A Renaissance Couple, Re-done

Switching gears for a moment… Let’s go back to the Renaissance as summer- and the Renaissance festival season- approaches. I’ve made two sets of upper-class Renaissance costumes, one in red and one primarily in blue.  My very first post outlined the making of these two outfits, and promised details to come. The red set began with a lovely, heavy combed cotton and progressively became fancier as more details were added every year.  The blue set, with green and bronze accents, were designed and created as-is, with only a couple of additions over the last few years (such as a chain of office and a tooled leather mug strap). In this post I’ll review what I learned from making the red outfits, and how I applied that to the process of bottom-up construction of the blue set. PS- Yes, we are a couple, and our outfits go together, match, coordinate, whatever. Some people can’t seem to get over that. I made them at the same time and therefore you’ll get information on both women’s and men’s Renaissance clothing construction. Bonus. The red set-

Red Renaissance costumes

For my husband I made a long Germanic-style doublet and a floppy hat. The pants were being tucked into boots and he’s not much one for poufy pumpkin pants or slops so we went with adding some trim to a pair of black linen pants. Add a white shirt and we were set! My outfit consisted of a square-necked bodice that laced up the back and a cartridge pleated skirt with forepart.  A long chemise was the base, and I bought a Paloma hat and trimmed it myself. Both outfits had basic black gimp trim from the start and matching pouches with loops to keep them attached. The center of my bodice and the forepart were this beautiful black and red diamond patterned fabric. Additions: I added panels of the diamond fabric to the front of the doublet and added more ornate trim to jazz it up some, while my skirt got a couple more bands of trim. I also made a new hat for him using the same fabric (he would have needed one custom made anyway- big noggin), and I added tiny beads and “pearls” to the diamond fabric of my outfit. (bodice one year, forepart the next… I don’t love beading) I also hand embroidered/blackworked an authentic pomegranate pattern onto the front of our chemises and hand-stitched lace edging onto the pleats of our neck /collar ruffs (I used black lace for his and gold metallic lace for mine). One year I made an elaborate feather fan with black ostrich feathers, peacock feathers and a fancy dowel I spray-painted gold. My necklace was inspired by period pieces but handmade by me, in the double drape style at the front of the bodice.  I also made and beaded a snood for beneath my hat.

Red Renaissance Costumes with many updates

Renaissance jewelry (I made it all), blackwork and embroidery (also done by me, by hand, omg).

My workspace

The new outfits: I decided to make a new set from scratch, from shirts to hats. Because, why not? But seriously- it had been several years of adding new things onto old outfits and I felt like I had made a lot of progress in my design skills. I wanted to see what I could do now, and I had the space (my sewing room at work) and time (2 months between the end of the school year and the beginning of the Faire season) to do it. I made a new shirt, pants,hat, pouch and doublet for his outfit and for mine a new hat, chemise, NEW CORSET, bodice, underskirt with forepart, overskirt with cartridge pleating, and little decorations on my shoes. And now, lots of pictures! (With (hopefully) interesting notations.   My outfit progression:

Three layers of fabric for the tabbed corset cut out from pattern

Pleated antique lace for collar and cuffs of chemise

Chemise and corset on dressform

It was fun using vintage lace for the pleats on my chemise ruff and cuffs, despite some discoloration from age on the lace- I think the effect is worth it.

Cartridge pleating- the easy way!

Cartridge pleats- purchased from the drapery section at the fabric store.

A note on the cartridge pleats- using the drapery pleating trick not only saves you time and looks perfectly authentic, but it also saves some yardage because the sewn in fabric bulks up the pleats.

I made the forepart part of the underskirt, which goes over the petticoat and hoopskirt. I added a “peek-a-boo” panel of the forepart fabric at the bottom.

After the cartridge pleating was done, I attached a waistband and measured the front opening to make sure it would lay flat

See, doesnt that pleating look great? And still plenty of fullness in back.

The front lower edges of the skirt should be rounded to avoid their flaring out. This can also be mitigated by making it possible to attach the overskirt to the underskirt. I did this by inserting grommets into both and then using ribbon bows to prettily line things up. But all along the length of the skirt, one good gust of wind would expose my white underskirt… so I created a folded panel of fabric which, when attached by means of hidden snaps to the overskirt, would give the impression that the green fabric just goes on and on, because I’m just that wealthy.

I decorated the forepart, finished the outside edges of the overskirt with trim.

For modesty- This folded fabric panel attaches the overskirt to underskirt by way of snaps, to avoid wind-induced fashion mishaps.

And a hat too.

Blue velvet riding hat- before the trimming

Prepping the shoes for adornment, complete with inspiration picture.

Gilded buttons and all.

And don’t forget the bodice itself, which was full of ambitious design ideas!

And now reverse-engineered, with fashion fabric and piping, for a fitting (yes, the actual fitting moment included the blue skirt)

Hmm. It would appear that those are all the pictures I took of the bodice in progress. So without further ado, moving on to HIS outfit! I put boning in his doublet because it is period, and it helps the doublet to keep its shape. I also put in grommets at the waist of the pants and bottom f the doublet so the two can be laced together, keeping them in place even more securely.

I decided to insert all sorts of piping into his doublet. It’s a pain, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Looks easy, right? Ugh. Lining with boning and outside with piping. 

And then I added a REALLY big piece of piping. Just to punish my sewing machine.

Now I actually do have something to add here- I was torn on how to attach the velvet ribbon. I felt that machine stitching it would be heavy looking, and very difficult to keep even along the edges. But I’ve had issues with fabric glues discoloring and showing through on the surface. So I chose to add pearl beads… sewing them on at regular intervals is decorative, but actually attaches the ribbon to the doublet. I added some carefully chosen points for some fabric glue, and voila!

MOAR stuff- how about pearls? Grea

 

And figured that I should really add more stuff to it, like individually piped graduated epaulet panels.

I can’t forget his pants! Although I did up to this point with the camera. 😦 Well, they were basically plain breeches that I added piped and lined strips of blue to. Then of course the waistband and over-the-knee cuffs were banded in blue as well.

And a hat for him as well! Re-imagined from an old “pilgrim” hat.

New pouches to top things off…with belt straps the blue one has longer loops to hang from, as it attaches to a special waistband strap on my blue overskirt and I didn’t want it to interrupt the line of peplum on my bodice. )

The Grand Finale! Done with everything, and here are some pictures. I apologize for skimming over some items, like the snood, the bloomers, the finishing of the bodice, the men’s shirt (thought it’s really just like a women’s chemise but shorter)- when I chronicled the making of these items, this blog was still just a sparkle in my eye. **On the circular hand fan** This is a period style of hand fan… I found the tutorial (three years ago when it was made) online, and cannot find it to link to it now. If there IS interest, I’ll do a special post addressing its construction, and I’d probably add in the ostrich fan construction along with it.

Blue Renaissance outfit details

Blue Renaissance outfit details from the back

The two outfits together. A side note on my chemise- I ended up sewing a snap to the inside of the standing collar to keep my ruff widely parted. The cabochon on my bodice is new old stock, put into a frame from etsy.