Sneak Preview (sort of)

This is one photo from after the play. The costumes are just pinned together, and don't look exactly the way they will when they're finished. Tom's (on the left) looks pretty close to what it will, finished, but Justin's will look a bit more different. They're so silly and adorable... And I'm in the middle with my hair sticking out, looking like I was properly frazzled (which I was, but by that time I was fine, as you can tell by my huge tired grin).

Pluderhose!

The play is finished. Yeah... and the pluderhose aren't. The boys did wear them though - both pluderhosen were stapled and safety-pinned together. ~hides face in shame~ No, you couldn't tell that they weren't finished (well, I definitely could, but nobody else knew), and their pants didn't fall off (I was mortally afraid that Justin's would just fall to pieces during his fight scene!).

So I'm going to just keep blogging my progress, as I actually sew the pluderhose together properly! On the left is a picture of the Erik Sture pluderhose 'waist'. It's attached at the front (you can see the fly folded back). On the right side of the waist, I pinned up the panes so that they would sort of pouch out, like the finished product. On the left side you can sort of see that the panes are about a half inch longer than the base. You can also see all the different layers of fabric - the linen lining, black canvas base, and the linen lining to the top layer. Make sense? It took forever for me to figure out exactly how to do that!!

About a week ago I went to the Bloomfield's to help Tom's mother sew a dress, and while I was there I pinned the pluderhose waist onto Tom to get an idea of what it would look like. It's a good thing I did this, because it turned out that Tom wasn't fat enough (I alternate between calling him too skinny or too fat - he's really just a thin plaid line when he turns sidways) for the waist as it was, and I had to fix that! Of course, when I was there I could hardly run away home again before stuffing something under the panes to see what the waist poufs would look like. The waist poufs are the best part of these pluderhosen, dontcha know. I had brought along some long strips of the taffeta we picked for this costume, and I just threaded those through. I ended up doing this for the play, too, and pinning Tom in the process, but he forgave me (it's perfectly dreadful when you're frantically pinning somebody into their costume as the play starts and they do this sort of jump-an-yelp thing, and you know that you've stabbed them) and all's well...

The pink fabric hanging down the back of his leg is the extra from the waist poufs - my strip of fabric was too long so I just knotted it and let it hang.

'Finished' Is a Relative Term

Well, it really is finished, only except for the buttons! This is Justin's doublet, fake microsuede and red silk trimming. I managed to get little (actually, not little, just younger) brother to put on the shirt and doublet for some photos. He insists that the big white shirt is like a maternity gown, and wasn't very enthusiastic about being pinned into the doublet, but he very kindly allowed me to do it in order to take my pictures (gotta love the baseball cap). Marc is a bit smaller than Justin, so it doesn't fit perfectly, but oh well. Close enough for a few photos!

The only thing I'm that bugs me about it is that the waist seams at center front don't match, because the waist slants down a little. Hmm...

Silk Trimming

So, I haven't posted in a while (shame, shame), but I have worked on the costumes. I have most of Justin's doublet together, and that's the one I'm trimming in silk. The edging is just a bias strip of silk, notched wherever I feel like notching it (something like a half inch apart).

For Justin's doublet, I'm using a microsuede from Home Dec. It's working marvelously, although it's pretty stiff. Because it's so heavy, I'm not interlining it. So far, it hasn't melted from the iron once, and it makes a nice crisp edge too. The part of the costume in these pictures is a shoulder wing, lined with linen.

Button, Button... And Doublet+Skirt pics

Which to use? These are all buttons that I thought looked good (of course, one has to be upside-down, what else?), although I think I'm leaning toward the left- or right-hand buttons. These are for the black corduroy Erik Sture doublet. What do you think?


I've finally gotten the doublet skirt attached!! To reduce bulk in the waist seam, I stiched the outer layers (corduroy and interlining) into one seam, pressing the seam allowance down. Then I hand-tacked the linen lining of the skirt, handsewing the body lining down after, with the seam allowance facing up. Below is a picture (see the rainbow? It's real, I promise).



And now, more pictures (because I love pictures) of the doublet, now with the skirt attached! In the picture of the side you can see a big ripple in the back of the doublet - this is because Tom's waist is long, and Matilda's is short. It actually is a bit short on Tom... Hah, and Matilda looks like she's falling over!

Erik Sture Details

I've been busy on this doublet lately, topstitching (I'm still not finished with it, as you can see on the shoulder wings) and sewing woven cord around the edges. I had originally machine-topstitched around the edges of the wings, but I decided I didn't like that and ripped it out.



The collar and wings are my own modifications from the original garment of Erik Sture. The original collar was integrated into the back pattern piece, and there were no shoulder wings, at least as far as I know. But I think I shall make detachable sleeves, and the wings will cover up the lacing strip while enabling the doublet to be worn without sleeves. The collar I cut on the bias, and it decided to ripple along the sides, so I topstitched it down the middle.


When I was cutting out the front pieces, I forgot to leave enough for a facing on the left side, so I ended up having to tack a separate strip of fabric onto the inside front of the lining. It looks a little makeshift, but oh well. Better that than having my buttonholes stretch all out of shape.


And soon, I'll have the skirt put on!!

Doublet Skirt (I love calling it a skirt - skirtskirtskirt...)

Em, yes. Well, I have actually been working on Tom's costume (that would be Erik, with a few modifications). I'm fingerweaving the trim (which was probably a bad idea to start with, even though it looks good, because now I have a lot of cord to weave...), so it's taking me a bit. Tonight I finished the trim for the doublet skirt, and sewed it up.

It's not impressive (actually quite unimpressive, just look at those wobbly edges!!), but this is what it looks like. I made it up in four pieces, so that I could have the pretty diagonal stripes going every whichaway. Which, of course, you can't see in the picture.

The above picture just shows how I clipped the edges; every layer is clipped separately. And those two long strings hanging out of the seam? That's my cord trim. I can't weave a piece long enough to go all the way around the skirt (the trim is just sewn on the very edge of the seam), so I made two pieces and sewed them into the seam at Center Back.


I think I posted this before, but I'll post it again. I learned how to fingerweave my cord from this article, on the Tudor Costume Page. It really makes a grand, sturdy, authentic-looking cord. And anything that looks authentic has a place in my heart... ;-)

Erik Sture fabric

I had to go buy it. I couldn't help myself, what can I say? Well, there was a sale at the fabric store too. I'm justified.

I've chosen black corduroy (I LOVE corduroy!) for the body of the doublet and pluderhosen, with a shiny pink/burgundy polyester taffeta for the general poufiness. The taffeta turned out to be a little more pink than I had hoped, but Tom saw it when I bought it and likes it, so I'm good. It's a more manly pink than some pinks, anyway. The lining will be either tan or black linen.


I've got an Idea!! It was inspired by all the pretty colours of shot taffeta that were at the store. What I want to do is make the 'poufs' (I really need a better name for them...) removeable. Then I could have them in many pretty shiny colours, and could change them when I wanted. Perk: this would also assist in the washing of the pluderhosen. Yes. I think this is what I shall do. Only problem is that with Erik Sture's pluderhosen, there are these funny waist panes/poufs. But I've been pondering this and I think may have an idea as to how to still make them removable. Perhaps eventually I shall draw a picture of my Idea, but I think I have to try it out first. ;-)

Paper Effigies...

I finished scaling up the doublet pieces for Erik Sture's doublet (which Tom will wear as Buckingham). And after scaling up, I decided to make sure all the pattern pieces matched up with each other. I doubled the size of the original pattern on the photocopier, taped the doublet pieces together, and stuffed the result with fabric scraps (which will eventually end their lives as the stuffing in a 1790s bumroll. Eventually ;-).


'


I discovered a few potential problems. The collar acts funny in the back. I was afraid of this. The collar is very high, and the back neck piece curves quite a bit; I think I'll have to try this out in fabric to see exactly what it'll do. Other things to adjust are, the curving front (which will have to be significantly flattened) and the back doublet skirt (which slants in instead of out). The back might need a bit of adjustment across the shoulders, but I'm not sure of that.

Short and Stout... botheration

As I scale up the Svante Sture doublet patterns, I realize... Svante was a sort of short round little dude. Justin is not a short round little dude.

~sigh~

This means alterations. But they shouldn't be too bad.

Svante Sture

My friend Justin is playing King Richard the III, and I've pretty much decided to put him in Svante's costume. Slightly less fashionable, it is more the suit of an older man from then.

Left is a photograph of the actual pluderhosen worn by Svante Sture. You can see how the bag on the nearest side is turned into a pocket. There is actually a leather drawstring at the top, obscured in the picture by the doublet skirt. The trim is a little hard to figure out from this photo, but Janet Arnold has a few very detailed drawings in her book, and it really is quite interesting. I think I'll attempt the trim, although I've never really done slashing, and I'm not sure how it works...



This is my sketch of the suit. The pluderhosen are so strange. They have weird butts (pardon me, but they do!). I have absolutely no clue how they are put together - they're like no pants I've ever seen. In the pattern, the rise is about 4" wide. Now that, to me, would indicate major wedgie problems - but I've never made period pants before. I'll give the pattern a shot. I think that I shall actually make myself a mockup pair before attempting it on Justin. Anyway, below you can see what the pane pattern looks like, and maybe it makes more sense to you. If it does, please do comment and enlighten me! On the right side of the pluderhosen I have drawn only the panes, and on the left I have included the puffs of fabric between them.



So, do I decide what sort of fabric to buy before or after I make sure the pattern works? I'm inclined to buy it before. But then, I'm always inclined to buy it before, which has been unfortunate in the past. Hmm...

The Beginning

To sum it up, this blog is to document the costumes that I am making for a couple of friends for the play King Richard the III. Yes, the one by Shakespeare, about the Richard the III of England... and the costumes are Swedish. Or German (I'm still a little fuzzy on this point).

I happen to like Swedish/German costume (well, I think I like it - I like pluderhosen anyway. That's the important point.) So, my dear boys are going to be subjected to my attempts at pluderhosen *grins cheerily*. Ah, they haven't a clue what they've signed up for... Poor unsuspecting fellows.

I've checked out Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion from the library and have currently spent at least three hours poring over in, evenings. Pluderhosen are, in a word, weird. No offense to them, I find them fascinating, but they're still quite odd. Unique, in truth. BUT, I think I can puzzle them out. The only thing that I'm most definitely not anticipating making is the codpiece for each pair of hosen. I don't really do codpieces. I don't even really do pants on guys; the only reason I'm doing these is because I find them to be a challenge. Codpeices are a rather absurd and disturbing bit of male vanity, I think, and the thought of making them (especially for my guy friends) simply does not thrill me.

So... perhaps I shall simply ignore it until it refuses to be ignored. Or I could make some sort of very understated codpiece, just enough to preserve modesty. I think I'll take the ignore option. Much less strenuous ;-).