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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.
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.
Originally published at Centuries-Sewing. You can comment here or there.
A Velvet Cloak with Silk Taffeta Edgings
Jul. 4th, 2016 10:14 pmA 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 buttonsyten 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 satinyten una quera de terçiopelo negra forrada en felpa parda;
A jerkin of black velvet lined with brown plushyten una cuera de terçiopelo berde;
An old velvet jerkinyten un jubon de raso negro picado y pespuntado muy roto;
A very old doublet of quilted(?) black satinuna 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 velvetyten 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 sameotra 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 taffetaotra 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.
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.
Finally an update on the MAaS kirtle V1
Jan. 20th, 2016 03:23 pm
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Four videos today, this weekend I’m going to shoot some more.
Pressing and prep for the sleeve seam allowances
Pressing the seam allowance with a seam roll when the sleeve is too narrow for the board.
Sewing in the lining at the top of the sleeve.
Hand sewing the bottom of the sleeve shut.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Marking the eyelets out for spiral lacing
Cutting out the sleeves (the wool is from my stash and the wrinkles would not steam out)
First pass of sewing the sleeves together.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Sewing in the lining around the top edge
Clipping into corners and trimming
Edge stitching the seam allowance to the lining along the top
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Pleating the skirt down with knife pleats and a box pleat in the back
Basting the pleats in place
Ironing the pleats down to keep things from moving around when I sew the skirt to the bodice
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
“Yeah, we look Awesome and Swag!”
It has been 3 or 4 (mumble) years since I was going to do the kirtle sew-along. Life, family medical issues and changes got in the way. My skill set has improved, how I break down projects has improved, but that does not mean I’m not still learning.
So I set up the video camera, I balanced my tripod on the printer that-may-work-but-I-really-just-use-it-as-a-scanner, shoved my social anxiety into a box and hit record.
I’m making kirtles. I’m making several kirtles that I plan to donate to Much Ado about Sebastopol. I don’t think I will get them all done in time for this years run, but there is always next year. If they get used, or auctioned off in a fundraiser, or end up in a school theater closet that is fine.
I have several yards of wool, pattern blocks, and a chunk of time to make something out of it all.
The playlist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTne9pSn75A&list=PL-5opaHvhlOkbr8K8buX1OpZm_4kHPPgU
The first three videos:
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
A Cunning Plan for a Posh Gown
Sep. 16th, 2015 08:50 amThis shall be here in a few weeks.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Pad stitching and Shaping a Linen Doublet
Jan. 20th, 2015 05:17 am
Some work in progress shots of a 16th century black linen doublet.
Doublet front basted and shaped.
Under side of the doublet front, canvas and pad stitched wool.
Under side of the doublet back, more canvas and pad stitched wool.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
I’m in need of a new underskirt or petticoat for my 16th century clothing. I’ve been using the same cotton broadcloth one I made back in 2005, for years now. It is serviceable, but it adds a lot of bulk at the waist and it isn’t very authentic in construction or materials.
So it is time to for a new one.
I have 3.5 yards of a lovely wine colored, lightweight worsted wool donated to me by Noel. (Thank you Noel! <3 )
I’ll be drafting the pattern on the fabric and hand sewing the whole thing with linen thread.
I’m working from the Spanish version of Alcega’s Book. The english translation is out-of-print and painfully expensive. I’m not a native nor fluent spanish speaker so google and a few other resources will be heavily used.
I’m using the translated chart of symbols from the tailors book into modern inches from the Curious Frau’s site.
Taking some inspiration from Other Andrew’s The Alcega Project.
And keeping in mind the information of the Modern Maker has posted about his study of the patterns on his blog and on the Elizabethan Costume Facebook group.
Definition from “Nuevo diccionario portatil, espanol e ingles: compuesto segun los mejore…“
Manteo: s, m : a church man’s cloke; a woman’s under petticoat.
Language is a fluid thing, always changing. The above definition is from 1728 far later than the 16th century. However even later dictionaries simply list it as a cloak or mantle. Context is key, when it is listed as Manteo de Muger, chances are it is a skirt.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
I’ve made three English Fitted Gowns based on the Tudor Tailor’s pattern so far, and with each one I’ve tweaked how I’ve put them together.
Light weight worsted wool gown lined with linen rayon blend
Black Velvet “Mockado” Gown lined with cotton broadcloth
Wool broadcloth blend lined with cotton broadcloth
Issue one: Sleeve Dimples
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Nonesuch Market Woman
Jan. 13th, 2014 10:43 pmStarting off the New Year with finishing a big project!
More photos can be found on the Nonesuch costume page.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
Pad-stitching all the interlinings!
Nov. 19th, 2013 01:13 pmLots of hand sewing this week, I’ve gotten very good at pad-stitching. So far I’ve done the layered interlining of a jerkin and I’m almost done pad-stitching the same for the Saxon Gown bodice.
Originally published at Centuries Sewing: Historical Costumes and Clothing. You can comment here or there.
