Yellow Wool Kirtle

I made this kirtle from the pattern diagram in the wonderful book The Tudor Tailor.

The wool was a gift from a coworker that came from her relative's de-stash. It's a gorgeous yummy color and kind of an odd weave; it's a double cloth with a somewhat coarsely woven layer joined to a finer, smoother layer. I'm pretty sure the rough texture was the proper right side, though both sides looked finished and usable. Anyway, I liked the coarser, fluffier side better.

I took these next few pictures in my backyard after a long, hot, sweaty day at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. I felt a bit bedraggled!

Here's the process.

I just did one mockup since the shaping is so simple. I put a few bones in the mockup because it's just muslin.

I used a set of fitting lacing strips to draw in the back more easily.

Not bad bust support.

Felt a little barrel-ish from the front.

Here's that same mockup with changes. I pinned out the small diagonal wrinkle at the corner of the neckline, raised the neckline slightly, made the neckline slightly wider, and raised the back waist a bit. I also ended up taking the whole thing in a bit at the sides. If the laces were touching, I knew it would soon stretch to be too big.

Then I started cutting and sewing! I had originally planned to hand sew the whole thing, but I ran into a deadline and ended up doing it about 50/50 hand and machine.

I didn't put in any bones, instead using cotton kitchen cord because I wanted a softer look (and I also kind of just wanted to see what would happen!).

The front and back were each fully flatlined in lightweight linen. I also cut a piece of heavy linen to interface just the front. The cord channels were machine stitched into the interlining layers only and the cords threaded between. I stitched the cords in small clusters of 2-3. When the interlining was corded, I pinned it to the fashion fabric's wrong side.

Right sides pinned together at CB, sides, and shoulders. I machine stitched these seams.

I turned the fashion fabric's edges under and secured them by hand with a catch-stitch.

The lining is a medium weight linen. I machine assembled it, then turned the edges under and used a fell stitch to attach it to the bodice by hand. I hand sewed the eyelets with linen thread in a spiral lacing pattern.

Onto the skirt! I stitched the side and CF seams by machine, then added a wide strip of linen to face the top, also by machine. I hand topstitched the CF slit opening. Then I started pleating the skirt to fit the bodice and whipped the pleats together to hold them in place. Finally I attached the skirt to the bodice by hand and hand-hemmed it!

I also made a pair of sleeves to go with this gown, also from The Tudor Tailor's pattern. They are a lightweight peacock blue wool, unlined, machine seamed and hand-hemmed, and simply pin to the kirtle's shoulder straps. It was a shame the Renaissance Festival was too hot for sleeves this year!

Overall, I was very happy with it. The fit was pretty good, and I liked the soft shape and support of the corded front. The color of the wool just felt happy. I felt very cute in it!

I wrote about the details of the cap and smock in a separate post here.