Tudor Brimless Bonnet and Sleeves

 I have been feeling more motivated and enthused to create lately. With the SCA in many parts of Australia starting to get back to normal, there is a lot to be done. Last month I plodded along doing little jobs and this month I am starting to get some things finished.

Here is a set of Tudor/Elizabethan sleeves and bonnet that I made from a mystery wool blend that I got from an op shop. It is the first  time that I have made unlined sleeves. If I was planning on making unlined sleeves, I would probably enclose the seam that runs down the back of the arm. In this case, the wool is reasonably thick and I was concerned that an enclosed seam would be too bulky. Instead I whipped the seam edges down after the seam was sewn. The hems are all hand sewn. 

Before sewing the sleeve, I cut slashes with a very sharp pair of embroidery scissors. I marked the slashes out with a Frixion marker on one sleeve, cut them, and then turned the sleeve over to use as a template for cutting the second sleeve. I put a couple of stitches top and bottom on a few of the slashes near the top of the sleeve where I thought the pressure of being pinned to the bodice armscye might put too much strain and cause the split to shred or pull through. I might have to end up going around each slash with stitching to stop them fraying; only time will tell. 

I very much liked using pins to put the sleeves on rather than faffing around with eyelets (making eyelets is a job I dislike). I used florist pins for lack of a better resource, and I would like to find some more suitable and period appropriate pins.

The brimless bonnet (or 'barret') was made from the leftover wool. I have a decorative cooking mould that looked to be around the right size for my head. I traced around it onto sandwich paper and added 1.5 cm seam allowance. I cut out two pieces from  that pattern and sewed them together on the machine. Then I carefully clipped the curves. 

I made a guess as to the size hole I would need for my head and cut that out carefully after marking it evenly with  chalk. (It needed a bit more after the first try on, so I marked another line slightly outside the cut line and took a little more off.) Another try on revealed that it looked pretty right, so I turned the hem of the 'hole' under and sewed it by hand. Then I turned the bonnet right side out and ran a blunt knitting needle along the inside of the seam a few times to make it sit nicely.

This is an extremely easy hat to make, and it looks great over a coif. I love fast projects and I like the look of this style of hat.

Here are some examples of similar types of bonnets in sixteenth century portraiture:

'Mary, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset', c1532-1533

Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset (1519-1557), formerly Lady Mary Howard, was the only daughter-in-law of King Henry VIII of England, being the wife of his only acknowledged illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset. The drawing is part of the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor Castle. From The Drawings of Holbein at Windsor Castle by K. T. Parker. [The Phaidon Press Ltd, Oxford & London, 1945]. Artist Hans Holbein the Younger. (Photo by Print Collector/Getty Images). Image and background information from: https://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/mary-duchess-of-richmond-and-somerset-c1532-1533-mary-news-photo/624177878

Portrait Of A Woman In A White Coif by Hans Holbein  (1497/1498–1543) c 1532-34. Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Woman_in_a_White_Coif.jpg

A portrait of Catherine Parr (1512–1548), sixth and last wife of Henry VIII of England by an unknown artist. In this portrait of Catherine Parr, it looks like she might be wearing a brimless bonnet over her coif. My bonnet is un-decorated, to go with a more middle-class ensemble, but this portrait shows potential decoration ideas for future bonnets. Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Parr#/media/File:Catherine_Parr_from_NPG.jpg

Portrait of an Englishwoman c. 1532 by Hans Holbein the Younger. Image from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hansholbeintheyounger12.jpg

Tudor Tailor Patterns

I recently celebrated a birthday and was delighted to be given some patterns from the Tudor Tailor shop (http://www.tudortailor.com/). I will be attending a Tudor Feast in the next eighteen months, so Tudor clothing will be on the agenda soon.

Tudor and Stuart Fashion Exhibition

A new exhibition is coming up; how I would love to see this!

In Fine Style: The Art of Tudor & Stuart Fashion

The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace

Friday, 10 May 2013 to Sunday, 06 October 2013

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/exhibitions/in-fine-style-the-art-of-tudor-and-stuart-fashion-QGBP

Keeping things moving

In order to keep things moving in between finishing projects, I thought I might start posting pictures of previously finished articles, plus 'progress' shots of things that I am currently working on. (I use the term 'currently' very loosely here, as some of the in-progress items haven't been touched for more than a year!)

This is a close-up of the embroidery I did on a wide collar partlet in 2007 or 2008. I was inspired by the portrait of Katherine Parr in a belted loose gown (image here: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Catherine_Parr.aspx). I made the gown in a red cotton jacquard but machine sewed the trim. I was happy with the gown when it was finished, but the trim ruined it. So that is in the to-do pile too, waiting to have the trim stripped and re-sewn by hand. (I HATE re-dos!) It is true what they say about putting the effort in to hand sew to 'get it right'. In fairness, I was up against a huge time deadline for this gown.

I didn't want an exact copy, just a loosely inspired piece. I was happy with the way the partlet came out. I used  a pattern from a sixteenth century pattern book. It is a woodcut, and some of the angles are a bit wonky but I decided not to correct them; I like them the way they are. The embroidery is in a very pale DMC cotton. In period, silk would have been preferred, but my budget usually doesn't stretch that far. I couldn't afford linen and had to use a fine cotton for the body of the partlet. It is hand-sewn except for the internal shoulder seams. They are french seamed so you can't see  the machine stitching.

I also made a necklace to go with the outfit, which I was very happy with.

Hopefully one day I will have a photo of the finished re-done outfit to post. I really like the aiglets that I made out of metal beads to go with this one. I also made a wired and pearled white coif. The only thing that I haven't made yet for this outfit is a smock with the gold around the cuffs and the black velvet hat. I have the fabric, but I need to choose a design that will go with most of my outfits.