-day life. I’m interested to see where it goes. I’m hopeful the fanciful “Jennifer” portion does not steal all of the light from the actual real circumstances that ARE happening right now.
Thor – Ragnarok – “No, it’s okay, we work together!” All the right laughs in all the right places.

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