Pluderhosen: Some assembly required

Pattern Traced from Patterns of Fashion, by Janet Arnold.

Continuing on from my last post--A Road To Madness--I believe I managed to rectify my mistake, by extending the dart into a seam going the full width of the piece.  This will result in the back panel being slightly shorter (around 1/2 inch, since I'm using as small of a seam allowance as I may), but that should be acceptable---that piece 1/2 inch shorter than it should, should not be noticeable.

Here, you can see the modified dart (left) and the original plan (right).

And the sewn up "dart".

Now that that was corrected, the next step I did was to sew the front rise to the center back piece, like so.  (Turns out I was wrong here...don't do this step, I had to stitch rip it off, for ease of construction later.  It is being included so you don't make the same error (mind, it is a minor one)).

Okay.  Next step.  Sew the center back to the seat panel.  Ease it in carefully, sewing from the dart to the top.

At this point, you can begin constructing the lining.  I did this by using a relatively simple formula to figure out the proportions of each set of puffs (since they all have different amounts of fabric).  If you are going off of a pattern (such as one of the ones in Patterns of Fashion), and do not want it quite as poofy (for whatever reason.  I chose not to since I am using a much thicker fabric, and wanted to use the full width and no more): 

First, subtract the outer pane widths from the total length of the lining.  Do this for the pattern and your rendition.  This was 55 inches for the Svante Sture pluderhosen (and 33.75 for mine).  I subtracted approximately one inch from each side from this, to allow overlap with the pane (they got stitched down).

Secondly, measure the widths supposed to be pleated on your pattern; these were 17", 15", 14.5", and 9", from the front poof, to the inside leg one.

Thirdly, divide the amount needing to be pleated (on the pattern)--that is, the number found in the first step--by each of the numbers in the second step.  This gives a series of four proportions.  For the Svante pluderhose, this gave me a list of numbers looking like this: 17" (3.23), 15" (3.6), 14.5" (3.79), 9" (6.1).

Lastly, Take your lining length (minus the panel widths, remember), and divide it by each of the proportions.  For my rendition (having 33.75 inches needing to be gathered/pleated) the results were 11", 9.9", 9.4", and 5.8" (approximately, on the last one.  You don't want too much fabric there).

Mark out your widths on the lining material.  For the last pane (corresponding with the seat) you need to make steep curve down,  this will be the width of the pane (at the dart) by the vertical measure from the top to the dart.  Cut this out (allowing a seam allowance to turn), going horizontally across the top of where the gathering will be.  Apologies for the lack of photos for these steps.

Pleat your lining between the marked points (I like to do so from the wrong side, as it helps the fabric poof out), at top and bottom, and lock the gathers in place.  On the Sture suite the cuffs are gathered in slightly different locations from the top--I simplified it and placed the gathers in the same places as for the waistband (it seems to have worked fine).  Lay the panes on the non-gathered sections of the lining, pinning and sewing them into place.

Now comes a bit of handwork.  You need to sew (with a variety of whipstitch) the edges of the lining to the panes, so there are no scandalous gaps.  This is done at both sides of the front pane (each side of the puffs--one at the front, and one between the knees; where you cut the curve across the seat; and at the outside edge (where the puff goes).  The last one is not sewing an edge on the puffed lining, but keeps the seat from flopping about.  Because the puffed lining is longer than the panes, you will have to gather it, at the bottom, so that it drapes out nicely.

Evenly gather the bottom and add a cuff (and opening as desired).

As for making the codpiece, I found This Page of some help in creating it, as I could quite honestly not understand the assembly of the one in the Pattern.  There are three slits (and puffs) per side; each slit is hand hemmed then has the silk twill puff gathered and sewn in (each puff is 5 inches on the "narrow" end, and half again the length of the slit on the long side).  I stuffed small scraps of linen inside the puffs to keep them from...deflating.  There is an interlining on the codpiece shell.

I chose to make mine slightly differently from the norm, with a semi-removable lining containing the stuffing (it will be sewn in place for wearing, but can be removed for laundering).

For some reason it reminds me of one of the bug mobs in WoW...

Now it is time to install the codpiece.  Sew up the center back seam.  Align the center seam on the codpiece to this, and sew up the rise on one side, then the other.  I strongly suggest hand basting it in place first--pinning just doesn't seem to work as well.

That's about it--anything left (eyelets, cuffs, waistband) is fairly simple.  Hope the tutorial helps any who are attempting to put together pluderhose.

I would like to note, as a disclaimer, that this is based on only one pluderhose pattern--the Svante Sture one in Patterns of Fashion--and is my method of assembly.  I'm sure that other people put it together differently, and I may as well (if I ever make one of these again).  I also did not include the underlining (which is the same shape/pattern as the panes) in my rendition, and am unsure how having it (or not) changes things.

p.s. I did not manage to finish the outfit in time for the faire--I managed to get the gross construction completed.

p.p.s.  I wanted to share this link to the SCA Pinterest board of a friend of mine.  It has a wide variety of periods and topics, ranging from crafting/garb inspirations, to tutorials, and other SCA blogs.  Enjoy: Twobears Codex of Images.




© John Frey, 2014. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this document for non-commercial private research or educational purposes provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.