Fabric and Fiber

Revenge of the Stitch VII Winners - 1580s Venetian Sailor's Ensemble

Full writeup by team lead Magister Ishmael Stedfast Reed available here.
Full documentation submitted by the team available here.

An entire four-garment outfit, plus accessories, completed with no machine assistance in 24 hours.

Yeah, I didn't realize what I was getting into either.

I volunteered to be the 6th teammate of Roxbury's Stitch team a month before the competition to make sure they were fully staffed. Besides, it was a team of fencers making an outfit from my period, so it sounded like a perfect project to learn more about handsewing and venetian garb.

I operated as Ishmael's sous-sewist for the majority of the competition. I spent my time doing the more straightforward work on the doublet so the more experienced or speedy members of the team could handle the more complex work. Largely, this covered attaching the interlining panels, whipstitching the structural seams of the torso and arms, adding piping, and and a very large portion of the time felling down the facings, finishings, and linings.

I'm exceedingly grateful to all the other members of my team, Ishmael especially, who helped me tackle this challenge. All of their hard work in planning and preparation made for my last-minute addition to the team very smooth and straightforward. I had precious little handsewing experience at all, but my team always provided me with clear guidance, tips, and patience as we worked our way through this incredibly ambitious challenge. I walked away far more comfortable with a needle than any amount of personal practice would have given me, and the entire experience was a joy. With a final score of 29/30, I think we did a pretty nice job, all told!

When we were all done, THL Nicolo Santorio looked like a Moroni portrait. And I suppose that's probably good enough on its own.

The final result:

Doublet
- Sienna moleskin outer (we couldn't source fustian), interlined in jute, faced with cream silk in cuffs and behind buttonholes, and lined in undyed linen. Accented with blue wool piping on the back and sides. Closed with thread-wrapped buttons: 19 on the front, 3 on each sleeve.
Shirt
- White linen with falling collar and gauntlet cuffs. Embellished with silk blackwork-style embroidery. Cuffs close with 2 self-stuffed fabric buttons.
Venetian Breeches
- plain-weave blue wool, lined in burgundy twill wool, faced with cream silk. Closed with 4 matching thread-wrapped buttons.
Belt
- Unaccented veg-tanned leather, brass buckle hand-stitched into place.
Hose
- White twill wool.
Pouch
- Geometric-patterned silk, hand-braided leather cord closure, glass bead accents.
Garters
- Knitted from red wool yarn.

All items on this list, with the exception of the thread-wrapped buttons, were produced by hand in the time allowed. No sewing machine was used at any point. Shoes and hat were brought premade for final runway purposes only.

Blackwork (redwork?) embroidered accents on the sleeves and collar of the shirt done by Lady Helena Kassandreia on-site. She cut the pieces, disappeared for 6 hours, and returned with perfect embroidery.

Ishmael hard at work on one of the 33(!) buttonholes required for the outfit, using methods taught by Master Ffernfael of Carleon. Using the blue color from the pants for the doublet piping and the buttonholes to provide subtle contrast is honestly my favorite part of the whole outfit.

As the clock ran into the last hour, it took six hands on the doublet at once to attach the sleeves and finish felling all of the lining panels. Here, Ishmael, Lady Leonarda Delchiario, and I all scramble to finish the work in time. We made it with 15 minutes to spare!

16th Century Italian Outfit - Jerkin over chainmail, with paned trunkhose

I was thrilled when I first came across the 1565 "Portrait of a Gentleman" by Moroni for several reasons. It was the first documented image of Renaissance clothing in green that I'd ever seen, and it was also the first extant depiction of the SCAdian habit of wearing a chain shirt under a jerkin. It was honestly this image that was a large part of my decision to reshape my persona into Aurelio, 1550s Venetian.

I was (and still am) quite the sewing novice, but I decided to make a simplified version of the jerkin and take a reasonable assumption at the bottom half of the outfit. The doublet I patterned myself with the help of several friends, and the trunkhose came from a Fantasy Fashions pattern. I was also excited because it let me use a really pretty oak-leaf pattern printed cotton that I had bought from Joann's without a plan simply because I liked it. Both the jerkin and pants were faced with that oak leaf cotton and lined with midweight linen. Buttons were pewter cast buttons from Burnley and Trowbridge. It took about 40 hours of patterning, cutting, and sewing, spent mostly on the pants. I also added two modern conveniences: a zipper closure on the pants hidden behind the codpiece, and held them up with suspenders instead of pointing to the jerkin.

I'm largely happy with how the outfit came out, but there are a few unexpected cons. The pants are *very* heavy and, being held up by suspenders, put most of their weight on my shoulders. Since my armor also puts 15 lbs of chainmail weight on my shoulders, this makes the outfit pretty exhausting to wear for an entire event. I'm looking forward to redoing the ensemble in the future with a more accurate jerkin, lighter and better-fitting pants, and actually making an undershirt to match the portrait.

Portrait of a Gentleman

Giovanni Battista Moroni

Italy, 1565

Portrait of Aurelio Vitrisoni

THL Nicolo Santorio

Maryland, 2019

Leather Jerkin for Court Garb

After stumbling on some beautiful forest-green deerskin at a merchant at Pennsic, I knew what it was destined for. I took the jerkin I made for the above outfit and adjusted the pattern with help from my lady and after a few revisions I had an even better fitting design. I cut it out on the leather, having just *barely* enough for the back panel. I ended up having to split it into two sections to be able to get the required square footage, but that also let me get a really neat decorative chevron seam in the back. I attached shoulder caps and skirting panels made from the excess, and used more of the same buttons I ordered for the oak leaf jerkin.

I have since revised the buttons, changing them from individually sewn in to long-shank buttons mounted on a leather cord that runs the length of the front seam. More historial and also easier to repair! At the same time, I added silk piping to the seams for additional decoration.

I will eventually get around to slashing it once I settle on a pattern I like.

Silk Banner with Personal Heraldry and Motto

Made after taking a class from Mistress Helena in Cynnabar. I purchased the dyes, resist, and fabric from Dharma Trading, the PVC frame materials from Lowes, and the suspension clips and rubber bands from Staples.

I designed the banner in Illustrator using vector copies of the Shire of Roxbury Mill heraldry and Bowen crosses from my own arms. Disce Et Meliora is my personal motto, and translates to "Learn and Improve". This is also a textual representation of my heraldry's ouroboros charge, which was used in Renaissance alchemy to represent the never-ending cycle of self improvement and the pursuit of greater knowledge and understanding.

Bayeux-Stitch Heraldic Favor 1

When my wife and I lived in separate states, I wanted us to be able to bring a little bit of each other to events with us. So I learned a basic embroidery stitch from the Bayeux Tapestry to make belt favors with our arms on them. I took the embroidered linen, sewed it to a backing with a sleeve to pass a belt through, and added coordinating trim as an accent. This one features my arms, and was gifted to her.

Bayeux-Stitch Heraldic Favor 2

This is the counterpart to the previous piece, THL Nyvein bat Rav Adam's arms that I embroidered to make a belt favor for me to wear to events in the Mid.

I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that, even though it only took me a few evenings to make it, it was six months after I finished the first one before I made this second one.

Inkle band for Grand Day of Tournaments

I took inkle lessons in a 3-hour workshop at Pennsic that had me walking straight to Egil's Woodstuffs after the end of the lesson for a loom of my own. I made a few different lengths of trim in the 3-5 yd range with this simple chain pattern in different colors to practice warping the loom and learning to control tension. All of them were in #10 cotton crochet thread.

This particular piece, 4 yards in Cynnabar colors, was given to Lord Rowland the Clever as a Marshal's Conduct Choice prize at Grand Day of Tournaments in 2018.

Inkle woven belt for Nyvein bat Rav Adam

Nyvein bought a gorgeous Ottoman outfit complete with block-printed kaftan at Pennsic one year, and for Christmas I made her a bright woven belt to go with the ensemble. This was made of thicker cotton yarn than I had worked with in the past, which made weaving the 3-ish yards of belt go much quicker than I expected!

My favorite part of the belt is the chain pattern in the center is woven from a gradient-dyed yarn, so the chain appears to fade in and out in different ways along the length of the design.

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