Heraldic Cotehardie Begins!

Initially my design for this cotehardie was to make it side lacing with dagged angel-wing sleeves as I had seem a similar in this document of French origin.

I will still make the sleeves as shown, provided I can sucessfully draft a pattern, but I have decided against side lacing for one major reason: eyelets! I am an utter newb at eyelets and the idea of two rows of eyelets per side is extremely daunting. While I really wanted the smooth front bodice to increase the visage of a particolored cotehardie, I am instead going to spiral lace it up the front from chest to a bit below the navel. The thought of a back-lacing dress is absurd to me as I rarely have someone available to help me dress.

Alright, being that I've lost almost 20# since I moved to Los Angeles and that I had no one with sewing acumen near me to help me draft a pattern, I used the German bodice (I brought with me to hand sew) as a rough estimate. I had to adjust the bosom area as it was about 1.5 in. too large, but added those measurements back into the waist of the cotehardie for seam allowance.

Don't you love the sock monkey fabric I obtained for pattern drafting.... I am tempted to use it as my lining also (akin to what Master Gareth of Caid does for his gambesons). But I'll most likely use linen... *sad panda*

The pattern needed a bit more ease so from the first pattern off the German bodice, I made a second bodice pattern, as seen here.

I didn't take a picture of what the drafted bodice pattern looked like on me, but when I assessed it in the mirror, I determined that the armsceye was too large so I decreased the shoulder width and increased the curvature on the front bodice and trimmed it a bit on the back panel.

So now that I think I have a good pattern drafted, I laid out the pattern on the red linen selvedge to selvedge. I realized when measuring the added length from the waist to the floor to create the skirt that all these years, I'd been adding the measurement from the side of the panels rather than straight down the front. I don't know why but all of the suddon it occurred to me that the measurement would be more accurate there. After measuring from waist to floor, I added 1.5 in. to the hem for a rolled hem. (OMG, it's gonna be a huge task to hand sew the hem! But honestly, it really does lay better.)

Now in this photo you can bare see the hem line, but beneath that I added another 4 in. so the back panel will trail a bit. I really do want this to be a showpiece dress. (Let's hope my sewing prowess appropriately reaches the potential of my internal visualization!)

One I cut the hem and the curved side, I realize a mistake I made, although thank goodness before I cut anything else. I should have laid out the dress using the back panel because the neckline is higher and the armsceye smaller, then it would be easier to trim the excess for the front panel. So I carefully cut those two areas larger and then applied the back panel to one of the cut pieces and trimmed and the same for the front panel.

As with all my pattern placement, there is enough along the folded edge of the fabric to cut the side gore. Nothing like fabic efficiency.

I think I'm gonna get the black linen cut out tonight also, but the front/back gores and the drafting of the sleeves can wait until tomorrow.

Long, long time!

I didn't realize it's been about 16 months since I last posted about a project to this journal. And honestly, I haven't had any inspiration since then. I have done some sewing but nothing that has really caught my fancy.

Well after attending my first event in Caid in over 10 years, I'm hell-bent on making a new Gothic fitted dress (commonly referred to as a cotehardie) in a personal heraldic style. I plan to have it done by March 1, since I plan to wear it March 3rd at Caidan Crown.

My proposed design is parti-colored red and black with white crescents sewn near the hem line.

I have two styles I'm contemplating.

1. Side-laced with bell sleeves (lined in alternate colors), maybe additional crescents around the neck or bell cuff.
2. Long fitted sleeve with button closures on bodice and sleeves with white tippets to match the crescents

The choice is hard to make. All the GFDs I own are the front button type, so I think I may do the side-lace one for it's cleaner lines and difference in style. It also gives me a chance to learn hand-sewn eyelets.

I plan to buy the linen from fabrics-store.com which is conveniently 45 mins away so I don't have to pay shipping. I'm also going to line it to give it extra stability. I haven't lined my GDFs recently because I usually wear them in the summer for the hot Calontir events.

The white for the crescents, I hope to find something at the fabric district. A heavy weight cotton brocade would be ideal. Nothing with the shiny of polyester blends.

Next thought.... head covering..... no clue and need to research.

Fabric For Sale

I have two pieces of fabric for sale....

This is a 2 yd, 20 in by 60 in wide ivory piece of unknown content for $15. (I originally paid  $30 for a 4 yd piece)

This is a buttery yellow 7 yd piece for $35. Content unknown also.


Please contact me at kampfrau at gmail.com

Pardon the horrible picture!

Life seriously cut into my time to journal the rest of this project. Needless to say, it got done, but with no time to spare. I got some help at Valor with the final hand sewing bits and didn't have time to properly configure how to fasten it, so I ended up sewing HRH (now HRM) into it.

 

So after messing up the first draft of a sleeve, this is what 24 hours of Athena-induced mania will get ya! (Long story.) Regardless I was able to make a 3-part sleeve, the black linen outer sleeve, the white linen false sleeve and the white linen lining. The forearm was a bit tight on HRM but the length and effect of the slashing was perfect. Dear readers, I wish I had blogged how I made the sleeves a long time ago because it was a stroke of genius but I got sucked into a horrible job and it pretty much melted my brain for two months. (Hence the lack of posting and of new projects...)

I was pleased with the fit and over look of the wams, but I messed up on the slashing of the neck-band, so I've decided to remake the wams for my Queen's Prize A&S Tournament entry (not the beautiful sleeves though), for early November.

Here is a pic of the final project at Valor. (If you recall, HRM made his own leather pants... hawt!)

Weird Timing

It's odd, but typically some of my best patterning or design ideas come to me right as I'm in bed and beginning to fall asleep. There's a big issue with this - usually I am under the influence of my sleeping pill and I'm not awake enough to get up, find paper and write some thing down. However, like last night, with a bit memory trudging, I am able to recall my idea. This one is about the construction of the sleeve for HRH's wams.

I have finally decided on the colour combination: The wams will be blue with black slashing and the sleeves will be black with blue lining. You won't see much of the blue, but at least on the upper sleeves the slashes will be lined with the blue so when the linen twists or moves, you catch a glimpse of the blue.

Okay, I have diagram from another German landsknecht/Renaissance costumer from the WAY BACK machine on how to make the iconical slash/puff sleeve. I don't even think she teaches this class anymore, but I still am referring to her handout for construction theories. Her process is a 4 layer sleeve.

1. Lining- self explanatory, it also safeguards the stitching to the inner sleeve from repeated wear;
2. Inner sleeve - this is the base structure. It is the actual size and length of the arm; the puff sleeve is anchored to the inner sleeve;
3. Puff sleeve - this is the white "false sleeve" that is supposed to look like an actual undershirt (hemd) poking through the slashes.  It is longer and wider than the inner sleeve so it'll have form and shape under the Outer sleeve;
4. Outer sleeve - this is the fashion fabric, this is typically the wool or velvet that you would see slashed. Because of it's fulled nature, there was a need for an outer sleeve lining, but because I am using linen, I plan to line the upper portion of the outer sleeve for more rigidity.

All I know is I have a TON of hand sewing to do!!! LMAO.

Okay brainstorm over.