A doublet of white linen

[Sean M]

My aketon in blue fustian is done, but the temperatures have reached 33 degrees in Innsbruck, and I want something lighter for everyday wear. This also lets me test improvements to the pattern which I used for the aketon in blue fustian. If I like the features of this one, I can incorporate them into my next arming doublet.

Doublets in the Great Wardrobe accounts from the 1340s usually have three or more layers plus stuffing, but "A Wardrobe Account of 16–17 Richard II, 1393–4." has a doublet of two layers of linen called a dancing doublet.

I would also like to see whether (as I suspect) I can create a sufficiently structured body without a thick cotton stuffing or multiple layers of interlining. Even an off-the-rack, machine-made suit has enough structure that you can put your hand between the lining and your shirt to retrieve a wallet without the breast of the jacket moving much.

Small changes:

- Don't pull in the lower sleeves quite so aggressively. I cut down Tasha's pattern and found that I could no longer get the sleeves to overlap along the slit.
- Integrate the cuffs into the sleeves rather than having separate cuffs 3" long. The separate cuffs don't seem to serve a function, and the seams add bulk. Cuffs don't seem to be an important feature of doublets in trecento art, although I sometimes see them on the kind of coat with baggy sleeves which become tight for the last few inches.
- Curve the lower back edge more to make it pretty
- Correct mistake where I included a different seam allowance on the front neck opening and the back neck opening
- Different materials (see below)
- Different assembly (pad-stitching not quilting)

Facing:
Medium-weight plain-woven linen remander from Sartor
Interlining: Medium-weight unbleached linen in a plain weave from Siulas
Lining: A lightweight linen-silk blend in a twill weave from a store in Nürnberg! I am very glad that I scored it. Silk is not as cool as linen, but it might make it easier to separate the doublet from the shirt after a long sweaty day.



The sleeves of the blue aketon are closed with laces, and my awful sharp Indian mail tears them up. When I looked at my sources, I notice that the openings of doublets worn under armour tend to be very subtle. The laces or buttons up the front are usually very visible, but the same is not always true for the sleeves. Rows of big round buttons up to the elbow are common on effigies and brasses, but I am not representing the kind of guy who will get an effigy if he stops a crossbow bolt. The executioner in red above is a nice example of big buttons up the front and no opening marked on the sleeves.

How practical do you think it would be to use a less tulip-shaped fit in the lower arm and a slit at the wrist about 5" long closed with three or four buttons? Or maybe some hooks and eyes? This is not an arming doublet, but its not the height of fashion either.



Now, a contrary argument. When I look closely at paintings by Altichiero, I often see a dense row of tiny little buttons like this guy's. So maybe the sleeves are buttoned to the elbow with small cloth-covered buttons, and painters who didn't have a whole wall to work on left them out.

[Sean M]

Cut most of the facing but am still figuring out the best way to lay out the upper and lower arms on the width of linen which I have.

I have new thoughts on the separate cuffs of the Charles de Blois. Its not too uncommon to see cuffs folded back in this period while the rest of the sleeve remains tight to the body. I have seen a few examples on doublets in the 'bell bottom sleeves' era (70s fashion!) but you can also see it in the 'sinuous' era and with more flowing clothing like this painting of Christ before pilate from Vienna in the 1330s (BNM, München, Inventory Number 11/412).



The second guy on the left has the cuffs of his red coat folded back over his aketon. I bet he wishes he had been posted to Rhaetia or Gaul or somewhere that it isn't so hot all the time Using a separate cuff might make that folding tidier, but there are alternatives ... I probably want to make sure that the interlining does not extend from the lower sleeves into the cuff at least.

Has anyone else seen medieval paintings with the cuffs of tight-sleeved garments folded back?

[Sean M]

Cutting is done! (Except for the pair of slits in each upper arm ... I want to make sure I don't accidentally create two 'righties').



The pattern is a fourth-generation descendant of Tasha Kelly's modern pattern and the sketches in Adrien Harmand's book plus my own trips to see the Charles de Blois garment and staring at photos and paintings of 1360s/1370s doublets and pourpoints.

One thing which left me unsatisfied with the aketon in blue fustian is all the exposed seam allowances which needed folding and whipp-stitching down. That is how the gold Charles de Blois garment was made ... but that is a pourpoint made à une fois (with the facing, stuffing, and lining quilted together and treated as one) not a garment à deux fois like the Charles VI garment. So I am tempted to make up the facing + interlining and the lining separately, put wrong side to wrong side, and attach them when I finish the cuffs and hems, leaving both inside and outside 'smooth' and all the seam allowances hidden. I have seen pictures of gowns and cloaks and chaperones which seem to be lined this way, and that seems to be how doublets were lined in the 15th century when we get more pictures of the innards.

Does anyone have a good reason why that would be a bad idea?

[Sean M]

This account does not list everything needed for a garment, or list it in one place, but it is still interesting.

Item pur ij alnes de lynge toille per j doublet per daunsyng, pris l'alne viij d. ob. ... xvij d.
Item pur ij alnes de lynge toille pur lynure del dit doublet pris l'alne xj d., ... xxij d.

An ell is probably 45" in this context, and 36" and 45" were common widths for linen, so this doublet was laid out on 2 1/2 yards of medium-width cloth, with a more expensive lining and less expensive facing. I cut the lining of the doublet from 2 metres (2 1/8 yards) of cloth 114 cm (45") wide and had just scraps left over.

But its possible to cut a crotch-length doublet with sleeves from 3 yards of 20" wide silk or fustian (= 1 1/2 yards of linen) and it was common to do so in later times, so its possible that they were doing something clever with the off-cuts.

[Sean M]

The facing and interfacing of the body are basted together, and the seam at the waist back-stitched together in the facing + interfacting and in the lining. I also cut the slits for the gores in all three layers of the upper arm.

I discovered that I had forgotten to write down one of the problems with the previous pattern: the top edge of the lower back panel is about 1/2" too wide at each end. Fortunately, that is easier to correct on a doublet than a pourpoint! And it would make the pattern of the lower back look more like Harmand's sketches.

After trying on 3/4 of the body, I have a vague feeling that it is not stiff enough. My interfacing is around 245 g/m2 or 7 oz/yd2, about 2/3 as dense as tailor's canvas. I could use the offcuts to pad-stitch an extra layer or two into the breast and upper back where it will stand furthest away from the body. That would be a few hours of hand-work, but only half an hour of thinky work (laying out the scraps and cutting them).

On the other hand, this is supposed to be a relatively quick version to test improvements to the pattern and give me something else to wear, and the finished armscyes and buttons or lacing will add stiffness. I tend to make things harder for myself than I need to.

[Sean M]

Facing of the body is assembled and the gussets and upper arms are basted together. Next comes basting the lower arms and inserting the gussets into the upper arms, then finishing making up the lining of the body and basting it in place. I will also iron the seams open.



(It looks like I can add

Code: Select all

?w=NUMBER&h=NUMBER

after a URL to link to a reduced-size image in Wordpress ... humh, that might make posting links easier).

In some of the paintings, it looks like the lower sleeves might be densely quilted on an otherwise unquilted garment. I don't think I will try that on this one, since I have a deadline and am trying to make a simple doublet. Matthew Gnagy likes to pick-stitch the seam allowances down before covering them with the lining, but that feels too fussy for 14th century tailoring, and it adds time. I might stitch along the cuffs and bottom hem for decoration and to prevent the folded seam allowances from slipping downwards. Don't they call that 'top-stitching' in modern sewing?

[Sean M]

The executioner in a red doublet above seems to have the uppermost buttons of his doublet open. This late-15th-century guy in purple seems to agree that this is not a faux pas, but he is going to the Other Place, so maybe he isn't the best one to ask.

[tiredWeasel]

On a presentation about the Lengberg finds they talked about shaping wool with an iron. They used it, afaik, mainly for the cups on womens gowns but I wondered if one could also shape a doublet chest with this technique?

[Sean M]

On a presentation about the Lengberg finds they talked about shaping wool with an iron. They used it, afaik, mainly for the cups on womens gowns but I wondered if one could also shape a doublet chest with this technique?

Matthew Gnagy has found 16th and 17th century doublets which used those techniques and that video on the Lengburg finds makes me worry too. As far as I know, we don't have any doublets before the 16th century, just the facing of Diego Cavaniglia's. So we have to extrapolate from the four surviving quilted garments and scraps and art.

[Mac]

On a presentation about the Lengberg finds they talked about shaping wool with an iron. They used it, afaik, mainly for the cups on womens gowns but I wondered if one could also shape a doublet chest with this technique?

This is a good point.

It's easy to presume that the 14th c tailor did not have sophisticated techniques at his disposal, but this can sometimes lead us astray.

Mac

[Sean M]

Also, I guess ... when I read lists of materials for making doublets in the 14th century, I don't see anything like canvas. I can't tell you exactly what linen of Paris or linen of Reimes were like, but they were a lot more like a fine Irish bedsheet than jute. They seem to have preferred multiple layers or cotton or structured quilting (and maybe pad stitching?) to make garments stiffer.

A 'pretty medium-weight facing, heavy canvas interlining for the body, fine linen lining' construction was standard at the court of Henry VII of England, but fashion had changed a lot in the intervening 150 years.

[Sean M]

Both upper sleeve facings are done! One upper sleeve lining is done! So far the main issue is that I cut the "quarter circle" gussets longer along one straight edge than the other, but its easy to trim them. I also need to figure out what I did with the last quarter-circle gusset of the lining ...

Bertus Brocamp commissioned a jupon from one of the companies in eastern Europe and has described the planning at https://deventerburgerscap.blogspot.nl/ ... ipoun.html

[Sean M]

The facings + interlinings of both sleeves are complete and the seams ironed open. I have to reinforce the tips of one or two gussets where the raw edge of the facing appeared after the ironing. I used a mix of running and stab stitch for the seam which goes around the arm to join the upper and lower sleeves.

All gussets are inserted into the linings of both lower sleeves and the seams are ironed open.

I will add pictures when I can spare the time.

Next steps: Finish assembling the sleeve linings, trim the sleeves where one layer is larger than the facing, sew the long seams of the sleeve facings and pin them to the body for a test fitting.

[Johann ColdIron]

The facings + interlinings of both sleeves are complete and the seams ironed open. I have to reinforce the tips of one or two gussets where the raw edge of the facing appeared after the ironing. I used a mix of running and stab stitch for the seam which goes around the arm to join the upper and lower sleeves.

All gussets are inserted into the linings of both lower sleeves and the seams are ironed open.

I will add pictures when I can spare the time.

Next steps: Finish assembling the sleeve linings, trim the sleeves where one layer is larger than the facing, sew the long seams of the sleeve facings and pin them to the body for a test fitting.

I look forward to seeing your progress. This is a neat project and I appreciate your thoroughness in research!

[Sean M]

Stab-stitching the back gussets onto the facing + interlining of one upper sleeve. I basted some units together by machine, and others by hand to see if the former saves time ... the sewing goes quicker, but the ripping goes slower.


The facings + linings of both sleeves assembled and ironed. After sewing the curved seam, the sleeves want to bend into a three-dimensional shape not lie flat. To cut the whole facing out of the available cloth, I had to rotate one upper sleeve 90° and expand it with a scrap of cloth at the side. This was probably a standard feature in cutting this style of sleeve from silk or fustian, which were woven about 50 cm/20" wide on the loom, and can be seen on the Charles de Blois garment (edit: and here is a picture so you don't have to trust those old drawings!)




The facing and lining of one sleeve together showing how the gussets match up and the unfinished edges of the seams will be covered. Fancy tailors sew down the seam allowances with prick stitch before inserting the lining, but that feels too fussy for a 14th-century craftsman, and this is meant to be a simple doublet.

[Sean M]

I look forward to seeing your progress. This is a neat project and I appreciate your thoroughness in research!

Thanks! I figure that people imitating late 14th century fashionable men's clothing are like armourers in the 1980s taking coppersmithing classes at the local community college and hearing rumours about this shop on the east coast which makes amazing things. Right now there are still a lot of skills in other fibre arts and sources from the middle ages which we are only barely aware of ... I feel like I have a lot of experiments ahead of me before I can really say which techniques are most appropriate for a given purpose.

[Zetheros]

awesome Sean, can't wait to see how it looks! Working on something similar too. The sleeves were a bit too tight like you mentioned, but I compensated by adding an extra strip from elbow to cuff.

[Johann ColdIron]

I look forward to seeing your progress. This is a neat project and I appreciate your thoroughness in research!

Thanks! I figure that people imitating late 14th century fashionable men's clothing are like armourers in the 1980s taking coppersmithing classes at the local community college and hearing rumours about this shop on the east coast which makes amazing things. Right now there are still a lot of skills in other fibre arts and sources from the middle ages which we are only barely aware of ... I feel like I have a lot of experiments ahead of me before I can really say which techniques are most appropriate for a given purpose.

I feel the same way about arming doublets in my period! A lot of tech in their construction we barely understand. But that is why do what I do. To understand through experimental fabrication. Learn something and make the next one more accurate from what is learned.

[Sean M]

I feel the same way about arming doublets in my period! A lot of tech in their construction we barely understand. But that is why do what I do. To understand through experimental fabrication. Learn something and make the next one more accurate from what is learned.

At least you guys have that Tudor Tailor book on military doublets to look forward to (I just hope its a bit longer than the earlier ones). I and Ernst and Bertus have found many small texts which don't seem to be known by the making-medieval-clothing community, but it really seems that since the Second World War nobody has been interested in copying and translating written sources on clothing from 14th century England.

[Johann ColdIron]

At least you guys have that Tudor Tailor book on military doublets to look forward to (I just hope its a bit longer than the earlier ones). I and Ernst and Bertus have found many small texts which don't seem to be known by the making-medieval-clothing community, but it really seems that since the Second World War nobody has been interested in copying and translating written sources on clothing from 14th century England.

Looking forward to that one!

I hope that interest in th 14th century will increase in time. It is a fascinating period to me. A challenge though since has you pointed out a lot of what we have left is writings not a lot of stuff you can put your hands on.

[Sean M]

Did several small things including another fitting of the body facing + interlining. This time, I used heavy safety pins to close the front instead of straight pins which tend to bend.

After the fitting, I still think that the breast is not stiff enough for the way that I have cut it. So I will insert an extra layer or two of interlining in the breast. I should have done this earlier, but oh well ... one round over, one round under, keep correcting until I have the range.

I also tried on one sleeve by myself. Marking how to cut the lower sleeve to create that coke-bottle fit will be not so easy, but I did it before.

[Sean M]

Ok, so on Sunday I had no access to a cutting space/most of the parts of this project, so spent some time prick-stitching down seam allowances on internal seams.

On Monday I laid out my biggest scraps against the breast pattern.



Once I was using as much of the scrap as I could while still keeping the grain right, I traced them with chalk, cut them out, then cut away the seam allowances.



I decided to cut two more pieces like those from the remaining rectangle of dark brown interlining. A real 14th century tailor would probably have had his youngest apprentices sew together some of the smaller scraps and then cut that, but I am a one-man shop and a yard of linen costs me an hour's pay not a day's pay. So the breasts have three layers of interlining, and the skirts and backs and sleeves have one.

I basted all four layers together like so:



Next is running pad stitch over all of those surfaces to attach the layers of interlining together and shape them into a dome, trying not to poke through the facing. Its not as slow as it sounds, and I used pad-stitching before on the collar of the short pleated cloak.

I learned to pad stitch from books, I can't find anyone who talks about principles in tailoring, and a trained tailor I ain't ... I am just trying to get as close to what I see in the art and in surviving garments as I can using techniques which seem to be in the spirit of 14th century tailoring. (Edit: Also worth saying ... I can't document pad stitching before the 16th century, but it seems plausible and the linen parts of garments from the 14th century are almost always lost).

Lessons learned: - Make sure that you remove the basting from the centre back seam before you iron it open
- Pad stitching probably works better if the long stitch goes over the side of the garment which will be convex (outie) not the side which will be concave (innie)

[Sean M]

Pad-stitching the interlining with relatively short lengths (18") of waxed linen thread. You can see the edge of the front opening on the left, and the armscye on the right. I hope that the stay-stitching prevents the armscye from stretching ... I could have used a machine for that too.



The left hand shapes the garment into the desired three-dimensional form, and lets me feel when the tip of the needle is about to pierce the facing. The right hand drives the needle from top to bottom over and over again, and pulls the thread tense to hold the doublet in the desired form.

[Sean M]

The right breast is now fully interlined, and I have at least temporarily finished all of the seams except the collar and armscye. I sewed the seam allowances of the breast down over the interlining with prick stitch for extra structure.

Did I mention that I eased the shoulders together by the running-stitch-and-pull-the-thread method? I had accidentally cut the back shoulder 1/2" longer than the front ... I had meant to correct that on this pattern but I forgot.

[Sean M]

Tonight I watched the new BBC Henry IV, Part I and finished interlining the left breast of the doublet. I also folded down the neck opening and prick-stitched it down.

The back of the neck wants to crinkle after folding the neck opening inwards ... I wonder if I should cut two or three notches into the seam allowance to release the pressure?

Now comes some harder choices: deciding how much to cut away from the lower sleeves to create that fashionable tulip look, and whether to fold the left side of the breast back a little more to make sure that the whole buttonhole will go through the folded part. Matthew Gnagy suggests working the buttonholes so that they don't intrude into the lining ... that seems like a reasonable thing to try.

[Sean M]

Cut back one lower sleeve, basted the folded seam down, and tried it on; attached one lower sleeve lining to the upper sleeve lining with backstitch and sewed the long seam of the sleeve lining with running stitch; started to attach the other lower sleeve lining to the upper sleeve lining.

[Sean M]

The left sleeve is fully assembled. I decided to give it an intermediate number of buttons (up to the join between the upper and lower arm, rather than 3/4 of the way down the lower arm or half way up the upper arm). The buttonholes still need to be cut, and I need to make three dozen cloth buttons.

The right sleeve is in progress. I may see how the left sleeve fits with the buttons before I cut the right sleeve down.

[Sean M]

Slit the seam allowance at the neck and re-sewed it down and made a plan of attack for the buttons in the sleeves. I am planning to core them with 6mm wooden beads or maybe a lump of cotton quilt batting ... I think that self-stuffing cloth buttons will not provide enough friction, and that the linen facing is too thin for that.

[Sean M]

Working on attaching the right and left breasts of the lining to the assembled back lining.

[Sean M]

Finished sewing the side seams of the lining, marked buttonholes 2 fingers apart along the opening of the left sleeve, and tried to make a self-stuffing cloth button. Earlier I tried and failed, but this time I had more success! The MoL Textiles and Clothing book and Sarah Thursfield each have their own instructions, but the ones which worked for me were by the Dreamstress.





After experimenting on some scraps, these seem to work well with buttonholes a bit less than 1/2" wide (don't want to finish the buttonholes only to find that they are a little bit small). Cut 24 circles 1 1/4" wide out of the linen facing, 12 per sleeve. On a fancier doublet I could double the density of buttons or use big wood-cored ones like on the Charles de Blois garment.

Should I use heavy linen thread or silk buttonhole floss for the thread which turns the circles into buttons and forms the 'stalk'?

Sadly, the nuts are falling from the trees, the rain is falling like arrows in a Scythian battle, and I will finish my summer doublet in the fall. Maybe I will start a double gown in the winter and finish it in the height of summer ...

[Sean M]

Now here is a puzzler! Usually you cut buttonholes along a thread to discourage them from decaying (especially MoL buttonholes without the extra reinforcing stitches of some later kinds of buttonhole). Do I still do that along the tulip-shaped curve of the lower sleeve, even if that means that the slits are nowhere near perpendicular to the edge?

I have been avoiding buttonholes on my actual projects, as opposed to scrap, but I can't avoid them any more. I need at least a dozen per sleeve and later a couple of dozen up the front.

Here are the buttonholes on the C de B:

[Sean M]

This project has been stalled because I am having trouble making buttons out of the heavy linen. I have tried the instructions by Sarah Thursfield, Cynthia Long https://medievaltailor.com/demonstrations/buttons/ and Leimomi Oakes http://thedreamstress.com/2015/06/makin ... h-buttons/ The puckers are just not wide enough to make it easy to go over and under with the second ring of stitches, and its too easy to accidentally pierce the front on the second ring. I think I should learn cloth buttons on a heavier woolen cloth, but I still need buttons for this doublet.

Mac, Tod's Stuff, Gaukler, and other merchants carry brass and pewter buttons but not cheap when you need 4 dozen or so.

Has anyone looked at wood-cored buttons like on the Charles de Blois? Maybe the MoL Dress Accessories volume? Do they have a solid loop? How do they keep the fabric in place?

Does anyone else have advice?

[Galileo]

I get my buttons here - https://www.etsy.com/shop/AvalonNatural -- absolutely not historical in any semblance, but she has been known to do custom orders. I believe they're 3d printed.

[Sean M]

After some further experimentation, I found a way to make self-stuffing cloth buttons with all the raw edges hidden. I will post some photos when I can be bothered, so that I don't forget again.

The hardest phase is the final stitches through the bottom of the button to make sure that it stays closed. They have to pass through many folds of linen. Thicker, easier-to-grip needles help and I can always cheat with pliers.

Some moderns like to use the thread which makes the buttons to attach them, but the buttons on the Charles VI were sewn in place with silk thread and sewn together with linen, and that way the threads don't get tangled.

Modern-medieval, off-the-rack clothiers often find excuses to use less than 20 buttons on a 14th century garment. That is not what I see in the sources I have though!

[Sean M]

About half the buttonholes are finished and buttons are attached to the left sleeve.

I notice that the delicate lining wants to slip away from the buttonhole stitch as I work it from the right side. Running a stitch around the holes through all three layers could be a good solution, even though I can't document it.

In Beatrice Nutz' article on the Lengberg dresses, she says that the linen lining was pad-stitched to the wool facing. That does not seem to be what she is showing in her reconstruction, so I might want to check that she means the same thing by that stitch as I do.