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.
I changed the measurements to fit my own size.
I hate making Tudor/Elizabethan smocks and shirts. They are boring, all the rectangles and squares don’t provide much of a technical challenge, save for a bit of fussing when setting in a gusset if you do it by machine.
Patterns of Fashion 4 has shown me the charm of a well made smock when bedecked with lace, embroidery and silk buttonhole twist. Enough that I have plans of making at least one by hand. That will take several weeks, and in the mean time I have other projects I want to work on and the one low cut smock I have (Yes only one.) has started to tear.
It is made out of plain cotton muslin rather then linen, but the fabric is still serviceable and I don’t mind wearing it.
The tear happened right where there shoulder and chest area meet at a corner, when I made this I simply turned under the seam allowances and hemmed them down. I did sew over the corner area where the seam allowance was mitered to reinforcing things but that didn’t last.
So we are going to repair this tear and the small one that has started at the other corner, and then we are going to make sure it cannot tear again.
Note: I have not found any extant examples of this exact technique being used in the 16th century. Patterns of Fashion 4 mentions contemporary patches being but at the corner of one smock after embroidery was carried out. Other shirts have thread reinforcements at the end of seams. I wanted something smaller then a patch, due to the thin nature of the cotton and this is what I came up with.
First I fold the smock down, right sides together so the torn edges are flat against one another. Then I whip stitch over the edges, going just far enough in past the torn edges that the stitches do not pull out.
Do this as many times as needed until you have sewn up the tear, it will look almost like you have made a very small dart.
The tear is no more, but that is still a weak area of the neckline.
So cut two lengths of selvage (the woven edge of the cloth that does not fray), you just need them to be a few inches.
Fold the cut edges of the selvage down with your fingers and then fold the selvage in half. With the folded cut edge facing the inside of the smock, pin the middle of the selvage to the corner of the neckline where the tear was.
Now whip stitch along the outside edge of the smock, catching the folded selvage edge and the neckline together with small stitches.
I’m sewing at about 30 stitches an inch which is finer then usual for me.
Go along the edge of the smock till you reach the end of the selvage, turn the end under and stitch it down against the neckline hem.
Keep going along the inner edge until you get to the corner where the tear was, clip the selvage a tiny bit and then sew over the notch. You do not want to clip it to the neckline, that negates reinforcing the edge.
A small clip will ease the tension along the selvage without having to make a dart in it.
Finish sewing along the inner edge of the smock, tie off and clip your thread and you are done.
See, I told you I have been working on them.
Photographic evidence. Which hopefully will never end up being used in any court of law.
That would be really weird if it was.
Seriously.
I’ve been working on the corset I promise.
Scout’s Honor.
It is taking me longer then usual because, in a fit of “well it isn’t that much work” I decided to sew the corset, boning channels and eyelets and so forth all by hand with silk thread.
This is not so much an exercise in insanity so much as wanting to see what I will learn from the experience, and so far I’ve learned a lot.
Like use a thimble, because your skin is not as tough as you think it is.
Take breaks so you don’t put too much stress on your wrists.
Watching David Tennant play Hamlet was kinda weird.
The cat will sit on your corset no matter what, and leave it covered with fur.
Ok, so the last two have nothing to do with sewing but I did get a lot of sewing done because of them. With the exception of the cat.
But after an hour and a half of Hamlet I did have this:
Slow going but not too bad, once you get into sewing with the back stitch there is something rather Zen about it and I managed to finish that side of the corset by the end of Hamlet.
The corset then got set aside for about a week as I worked on other projects and took care of some family concerns.
That was just long enough for my brain to wipe out all the useful hand sewing information it usually holds on to, and I found myself unable to recall how to do the back stitch.
Crazy I know.
So I decided to make myself a diagram just in case it ever happens again and I can’t find my sewing books.
After laying out the fabric I traced my pattern on to the drill and sateen then cut it out.
I left all the seam allowances in place (Which I will cut down later then I bind it.) save for the back, which I extended by an inch as I plan to fold that over as a facing rather then bind the back edges.
Then I stacked the layer of sateen on top of one layer of the drill and hand basted all around it in the seam allowances.
In sewing terms this is known as flat lining it gives the sateen layer more strength then it would have on its own and will help prevent the bones from wearing through the fabric.
Next I pressed the seam allowances down on the side seams.
Then the side seam allowances were whip stitched down on the front and back pieces.
This method of construction calls for more hand sewing then if you used a machine, but the end result means you don’t have a thick bulky seam on the inside of the stays.
The outer layer done I set that aside and took the second layer of drill and pressed the side seam allowances down as well, but did not whip stitch them in place.
Then I stacked the two layers of drill together with the folded under/stitched down seam allowances facing each other.
All the layers were then basted through, going only up the side seams and the straps, leaving the bottom of the stays and the neckline open. I used a very sharp glovers needle for this, as regular hand sewing needles have some issues going through the heavy fabric.
Up next, sewing the boning channels.
After looking through my closet, under the bed and other places that my costume end up hiding I realized I never got around to making a late Elizabethan corset or pair of bodies.
A tragedy that must be remedied.
The Tudor Tailor book has three or four patterns for late Elizabethan corsets, but as with everything in that book the patterns scale up too big for me.
Patterns of Fashion 1560-1620 by Janet Arnold has a pattern for Pfaltzgrafin Dorothea Sabine von Neuberg stays which she was buried in.
Those are a bit closer to my measurements but I was not looking forward to doing a mock up and fitting it.
So I decided to use my usual bodice pattern, took it in two inches, and modify the front to a mild point, as I didn’t want something quiet as extreme.
Arnold speculates that Dorothea’s bodies were made form three layers total, the top being a layer of silk satin mounted on a layer of linen, and then another layer of linen behind that. The channels for the bones were then stitched through all the layers and then each piece was over handed together before being bound around the edges.
For my pair of I am using scarlet cotton sateen and two layers of cotton drill.
For boning I am using nylon cable ties.