16th Century Linen Kirtle Project: Complete

Hi everyone!

It has been so long since I last blogged at all and even longer than that since I last blogged about the 16th Century Linen Kirtles that I was making as an SCA project.

In case you're not aware of my project, let me direct you to some of the previous, relevant posts. Firstly, my 16th Century Kirtle Update includes some pictures and ideas about the sort of dresses that I wanted to make. Next, Patterning Success! details the process of me being patterned for the kirtles (guest starring Rosie, who did all the hard work). Then I did updates on my Blue Kirtle and my Cream Kirtle.

That last update came in January this year and since then I've barely done any work on the project. Until just recently, when I had a burst of motivation and finished it all off.

Blue kirtle first!

Here's what it looks like all spread out on my floor, in its finished state.

The hardest part of finishing this dress was the need for lacing holes. I got an awl as a belated Xmas gift. I love my awl. However, I definitely made my lacing holes too small and it has caused no end of problems, which is really disappointing.

Here's a picture of the lacing holes down the side of the dress:

And here's a picture of the two that I put in the shoulder. I did these much later, after I realised that I'd made all the original holes too small, so they're a better size.

Doing the lacing holes on this dress took a really long time because I wanted to sew them in matching thread. In order to do that, I had to find some matching thread. But linen thread is already pretty hard to find and it's even harder to find in the right colours. So what I did, on Rosie's advice (again - she was a total lifesaver during this project) was pull threads out of the leftover linen. It took ages to pull out enough threads, especially because they kept breaking as I was trying to extract them from the fabric. They also kept breaking while I was sewing the lacing holes, which is why quite a lot of them have little fuzzy bits sticking out.

Once I had the lacing holes sewn, I put in a make-shift lacing cord so that I could do the hem of the dress.

Here are pictures of the outside of the hem and the inside of the hem. I sewed most of the hem using my using plain white linen thread but I also did some of it using the blue threads that I had leftover. I probably should have stuck to the nice white thread because the stupid blue threads kept breaking everywhere. It's weird how they can hold together as fabric but not as individual threads.

Last but not least, I needed a proper lacing cord for the dress. I found some really cute aglets on the internet, from an eBay store in NSW. You can find them here: http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/medieval_shoppe. I was really looking forward to having aglets on the end of my lacing cords because it would make the whole lacing process so much easier. But I was very silly and didn't test the aglets on the lacing holes that I had already sewn... More on that tragedy in a moment.

I spent a lot of time contemplating the best way to make lacing cords. Originally, I wanted to do fingerloop braids. However, I decided against them because a) they can be pretty bulky and b) you have to knot them at the end or bind them and I'm so terrible at doing those binding things with thread. In the end, I went for lucet cords, which actually worked out pretty great in the end.

I made three lucet cords. Two blue ones, one for each side of the blue kirtle, and one white one for the cream kirtle. The thread that I using was the linen thread that I got from Ellen for my 21st birthday. I was planning to use it for weaving but I haven't yet.

I sewed my beautiful aglets onto the lacing cords. And then I found out that the stupid lacing holes that I had spent hours sewing were TOO SMALL. And the aglets were TOO BIG and thus could not fit through the holes. The holes that I did on the shoulders are actually the perfect size, but unfortunately I didn't make all the holes that size. So I took the aglets off the lacing cords. Luckily the lucet cords have quite small ends and they fit through my tiny lacing holes just fine. But still, ugh. I feel silly. And I will DEFINITELY make bigger lacing holes next time. That is a lesson well-learned.

Anyway, here's a picture of the blue lacing cord. It's a slightly different colour from the fabric of the dress, but I have unfortunately reached the point of not-caring. Also I don't think it really matters that much.

Onto the cream kirtle, which followed basically the same steps. Here are the lacing holes:

These ones look a lot nicer because the thread that I used was a lot nicer. The thickness of this dress made them a lot harder to sew, though. If there's anything that I learned from this project, making the interlining of the dress as thin as is practically possible is one of the most important steps. Mostly that's a comfort thing, because a heavier bodice is just really hot and uncomfortable. But also it's because I am sad about my aglets. Speaking of aglets and therefore lacing cords, here are some pictures of my lacing cord.

Here's the hem:

And here's a picture of the dress spread out on my floor, so you can see the whole thing:

So that's the end of the dress part of my linen kirtle project. However, the project also involved two more parts. 1. a shirt and 2. sleeves.

I made the shirt as soon as the blue dress was wearable and have been wearing it ever since, but it was only last night that I added the buttons. Which was a slight disaster, but I will tell you about that in a moment. First, here is a picture of the shirt (it needs ironing, I know):

And I thought you might also want a picture of the gussets under the arms. Gussets are kinda tricky but I worked it out and not only did I sew it but I also finished all the seams, so I think it turned out pretty neatly. It would probably look a lot better if it hadn't been worn and washed and badly ironed, but here it is:

I had some nice buttons from the button shop in NSW but unfortunately they have gone AWOL, so instead I used some of my stash of tiny wooden buttons that I have. When I made the shirt, I made a vital mistake at the collar and cuffs which was that I didn't leave any overhang for fastenings. So I put a button on the collar of the dress to make it look nice even though the collar can't actually meet around my neck... lol? I also put buttons on the cuffs. And I sewed buttonholes but they are TERRIBLE. And hardly even big enough. And I just don't even care that much to be honest, but maybe I'll fix them up later. Anyway, if I push hard then the buttons fit through the holes and I think they might be able to fasten around my wrists. But maybe not. I've been wearing it without buttons for so long anyway, it doesn't really matter. Here are some pictures:

Finally, I made sleeves. They're in a colour called Ginger; it's the same type & weight of linen as the dresses. I think the shirt is a little lighter, I think it's 3.5 and the others are 5.3 or something? Anyway, I whipped up the sleeves in about two days. I used the pattern straight out of the Tudor Tailor, which made it really easy. I pre-washed my fabric (very important step) and spread it out on my floor. I've been catching up on Season 4 of Warehouse 13 which means I've been working in my loungeroom. Carpet is so inconvenient, ugh. But luckily I have a big plastic board thing which I can work on and it makes the cutting out process easier.

I drew the pattern on using tailor's chalk. I have 4 colours so I always try to use one that will show up  but not show up too much. Anyways, I drew it on and added my seam allowance (this is the worst thing ever to forget; I'm so paranoid about it) and then cut it out. Then I turned it over and traced around it, because the sleeves need to be opposite to each other. Then I had to measure in the seam allowance. I like to draw in my lines because it helps me to sew straight, otherwise I end up all wobbly and by seam allowance is uneven and it's just a mess. I prefer to be precise, when I can. This is something that I started to learn about myself over the course of this project.

After I cut out both sleeves and had all my sewing lines marked, I sewed up the sides so that the flat piece of fabric became more sleeve-like. Then I flat-felled the seams. This involved finding out which sleeve was which, because I like to have the seams finished towards the back. You can't really see it on the outside unless you look super duper close for the tiny white flecks that show where it has been sewn. But it's the principle that counts, I guess, and I feel better for knowing that I've been consistent-ish.

Anyway then I just did a little rolled hem around the cuff and around the top of the sleeve, which I think turned out pretty well, although it's a little wiggly around the top, but I don't think it will be too noticeable when I'm actually wearing them.

Then I made four little lucet braids. I tried to pull enough brown/ginger threads out to make same-colour lucet braids to use for sleeve-tying. But they just kept breaking and it was really frustrating, so I ended up doing them in white, which I think is just fine. I sewed them on to the top of the sleeve so that they are permanently attached. That's something that I learned when I did my cotton kirtles for practice: it is very annoying having unattached strings for tying.

Here are some pictures of the sleeves:

And that is the end of my 16th Century Linen Kirtle project.

It's not perfect. There are a lot of things that I wish I had done differently, a lot of things that I will do differently in the future and plenty of things that I have learnt about sewing and about myself during the process.

It took a really long time, but that is mostly because of the time that I spent not doing the project rather than the time that I spent actually working on the project.

I'm just really glad to be finished with it, to be honest.

So where does that leave me?

Well, Aimee gave me some beautiful metal belt fastenings as a present after she went to Festival, so I will definitely be turning them into a belt as soon as I have the time/materials.

Also I'm going to Canterbury Faire early next year and I think I will need some extra garb, so I'm going to whip up another cotton kirtle. I would prefer to sew in linen but cotton is cheaper and easier to access, so that's what I'm going with. I think it will go quite quickly and turn out quite well because of all the things that I learned while working on my linen kirtles. I'm going to use just one layer of the grey horse-hair stuff as my interlining, I think that will be fine. Well, I'll find out, anyway!

After that finishing my hat project will be a priority, but I'll need a bunch of white linen for that so I will definitely need to save up a lot of money and do an order.

And then I will move onto bigger and better things, most notably a crazy foray into the 14th century because I want a cotehardie, maybe in like a Ginger or a Mustard colour and I have some lovely light blue linen to do an over-the-top cotehardie, with gold buttons and tippets and it will just look lovely I think.

Anyway now I'm just rambling so I'll sign off now.

I probably won't blog again this year, sorry!

MERRY XMAS! :D

♥Nancy♬