Grey-Brown Tudor Waistcoat

***

So I decided I needed a quick, last minute project for this year's Renaissance Faire (I like to try for at least one new piece every season, even if it's just an accessory) and settled on the short waistcoat from The Typical Tudor.

I knew I wanted to pair it with my short-sleeved red kirtle...

...and so opted for a dark waistcoat, paired with an off-white apron and white linen veil, inspired by a woman in Pieter Bruegel's "Wedding Dance in a Barn".

The Wedding Dance in a Barn, Pieter Bruegel the Younger, c. 1616

Wedding Dance, Follower of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1575-1600

However, I didn't want a pure black coat (since this was going to be a lower status garment) and instead looked for a fabric in either poor black or dark sheep's colour.

I ended up finding the prefect grey-brown wool at Tuch und Stroff.

Next, I made a mockup which --for me-- actually went together fairly quickly.

(and in a rare first, I only made one...as opposed to my usual 5-10 mockups)

The pattern has a slight flair at the waist, but because my early-period kirtle is pretty high-waisted I decided not to bother with it. Instead the jacket will end just below the waistline (with the excess fabric turned up by about 2")

And of course, because this is me...I rather liked the colour of the mockup and decided I also needed to make a cream waistcoat in the future!

However, after looking at the above image, I did make one additional tweak to the waistcoat before cutting the fabric.

Most of the images of short coats (painted by one of the various Bruegels) feature much higher necklines or even small collars.

Since I only had about two weeks to finish the waistcoat I definitely didn't have enough time to alter the pattern to include a collar, so instead I just brought in the neckline by about 1.5".

(As it turns out this will have minor fit implications later)

And with that, it's time to start!

For the construction, I largely followed the same approach as my old blue waistcoat. 

(And so some of the steps will be better illustrated there)

The body is cut with an additional interlining of undyed, slightly course 5.5oz linen.

The body pieces are basted together around the outside edges and then treated as one and stitched together. 

Next it's time to make up the sleeves (wool top fabric and brown linen lining)

This pattern calls for a gusset insert inside the elbow. 

The sleeve lining is inserted (wrong sides together) and stitched down around the outer edge.

Then the sleeve is inserted and sewn into the armscye.

Then the front and bottom edges are turned under (in accordance with my mockup).

Then the jacked is tried on for fit.

And it's not too bad!

Then the fronts are quickly stitched together to get a sense of how everything will line up once the hooks and eyes are added.

As you can see, there is a bit of gaping in the bust and too much overlap at the collar, so these will need to be adjusted and re-folded accordingly.

It's also a tad shorter than the mock up.

The fabric has more give than the cotton muslin, so if anything the opposite should have been true. But I wonder if the higher collar is pulling everything up a bit more.

Either way, the bottom fronts will also have to be let down a bit.

With that done, the body lining is made up. 

First it is sewn around the collar and turned (not pictured) and then the lining is stitched down around the armscye, covering the seams.

Then the lining is pinned in around the fronts and bottom of the waistcoat...

...and stitched down.

The sleeve cuffs are also turned under and stitched down.

The jacket is now nearly done. 

It's tried on one more time for fit (again, sewn together at the fronts).

And it's REALLY tight.

It closes edge to edge...but barely. 

I'm not sure if I set the lining in too tightly, or if the added layer was enough to throw everything off. 

Either way, it's too tight to be comfortable....especially in the sun all day.

My only option will be to unpick the fronts and re-set the lining or even re-do the fronts completely and give myself an extra 1/2-1" of ease.

But I'm out of time!

I'll have no choice but to wear it open and deal with the problem later.

I do, however, add a singe hook and eye to the collar, just so that it closes at the neck (and falls open in a more attractive way).

Finally, given the weekend weather forecast, I ultimately decide against wearing a linen veil and instead opt for a large hat for sun protection.

(A vintage piece I picked up about 15 years ago on eBay)

By far, most of the period images show white veils with this style, but you do also see the odd straw hat (especially on women working in the fields). So I don't feel too badly about it.

Other accessories include an off-white, linen apron.

And a tan leather purse with tassel, to which I've attached a black leather knife sheath (with the knife left at home...obviously).

And that's it!

The little grey waistcoat is complete!

It was a really fun --and fast-- little project.

The fit remains an issue, but I think I'll probably put off taking it apart for the time being. 

Instead, I'll apply what I've learned to the next waistcoat and then decide what to do with this one.

In the end I think it looks rather cute and rakish worn open, and the visible lacing provides a nice bit of visual interest and contrast.

So there's definitely a world where I leave it as is...

***

Resources & Materials

Pattern:  

-The Typical Tudor (book)

Fabric:

-Grey-Brown wool from Tuch und Stroff

-Brown "Judy" linen (5.5oz)  Gray Line Linen

-Natural "Judy" linen (5.5oz)  Gray Line Linen

-Muslin for mockup (any muslin should do)

Trim and Notions:

-Brass hook and eye from The Tudor Tailor shop

Thread:

-Brown silk thread

Other Supplies:

-Swedish pattern paper from Amazon. (This stuff is great! You can iron it!)

-Pattern weights

***

Black Fitted Gown: “The Little Black Dress Experiment”

***

Welcome to the "Little Black Dress Experiment"!

This is truly Mixing & Matching gone mad...

For a bit of context...

Ages ago I got it into my head that it would be fun to re-style a black fitted gown in as many different ways as possible and for as many different decades as possible.

The planning for this project actually goes back to at least 2017 (when the dress was originally made), but the breadth and scope of it ballooned so wildly that it was put perpetually on the back burner.

Fast forward to spring 2024 when I signed on to give a talk at the "Westcoast Elizabethan Clothing Symposium".  An early idea was to structure a presentation all about accessories

(And it would later be titled, Wearing vs Styling: Accessorizing to Create a Period Look)

I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to revive what I'd been calling "The Little Black Dress Experiment" and see how many different looks I could create just by re-accessorizing my black gown.

A summary of that talk can be found HERE and the sub-section specifically focusing on the black dress can be found HERE.

So this post is mostly filler.

It's a repository for all the extra photographs that didn't make it into the presentation as well as some additional background and construction information on the dress itself.

So with that, let's travel back to the heady days of 2017! 

The dress was originally inspired by this image of Catherine Gonzalvus.

It was rushed to completion for that year's Twelfth Night celebrations (during which a friend of mine was receiving her Laurel in the SCA!), and was ultimately restyled with a black tall hat.

But apart from the above image, the only two photographs I have are this hotel room mirror selfie and a shot standing against a black curtain...in which we can see absolutely nothing (thought I still think it's a fun visual).

And for a long time, that was that...

Because the gown was so rushed I really don't have any photos or documentation of the construction process and so it never made it onto the blog.

(Or if I did once have photos they have been long since lost to a pile of old and obsolete memory cards).

To summarize: The pattern was based on the fitted gown from the Tudor Tailor and so the construction of the bodice largely follow that of my earlier Brown Fitted Gown.

However, I did make a couple of changes to the pattern for the black gown. 

First, the front bodice point was lengthened slightly (by approximately 1.5"). 

The narrow sleeves were swapped for the larger sleeves from the Late Period Gown (also from The Tudor Tailor).

And the shaped skirt panels are now just a large rectangle (120" wide) which is cartridge pleated to the bodice, with the front left open.

So, many MANY years later...here is the gown.

Granted, it's not the most interesting look, but that's sort of the point...

It's a blank slate onto which we can project many different styles:

The idea was to accessorize the gown in a way that represented roughly 100 years of fashion, from the 1540s to the 1650s.

Needless to say some of the styling is a bit theatrical (insofar that there are a lot of cheats), but it was still a fun experiment. And I wold argue a largely successful one.

I won't go into depth on the whole process here.

For more information on the inspiration images, as well as the accessories used for each of the individual looks, please see Part 3 my talk.

Okay! Let's jump in...

First, here is a quick look at some of the foundation garments I'll be using for this experiment.

Kicking us off...

The first look is a look broadly meant to represent the 1540s...

Next up, the 1550s...

This style of gown doesn't seem to be very popular in the 1560s, so now we're jumping ahead to the 1570s...

Moving on to the 1580s (the portrait  below is technically dated 1590, but it's a little old fashioned and so more representative of the 1580s)...

Now we're into 1590s (and a very specific style from the 1590s at that)...

Staying in the 1590s, but going up the social scale...

Next up, the 1600s (and what is probably my favourite look of this whole experiment)...

I had looks planned for the 1610s and 1620s, but they didn't get finished in time. 

So next we're jumping WAY ahead to the 1650s...but with a look that is very purposely old fashioned (said to be an image of the last woman in England to wear a ruff). 

And finally a bit of a hodgepodge look that is vaguely 1620s-30s....but not really.

Still, it's fun and I like the stupid red ribbon, so we're going to leave it here.

And that's it!

The Little Black Dress Experiment is complete!

One dress. Nine looks. One hundred (ish) years of history!

Overall I'm super happy with how this turned out...more so than usual!

Even though the looks aren't perfect, I think it's clear how much accessories and underpinnings (bum rolls are doing a lot of work here!) can drastically change the silhouette and over all appearance of an outfit.

I'm genuinely surprised how well some of these turned out and that my favourite looks aren't necessarily the ones I would have guessed at the beginning.

Also, it's nice to finally get this one off the back burner...six years later!

***

(EDIT: And just for fun, here's a little cheat-sheet by decade)

***