2023:12 A pair of green sleeves
Kategori: Allmänt, Historic Sew Montly 23, Renaissance, Stashbusting, Tudor set
After finishing the kirtle, I originally meant to make matching sleeves in the same fabric. It was, however, October, and not too long before the intended event the organisers shared the information that it would be held in a (very nice) location, built of stone, without any heating whatsoever. The idea of not having all of me covered by at least one layer of wool was suddenly a lot less appealing, so I rummaged through my stash in search of something that was a) wool and b) would go reasonably well with the kirtle fabric.
I was in luck. I had a small piece of wool left from the Bocksten tunic project of 2016 that was JUST enough for a pair of sleeves, if I pieced them. Ever since the Tudor Tailor workshop in Uppsala (also in 2016, and oh, how I wish I could attend another one) I have tried to piece rather than give up a project for lack of fabric and here it was really only moderate piecing needed.
The cut out sleeves, with the piecing visible on the one to the right, laid out on the intended lining.
I also had a scrap piece of thin wool that I used for lining - I could have used linen, but I wanted warm and cosy.
I was left with a very moderate amount of scraps:
I wanted to up the fanciness of the sleeves slightly, since they were to be paired with the brocade kirtle, and used another technique from the Tudor Tailor workshop; adding slashed details. (For a moment I thought about slashing the sleeves, but I didn't think that I had the right lining to show that off, and I also I had displaced my carpet knife somewhere). Ideally, I think the slashing should be done on the bias, but unless I did a lof of piecing it would have been hard to achieve with my scraps and so I went for a strip cut on almost straight grain and added to the cuffs of the sleeves.
The finished sleeves, in a photo slightly more truthful colour-wise (a lot too blue in the above pictures, a bit too yellow here). The background white bedthrow is made by someone on my great-grandmother's side (her, her sister or my great-great grandmother, I think).
A close-up of the edges. They did, as I intended, fray quite quickly which makes the slashing show more now than in the picture. I sew through all layers (lining and slashed edge) with a small running stitch with silk thread (grey, rather than green, but it was a surprisingly good colour match).
The facts:
The challenge: 2023:12, Paired to perfection
What the item is: a pair of sleeves
How it fits the challenge: there are two of them!
Material: Wool
Pattern: from the Typical Tudor
Year: 16th century
Notions: Polyester thread for the long seams, I would have prefered to sew them by hand but time was running out. Silk threads for visible seams and the eyelet for tying them to the kirtle.
How historically accurate is it? Not too bad. All wool, a period pattern (I trust the Tudor Tailor to have done their research, as usual) etc. Some deduction for machine sewing, but I say 85-90% anyway.
Hours to complete: A quick project, 8 hours in total or less.
First worn: October 2023
Total cost: The lining was from a clearance sale so the price was silly for the quality I got (maybe 2 euros for the piece, and I didn't use all of it for this project) and the green wool was kind of sunken cost for the tunic. But if I had bought both scraps individually I might have ended up around ten euros, tops.
How it fits the challenge: there are two of them!
Material: Wool
Pattern: from the Typical Tudor
Year: 16th century
Notions: Polyester thread for the long seams, I would have prefered to sew them by hand but time was running out. Silk threads for visible seams and the eyelet for tying them to the kirtle.
How historically accurate is it? Not too bad. All wool, a period pattern (I trust the Tudor Tailor to have done their research, as usual) etc. Some deduction for machine sewing, but I say 85-90% anyway.
Hours to complete: A quick project, 8 hours in total or less.
First worn: October 2023
Total cost: The lining was from a clearance sale so the price was silly for the quality I got (maybe 2 euros for the piece, and I didn't use all of it for this project) and the green wool was kind of sunken cost for the tunic. But if I had bought both scraps individually I might have ended up around ten euros, tops.
