Doublets R Us! The next installment.
Seem to be making nothing but doublets these days...
Well, that's not strictly true, but The Big Sekrit Projek we have just completed and is to be collected tomorrow can't be published until after Christmas, so I'm afraid it'll have to be another doublet! AND the coat was based on a doublet pattern anyway!
This, I admit, one of my more eccentric efforts... Almost as bonkers as the Heraldic Doublet! Not quite so many pieces, but just as insane in its own sweet way!
So. Consequences, a long weekend of short freeform LARP games (an afternoon or evening session will cover one) was coming up, and I so enjoyed The Linfarn Run in Brighton that I signed up for it. My character in Linfarn was highly amusing, and I channeled Zoe from Firefly like mad. I signed up for Koenig Dead (a follow-up), and my character in that is interesting but not a big opportunity to frock up. However, my character in Marlow is. In spades. So a frocking I will go!
Cue the Silver Doublet!
Reprise... Way back in the mists of time (or was it Thyme? I forget... ) I bought this chunk of silver ecclesiastical brocade. I'd intended to make a forepart for an Elizabethan court gown, and possibly some sleeves out of it, teaming it up with a lilac silk and cotton satin (yes, that of Masquerade fame!). It never happened.
I also had hanging around (literally: on the costume rail coz you really shouldn't fold it!) some silver fabric left over from making a pair of thigh high spats to make a pair of ankle boots into thigh high jobs... I did a brief intro to this project here.
Once I'd cut and tried on the body toile, I did the sleeve toile. I have rather fat upper arms, so always need to add a bit extra round the bicep. That sorted, I cut the silver fabric.
There's a back (two sections), a front (two sections), a collar, two sleeves (two sections each, two wings and a peplum (two sections). The silver foil is backed with cotton calico. The whole thing is lined with white cotton sateen. The body front lining sections are cut in one piece rather than two. I used a stiff cotton canvas in the collar and the wings, as I couldn't use a fusible interfacing, and hair canvas would have been too much. This seemed to give the floppy tinfoil fabric enough heft to do the trick.
Sewing it all was easy in one respect: the machine sliced through the fabric layers fairly well. On the straight and lesser curved seams, the finish was reasonable. I was less happy about the slight ripples in the sleeve head, but given the nature of the fabric,it didn't go badly.
Any little ripples in the seams were disguised by adding the braid! Bling on bling!
Oh, and you can't press this stuff! Not even with a pressing cloth. A light touch of ironing is OK, but that doesn't nail the seam allowances flat, and it's quite bouncy. The braid helped.
I needed t get the roundels on the sleeves balances. This used up a LOT of fabric, bit hell, I wasn't using it for anything else! I managed to match all the bits that really needed it pretty well, but I am here to tell you that while the Bacofoil fabric wasn't the easiest stuff to work with (gimmee a nice 100% wool Barathea any day!), it didn't need matching up the front opening, and any small shifts in the side panels are too far apart to worry about!
I think they worked quite nicely, really... And the body failed to look too scruffy.
Next up was the peplum, and then the braid round the edges.
The sleeves went in... Quite easily AFTER I tried putting the right sleeve in the left armscye because I was tired!
We found the totally awesome frogs when looking for some for another project, and I fell in love! They are too large to put more than four on, and it needs some lesser hooks between the frogs to hold it closed properly. So I have one half of two frogs to complete, plus about 10 sets of hooks and eyes.
To go with it? United Nude Silver Mobeus sandals (snagged off eBay for £30, unworn butt imperfect and no box, but really, who cares!), a silver rose for my hair, silver mirror shades, and some black trousers and a T shirt, probably.
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Well, that's not strictly true, but The Big Sekrit Projek we have just completed and is to be collected tomorrow can't be published until after Christmas, so I'm afraid it'll have to be another doublet! AND the coat was based on a doublet pattern anyway!
This, I admit, one of my more eccentric efforts... Almost as bonkers as the Heraldic Doublet! Not quite so many pieces, but just as insane in its own sweet way!
So. Consequences, a long weekend of short freeform LARP games (an afternoon or evening session will cover one) was coming up, and I so enjoyed The Linfarn Run in Brighton that I signed up for it. My character in Linfarn was highly amusing, and I channeled Zoe from Firefly like mad. I signed up for Koenig Dead (a follow-up), and my character in that is interesting but not a big opportunity to frock up. However, my character in Marlow is. In spades. So a frocking I will go!
Cue the Silver Doublet!
Reprise... Way back in the mists of time (or was it Thyme? I forget... ) I bought this chunk of silver ecclesiastical brocade. I'd intended to make a forepart for an Elizabethan court gown, and possibly some sleeves out of it, teaming it up with a lilac silk and cotton satin (yes, that of Masquerade fame!). It never happened.
I also had hanging around (literally: on the costume rail coz you really shouldn't fold it!) some silver fabric left over from making a pair of thigh high spats to make a pair of ankle boots into thigh high jobs... I did a brief intro to this project here.
Once I'd cut and tried on the body toile, I did the sleeve toile. I have rather fat upper arms, so always need to add a bit extra round the bicep. That sorted, I cut the silver fabric.
There's a back (two sections), a front (two sections), a collar, two sleeves (two sections each, two wings and a peplum (two sections). The silver foil is backed with cotton calico. The whole thing is lined with white cotton sateen. The body front lining sections are cut in one piece rather than two. I used a stiff cotton canvas in the collar and the wings, as I couldn't use a fusible interfacing, and hair canvas would have been too much. This seemed to give the floppy tinfoil fabric enough heft to do the trick.
Sewing it all was easy in one respect: the machine sliced through the fabric layers fairly well. On the straight and lesser curved seams, the finish was reasonable. I was less happy about the slight ripples in the sleeve head, but given the nature of the fabric,it didn't go badly.
Any little ripples in the seams were disguised by adding the braid! Bling on bling!
Oh, and you can't press this stuff! Not even with a pressing cloth. A light touch of ironing is OK, but that doesn't nail the seam allowances flat, and it's quite bouncy. The braid helped.
I needed t get the roundels on the sleeves balances. This used up a LOT of fabric, bit hell, I wasn't using it for anything else! I managed to match all the bits that really needed it pretty well, but I am here to tell you that while the Bacofoil fabric wasn't the easiest stuff to work with (gimmee a nice 100% wool Barathea any day!), it didn't need matching up the front opening, and any small shifts in the side panels are too far apart to worry about!
I think they worked quite nicely, really... And the body failed to look too scruffy.
Next up was the peplum, and then the braid round the edges.
The sleeves went in... Quite easily AFTER I tried putting the right sleeve in the left armscye because I was tired!
We found the totally awesome frogs when looking for some for another project, and I fell in love! They are too large to put more than four on, and it needs some lesser hooks between the frogs to hold it closed properly. So I have one half of two frogs to complete, plus about 10 sets of hooks and eyes.
To go with it? United Nude Silver Mobeus sandals (snagged off eBay for £30, unworn butt imperfect and no box, but really, who cares!), a silver rose for my hair, silver mirror shades, and some black trousers and a T shirt, probably.