Hand sewing my way through another petticoat/kirtle project, this time in a scarlet colored light weight wool.
Tag: 16th Century
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Hand Sewing a Red Wool Petticoat/Kirtle
Sewing the skirt with a spaced back stitch. 
Patterning the red wool kirtle. 
Sewing the bodice with the back stitch. 
Sewing down seam allowances with the herringbone stitch. -
Nonesuch Market Woman
Starting off the New Year with finishing a big project!
More photos can be found on the Nonesuch costume page.
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Pad-stitching all the interlinings!
Lots 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.
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16th Century Chocolate Saxon Gown Project: The Bodice
I have always liked Saxon Gowns, they have a different look from the French and English gowns of the early 16th century, they have interesting construction puzzles, and an excuse to use several yards of velvet and fancy fabric is always a good thing.
After going back and forth with a friend on just how these gowns were put together, looking at lots and lots of paintings, and seeing what other costumers have done I decided to make one for myself.
I picked up some brown velveteen for cheap along with some jacquard in a similar color and started plotting.
I started a pinterest board for Cranach styled gowns to get an overview of what style elements I wanted to incorporate.
I have always been fond of the tall collared styled gowns and I haven’t seen many of them recreated so that is what I set my sights on.
I dug out my tall collared doublet pattern to use as a base for the bodice, this version of the patterns has a few issues so it would need a bit of adjustment to get things right.
One of the issues with my doublet pattern, too tall in the collar and the base of the neck is too wide. 
Doublet pattern base I cut out a mock-up in muslin adjusted the collar and the back of the neck.
That basted in place I put it on my dress form and marked where the bust point fell on the form.
But when I tried the mock-up on, where I marked the bust point on the form, is not where my bust point is. This is important as I’m using the bust point as a marker for where the edge of the gowns fall.
So I marked on the mock-up where my bust point hit. This also gives me the basis for how wise the front gap will be in the finished gown. Once that was marked I trued up my edges and starting at the bust point flared the front out to form the collar, and I am left with a pretty good base for the gown bodice. The only thing left to adjust is the back collar.
Flaring the collar out, starting at the bust point 
Saxon Gown bodice mock-up -
A little bit of progress on my black wool kirtle
I managed to sneak in a little bit of hand sewing this past week.
Final result of all the interfacing put in. 
Hand pad stitching the interlining layers together. 
The interlining flat lined to calico -
Working on another Ruff!
I had two or three days with my internet not working or being on again, off again. So I started another hand sewn ruff (I may have a problem).
I just finished putting the neckband on and this time I made sure to sew down every tiny pleat that I could on both sides. I have no idea how they managed to sew the pleats to the band in the 16th century without high-powered lights, I had issues even with my ott light over my shoulder. I adjusted (enhanced!) the photo to show the stitching.
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The finished Elizabethan ruff and some progress photos.
The starched Elizabethan ruff after drying and before setting. 
The starched Elizabethan ruff dampened before setting. 
First try at the sets came out too big. 
The finished Elizabethan ruff with a 3 inch and 1/4th set.
