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This cotehardie is my first garb!
I still have some more work to do as the fit is not very good. It sticks up in the back and it isn't nearly fitted enough. I think that I lengthened the torso too much when I altered the pattern (I'm quite tall). After looking at the photos, I've also decided not to wear my pouch under the gown anymore as it makes me look like I have three stomachs.
In any case, I am very proud of it and I received many compliments at my first event. This was my first experience making anything nearly this complicated. It was also my first experience of using more than one pattern to produce a finished garment.
On top of that I had to invent the tippet pattern, which was an adventure in itself. I wound up cutting one of the sleeves again. The first time I was so focused on lining up the pattern of the fabric that I neglected to notice that I could see the right side of both pieces of fabric. I shortly discovered that I had two right sleeves and no left. This was two days before Egils, so I made a quick dash to the fabric store and bought two more yards of the fabric (thank goodness they still had it).
This adventure came at the end of a six week garb sewing marathon in which I produced clothing for seven people (mine was made last, of course).
I am actually wearing three layers-----a shift, a kirtle (with self-supporting bodice), and the cotehardie. The kirtle is only visible at the sleeves (a bit unfortunate as there are 50 handsewn eyelets down the bodice).
None of the photos show it, but the fabric is completely reversible and the reverse side is visible on the inside of the tippets.
I used mundane patterns to construct this gown. I used Simplicity 8725 for the neckline and sleeves, and McCalls 6951 for the body of the dress. The McCalls pattern actually buttons up the back, so I switched that. I also trimmed the train as it is quite long. I trimmed the flair of the gores in the pattern as well; I was able to make the gown from 8 yards of fabric (the pattern calls for 18-20 in my size.) Okay, well it would have been 8 yards if I hadn't made one sleeve twice. Someday when I'm very wealthy I'd like to make this gown with the full-sized skirt.
The cotehardie is fully underlined and all the seams are zig-zagged. A woman at Egils told me that this garb would last me 20 years. I hand sewed the hem, but the tippet hems and button holes were sewn by machine as I was running out of time.
The kirtle is made out of a couple of sheets from Walmart. I used Simplicity 8725 for the neckline and sleeves. I used just the bodice pieces, combined them with my self-supporting bodice pattern and traced the combination to create my own bodice pattern. When I cut it out I didn't lay anything on the fold and I just flared out from the waist down to make a 4 panel dress. After I sewed the 50 eyelets by hand (I had to redo 16 of them after I had to cut them off to make the bodice the right size) I was too exhausted to do it again for the sleeves, so I used bridal loop there.
The cotehardie is made from a cotton/poly blend upholstery fabric. It was $5.95/yard. I purchased the buttons at JoAnn Fabric during a 50% off sale. Thank goodness, otherwise the buttons would have cost as much as the rest of the gown.
I also learned, while making this project, that one can never purchase too much thread.
This is the only photo I have of the front of the cotehardie. Here you can clearly see the third belly effect from the pouch.
That charming detail aside, I wanted to include it in case anyone was interested in the buttons or the seams. There are fitchets in the skirt.
The odd jewelry around my neck is the site token.
Oh, and incidentally, I did have period headgear on when the event started, but a day of rain completely reshaped my hat, and the hair net I had on went on to a different existence.
My daughter is scratching her upper lip,just in case you were wondering.
These are scans of the fabric itself. I made the cotehardie with the yellow diamond side out. I don't have any photos of it, but I made a hood that is lined with the same fabric, red diamond side out. These images are pretty much life size.
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