Calontir Clothing Challenge - end of Nov 2020 Update

As with last month, most of my time has been taken up with SCA officer commitments, and the Challenge has been temporarily put aside. I have finally decided on a specific mid-sixteenth century Italian noble lady’s gown, and I will now be using blue cotton drill fabric.

Add cPaolo Caliari (Veronese), 1561: Detail from fresco at Villa Barbaroaption

The pale coat I have already cut out will work well with the blue dress that I am planning, especially as white cutwork sleeves and decorative elements on the bodice and sleeve head will work well. I managed to obtain some white cotton to line the coat, and that has been laundered and is waiting to be cut out and sewn.

The collarless white linen partlet that I have already made will go perfectly with the dress I have chosen, but I have also cut out another in white cotton voile with a lozenge pattern. It has been sewn up with enclosed seams and is waiting for hand hemming.

  Cutting out the partlet pieces

The design on the voile fabric

Partlet pieces waiting to be sewn 

The partlet ready to be hand finished and hemmed

 I would also like to make a net partlet out of ribbon, but that is likely to be time-consuming and the voile partlet will be a good stand-in if I don’t get it done in time. I am considering using grey or silver net instead of white (as in the original portrait) because my dress fabric is a darker blue.

 I got an aqua blue underskirt cut out and partially sewn. It has been flat pleated into a band. I wanted volume without too much bulk as sometimes I wear several underskirts at once. The first lot of pleats I used were too big, so I pulled them out and did the pleats half as small again, which looked much better. The skirt is hanging to let the fabric drop, and will be hand finished and hemmed next month. I am considering adding a heraldic element also; possibly seahorses around the hem.

  Underskirt fabric ready to be cut

  Seams ready to be hand sewn 

Marking out the gathering lines 

The first pleats were too big

Smaller gathers made nicer pleats

Pinning pleats into place to check how they look

 I was happy with the pinned pleats

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Happy Thanksgiving to my North American readers!

Grey Linen Blend Tunic with Mammen Style Embroidery

 Here is another of the tunics I made for a friend. This one is intended to be an over tunic, as it has embroidery around the hem and arms which I'd like to be seen, and is slightly shorter in length.

(Here it is worn over the light grey undertunic.)

It is constructed in the t-tunic style per request from the recipient. The seams were enclosed (where possible, by hand,) to make the tunic more durable. All hemming was done by hand.

The embroidery is based on the acanthus design on the textile in the 10th C Mammen find (Denmark).

 

Image from: http://heatherrosejones.com/mammen/index.html

The textile finds came from a grave site at Bjerringhøj, in Mammen parish, Middelsom herred, in northern Denmark. More information can be found here:http://heatherrosejones.com/mammen/index.html

 I did it as an outline, rather than filled as in the original, but used split stitch like the original embroiderer. The embroidery was worked in crochet cottons gifted to me by Viscountess Ingerith Ryzka in split stitch.

I used the same design for the sleeves and hem, but the sleeves have the design reduced in size.

Plaid Undertunic

 Here is another tunic from the suite I made in 2018 and 2019 for a friend. This one is a nice soft flannel, perfect for a winter tunic or undertunic. 

It was made per request as a traditional t-tunic. Seams were machine sewn and hand finished. Hems and neckline were hand sewn. Commercial trim was hand sewn on the arms. 

 I tried this one on and it is very cosy. It looks nice with a short-sleeved, plain  tunic over the top as well.

 

Blue T-Tunic with Knotwork Embroidery

Here is another t-tunic from the suite I mentioned in  the last post. It is a blue cotton base fabric with white and green embroidery incorporating  the recipient's heraldic elements.

The majority of the stitching is done in split stitch with a small amount of double running (Holbein) stitch.

The stitching was traced out using a chalk sheet and worked in DMC floss.

I started the embroidery on the weekend that my dog got sick - I got the phone call to say that she had been admitted while I was working on it. I originally planned to do the embroidery on a smaller scale around the arms as well, but working the design had so many sad emotions associated with it that I did an alternative decoration.

The tunic had big seams sewn by machine, with all the hems and necklines sewn by hand. I try and (at least) finish everything by hand, even if I don't have time to entirely sew everything by hand.

I like to draw marks on my fingers to help me get the stitches even when I do running stitch as a hem decoration.

I tried a green running stitch on top of the bias decoration on the arms, but didn't like it.

The blue tunic worn over another grey undertunic that I made. The tunics were all designed to be interchangeable wardrobe pieces and many can be layered.

Grey Linen Blend T-Tunic

This is one of the suite of tunics I made for a friend in 2018 and 2019. My friend wanted a traditional t-tunic design, which was a bit challenging because I usually like to add a gusset under the arm. The fabric was cotton linen blend. I made a pattern based on his measurements.

The seams were all machine sewn and hand finished. The neckline and hems were hand turned and hand sewed. The trim was commercially produced. The aim was to end up with comfortable tunics that could be worn mix and match style, layered if needed, and thrown in the washing machine.

Deciding on how to trim the neckline.

Hand sewn hems and trim.

The first finished tunic.