Change of projects

Well, I had reached a point with the Italian Renaissance dress that I needed the best option for top-stitch thread and so I've temporarily changed projects to handle my husbands 13th Century. This project is relatively more straight forward. I'm working from the directions from the Medieval Tailor's Assistant.

I've already finished the linen smock and I've almost finished the cote itself. The Cote is wool cashmere and it is lovely. I had originally started with the fluffier side out and then today decided to switch to the more finished side with the fluff toward the inside. Of course that meant that I had to take everything I'd done to date back apart, but I'm happy to report that I've got the sleeves back on and the gores back in on the sides and am in the process of closing up the side seams.

I believe that the only problem I'm going to have with the cote is the fact that it is supposed to have a gore in the front and back. And those gores should be split for ease of movement. While this wouldn't normally be a problem, there isn't a seam in the front to set in the gore and the gore is a single piece that will need to be split .. but only partially. The gore itself is 20" deep while the slit only needs to be 12". I'm still working out the logistics in my head on this one to make the actual piece match the drawings and sketches I've seen.

Beyond this piece there are 3 more pieces to this outfit for my husband that I'll admit I've been putting off. The first is the brais (medieval boxer shorts) and the second is the leggings. The sketches and directions for the brais seem rather straight-forward although I'm not sure how comfortable they will be for my husband. With the leggings the directions seem less helpful and so I may use a later period pattern for Elizabethan leggings and cut them where they should be for the medieval leggings. The last is the hood. I have a commercial pattern for the hood but I'm not sure how accurate it is. Of the pieces that remain, the hood will probably be the easiest . . outside of the future planned embroidery of my husband's device on it.

On the plus side, my husband has other things to wear on the bottom half if I can get the upper half done which is close to being done . . or at least done enough to wear.

More later when I finish the cote.