Centuries-Sewing

Author: Centuries Sewing

  • Some Halloween Costume Progress

    beltandshoulders

  • Juan de Alcega Tailor’s Pattern Book: Manteo or a Skirt of Cloth Part 2 – Construction

    Juan de Alcega Tailor’s Pattern Book: Manteo or a Skirt of Cloth Part 2 – Construction

    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.

    Manteo de pano para muger

    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.

    Manteo de pano para muger_puttogether

     

    manteo cut out

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Measurements

    I changed the measurements to fit my own size.

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  • How to Make a Velcro Corset Busk for Fittings and Mock-ups

    How to Make a Velcro Corset Busk for Fittings and Mock-ups

    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

    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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  • Wills and a Possible Linen Kirtle

    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.

     

     

  • A 14th Century Kirtle or a Fantasy Gown Depending on the Accessories…

    A 14th Century Kirtle or a Fantasy Gown Depending on the Accessories…

    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 time frame, 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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  • A Velvet Cloak with Silk Taffeta Edgings

    A Velvet Cloak with Silk Taffeta Edgings

    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.

     

    cloakfull copy cloakedge collarcloseup collarbias

  • Making a 16th-Century Leather Jerkin: Further Research into Spain

    Making a 16th-Century Leather Jerkin: Further Research into Spain

    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

  • Sewing things, just forgot to post photos!

    BWcoifshot1

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

    Hand sewn linen apron hem

    Hand hemmed sage green linen apron

    Brass buttons for the jerkin project

    Butttons for the Curera project