Derian le Breton wrote:Also, is the design close to a modern mundane vest? I own a couple of those that fit reasonably well.
Like a vest with enlarged armholes and a back like that of a pair of overalls, pretty much. It's also lengthened a few inches, going down to your jeans pockets rather than your beltline -- when you're standing.
The shoulder seam will be shorter, not as long as the complete width of the shoulder from neck to shirtsleeve seam as an ordinary vest would be, but about half the distance from neck to shoulder point. This is for a good combination of weight bearing and mobility of arm.
I'm all thumbs when it comes to sewing. Fitting... I haven't even seen that bridge, much less crossed it.
Borrow a friend who sews. Even one who doesn't but who's a quick study can fit things close to your fleshly contours a half bazillion times quicker than you can by groping at yourself with straight pins, finger pinches, or even a strategically employed stapler to take things in after basting-stitching them together and trying them on.
A stapler, you wonder? Well, you take the stapler and find where the pourpoint's cut-out and basted together lining fabric is loose and sloppy, and run a row of staples between seam and self to tighten up that place until you're happy -- go snug at the waist, hips, and upper half of buttocks, and slightly slacker up at the shoulders and chest. "Snug" is you have to make an effort to get your bladed fingers thrust between pourpoint and self, "slightly slacker" is when you can slide them in easily.
Works about the same fitting cut and sewn hose, even on the bias for that medieval spandex effect, btw.
Once you've done all the cut-and-try on your lining fabric, you have your pattern for cutting everything else from the rest of your cloth, and this is a comparative no-brainer. This is how I tailored my Charles de Blois, and that was a first effort. Only problem I had was over-stuffing one upper arm so it's really too stiff and tight.
Quilting stuff together with quilt stitching takes some time. Expect to be at this a while because there's a lot more stitching going on than just seaming the pieces together. LOTS of time. You're literally going over the entire surface of the piece with stitch lines. Now, a pourpoint is relatively small of surface area, and sleeveless, so that helps. There is nothing whatever wrong with getting ambitious enough to make the stitch lines ornamental -- layouts of sprays, fans, even delineating your device somewhere on the piece, hey? Pin the layers to be quilted together with lots of pins all around, and draw the decorative lines with soft pencil or washable fabric marker. Tailors' chalk is probably a bit imprecise. It's a good tool for marking seams and straightline things, but don't try it for something fiddly.
