Garb Projects & Other Arts

A variety of period and period-adjacent garments made for SCA wear and combat!

Winter 2022: "A Study in Black" Wool Doublet and Paned Slops Suit (1560-1570)

This suit was a dream of mine for years, so much so that I purchased a lot of the necessary black materials over a year ago, in 2021. However, when I realized I was going to have to play the Secretary in my play "The Murder of Thomas Brinde" , I knew I needed an all-black ensemble much sooner than anticipated to fit the role. And so, I furiously began sewing.

Because I was aiming for a particular time period (an older man, with the main action taking place in the 1570's), I aimed for 1560 - 1570 as my target time period in style. This is earlier than my normal garb, which tends to the later preference for full-waisted but slim-legged Venetian breeches -- the paned, pumpkin-shaped slops would be brand new to me.

Antonis Mor (Netherlandish, 1519-1576). Portrait of a Gentleman, 1569. Oil on canvas; 119.7 x 88.3 cm (47 1/8 x 34 3/4 in). Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1937.1.52. Andrew W. Mellon Collection. Source: NGA

Giovanni Battista Moroni (Italian, 1520-1579). The Tailor, 1565-70. Oil on canvas; 99.5 x 77 cm. London: National Gallery, NG697. Source: National Gallery

Giovanni Battista Moroni (Italian, 1520-1579). Giovanni Gerolamo Grumelli, called Il Cavaliere in Rosa (The Man in Pink), 1560. Oil on canvas; 216 x 123 cm (85 x 48 3/8 in). Bergamo: Fondazione Museo di Palazzo Moroni. Lucretia Moroni Collection. Source: The Frick

Step 0: Materials

I used a wide variety of materials over the course of this project, but here is a list at the beginning, as if following a recipe! For this suit, I used:

Black Silk Taffeta -- 2 yards

facings for collars, cuffs, and buttonholes on doublet
liner for doublet skirts

made into edging trim
pointing strip fashion fabric

Heather Black Summer-Weight Suiting Wool -- 4 yards

main doublet fashion fabric
slops fashion fabric

Polyester Silk Satin -- 2 yards***
(I could only stand to use the matte side; the shiny side was INCREDIBLY fake-looking)

slops panel liner
slops waistband facing

Brick Red Loose-Woven Wool- 4 yards

doublet liner
slops liner

Cotton Canvas -- 2 yards

slops panel, waistband, canion interliner
pointing strip interliner

Sienna Moleskin -- 1 yard

slops legs base structural layer

Dark Grey Wool Twill -- 2 yards

slops underlayer (the "poofy" part)

Jute Canvas -- 2 yards

doublet interliner
doublet padding

Buckram -- 1/4 Yard

buttonhole strip on doublet

Various Trim: Black Silk Charmeuse, Black Silk Taffeta, Black Silk Satin

Edge and body trimming across the doublet and slops
Actual amount on final suit remains to be seen -- time-dependent!

As you can see, I used a wide variety of different materials here. I also used: black coating-weight thread, black all-purpose thread, black silk thread, and pink coating-weight thread, depending on the need. The actual usage really determined which materials were best. For example, I knew I needed a different level of interlining structure between the slops panels (light), the doublet body (medium), and the buttonhole strip (hard), and so I chose cotton canvas, jute canvas, and buckram respectively to best suit those uses. Similarly, I knew that the moleskin leftover from the Revenge of the Stitch Project would have so little stretch that it would be perfect for the structural layer of the slops, while not being so thick that the already-heavy pants would become unbearable to wear!

Finally, for aesthetics in "A Study in Black", I really wanted to explore all of the different kinds of black I could find for one suit. To that end, this suit includes 3 different kinds of black silk and two kinds of black wool in order to provide variety and interest through texture and shine, rather than color.

Historically, monochromatic suits are very common in portraiture, both in England and on the Continent -- sometimes so much so their details are hard to make out!

Nicolas Neufchatel (c. 1527 - 1590) - Portrait of a Man Holding a Letter

Francesco Salviati (1554) - Portrait of a Man Holding a Letter

Marcus Gheeraerts (1591) - Sir Francis Drake (Who Is Not Holding a Letter!)

Step 1: Patterning

The process began with re-patterning my doublet pattern, which I had not changed since 2020. I had learned a lot since then, and I wanted to better create a period-accurate silhouette, which meant a couple of changes:

I needed to try and revisit my armscye shape, which was cut too wide and created pulling in the doublet when I moved my arms around.
I wanted to move the side seams onto the small of the back rather than directly on my sides, which would make more period pieces.
I received accurate feedback on my white doublet made from the 2020 pattern that the waist was too low, so I raised it.

Notice the shape differences in the pattern peices below, labeled as either "2020" or "2022":

You can see in these photos some of the drastic changes I had to make to my pattern to get it closer to an appropriate silhouette. For years I had compensated for an incorrect armscye by making a huge sleevehead (the paper 2020 sleeve pattern), and then gathering extra material in as necessary. Although this is a deliberate look in some times and places, a more tailored look was really the late-16th century standard I was aiming for, so the much more trim sleeve was the way to go. The curve in the sleeve is also less severe, so I get less pulling in the arm when I straighten my arm inside it, although it hangs quite naturally when I am at rest.

You can see the oversized armscye in the 2020 muslin back pattern here on the left. Besides making that opening cling much closer under my arm to ensure better movement during shoulder rotation, I also drafted a new collar/shoulder curve that would create more of the dramatic flare of the collar expected in cutting-edge fashion of the time. Ultimately, I cut this collar down to just along below my jawline on the final doublet, in order for my existing ruffled shirt collar to show out the top, as well as to increase mobility -- I will make a full-height collar in a doublet I don't have to perform in! The extreme curve between the back seam and where the collar begins (the right side of both patterns) helps to tuck the doublet into the nape of the neck and prevent bunching there as the collar begins.

Finally, I had to conquer both the waist and armscye of the doublet. You can see in these two pictures just how much smaller the armscye on the 2022 (paper) pattern is, as well as how much further back the side seam will go. This ultimately gets much closer to a lot of period construction, and creates a better silhouette. Notice how much shorter the piece is than my 2020 pattern, especially in the front!

Step 2: Scaffolding & Structure

The second step was going to be creating the structured portion of the suit -- most importantly, the padded body. I had tried pad stitching in wool padding in my red suit, but the end result felt like a winter coat, and I had to cut it out! I was determined to make pad stitching stick in this case, so I found some inspiration in the incredible book 17th Century Men's Dress Patterns, 1600-1630, which includes exploded diagrams for extant garments from just post-period. These diagrams include what the layers are made of, and I found a great example of pad stitching through multiple layers of interlining canvas or linen for light padding, rather than relying on wool or other true "padding" to exaggerate a shape:

Notice (blurrily) in the bottom of the first image, how the interlining is labeled as "linen" and "two layers of linen", which had then been pad-stitched. I used these guides, as well as the variety of different levels of "structure" I had seen in period portraiture, group scenes, and extant pieces over the years to justify a wide range of structural options, rather than insisting on heavy padding.

Laying out and cutting the fashion fabric, which is a summer-weight, extremely thin suiting wool in heathered black -- it will be interlined onto a jute cavas, with multiple layers of the canvas used for pad-stitching.

A front piece of the doublet after interlining -- notice how the slight stretching of the fashion fabric around the jute is already encouraging it to curve around the body.

New pattern coming together! Pad stitching and an extra canvas layer had already been added to my left side (the right side of this mirrored image), and you can see how smoothly the chest and shoulder pieces sit together.

Pressing out seams on the torso.

A close-up on pad stitching, as well as a look at the interior scaffolding layer. You can see piecing of scrap canvas to fill in the padding layers, as well as multiple layers across the top of the shoulders and around the chest and armscye, just like the exemplar in the exploded diagram, above.

The doublet is almost entirely handsewn from start to finish, save for some machine basting of skirting layers at the end of the process. Structural seams on the doublet were done by hand with a backstitch or running backstitch, and liners were attached by hand felling or whipstitching, depending on where on the garment.

The buckram was used in a strip behind the buttonhole facing (made of silk taffeta). This much thinner, and much... crisper layer would keep the buttonholes very flat while not being as bulky as the much tougher jute I used elsewhere.

After the main structure of the doublet was finished, it was time to start trimming. I started with the sleeves, in silk charmeuse trim.

Normally, trim would be applied to the doublet while it was still flat, to make straight lines easier. However, I wanted to do spiral trim down the arm, and found assembling the garment to be the easiest way to plan to make the two spirals even visually, as well as better connect that trip to the rest of the pattern I am hoping to make on the doublet.

Scaffolding for the slops layers. The gathered grey twill pieces at the top of the image already have a moleskin base layer basted to them. Each panel (back, middle, and front pieces from left to right in this image) are each made of three layers: the liner (poly satin), the interliner (pink canvas), and the fashion fabric (wool suiting). I used Margo Anderson's Elizabethan Men's Slops pattern for this build, as time was short and developing my own pattern of a garment I'd never made before would not be feasible. Her historical notes and construction recommendations were invaluable to save time.

Most of the straight seams, especially on the panels, were done by machine, although all the gathering, basting, and curved seams like inseams were done by hand on the slops. I'm hoping to achieve an earlier-Elizabethan look with these slops (1560-1570), as seen below:

Step 3: Putting the Pieces Together, and Finishing

Rough mockup to get a sense of the design -- it's all starting to come together! The actual amount of trim I am able to add will really depend on the time goes between now and my play on the 18th of February, but otherwise I will add more as time goes on.

Hand-sewing through this many layers required judicious use of my leather thimble, and I still wound up with gnarled fingertips!
I used pink coating weight thread as my basting thread, to make it apparent where it was for picking out later.

All of the collected cabbage from the project. It will not go to waste! In this case.... it will be inside my slops! "Wadding" the slops to get a full padded look is necessary, and this will do nicely!

The whole between the base layer, underlayer, and outer layer of the slops. This is where all of the "wadding" (in my case, cabbage from the project) will go. It will need to be periodically fluffed up to keep an even look, or it will all settle at the bottom of the slops.

Slops have been stuffed! Hopefully this will create a much fuller look.

When your project can sit up on its own, you must be headed in the right direction!

Working on the canions here. Each canion (the straight leg part that goes to the knee -- literally "little cannon") is interlined in cotton canvas and lined in the red wool twill to match the slops and doublet.

Hand-sewing eyelets for the first time! This is the first time I'll have a properly pointed suit! I made my current point out of brass aglets glued and crimped to cut modern shoelace, but hope to fingerloop period laces next!

.... And that is where we stand at time of writing. I made silk taffeta trim to go around the edge of the skirts, completed the canions on the slops, and finished pointing the entire thing in this image.

At time of writing, I am only closures away from a complete suit. I am intending on using black silk thread-covered buttons made by Christina of Roxbury Mill and hand-sewing my buttonholes down the doublet, in pairs of two -- a neat look that you occasionally see, especially in Italian rennaissance garments.

The slops will be closed with black hooks and eyes, and then covered with a codpiece which I am hoping to make in January.

This project is the most completely period silhouette and construction I have yet accomplished, including successful padding, wadding, pointing, and other historical structural techniques. Hope to update soon with the finished look!

APRIL 22-24, 2022: Revenge of the Stitch VII (click for documentation)

a 1580's Venetian sailor outfit, hand-sewn in 24 hours, and winner of the 2022 Revenge of the Stitch Competition! For this project, I worked with the incredible team pictured below. As the team captain, I was responsible for organizing the team members, the overall ensemble design, documentation, and acquiring some necessary materials. I was also primarily responsible for completing the doublet, as well as ensuring the team completed all of our other tasks by 5pm on Saturday. I'll cover each of their contributions first, before finishing with how I spent my time.

Each member of the team had an incredible amount of work to do:

Lady Helena Kassandreia was primarily in charge of the shirt, which she patterned off of a historical exemplar from Patterns of Fashion 4. She decorated the linen cuffs and collars with plant-dyed silk embroidery patterned of of a Venetian portrait. She also furiously knit red wool garters on site!

Lady Leonarda Delchiario worked on almost every garment in the ensemble: she patterned and finished the hose, constructed the liner for the pants, finished seams for the shirt, and helped me furiously attack the lining to the doublet in the last few hours. She also completed buttonholes (there are 33 total on the garment!)

Lord Ffernfael of Carleon was in charge of constructing the venetian breeches, which I had patterned previously. After several fit issues on my part, he also helped to fix my pattern and reconstruct the pants, including buttons and buttonholes.

Lord Aurelio Vitrisoni was my right-hand man from 5pm Friday to 5pm Saturday. He helped stitch the interlining of the doublet, structural seams in the torso and arms, as well as felling down the lining throughout. He was instrumental in completing the necessary finishes on the sleeves in particular, tackling all of the facings and finishings around the cuffs save for buttons and buttonholes.

Lord Nicolo Santorio was the model, and his Venetian persona was the inspiration for the entire ensemble! He entered as a sewer with little hand-sewing experience, but took to it quickly! He helped knit garters, and most mostly responsible for sewing the lining on his doublet together.

(NOTE: Over the two years we planned to enter Revenge of the Stitch, team members changed several times. This team was the final one that entered the competition, though we could not have done it without previous support from other members of the Shire!)

For my part, the doublet took the greater part of my 24 hours of sewing. After patterning and making a muslin mock-up before the competition, I went into the competition committed to creating a well-structured and well-finished garment. To that end, I interlined the torso of the doublet in jute canvas, before attached the finished torso pieces together with a whipstitch, inserting wool tape into the seams cut from the same cloth as the venetians. This created blue stipes in the seams, as well as reinforced the structural seams.

After accidentally sewing the wrong pieces together and having to rip them apart, we finally got the torso on Nicolo (a cause for celebration!)

From there, I began work on finishes well in advance. I cut out portions of the canvas interlining where the final facings for buttonholes would go to reduce thickness in that area, and partially bag-lined the facing into the front of the doublet, going back and using felling stitches in the corners where the front piece met the collar and bottom seams. After tacking the front facing to the interlining to hold the back portion in place, I tackled the collar. After two redraws of the pattern shape to get it to fit properly, I interlined the collar and attached it as my last task on Friday night (technically Saturday morning) . Our took an hour or two's rest in cabins and tents, and then we were back to work on Saturday morning.

Most of Saturday was spent on finishings. After a quick tutorial from Ffernfael to correct some differences in our buttonholes and make sure they all looked the same, Leonarda and I worked together to trade off the buttonholes on the torso of the doublet while Ffernfael took the pants. I was able to help other members with steps they weren't familiar with (gathering the pants with Ffernfael, teaching Nicolo or Aurelio how to complete a particular step in the doublet construction, etc.) And then 3 of us at a time had to furiously sew and enclose the armscye seam, while nicolo attacked buttons to each cuff.

Aurelio and Nicolo were coming in to the competition with little or no real hand-sewing experience on garments like this, and it was an absolute pleasure to teach them what I have learned in the last 5 years. Ffernfael needed help with some patterning Issues (that I created!) as well as gathering, which he had not done before. In every case, they learned fast and sewed solidly for the entire time -- these gentlemen were essential to finishing on time. Leonarda and Helena needed less direct assistance on their garments, but were incredibly hardworking and productive during the entire competition, and the ambitious goals that I set would never have been possible if Leonarda hadn't been able to replicate a perfect buttonhole after seeing it done once, or Helena's industrial-speed knitting!

Overall, I am extremely proud of what we accomplished in 24 hours. Compared to a similar outfit I helped to pattern and sew in 2018, I demonstrated much more control of the proper stitching techniques, construction techniques to create a proper structure, and finishes to create a smooth final product. The end result is a magnificent fit through the torso, although the arms are certainly not set in quite right, and do pinch and bunch at different parts of the sleevehead. The pants cuffs do not quite line up either, and I would like to go back and ease them in to each other more smoothly so those differences don't show.

And, of course, Nicolo looks like an absolute BOSS.

More glamour shots of the finished garb below:

Doublet exterior

Doublet facings

Doublet interior

Doublet back

Venetians interior

Venetians front

Shirt collar

Shirt cuffs

APRIL 2022: RED WOOL SUIT, LINED IN CREAM SILK

a Red Elizabethan Suit, featuring pinking based on a portrait exemplar using period punches, a grown-on collar (my second, after the white doublet), hand-applied metallic soutache trim (narrow braid specifically), all visible seams hand-sewn.

This suit was a 2-year journey, beginning in April 2020, and completed in April 2022. I initially began designing this suit to be the best man in an Elizabethan wedding, and had to restart the doublet...twice.

After using the white canvas doublet to confirm my new pattern, I was ready to begin. I included wool padding on a canvas interlining, all inside the wool fashion fabric and silk liner. The first time I had to re-make the doublet, it was after completing the pad stitching completely -- trying it on, I realized that the doublet looked and felt like a winter coat, and was unflattering, heavy, and hot. And so... I ripped out all of the padding, all of the pad stitching, and the interlining. The wool was just so stiff, it didn't need as much filling and structure as I had planned.

And so, I found a period model doublet to use for a new concept, of pinking the doublet to reveal the cream silk beneath. It was after this complete re-make of the doublet that I had to start over a second time. This time, because I was impatient and cut the pinks using scissors, which looked... awful (see photos below). And so, I set about completely remaking the doublet for the third time, this time using the proper punches, purchased from the Tudor Tailor.

After all of this, I learned a lot. This was my first time using such narrow braid trim as soutache, and I have to say the look is great, although it is fiddly (I used 12 yards on this doublet, and the suit probably could take another 12 yards to look even more period). This was also my first time pinking with the cutting set, and I am never going back: it was so consistent and easy to use!

Ultimately, I am very proud of this suit. I think it is a good exemplar of all the cumulative lessons I've learned in the last 5 years of garb-making, and I am planning to add pockets to the pants, and an oxblood leather jerkin overtop.

There are a bunch of progress photos below, plus previous projects with documentation!

The inspiration, the portrait of Sir Thomas Monson.

The finished suit at Atlantia's Coronation of Cuan XI and Adelhait III, April 2022. Smarmy look for the camera! Photo by Giavanna Fabbri

The initial doublet, complete with appropriate interlining and padding in period fashion. I may have chosen too thick a pad, or too stiff materials throughout, but the fit was not pleasant.

The soutache is all applied by hand, hand-sewing through the center with a backstitch.

This seam was just too pretty not to take a photo of!

Planning the trim on the arm. Each band of trim is technically applied in an arc rather than straight around the sleeve, so that the differences between inner and outer sleeve length are accounted for.

Final assembly after the second complete re-make of the torso.

Buttonholes in progress. I ultimately chose cream buttonhole thread, which I thought was a nicer tie-in to the cream showing through the slashes, rather than trying to match the gold soutache trim.

Do not try and slashes fabric with scissors. It will not go well. These looks like the carpet in an airport, not a luxurious doublet!

Planning buttons and buttonholes.

The pants before gathering, multiple yard around at this stage. I including a thin strip of silk between the lining and fashion fabric down each side seam, so that I could have two rows of pinking there to tie the suit together without lining the whole thing in silk.

Gathering the pants -- soooo heavy!

a Leather Jerkin, unlined and pinked, after the Museum of London jerkin. Sewn entirely by hand using a glover's needle. I've since gone back and re-mounted the buttons on a leather cord punched through the body piece, rather than sewn on. I've made one other leather jerkin since this one, and learned a lot. I still prefer to use the glover's needle over pre-punching the holes, and as long as I keep using garment-weight leather, that won't be a problem.

photo courtesy of Nick Ferris

DOCUMENTATION

a hand-stitched Russet Wool Doublet, period construction, fabric buttons. The first doublet I interlined and sewed by hand, approx. 100 hours. The buttonholes were completed by hand using instruction from the Modern Maker on a 14hr car trip to Maine. Also featuring a Green Velvet Sword Belt, interlined with multiple layers of canvas, metal furniture from Darkwood Armory.

DOCUMENTATION

photo courtesy of Isabelle Roza photography.

a Green Linen Doublet, with Velvet Trim, faced in remnant silk and lined in Undyed Linen. This one was actually a stash-buster, but wound up being one of my most favorites -- very comfortable! Featuring my beautiful wife behind me!

photo by Ric Brown

This was my first attempt at applying trim to a doublet, and I learned a lot about order of operations! Making the velvet trim was tricky, as it wanted to just fall apart everywhere, but the final look came out great, and also reinforced the seams.

The wings are also whip-stitched directly on top of the shoulder seam, rather than being inserted, reduced bulk while still allowing them to cover any gathers there. Highly recommended!

a Quilted Arming Doublet, with two layers of padding for HEMA and C&T fencing. Definitely too warm to wear to your average outdoor SCA event, but for Lord Baltimore's Challenge, a HEMA/SCA crossover event in MD, I wanted to be sure I was protected from bumps and bruises.

photo by Nicolo Santorio

a Pinked Blue Wool Doublet, lined in White Linen. I've since remounted these buttons through the material with a fingerloop braid I made, rather than being sewn on the front. Also patched at least one torn pink.

photo courtesy of Tannis of Tir-y-don

a Canvas Doublet & Wool Breeches, made during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The doublet was meant to be a softer, less-structured garment that I could throw on to fight in the heat of summer, so it is ruggedly made and simply decorated. The wool breeches were an excellent stash-busting project, and also my first time adding POCKETS!