1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission

The Project

I was commissioned by two good friends of mine for a set of matching outfits for their debut fighting in our Crown Tournament this November. With reasonably short notice for this project in terms of ordering materials and accouterments, there's going to be a lot of work put into it over the next 4 weeks to get it ready. I'm T-Minus about 31 days to the event, and have my work cut out for me! 

The Inspiration

There's a few hundred year time difference between his and her persona, with Ennelynne being mid 14th Century German, and Daniel being late 12th Century Teutonic. Combining cotehardies and crusader robes would have been quite the challenge, so Ennelynne opted to go earlier period for this costume. We discussed the options and in order to get the aesthetic they both are wanting, Daniel is coming slightly forward in time and she's going earlier, and have settled on an early 13th century outfit. 

Hers

Ennelynne will be wearing a bliaut, undergown, and appropriate head-wear for the time period and a woman of her station. Linens were ordered and her undergown has been started already. The idea is to have a gold undergown, black over-gown (the actual bliaut) and all the decorative work done in red. The entire outfit is made from linen, and embellishments on her collars and cuffs will be done in a very pretty gold silk, generously donated by our current majesty, Jung-Mie. Her persona is Korean and she has tons of very beautiful silk :) 

The inspiration for her gown was a piece I found browsing the internet a long time ago, and had bookmarked. It is too early for my persona however I loved the idea of making one for when I didn't feel like putting on all my corsets and layers. The original blog, and creator are credited here: Racaire's Embroidery and Needlework. She's got some -very- beautiful work and the photographs shown below are her property and her creations.

I've loved this silk bliaut for a long time and am very excited at the potential of creating one. We are designing stencil work for trim on the sleeves and neckline, and a large period-inspired stencil print for the edging along the bottom of the tunic and dress. The collar will be embroidered and beaded, and there will probably be accent beading all over the front of both outfits, too.

Photo property of Racaire

Photo property of Racaire

His

The inspiration for his piece came directly from a museum replica. There are several examples of the outfits of the time, and photographs can be found here: Ranaan SCA Gallery. I believe these pieces are reproductions either from some sort of fine costuming or a museum example, however there is no associated documentation, so it is just the images. His outfit will be a double-layer tunic, with one falling to ankle length and the other to just below the knee. Again, the color scheme will be black and gold with red embellishments. Below is the primary inspiration piece for Daniel's outfit. 

The detail and bead work on this make it a big favorite of mine. I will probably try to incorporate the gold leafing pattern into the piece that I make, however I'm not sure yet whether that will be painted on or made from beads. A lot of it is going to depend on how much time we have and how easily these projects come together.

There's also the negotiation about whether or not to make a cloth girdle for this outfit. Daniel traditionally wears a leather belt, however the thick cloth in the same style as the woman's dress looks quite nice, and could be made to match with Ennelynne's. 

The keyhole neckline will be bound with trim, as will the sleeve caps on the short over-tunic. The embroidery along the bottom of both tunics will be recreated with fabric paint and a custom-made stencil. 

I have yet to determine what the appropriate headgear for Daniel would be, as I haven't seen any examples of this style of dress in full turnout. I would imagine some sort of hat would have been appropriate, but this may be skipped over due to personal preferences of the person doing the wearing of the outfit! 

Both the under and over gowns in this outfit will be made from linen, and as I'm largely unfamiliar with early period mens garb, I will be modelling the pattern off a previous commission for a Norman overgown/tunic commissioned by someone else. 

This is one of the few examples I've seen of the closer-fitting under sleeves, which I really like. It gives the outfit a more tailored and finished appearance and I think makes the entire thing look more put together.

The Under-gown

I patterned Ennelynne for her undergown based on a early period camp dress I have. I couldn't find any real pictures of what the undergown would have looked like, but I imagine from other patterns and garments of the time period it would have been a simple, gored, geometric pattern.

I unfortunately didn't get any photos of the sewing in progress, but it came together quickly and easily. I opted to use the same style slit neckline as the over-gown would have, however on second look realized it should have been a keyhole neckline on the under dress.  I have a linen smock that has the appropriate neckline that I wear underneath my Persian garb, and that gave a very correct look when worn with the under-dress. Here's a sneak peek of it before it's entirely finished. I'm very much looking forward to continuing to work on this project.

More to come later!!

-E

Persian Caftan

Persian!

This was my first Persian, taken from Master Rashid's pattern that can be found HERE. The pattern was easy to follow and quick to assemble. I made a cotton mock-up to check fit and adjust before I laid it out on my good fabric. It's made with a heavy duck fabric with print on the outside, and a black linen/cotton blend on the liner. I tried to make it so it would be reversible, and have worn it both ways since then. I don't have any photos of myself in the finished product with all the accouterments, as I frequently wear this at night or if it's cold. 

I don't recall having any issues assembling this piece, and it was one of the first things I made where I didn't have a monumental problem setting my gores :) 

Pattern

First Neatly Set Gores

Front View, Finished

Back View, Finished

I'll eventually be doing more research into Persian as I spend a lot of my time mounted, and this is very easy to ride in. For now, I just have the one piece and I wear it layered over more modern clothes that can "pass" as period :) 

-E

Cotehardies

This post is serving more as a "Here's what I made this year" than a tracking of a current project. It's been a long time since I've sat in front of a sewing machine, and regretfully there are several projects stacking up on my craft table. I'll be starting to document new works as time goes on, but here's a recap with some images of Cotehardie projects that I completed over the course of the last 8-9 months. These are in no particular order of completion.

Green Linen Blend, Back Lace Cote

Here's a side on view checking the fit of the bust curve. I'd been encountering a lot of issues in getting a "football" shaped point in the middle of the bust and was sewing and re-sewing the curves trying to accommodate my bust.

I have the dress fit inside out here, and while I really like the line it forms under the bust, it's still not fitting quite right in the "middle in between the boobs" area.

I probably took this apart 4-5 times to try and get the central curve on the right angle before finally giving up and settling for what was close to straight.

Here is a shot of me checking placement of side gores. They're a little bit low in this gown, but I decided not to pick it back apart and resew them.

Ideally, they should fall right at the floating rib, but as I put so much extra fabric in my skirts I prefer them to sit a little bit lower so they don't bunch up underneath my belt.

Also, I need to clear off my counter of the strange collection of bathroom products prior to taking pictures of garb construction.





Below are four shots showing fit, from all angles. I really like the length of this gown, it forms a nice pooling at the feet when out of a belt. The puckering area at the bust that I was fighting with earlier is still visible, too. I think it may be too much of a curve in the curved-front.

Teal Linen Cote, Front Button

The second cotehardie I assembled was 100% linen, and is super comfortable. I still haven't actually finished this dress as I plan to have the buttons go entirely to the floor, and I need to finish tacking down the inside liner. 

I didn't have nearly as many problems with this one, so I've left most of the commentary out. Here are a series of photos showing different stages of construction.

Testing Fit of Gores, Front View

Testing Fit of Gores, Side View

This dress was a fun project, and is one of my more comfortable cotehardies. I was able to work out a few of the issues surrounding the bust curve, although I think adding buttons made it easier instead of having a seam. I love the 100% linen, it breathes great and stays cool even in the Florida sun. Definitely a HUGE move-up over synthetics or linen-blends. Below are a couple of photos of the finished product. 

Crown Tourney!

Tucked into a belt, with tippets

Pink Silk Cotehardie

The pink silk cotehardie was the cotehardie of death. I hated sewing it so much that I never actually wore it, and gifted it immediately to my sister the second she announced any sort of interest in the darn thing. I've since decided that sewing any sort of curved seam into dupioni silk is *way* more hassle than I ever plan to do again. Silk, in my world, is forever destined to straight seams and heavy pleating. 

That being said, the dress came together beautifully and despite all my fighting I am really pleased with how it fits. The photos of it don't do it any justice, it's a really beautiful salmon/coral color, and the trim is two shades of gold. 

This dress really was a beast. After I completed it I decided to add the trims onto the neckline and the bottom of the gown, and this, next time, should be planned out in advance!

Getting the gold banding to lay straight on a curved bottom gown was something I hadn't done before. I cut and edged the strips and they were flat stitched on top of the silk. I think next time it should be a strip of fabric attached onto the bottom of the gown, instead of an afterthought because I didn't like the edging.

Along the neck line, the gold is actually acting as sort of bias tape wrapper around the curve. Again, I think in the future this might be better done planned out in advance.

The finish product came out really nicely though, I'm happy with it and Ennelynne loves it :)

Ennelynne and Daniel Von Hessen, modeling their awesome garb!

Green Cote, Upholstery Fabric

The following photos are of a straight front green cotehardie, made out of a really heavy weight upholstery fabric. This was an early project, and before I updated and modified my pattern to one that was more historically accurate and draped to fit me. I have since purchased a new washer and dryer that apparently was much more effective than the old one, and despite my pre-washing and pre-drying.the.hell.out.of.it, it has shrunk and no longer fits. The straight front doesn't really work for my bust, which is why I changed over to a curved front pattern. It's great for Renn Faires or anything where I want to show off cleavage, but not historically aesthetic in terms of fit for me. 

Final Fitting

Before Sleeves, with under gown

Final Fitting. Nice support, but gratuitous cleavage!

And so concludes the update on my cotehardie progress. I've currently got a few more that the fabric is hanging out in the sewing room for, but I haven't done anything with it except cut and dry it. 

Onto the next catchup post :) 

-E