Wams Pattern from T-Shirt
Originally posted on the DHF BBS by Brayton Carpenter of Legendary Costume Works:
Choose a sacrificial t-shirt from your wardrobe and put it on. Next, using duct-tape, have your friend wrap your chest and down your torso to the bottom rib (maybe a little past for working room). Again, snug is good but remember, it’s not a bodice, so don’t have them wrap you too tight. Also, be sure to have them place strips over the shoulders, connecting front to back and giving shoulder straps to the pattern. Next, using a permanent marker, have them draw the outline of the doublet on the tape. It is a good idea to be generous when applying the tape, giving yourself a little room for error outside what will be the silhouette of the doublet, as you can always draw it out differently and cut the excess off. With regards to necklines, the Germans used a variety, but my favorite has always been the rectangular neckline, as it can really enhance the chest and give you a more “manly-man” look. It is wide in the front and comes down roughly one to two inches above the nipple-line, and higher up (closer to the base of the neck) across the back to keep the shoulders from slipping off. Once the pattern is drawn out, have them draw the seam-lines as well. These will be one at each shoulder and one up each side, so that you will have a simple, two-piece doublet pattern.
Next, have your friend CAREFULLY cut you out of the duct-taped shirt pattern. START with them cutting up one side, as you will most likely be able to take the shirt-pattern off and then be able to finish by cutting along the lines, rather than having all the cutting be finished while you are wearing it. It never hurts to label your patterns, so before you separate them, draw a big “F” on the front piece, and a big “B” on your back piece. Cut right down the seam -line on the other side now, as well as across each shoulder. Now finish cutting around the two patterns, getting rid of all the excess. Now we have your doublet pattern!
Set your pattern pieces down on the fabric you are using for the OUTSIDE of the doublet. Carefully trace all the way around each shape. (if you are drawing on black, use white pencil or chalk) Pull up your patterns and set them aside. You should now have outlines of your front and back doublet patterns drawn on your outer fabric. Next, using a ruler, your pen/chalk/etc… and some patience, add a ½” border all the way around the outside of both drawings. This is your seam allowance. Now cut out both the front and back pieces along the extra border-line (the seam allowance) you drew.
Take your front and back outer pieces and lay them face down (the side you want people to see when you are wearing the doublet) onto the lining fabric. Your lining fabric should be face up, or in other words, the side of the fabric that will be against your shirt when you are wearing the doublet, is what you are laying your outer pieces onto. The side of the lining material that is against the table is what will show through the slashes. If your lining fabric is the same on either side such as linen, cotton, muslin, canvas, wool, etc…then which side you use for what makes no difference. The fabrics just mentioned are probably your best choices for linings by the way, with wool being the least ideal simply due to heat factors! Trace them out onto the lining fabric, remove the outer pieces, and cut out your lining. This time, you will NOT be adding a ½” as it was already added.
Now place your outer pieces back onto their respective lining pieces in exactly the same manner as they were before. Now you’re ready to sew. You may wish to pin along the edges first to keep the fabrics from “creeping” as you work, or if you’re a whiz-bang tailor or seamstress, you might not worry about it. Now sew the linings to the outer pieces by sewing around all the outside edges, except for the side that will end up being the seam on the right side of the garment when wearing it. Don’t sew this seam up, as this will be the opening you use to pull the piece “right side out”. And don’t forget- use ½” seam allowance when sewing!
Once you have sewn the linings to their respective outers, trim off the excess seam allowance around the outside edges. Not too close, 1/8” should be fine. Do not trim off the seam allowance on the side seam that is un-sewn, or on any of the shoulder straps. The seam allowance in these areas is still needed so the front piece and back piece can be sewn to each other. Now take your doublet front and turn it “right side out” by pulling it through the open side seam. Make sure to do a thorough job of turning it out, using a ruler, unsharpened pencil, or some other thin, blunt tool to work along the inside of the seams and help push them out to the farthest edge you can. If you don’t turn them out thoroughly, then your doublet pieces will not be a close match to your pattern, which usually means that they are smaller, and often the front and back shoulder straps will not quite match up when you try to sew them together either. Once you have thoroughly turned the piece out, use an iron to press all the edges. Repeat this process for the doublet back piece. Getting close now . . .
At this point, you should have a front and back piece, both lined, and with finished edges except where the seams will be. If you did not leave the seams open on the edges of the shoulder straps, it doesn’t matter, by the way. Now match up the open side seams of the front and back pieces. Look at it first to make sure you’ve got it right. When joined, this seam should be on your right side when wearing the doublet, as the doublet will tie on the left. Honestly, if you did it backward, for the purposes of our film, it’s not really going to matter WHAT side your doublet opens on, so don’t worry. But just for your information, the German side-closing doublet typically always closed on the left, although they did seem to use a variety of other closures. Moving on…
When you match up the side seam remember- match them right side to right side so that the seam will be on the inside. Sew this seam up (using you ½” seam allowance). Now do the exact same thing with the shoulder straps- right side to right side, use the ½” seam allowance, etc… On all three of these seams, you may want to do “French seams” for strength. If you don’t know what that is- don’t sweat it! Just sew over the same seam twice to give it a little added strength and you’ll be plenty fine.
All that’s left is the closure! On your open side, simply set grommets, make period lace points, or use hook and eye closures- whatever you prefer! And that’s it!
Oh- but wait……………..SLEEVES!
By the way, there is a nifty picture to refer to for this section so, you know….refer to the picture! (Picture being referenced is missing - I will attempt to find it and include it!)
First, you will notice in the picture, a simple, scribbled-out rendition of the basic German side-closing doublet. This one is depicted with a simple, straight line, diagonal slash pattern that could be repeated on the back piece or not. Although the word “slash” tends to make one visualize using a knife or razor to slash our clothes, the safest and most easily controlled manner in which to slash your garment is with a pair of scissors. Just pull the outer fabric away from the liner and make a small cut in an appropriate spot with your scissors. Then feed one blade of the scissors through so you can make nice, controlled cuts in the outer fabric and make your “slashes” turn out right. Remember, you are only slashing the outer fabric! Also, try to make your cuts appear as one long, smooth line, not the jagged cuts you get with sloppy chomp, chomp, chomp type scissor-work. Back to sleeves . . . .
Typically, if you are making the whole thing from scratch, your sleeves will be made from the same material you made the doublet from, but this is not necessarily always the case. Again, for knocking out something quick and cheap for film day, cut corners any way you can! Your sleeves will tie to your doublet, or simply sew them right in!
Examples of different types of sleeves~ (look at the picture again)
A) A large rectangle of fabric, sewn into a tube and gathered at the shoulder and elbow, to give the big, baggy upper, is then sewn to a smaller tube fitted to the forearm. You might add ties at the elbow or wear garters to keep the forearm section from slipping down.
B) Same construction as “A”, with strips of slashed wool added for further decoration.
C) “Sleeves from hell”~ Simply, a tube of wool or felt that narrows toward the wrist. Use a ruler or yardstick to plot out the slashes with chalk, before sewing up the tube. There is no exact science, they should be in the neighborhood of rows of 3”-4”(?) slashes about 2”-3” inches apart. Experiment with smaller pieces first to see how it behaves. The tube should be no shorter than 6’ long and can be up to (?) The longest we have made is 18’. Once the sleeve is attached to the doublet, you just keep pushing the sleeves up onto the arm and then tie at the wrist. The longer the tube, the fuller the look will be. The picture provided shows what the sleeve will look like once it is made, not while it is on. Although it looks boring, once you have pushed the sleeve up onto your arm, a transformation takes place. You will have row upon row of cascading puff and slash up and down the arm. This is one of the EASIEST ways to achieve a good overall “trademark” landsknecht look.
D) Another simple way to get a classic puff and slash look. Strips of wool, (or long tubes of wool, turned inside out, pressed and topstitched on the edges to make them immortal) wide at the shoulder and narrowing down toward the wrist, are held together by smaller strips of wool sewn perpendicularly across them at intervals. (* cheat secret~ sew elastic on the inside of the smaller, intersecting strips to help keep them from slipping down, plus it helps to make each section puff) The puff under the strips is your baggy shirt sleeves coming through, OR you can sew/hot glue/whatever a voluminous lining under the sleeve armature. Another way to make this kind of sleeve is to make a more fitted, regular size jacket type sleeve, but make it a few inches longer. Plot out rows of slashes, varying lengths (usually longer rows on the upper, and shorter rows on the forearm section) There should be about a 1” space between rows of slashes. You will sew down elastic on the inside of the sleeve in the 1” strip of space between your rows of slashes. Experiment with how much extra to add. For smaller puffing in the slashes, you might figure 1/2”. For the bigger sections, maybe 1”-1 ½” For example, if your sleeve is going to have two larger sections up top and three smaller ones on the forearm, using the above method and figuring 1 ½” for the bigger sections, you will need to add 4 ½” of length to the sleeve to get the desired effect. Don’t forget- you will want to have an extra ½” at the shoulder and wrist for seam allowance so that you can fold the ends under, press and sew for a finished edge!
E) This sleeve is somewhat like “D”, but without the intersecting strips. Make a large tube out of your lining fabric. Gather it at the shoulder and the wrist. Now make your long wool strips or tubes (wider at the shoulder, narrower at the wrist) and sew them down at both ends. You may want to tack the strips down to the lining at the midpoint, as when they are only attached at the ends, they tend to sag horrendously, catch on things, and generally tend to get away from the desired look. There are even woodcuts depicting points (bows) that can visibly be seen on the outside of the garment holding strips to linings or to each other. The points on the outside were often used as part of the garment’s aesthetic. You may also choose to simply run a stitch all the way down each strip, attaching it to the lining this way. This will still look good, but it looks a little better when there’s still some degree of overall movement in the sleeve, so I recommend sewing them down only at the midpoint. You can simply run a perpendicular stitch across your wool strips to do this if you wish.