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One down and another one to go, oh and I have to make the lace for it too...

http://couturemayah.info/eng%20fitted%20supportive%20kirtle.html

Love love love, even as I wince at all the buttonholes.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

I forgot to post these, I’ve slowly been sewing away on petticoat bodies from caramel colored wool. Linen/cotton canvas interlining, linen/cotton lining. Sewn with the broken backstitch, running stitch and whip stitch in linen thread. The project has sat in the time out corner a few times.

First, when I trimmed the neckline corner down a tiny bit too far, I ended up darning it as a fix and reinforcing the area. Second I tried it on and it was too tight! Bah, I need to adjust my bodice block. Thankfully I had an extra large seam allowance in the back so I was able to let it out, but once I did that the back neckline started to have issues. After lots of basting, pressing, and re-basting I sewed up another 1/4 an inch and that seemed to fix it.

The lining is in, the armscyes bound, so it just needs eyelets and a tiny bit of clean up, oh and the petticoat. I have 5 yards of red wool (lucky e-bay find) which should be enough for a new kirtle *and* the petticoat if I am careful with my cutting.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Presenting Kwik Sew 3658 in a cheap black lightweight knit! I think this is my first time working with knits aside from stretch velvets.

The knit was a pain, the edges curled and it was off grain (thank you so much fabric.com) But I traced it off with the lay the tissue paper down, put a fingernail on the line, fold tissue over and mark method. Sew, wash away tape the center front seam after unpicking it once, overlock all the things. Finish the arms with self-cut binding. I went to hem it tonight, got one way around the hem, started a second go round and the twin needle snapped.

It will be comfy and wearable once I finish hemming it.

Things I'd do differently next time, use a heavier or better quality knit, wider binding the S/A likes to roll back and try to stick out. Narrower hem on the bottom. It called for 1 inch, I sewed about in the middle of the hem and the S/A tried to roll back down again. And take in the shoulder area a touch.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Has anyone used this or something like it before? The CT in my wrist is getting to be an issue from time to time and that looks like it would cut through anything.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000QVE9KU/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2IGZ09LPUKLVH

After way too long here is part two of the manteo or petticoat (part 1 written in 2014 can be found here), to recap here is the layout suggestion I ended up using from Alecga.

Since my fabric is 60 inches wide I did not need to piece the “B” section and was able to cut it as one curved shape.

Measurements

I changed the measurements to fit my own size.

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Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

This is the last day for the silk sale at Fabricmart, they have this for 10 bucks a yard: http://www.fabricmartfabrics.com/Fire-Red-100-Silk-Satin-Organza-53W.html

What would the minimum yardage be for a Mina inspired gown? I say inspired because a silk satin organza would behave very different from the fabric the movie gown is made from, but it could still look very neat.

Trying to fit a corset mock-up on your own body, by yourself, calls for patience and flexibility. I wanted something I could sew on quickly so I could check the general fit of a corset, without having to worry about busk length, zippers, or safety pins.

The Velcro Corset Busk

Supplies

2 lengths of flat steel boning
2 sturdy strips of fabric, wide enough to fold in half. this will make your boning channels.
Velcro, either the sew on kind or the industrial strength adhesive kind
Sewing machine, pencil, scissors

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Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Last Friday and over the weekend I put together a list of 16th century English wills that are available through google books.

https://books.google.com/books?uid=115257834026815258589&as_coll=1001&source=gbs_lp_bookshelf_list

Some highlights include the Sandwich Book of Orphans which gets into orphans their wardship or guardians and the cost of their upkeep. Most interesting is the record of Tomasine Wolters, it covers the repair of her houses, the amount of rent her properties collected, the repairing of her shoes and purchase of her wardrobe and other necessities.

Another interesting tidbit (in a different document) was the mention of a possible linen kirtle.

“..To Effam Hargrave widow one lyne kertle and my white petticoate”

The full will is here.

It started a good debate on FB, did that mean linen, did that mean lined? I haven’t run across any other mention of a kirtle like that before. So I did some digging, drawing on Drea Leed’s database for variations on how linen was spelled in period.

“linen” “lening” “linnen” “lynon” “lynen” “lynne” “linninge” “lynnynge” “lyn clothe” “lin[en]” “lynn[en]” “lenone” “lin clothe” “lynenn” “lynnyne” “lynnyn” “lynuen” “lynnen” “lawn” “lockram” “cobweb lawn” “cobweb lawne” “copwebbe lawne” “cobwebbe lawne” “cobwebe lawne” “copweb lawne” “copwebb lawne” “band of lane” “lane slevis” “layn” “lawne” “lokeram” “lokorame” “lockeram” “lockrom” “locram” “loceram”

And I ran it through the will I had collected, then I pulled out anything that wasn’t the usual coif or tablecloth.

Snippet view couldn’t get what year
15788 Item vij paire of Sleves three of linnen clothe and iiij of Lawne wroughte with golde and Silke.
https://books.google.com/books?id=VnIKAQAAMAAJ&q=linnen&dq=linnen&lr=&ei=c225V_HyEpqp-wH64ae4Aw&cd=15

1587 – Will of Roger Simpson
2 lynnynge apprens, 2 linninge churchef, 3 napkins, one payre of lynne sleves….
https://books.google.com/books?id=HE8JAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA138&dq=lynne&ei=Jm-5V_LCKIK7-wGNirjgCA&cd=7#v=onepage&q=lynne&f=false

1606 Sandwich Book of Orphans
It m paid Tho Horsman formakinge a Dublet a paire of hoose and a wastecote he fynding lenone for tho Dublet for Tho Ingram iiij s ij d
https://books.google.com/books?id=79UGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA196&dq=lenone&ei=I3G5V4iMAtiq-gG_8hw&cd=1#v=onepage&q=lenone&f=false

1564 Mychaell Clerkson Testamentum
A pair of lynnyn sleves and a pair of fusshyn sleves, xijd
https://books.google.com/books?id=eENjAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA173&dq=lynnyn&ei=0HK5V4yCO4K7-wGNirjgCA&cd=1#v=onepage&q=lynnyn&f=false

1592 Will of Richard Rawstorne
I geve 8m unto Ralph Hoult one sute of my worst apparell To Edward Nuttall a paire of gray breeches laid wth vj laces and one dublet of milion fustion and my best paire of netherstockf saving one To Rogger Pilkington one paire of lynuen breeches cutt To my sonne Henry my best oloake best dublet best jirkin and my best hose To William Pilkington one dublet of cutt canvas and one paire of new shooes ..
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ol1VAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA40&dq=lynuen&ei=Y3O5V7mLN9Gb-gHM_YHACw&cd=1#v=onepage&q=lynuen&f=false

Snippet view couldn’t get what year
one lynnen apperne
https://books.google.com/books?id=JGZOAAAAYAAJ&q=lynnen&dq=lynnen&ei=MXS5V5-2BsnY-wHqmZ7IDA&cd=9

So no other kirtles but the one mentioned, but it may crack the door open an inch to the possibility of them.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

I have a friend who lives in the wilds of Oklahoma, her local medieval fair runs for only three days. She has needed a costume to attend just for fun but being a fellow history nerd wanted something that would work. Her fair set in 1360, it has a different flavor than my local fair that tends toward the 1540’s which means my go to comfy bodice and skirt kirtle wouldn’t really fit.

A few years before we got some lightweight wool suiting in plum color from Fabricmart and then I sat on it like an egg as we went back and forth over what style of dress she wanted.

Bliaut? (which we started to call a blablahblu because we were never sure of how to pronounce it..) It is earlier than the fair timeframe, but she liked the look of them (Possibly watching too much Brother Cadfael at a young age.) Buuuut large flappy sleeves can get in the way and being able to get dressed by yourself is a good thing.
Go for an Elizabethan kirtle anyways cause I can make those in my sleep? Fashion forward!

We pinned a lot of photos, used historical doll makers to share ideas and when she came down in 2014 for my wedding I got her measurements, drafted a block, and fitted a mock-up.

The best-laid plans…

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Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

A very very old project (6+ years maybe?) has found a new home. It is based on the circle cloaks found in Patterns of Fashion, made from many scraps of black cotton velvet and a scarlet linen/cotton/rayon blend for the lining. It is a bit shorter than the ones in PoF, in part because as it sat in my closet and the outer fabric grew, the lining grew. I ended up hand-basting all around the outside of the cloak and trimming everything as even as I could make it. Which left me with an uneven lining in some areas.

So I took the extra fabric I had from the lining (still had some!) and cut a very wide 4 1/2 yard long section of bias tape, sewed that through both the velvet and the lining, flipped it up, and hand sewed the folded edge down to the inner lining. (Phew!) That done I make a collar from the off cuts of the shortened cloak, lined it with more of the lining fabric and stitched it on.

But I was going through several layers of fabric, thankfully the whip stitch works great there, but it looked a bit messy and I didn’t want the stitched to rub. So I took more scraps of the lining fabric and made a narrow band to cover the join and hand sewed them on. Finally I bound the collar top with scraps of black silk taffeta, snipped along the edge to give it some texture.

But then the hem of the cloak did not match the collar edge (and I wanted a stop gap in case the cloak lining decided to grow again). This meant more silk taffeta! I cut 4 strips of it about 4 inches wide, folded them horizontally and machine sewed them together. Then I hand sewed the strips down along the hem of the cloak twice. Once to the red lining and the second time through the velvet to keep the taffeta band from rolling up.

More edge snipping to match the collar, a set of twill tape ties and it was finally done.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

The majority of the inventory excerpts are transcripts from http://www.anastasiorojo.com however, the translations and missteps are my own. I’ve found a handful of cueras mentioned in inventory lists. Some are made of leather, others of fabric, they are cut, trimmed and in one instance lined in velvet. This is by no means exhaustive and in some entries, I’ve included non-cuera garments as they were listed.

1585 TESTAMENTO E INVENTARIO DE BERNARDINO VIZCARRETO, NATURAL DEL PIAMONTE Y REGIDOR DE VALLADOLID

cuera: yten una cuera de cordovan con beinte y dos botones de oro;
One jerkin of leather with twenty-two gold buttons

yten una cuera de cordovan bieja aforrada en bayeta negra
One old jerkin of leather lined with black baize

http://www.anastasiorojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1585-VIZCARRETO.pdf

1570 INVENTARIO DE SEBASTIÁN DE SANTA CRUZ, MERCADER Y HOMBRE DE NEGOCIOS DE BURGOS.

quera: yten una quera de raso negro sajado;
a pinked/cut jerkin of black satin

yten una quera de terçiopelo negra forrada en felpa parda;
A jerkin of black velvet lined with brown plush

yten una cuera de terçiopelo berde;
An old velvet jerkin

yten un jubon de raso negro picado y pespuntado muy roto;
A very old doublet of quilted(?) black satin

una cuera guarnezida de pasamanos de oro aderezada con anbar
A jerkin decorated with gold lace and trimmed with amber(?)

yten una cuera de raso guarneçida de terçiopelo
A jerkin of satin trimmed with velvet

yten sus cuera y mangas de lo mismo
Another jerkin and sleeves of the same

http://www.anastasiorojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/1570-STA-CRUZ.pdf

1595 TESTAMENTARIO, INVENTARIO Y BIBLIOTECA DE GASPAR CLAVIJO, CARPINTERO MORISCO VIEJO

quera: yten una quera tapetada de cordoban bieja
An old black leather jerkin

http://www.anastasiorojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/1595-GASPAR-CLAVIJO.pdf
1571 INVENTARIO DE BIENES DEL MARQUÉS DE TÁBARA, EN SUS CASAS DE VALLADOLID

cuera: una cuera de cordovan llena de pasamanillos aforrada en terciopelo negro con mangas de lo mismo;
A leather jerkin with narrow lace lined in black velvet with sleeves of the same

otra quera de cordovan camuzada llena de rebeticos de raso negro aforrada en tafetan negro;
A leather jerkin of ( Camuzada, possibly Gamuzada – Chamois color?) with black satin and lined with black taffeta

otra cuera picada con un pasamano biexo.
An old pinked jerkin with trim

http://www.anastasiorojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/1571-TABARA.pdf

“Richer than We Thought: The Material Culture in 16th Century St Augustine”

2 cordovan doublets

Goods of Dona Mayor de Arango (1570) http://elizabethancostume.net/cyte/node/239

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

2 faux blackwork coifs which are for sale! Mixture of machine and hand sewing.

Hand hemmed sage green linen apron

Butttons for the Curera project

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.

Long have I coveted Scott Perkin’s leather jerkin, which is based off the jerkin at the Museum of London and written about in Janet Arnold’s “Pattern of Fashion”.

Scott’s Leather Jerkin

Leather Jerkin from the Museum of London

But I am not a leather worker*, I didn’t want to get a very nice hide and ruin it with my amateur attempts. So I filed the idea away in the back of my head until one night I came across some leather on eBay.

It was cheap and looked like there was enough to make a jerkin, one press of the buy now button and I good. The blitheful glow of a new project set in. I started planning out how I wanted it to look, what buttons I would need, to slash or not to slash?

But then I realized an important question needed answering, did women ever wear leather jerkins?

The common assumption is that it’s a male garment with origins as armor, and possibly evolved into the 17th-century buff coat. (I am not an armor historian if this is incorrect please let me know.)

In “Patterns of Fashion”, Arnold mentions:

“Alcega gives pattern diagrams of some petticoats or skirts (‘saya’) with ‘a jerkin, a little cassock such as women use in Spain’ as Minsheu translates ‘sayuelo’; others are with a ‘cuera’, translated by Minsheu as ‘a Spanish leather jerkin’. The latter is a bodice which has apparently taken its name from the leather from which it was once made.”

The diagram referenced in the quote

Language is a living thing, the meaning of words change. In my look through the English translation of Alcega’s book, I found some of the translations questionable, but I am inclined to agree. Paño or cloth, being mentioned in the layout means it is not being made from leather.

Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary 1660 lists the following:

Jerkin

Cuera

Cordovano

Part 2: Digging through some Spanish and English Inventories.

*I did make a leather jerkin a long time ago out of chrome tanned suede cut from skirts from the thrift store. I looked like a badass female Iago in it, but I’ve learned a great deal about sewing since then.

References

http://blog.museumoflondon.org.uk/leather-jerkin-well-examined/

http://garb4guys.blogspot.com/search/label/Leather%20Jerkin

The Mauritshuis collection Anthonis Mor van Dashorst (and studio), Portrait of a Man, 1561

Libro de Geometria, Pratica, y Traça

Lexicon Tetraglotton, an English-French-Italian-Spanish Dictionary 1660

Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.