Rapunzel Jerkin

This may be the fastest I've ever turned around a garment. With one week to go before an upcoming (February) event, I was worried about being cold. So I decided to make a wool jerkin to go over my planned outfit for the day. I had always planned on adding another layer to my 16th Century Rapunzel-inspired outfit, but had not gotten around to deciding on a cloak, cassock, jerkin, etc. The weather helped me make that decision and I worked from fabrics I had in my stash to create a punched and slashed wool jerkin.

The Process:

The pattern is based off my doublet pattern with a few modifications. I added 1/2" of ease in the side and shoulder seams so it would comfortably fit over the doublet. I also lowered the neck because it was a little too high and choking on the original pattern. Finally, I lowered the waist by 1/2" so that the jerkin would more fully cover the doublet when worn together.

In the end, I took out most of this additional ease and length changes except the neck. 

With the pieces cut out, I set to punching and slashing. I experimented with many patterns before I found one I liked. I used a custom flower-shaped punch which I'd ordered off Etsy, a circular punch from Tandy Leather, and a Tudor Tailor straight slash. The flower punch would have probably been fine with leather, but it wasn't quite sharp enough for the wool and I struggled to get clean cuts. With a little help from my embroidery scissors and a lot of patience, I had all the pieces decoared. 

Next up was construction. Each of the wool pieces was based to the decorative purple silk and a layer of linen canvas interlining (don't mind the teal, it's just what I had lying about). Then these pieces were sewn together by machine. 

The tabs were added at the waist and armscyes. The waist was easy to do with the garment flat on a table, but the armscyes required the jerkin on a dressform to get the positioning right without trying it on over and over. With the major construction complete, I ironed all the seams open. 

I completed the rest of the jerkin sewing on a 9 hour car ride so my photos are severely lacking, but the remaining steps were:

1. Turn over the collar top edge and finish

2. Turn over the armacye and finish

3. Whip bulky and unruly seams into place

4. Attach silk facings to the doublet front edge

5. Attach buttons (in this case, I used the attachment method where the button shank is passed through the fabric and secured with a leather cord on the back)

6. Fingerloop braid cord to make button loops (I kinow button loops were used on shirts and doublet collars, I'm not sure they were used on full garment closures. However, I made my slashes too close to the edge and couldn't make button holes. You do what you gotta do!)

I wore the jerkin unlined at its first event, but eventually I will go back and line it in linen or more of that beautiful silk. I'm really happy with how it came out for a 5 day project. 

Completed Jerkin:

The next time I attempt a jerkin I will make sure I have my pattern settled before beginning construction. Punching and slashing gives you less room for error in your fit as I learned with the button placement. I'd also like to try my hand at leather next and see how much the punching experience differs. 

I displayed the entire Rapunzel outfit at Atlantia's Kingdom Arts & Sciences Festival 2023. My documentation was light and heavily recycled from Rapunzel's first outting in 2019, but it's viewable here.