16th Century, Costumes

The Cranberry Test Kirtle

Cranberry Working Class Kirtle

 

This is a budget kirtle (total cost for materials maybe 30 bucks?) made for a friend who lives several states away.
I had a chance to do one unplanned fitting on her of a mock-up from old measurements, I pinned the heck out of it, scribbled a few notes, and took it away with me back to Florida to come up with this. This is a test kirtle because I now have some wool to make her another one, and would rather work out any other fitting issues before I cut into the good stuff.

It is a cranberry colored linen/rayon blend that my camera hates to photograph and I can’t seem to color correct to a shade near what it should be. It should look more like this:

Not hot pink or barbie pink. The skirt is one I finished some time ago,  it laces to the bodice through eyelets on each side and has a hidden side pocket.

The  bodice is interlined with cotton twill and lined with more cotton. There is no boning and hopefully it should keep her comfortable and supported.

I ended up piecing the bodice shoulder straps to allow for a bit of custom tweaking based on some fit issues we had, if the straps are a touch too long the squares are easy to unpick and the straps can be whip stitched back together. The sleeves are just pinned on in the photos, once the shoulder straps are finalized the eyelets can be put in.

All that I really have left to do is make more fingerloop braid for the sleeve lacing and the skirt to bodice lacing.

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