Red “Field of the Cloth of Gold” Kirtle

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This is another project that has been on my to do list for a while.

It started almost exactly a year ago: I made my first mock up during the July long weekend last year and took these photos over the same holiday weekend this year. 

It was meant to be a quick summer project, but it was almost immediately derailed...because I have the attention span of a gerbil.

I'd wanted to make a red kirtle for ages and fell in love with the bold, black and yellow accessories of the one featured in the Hampton Court painting "The Field of the Cloth of Gold" (circa 1545).

But (as explained in the the write up for my Blue Kirtle) on the verge of cutting my fabric I became distracted by this image...

... and completely shifted the colour palette of the whole project.

It was super fun (and I went a bit nuts on the Mix & Match), but with that out of my system I immediately returned to the red kirtle...reasoning that if I put off off again I would never get it done. 

On the plus side, after creating a bevy of different accessories for the blue kirtle, I now had virtually all the pieces I needed to complete this outfit! Minus the kirtle itself...

I won't go into detail on the construction since it's basically the exact same process as the blue kirtle. The only difference is that I folded back an additional 1/2" or so on either side of the center lacing edge to create a larger gap at the front of the bodice (to mirror the fact that the bodice in the original painting doesn't close all the way).

The skirt is constructed and pleated exactly the same as before.

I did leave the skirt a little longer this time (again to match the painting) but I think I actually prefer the shorter length of the blue one.

So through the magic of editing, the kirtle is done!

On to the accessories!

The linen headwear is a little different from the blue kirtle. Instead of the white trapezoidal veil, I opted for the split veil from my my linen veil experiment.  

The look is similar, but has the option to be a bit more polished and structured.

The over-partlet is the deep 'V' style seen in many Breughel paintings. It's made of black wool and lined in black linen.

 A small pewter hook from The Tudor Tailor is stitched to the point.

This is worn over a white linen, under partlet.

(Which has been in the rotation since my blue Trevelyon gown/kirtle hybrid thingy)

Next is my classic black apron.

This is a large rectangle of black linen (approximately 27"x36") and hemmed on all sides with a 1/4" hem.

The middle 12" are then whipstitched to a matching waistband.

Finally, pair of mustard yellow wool sleeves, lined in linen.

And that's it! Field of the Cloth of Gold kirtle is complete!

I really, REALLY love this look.

It turned out exactly as I was hoping and I absolutely adore the colours. I'm so happy to have been able to find equally saturated wools in the exact hues I was was looking for.

I also LOVE the back of the final outfit. The pleats and slight flare of the skirt in contrast to the dramatic V of the partlet really floats my boat!

Now...

I had originally meant for this to be a much longer post and had intended to take a bunch of additional photos with some of the accessories I had made for my blue kirtle....but it ended up being WAY too hot to stay dressed up for long (even indoors). 

I think you can see it in my face, but I basically lost the will to live...

Also, the lighting just wasn't cooperating with me at all. It was a real struggle to just get these dozen or so photos to turn out (and that was with a lot of post processing to try to balance the light and dark levels).

So look forward to another Mix & Match post at some point in the future!

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Resources & Materials

Pattern:  

-The Tudor Tailor (book and/or ready-made pattern...but really, the bodice is mostly self drafted at this point)

-The Queen's Servants (book and/or ready-made pattern)

Fabric:

-Red wool from B.Blacks & Sons

-Yellow wool from Dorr Mill

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

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

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

-White linen (2.8oz) from WM Booth Draper

-Hemp/cotton muslin for interlining (10.5) from Hemp Traders

-Muslin for mockup (also from Hemp Traders, but any muslin should do)

Trim and Notions:

-Black cotton tape (1/4")  for lacing from WM Booth Draper

Thread:

-Red silk thread

-Mustard silk thread

-Black silk thread

-White cotton thread (silk finish) for linens

Boning:

-7mm Plastic coated spring steel bones (4) from Vena Cava Design

-7mm Synthetic whalebone also from Vena Cava Design

Other Supplies:

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

-Pattern weights