Dancey Pants

Okay, so this is the hemline that i'm playing with for the pants. Advice/comments from the peanut gallery before I cut and sew?

pant "cuff"
The pants, like so many other things lately, are a bit ill fitting. You can see it here, how the crotch is quite low. I think I don't care. Cuz to care means to find new fabric. And I rather like this fabric. I also kinda think that the codpiece will distract from whatever is underneath it, so it probably doesn't matter. Hurray for codpieces! Also, here is hubby doing his best peasant dance. Look at those rosey cheeks. So. Perfect.

peasant dance

Tit for Tat Hat.

Beth expounded on hats this morning. I feel I should reciprocate. Hubbys sketch (which he did for his own costume, so it must be what he wants, right?) shows a close fitting skull cap type thing. I thought, why not make this more "fashionable"? You know, purely depending on your definition of fashionable.

flap hat-bruegel peasant dance

Looking more closely at hat styles, I see that this particular skull cappy cap has earflaps. Oh, what fun....

flap hat-privatelyheldpbruegelyounger

Then, I found this one in a privately held p. breugel painting. Slightly different ear flaps, but very much the same. This one lacks the extension and what i think are ties of the previous one.

flaphatflip--privately held van cleve

Oh, look, we have "fashionable options" here. This rebel has flipped his flaps up! Oh my, the scandal.

So then, all I had to do was get hubby's approval. He looked at me and said "no way am i wearing ear flaps." So I confidently showed him Mr. Earflap Rebel, and now I'm allowed to make the hat! Huzzah! I think I might even make it red. They do seem to like their red hats. Whether it matches or not.

Still Not Perfect

But that'll have to do. The sleeves are attached, and I'm done fussing with them. For now.

They do limit movement a bit, a by-product of my ignorance regarding armscythes. When he lifts his arms, the whole thing comes up. Which is annoying, but its actually what happens in the period paintings, too, so i'm torn. No pic of him lifting his arms, as my camera battery died. ;)

The next time I make one of these doublets, i'm doing an entirely different approach. In retrospect, i think that a modified (ie, for men) version of raveness's bruegal bodice would've been ideal. If hubby finds his current doublet too restricting, I still may make a new one using that approach.


doublet with sleeves and polar bear bands!

A Little Black....

...Goes a very long way. My goal was to dye the linen for lining the army colored jerkin. I had "golden brown" dye, and figured that'd be a nice contrast. Then little miss brilliant (thats me) thought that adding a little black would make it delightfully dingy and peasant like. Indeed, it did. In fact, the black pretty much devoured the golden brown and I was left miraculously with a army greenish black brown. Behold:


The dark green wool with the newly dyed linen on top. Not quite as exciting as having a contrasting lining, but its a delightfully peasanty color, indeed. Should do nicely.

Then I made up my mind about setting the sleeves into the under-doublet. Oh boy, what a decision that was. I had no idea that working an armscythe was so difficult. I'm still working on it, cuz the toile's fit is a still a bit wonky:

Beth--the delightfully hideous print fabric was chosen especially for you.

The pale yellow is the lining for the under-doublet. Hubby has started calling it the "succotash doublet".

The "Wrong" Shirt

Hubby had an atrociously wrong "scottish" shirt from a simplicity pattern I once used on him. Its got flared bell sleeves and gathered shoulder seams and sleeve tops that are poofily gathered into the shoulder. All sorts of frivilous gathering and unnecesary sleeve fabric that left him getting stuck to many a doorknob. We won't mention how its one of the first things I'd sewn after not sewing for a decade and that parts of it were actually sewn on INSIDE OUT. No, mum's definitely the word on that....

Its cotton muslin, so its certainly not the correct cloth for the period, but I thought this shirt deserved a makeover rather than complete abandonment. I de-gathered all the hideousness and then made the collar a plain wide circle, as so many of the flemish shirts seem to be. Oh, and I made those pesky sleeves quite a bit narrower at the wrist--I think i cropped out about a foot from each. I think it looks "close" to what the flemish men wear, and I'm glad to have rescued the bad shirt. Now I just wish it were linen. :)

The face says it all, really.

reworked shirt

I also cut out bits for the doublet and started to assemble. Here's the outside layer in action. I have the lining cut out, but haven't bothered to assemble it yet. I realized after the fact that i did this backwards....probably better to do the lining first. Cuz I noticed that the top of the collar is overlapping oddly, and i need to make an adjustment.

doublet outer layer

I think a quick snip along this line should do it:

doublet fitting

Doublet'd!

Worked on a pattern for hubby's doublets today. I started with a commercial pattern, and made alterations from there. You can see that the original (left side) gave him some weird underarm wrinklage, but i think i trimmed it down so it fits pretty well. I decide that while I was at it, i'd go ahead and mock up half as a flemish and half as a doublet, which is why he looks like Victor/Victoria.

pattern back

pattern front

I must take this opportunity to congratulate myself on using a much less-hideous-than-normal mock-up fabric. Here's the final pattern:

pattern

I'm quite torn on whether to attach full time sleeves to this (more like the period art) or have them be detachable. If ever its too hot for sleeves, he could concievably wear the jerkin alone...but the jerkin is wool.....
Then there is the pesky fact that I have no idea how to properly fit a real sleeve into an armscythe. Hrm.

A useful link

Found this today. Had I searched earlier, it might've saved me some research! Dawn put together quite a nice guide on male peasant wear.

Examining the Flemish Man

As always, the first phase is research. I did my best to pull images that show men with women in similar attire to my own flemish garb. There seem to be quite a few options for me to choose from--definitely a good thing.

Below are the results of my analysis:

For the pants, there are 3-4 styles that I could find:

Option 1:
There are many examples of close-fitting hosen pants/tights with codpieces--I think its actually the most common style. My guess is that these are cut on the bias and sewn to be rather close fitting. Both of the men in the below portrait wear this style. My husband would be none-too-pleased if I made him these, so they were easily eliminated from my list.


bruegel1610

Option 2:
There are full length loose-fitting pants in various fullnesses, closer to modern styles. I quite like these, but think they might be less heat-freindly. My husband gets hot easily and our faires are during the hellish summer months....

aertsen(1) and bol 1550-1600 (2)

Option 3:
Shorter styles of pants, closer to venetian breeches. I liked this option--it should theoretically be cooler, and its closer in style to future projects that I am "warming up" for. Both of the men in the below picture have shorter style pants (to the knee or slightly longer) with hosen to the knee. I particularly liked the side slit look on the pants of the man on the right. This seems to differentiate this flemish style from the typical venetian breeches. I plan to use this style to make my outfit more distinguishable as flemish. (Notice that the same fellow is an example of a sleeveless jerkin being worn without the doublet layer).

bruegel1603

uytaewaelkitchen

This painting also illustrates a shorter pants with hosen--you can see that his hosen have fallen and he is wearing short venetian-style breeches.

On to the torso:
It seems to be most common that there is a close fitting long-sleeved doublet, shortwaisted and often tied to the breeches, with a jerkin (sleevless or short-sleeved) worn over top.

The doublet layer:
As far as I could tell, this underneath layer rarely had buttons, but rather is more likely to fasten via hidden mechanisms--I plan to use hookneyes. You can see the closure on the red doublet below:

aertsen3

Also of note is that this style does not necesarily have the higher neck of other styles of the same time period (though some other portraits show higher necks).

The outer torso--jerkin:
Over the long sleeved doublet, there is a shorter sleeved (or sleeveless, as in the aertsen above) jerkin. When sleeved, this can have several different sorts of sleeves--caps, poufy, longer short sleeves. The below portrait has a good variety on display:


aertsen2

I believe that the sleeveless looser fit examples (as in the aertsen) are more apt for the lowest class, with the styles getting more structured (more tightly fitten, including sleeves) as you increase in wealth (hubby will fall somewere in the middle). There are also examples in the art of men wearing the vest-style jerkins directly over the shirt without the doublet layer, or the doublet layer alone. Great options for a hot day!

The Codpiece:
Yup, that's right. Lucky husband gets a codpiece! At first, I thought that perhaps they only used codpieces with the close fitting hosen style of pants, but the below portrait shows the flemish venetians accented with codpieces. Ooooh, I'm so abnormally excited to make this part. Mwahahahaha.

valkenborch1585

(Notice that this is also a good example of the short-waisted, long-sleeved doublet being worn without the jerkin--man on the left).

Also, take a look at this beauty--showing the points used to tie the codpiece to the hosen, as well as the points tying the doublet/jerkin to the hose.

bruegel1567

The Hats:
There are so many hats to choose from--many in the pics above, but I like this scene for the hat variety. There is a simple skull cap type, a brimmed (or so it seems) muffin style hat, and a brimmed tall hat. Other portraits show straw hats of various styles, as well. Hubby likes the skull cap one the best, I think. Fine by me, cuz that one look sthe easiest to make. ;)


1600s

The Concept:
So, where does this research leave me? With a concept, of course!!!!

Jerkin and Doublet:
Hubby liked the short-sleeved option best for the over-jerkin. I think that I will have buttons on the outer jacket (a higher class option, judging from the portraits), but the inner layer will close with hook'n'eyes. The doublet (light green) will tie to the hosen. I think that for it to be historically accurate it would have to have permanently attached sleeves, but I'll likely take liberties with this and make them removable--temperature regulation is important for our hot summer faires.

Pants/Hose:
The pants will be to the knee or slightly longer with hosen to the knee, and a codpiece tied on with points. I made sure to incorporate the sleeve and pant splits at the bottoms as in the portraits



I really like the sketch. Hopefully the product will get close to it! Hehe.

I Don't Want to be Single....

I have taken a long break from costuming, but the next several weeks promise me some free time that I can think of no better way to spend....

Having finished my own flemish garb, I've been thinking about how nice it would be to have my hubby decked out in attire to coordinate with my own.

I admit to having hidden motives with this project of mine--I have never done menswear before, and I realized that I was in way over my head for the higher class gentlemen's garb that I had planned. This is my starter project. Among other things, I will familiarize myself with drafting patterns to my hubby's unique shape, and learn how pants and doublets work--I've never made pants!!!! Also--CODPIECE!!! Yay!

I already have some lovely homespun-feeling fabrics in my stash, and I think they will make a perfectly drab working class outfit. Below are the fabrics--a pale grey-olive cotton-linen blend (same one that's in my flemish, actually), an army green wool and a drab heather grey fiber unknown....


fabrics

Inspiration art and concept sketch to follow....