The estranged dressmaker

Another option for the title would be the alienated dressmaker, both are more or less equivalent. And here in Germany, strangers are blatantly referred to as "aliens" (no, I kid you not). The official translation of the Ausländerbehörde, a.k.a. the place where I go to get my visa, is the aliens department...

Anyhow. I'm far away from home, and I have extremely limited supplies when it comes to creating costumes. Which is, you know, that thing that I reaaaaally enjoy doing. With this in mind, I decided to attempt my first ever completely by-hand garment (no sewing machine yet), and what more perfect time period to pick than the 14th century? With some tips from my friend Peryn (her deviant account here: http://arasiyris.deviantart.com/) I started gathering materials for this new project.

14th century kirtle

First, some reference pictures. The kirtles are the under-dresses, seen in pink, black and yellow in the second picture.

I bought some fabric when I was in Paris (insert here the high-pitched noise that girls make when they see puppies or babies). I have black linen, gold block printed silk, and purple cotton (which, it turns out, has a little bit of spandex in it, so it's not as stiff and offers some stretch). Although I'm aiming at somewhat of an historically accurate garment, I have to make some compromises. I decided to use the cotton for this kirtle. Already there, we find three blatant inaccuracies: cotton was not common, spandex didn't exist, and purple was a colour reserved for royalty since it was extremely expensive and difficult to acquire. But for a first project that I'll probably only where in my room, I think they can be forgiven.

I had absolutely no drafting equipment here, and I decided to make do. I bought the cheapest-largest sketchpad I could find, fashioned a ruler/straight edge with a piece of paper. Materials I already had: a pencil, an eraser, a measuring tape, a pair of paper scissors, and my knowledge.

In this image, as can be seen, I have already drafter the bodice of the kirtle. It has no darts, the shaping is found at the sides, centre back, and at the top of centre front. Now, this is actually just a tentative draft, I have no certainty that this will actually fit me. Self-measurements and self-fitting is a little tricky. It resulted in a lot of awkard poses in front of the mirror, holding a stiff piece of paper and trying to make marks on it. Something like that:

I think the bodice will fit, so I went ahead and drafted a medieval sleeve to fit the arm opening.

Next challenge in this process, laying out the pattern on the fabric. That took some planning, as I only have 3 metres of fabric.

And some re-planning during the process, as I had to alter the sleeves and remembered that seam allowances are important to take into account.

I had previously washed the fabric, and left it to air dry in my room, artfully draped between the cupboard and the ladder.

 Fabric which then required to be released from it's crinkles. To the makeshift ironing board!

 Laying down the bodices pieces and tracing the outline of the skirt in chalk. I have no proper cutting table, but the thick carpet is perfect, really. The fabric doesn't slide around like it would on a hardwood floor, and I can pin into it without any problems.

 Drawing the the four gores that will give more volume to the skirt.

 And tah-dah! Two front pieces, two backs, two sleeves, four gores, even some extra fabric left over. I can use that extra fabric to make the buttons that will go on the sleeves. And I already have some purple thread as well as a leather-ish string that I'll use to lace up the front of the kirtle.

The ridiculously small sewing kit that I brought with me should be sufficient to get me through this project. It contains the basics. Good fabric scissors, snips, thimble, seam-ripper, pins and needles.

I'll need to baste the pieces together and check the fit before I commit to anything permanent. It should take a while to sew up together, but it's not a bad thing. I have lot's of free time, and I'm really broke. It's a win-win situation: an efficient way of keeping me both occupied and entertained.