2013 Project Wrap Up

My sewing group recently posted its wrap up of completed projects for the year, I thought I’d replicate my list here, with photos.

Low Countries Clothing Projects

For me:

Green linen kirtle with ruffled hem, including apron, and a black partlet
A photo of me in this item at a public demo in June:
AppleGreenKirtleTop

Photo from Blacktown City Council’s Flickr feed

It’s based on this Flemish illumination of a spinner. A truncated hennin to finish the outfit is amongst my plans for 2014.

Black linen tie-up coif (called a tailed coif by others, with a whole page on Larsdatter devoted to images of this cap). My version is built on this pattern developed by SevenStarWheel and I love it. It stays on my head except in high winds, it’s light and so doesn’t add to heat load in Australia’s hot weather, and it looks ‘right’. It goes wonderfully with my red Leiden kirtle, as seen in the photo below.
RedKirtleBlackCoifI’ve had so many people admire this coif that I will probably teach a class on it (and other head coverings of the Transition Era) at Rowany Festival.

Photo by Candidnan, I recommend looking at her page on the Blacktown Medieval Fayre, as she took some lovely photos.

Black gown for Midwinter, and a red silk coif

Black transition gown with red silk coif

See the posts linked above for more images and the construction of these items

Other small items, without photos

  • A Orange-Red linen underskirt. I often wear an underskirt in lieu of a full kirtle layer in the hot Australian weather, it gives shape to my skirts without adding another 3 layers to my bodice.
  • Chemise – the top of which can be seen in the red kirtle image above
  • Rebuilt sleeves in green wool gown, to have more movement in the elbows and re-puffed the puffs in the sleeves
  • Partlet for the green velveteen gown (Photos to come)

GeoffHatFor my Partner:

  • Wool hat suited to the late 1400s, early 1500s across Europe.
  • Closures on his two waffenrock-type items (don’t have name for this in Dutch)
  • Holes punched in leather doublet (This totally counts as an item, due to RSI from hours of hole punching)

A list of UFOs, which I might get to in 2014

  • The green velveteen transition gown for Yule Feast, now for Rowany’s Baronial changeover in May. See the linked post for current status.
  • Elizabethan slops for my partner to go with his black leather jerkin. These are made up, they just need buttons and a lining.
  • Gold haube. This didn’t get finished, mostly as I scaled up Genoveva’s pattern incorrectly. The good news is I have too much fabric rather than too little. It’s bumped down the priority list for the moment.
  • A Leiden coif made from white linen. I want to replace the coif that I used to wear with the red and green kirtles which went missing after I moved to the UK. My first attempt was too baggy, and is currently sitting in the UFO pile waiting for some love.

Gown for Yule on hold

Testing the dress with various hats. Decided this was the best look.

Testing the dress with various hats. Decided this was the best look.

It’s time for an update on the dress I was making for Yule Feast, mostly as that event was 2 weeks ago. Also, mostly as I didn’t finish it. But that’s OK, as my sanity as event coordinator was way more important than finishing a dress, and I did have other things to wear.

I pulled the pin on the project two weeks before the event, as I was struggling to get the sleeves completed – sewing up all the slashing took longer than I expected, and still had a hem to complete, jewels to apply to the side seams, and then there was part of the back neckline that I need to fix. I had nowhere near enough time.

I did however finish the partlet.

Here’s some photos of the dress in it’s current state, as a place holder until I can get it finished for our Baronial Change-Over later in the year (Mayish?). Partlet photos to come.

Front and back views of the part finished gown.

Front and back views of the part finished gown.

One of the things I fixed as a result of this fitting was to put a tuck in at the waist line. The front is a single piece cut through from neckline to hem, but as there was no way to shape for front stomach curves (the polite way to say it), I ended up with the situation at left. The picture at right fixes this issue with a simple tuck.

Without and then with a tuck in the waist. Sits much better.

Without and then with a tuck in the waist. Sits much better.

Finally a close-up of the pleating at the back of the gown. These are currently lined with a strip of felt before being pleated in, and they are nice, however I am still going to pad them out with rolls of fleece batting (already prepped) so I can get those lovely deep, rounded pleats that you see in images of the era.

back pleats without paddingStay tuned for further updates after Rowany Festival (April 2014).