The Adventures of a Middle Kid
  • Blog
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Extra! Extra!
    • The War Between the States--A Journal
    • Book List
  • The Bee Project

The Makings of a 1500's  Peasant Outfit

10/15/2014

1 Comment

 
Right. So this outfit started out as Flemish...but it really looks more English:
Picture
Flemish
Picture
English
I guess, since I really look much more English, that is fine. :) The main difference between the styles, from a cursory glance, is the width of the lacing.

Alright...to the details now!

I bought the red wool I used last year, intending on making this outfit then, but what with one thing and another, I didn't...and I ended up with my long, too big, mustard yellow kirtle instead.
Picture
By the end of the day, I had managed to rip roughly half the hem out. But anyway, that is not of too much consequence for this tale, excepting that the kirtle is part of it.

I'll take you through the construction of this Flemish/English dress from the kirtle out (mostly). One of the first things I did was take up the kirtle. It was too big on me last year and I have gotten a little thinner since then, so it really looked like a sack of potatoes on me. In addition to that, in my research, I read that the kirtle was a tight garment, laced up the back. Well, mine laces up the side, so that didn't get altered, but I did sew up the front and back princess seams, as well as the center back. It's still not super tight (which is fine), but it doesn't leave me feeling like a slob either.

It was decided, that due to my stature (short, you know) and my personality, a shorter skirt would be fitting. The Flemish peasants wore their gowns anywhere from mid-calf to floor length. Well, I know what happens with me and floor length stuff. :D So the next step was hemming the kirtle up about 8 inches (or more). (By the way, this stuff isn't necessarily in chronological order; more in logical order.)

Ah...now we're getting to the pictures! I don't have any kirtle-in-process-of-alteration pictures, but I do have the actual "dress"...though it's more of jumper. I don't know exactly what to call my red-wool contraption, but anyway.

Savannah helped guide me onto the right pattern, which she then fitted on me. Believe it or not, it was the same pattern I used to make one of my '40's dresses in the spring!
Picture
A piece of paper was added in the back to bring the neck-line up to match that of the kirtle.
I made a mock up out of brown felt first...
Picture
I didn't line the bodice mock up.
Picture
It fit perfectly, but due to where the lines fell, it was determined to move the front edges closer together--thus really morphing it into the English style. With this determined, I laid the pattern out on the wool and ran into a problem. I didn't have enough to line the whole bodice in matching fabric!

After conferring with my adviser (Savannah), I decided to rip apart my mock up and use the back piece for the lining. As the felt and wool stretch similarly, it worked pretty nicely. This way if the lining gets exposed at the front, it won't be noticeable since it's the same color as the outer layer.

Picture
(I am aware that the ironing board cover is in bad shape.)
And then came the really interesting part...what to use for the metal loops the lacing was to go through? Mama found some coat hook and eyes at Jo-Ann's. The eyes worked perfectly!
Picture
Markings for the lacing loops...
Picture
The eyes...
By the way, the use of metal loops is authentic. In the past, we have always just done eyelets in things like this, but with the research that I did, this is much more authentic--at least for this time period.
Picture
I stitched the eyes in by hand before I took them to the machine. There is no way that I was going to even TRY it without the prior stitching. Additionally, this gave them more strength and "holding power".
Picture
Not quite done with this yet...but you'll see. :)
Picture
The next step was closing the shoulders. Savannah showed me how to do it. I have done something similar before, but I needed the reminder. 

Once this was done, it was time to move on to the skirt and the sleeves. The skirt was really straight forward. Savannah measured it, I chopped roughly 8 inches off the bottom of both skirt panels (outside and lining), stitched them together, turned them right side out, and ironed them. Then, I slid into the bodice and Savannah roughed in four inverted box pleats. After that, I took the whole to the ironing board and finalized the pleat placement. As is not unusual for me, I sewed the waist seam twice. Mama used to do that to all the clothes she made me as a little girl. Kept me from ripping the skirts off so easily. Anyway, she taught me the trick when she taught me how to sew.

I pinned the lining over the waist seam...and all the way around the front opening.

Then, I addressed myself to the sleeves. Plain and simple, the sleeves are the scraps from the bottom of the skirt panels. I had four pieces, so I stitched them together to form two tubes.

Picture
After that, I slid them on my arms and had a problem. I was not going to be able to pin them up at the shoulders like I was supposed to--so Savannah came to the rescue.
Picture
We basically cut a big notch into one side (the under arm)...
In the end, they looked something like this:
Picture
I took this picture myself--that is why it is blurry. Anyway, I hand stitched the top. Savannah thought I had put a band on it at first!
Picture
The sleeves are really long. If I roll them down they come down well over my hands. However, once again, if you look at the pictures, they appeared to be long like that and the women just rolled them up (or completely removed them) depending on the weather and what they were doing.
In addition to hand top-stitching the sleeve tops, I did the entire front opening of the outer-dress. I was just going to do the bodice at first (for the main reason of securing the lacing loops better), but it was determined that it would look better if I did the whole thing. So I did.
Picture
I think, for not having a huge amount of (visible) hand-stitching practice, that it looks pretty decent.
Now, before we get to the pictures of the completed ensemble, I'd like to show you one other piece that I made in a single morning (yesterday). I have wanted one of these "things" for several years now (probably could even use it with my WBtS outfits) and so I determined to stick to ol' chin out there and do it. 

Yes, I am talking about a pocket. 

I roughed out a pattern on a piece of scrap paper, cut that out, did a little measuring...and el-bam-o! It actually looked like it was going to work!
Picture
Well, I wanted a wee bit of decoration on said pocket--but I know diddly-squat about actual embroidery (cross-stitch doesn't exactly count) and when I tried I decided that under the circumstances, it wasn't going to be worth the effort. But as I told Mama, "I know how to do straight stitches and French knots!" So I did.
Picture
Take that, non-decorated pocket!
I didn't have time to do anything fancy, like these (from 1796, I believe the stitching says, but hardly a new concept at the time), so I contented myself with the somewhat wiggly geometric design around the slit opening.
Picture
I had yet to do it when this photo was taken, but I put a button on to close it the waist band.
I did a wee bit more research, looking for whether or not these ladies wore leather belts and specifically, belts with buckles. I found a few, but all of them still had long tails that hung down to the knees. Now, I don't have any belts quite that long in my collection, nor even soft enough to tie the way the did them...so I am borrowing Daddy work belt. It's not quite long enough either, but it is soft enough.  (You do know I'm rather addicted to my belts, right?)

Alright, so with that said, how about some pictures of the finished outfit? (I would still like someone to give me a good explanation as to why photographs make one look wider than one does in the mirror...)
Picture
Full front view.
Picture
Full back view. (No, I will not wear my hair in the plastic clips.)
Picture
(If I look glassy-eyed, it was because I hadn't eaten supper yet.) The sleeves literally just get pinned with straight pins to the shoulder straps.
Picture
And here is an alternate version of how the ladies wore their skirts; rather than pinning it though I was able to just tuck it into my belt. I rather liked the way this looked/felt, but Mama thought it looked silly...and Katherine pronounced that I had my rooster's tail. :D
Well, that's it. I will probably wear those shoes (and please don't laugh too hard when I fall off them outdoors) since they are the closest looking thing I have to "authentic" shoes. I will not be bare-legged either...I have this lovely pair of brown angora wool knee-socks Mama bought me last year that I intend on wearing. I would have worn my home-made ones, but trotting around in just one sock would probably cause me to be of more amusement than I'd really like to be. ;)

I am SO looking forward to this weekend's adventures!

      Racheal

1 Comment
Mum
10/21/2014 03:30:39 am

I am totally impressed with how well you pulled this off...and the fact that you neatly sewed all of the way around the front by hand proves that you must no longer hate sewing but finally found a reason for it. Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing the details with us.

Perhaps the next thing you make will be an ironing board cover! ;D

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    New post on The Bee Project! 04/26/18
    Picture

    The Middle Kid

    I chose to title this blog "The Adventures of a Middle Kid" because that is exactly what I'll be detailing (mostly). I chose 'kid' over any other word, like 'girl' (I am the middle girl so it also would have worked) or 'child'
    (since I am no longer exactly a child).

    I am a middle kid and I will always be a middle kid--even when I'm 80!

    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

    Follow
    Picture
    The anti-Christ will not overrun Christ’s church or kingdom.
    Christ will win. He is winning. He has won. --Joe Morecraft, III
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    1942 Truck Restoration
    Accidents
    Agriculture
    Authentic Christianity
    Books
    Caretaking
    Cats
    Cattle
    Chickens
    Church
    Confederates
    Conference
    Cooking
    Costumes
    Cow Cavalry
    Family
    Farmers Market
    Filmmaking
    Food
    Friends
    History
    Holidays
    Horse
    Knitting
    Lyme/Co Infections
    Lyme/Co-Infections
    Mechanics
    Movies
    Music
    Musings
    Musket Echos
    Nonesense
    Pictures
    Politics
    Reenacting
    Rodeo
    Sewing
    Shooting
    Theology/Philosophy
    Video
    War Between The States
    Weather
    Weddings
    Work
    Writing
    WWII

    Picture

    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    FREEDOM'S LIGHT FILMS
    Picture
    Picture
    Reformed Reviews
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    www.fold3.com
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    7 Lb.s of Bacon Mess Band
    Picture
    Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.