A Pair of Transitional Braies

Alright!  This project has been finished for well over a year, but I haven't actually worn it until recently.  I also had not written any documentation on the subject--or any other projects in the last year or two, for that matter.  I'm well out of practice in writing, and working from scanty notes and memory, so please bear with me.

Introduction:

As I have been working on a 14th century outfit (slowly), and intend to venture into the early 15th century, I needed an actual set of braies instead of the wrapped loincloth style hypothosized over on the Hibernaatiopesäke blog.  While comfortable and of a period form, I didn't feel they would be appropriate for later in the 14th century, never mind the 15th.  Therefore the first part project was to figure out what shape the braies would be, then make a pair which would work for a variety of outfits.

Garment Description:

Braies of this period are essentially boxer briefs made in linen.  Moderately close fitting, of uncomplicated design, and more functional than anything.  While the earlier underwear was fairly loose fitting, by the 15th century it was (much) tighter and presumably more flattering for when you "accidentally" flash someone because your cottehardie only barely covers your bum.  Or because as clothing got tighter, you wouldn't want the extra fabric of your underwear to ruin the lines of your cottehardy.  Either/or (probably both, in reality).

Sources:

I found the research for this decidedly problematic at first, since I was aiming for the 1370s--the same time period as my blue cotte.  On the whole, there are not a whole lot of images showing underwear to begin with, narrowing it down to a decade is even harder (since most manuscripts don't /have/ a decade label).  Once I managed to gather a few sources, I found that the style was inconclusive and it was apparently a transitional period, with both the loose, baggy style (which fit the loincloth wrap style) evident, and closer fitting ones also beginning to appear.

Royal 6 E VI. f. 214, Castigare

As you can see in the above miniature from between 1360-1375 (England), the young boy is wearing the loose, wrapped style of braies.  Which would make sense, as he is still growing (and presumably not rich, although well off).  You might posit that children and lower class would be wearing the looser style of braies--it would be logical, after all.  Except...

Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644: Le Battage de l'orge
National Library of Austria, Vienna

...you can clearly see the farmer in above wearing the boxer-briefs style of braies in this illumination from Tacuinum sanitatis, from the last few decades of the 14th century.

Goals:

In the end, I decided that for my 1370s outfit, I would stick with the wrapped style, especially as my inspirational images were middle class (if that), and that erring on the side of less fashionable would be the safer bet, and I would just make two pairs--a hemmed length of linen for the wrapped, and close fitting for later in the century.  Obviously, this project is the later of the two.

My goals were simply to make a pair of braies to support my hosen, and look correct when they accidentally show while wearing 14th century--given that the skirts are not particularly full, and while mine is almost knee length, it still does happen.  A mental trick I used to get past the showing your underwear mental block is to consider them as being two part pants rather than true underwear.

Materials:

Universally, white linen.  I used a fairly heavy linen--the 7.1oz from Fabric-Store.com--in order to help with the above mentioned mental thing of considering it outerwear, for modesty, and sturdiness.  In period, the linen would have been a much finer fabric, although likely a considerably tighter weave as well; this would have helped it be softer on the skin.

Threads used in this garment were all white linen as well.  I do not remember for sure at this point what weights I used, but I suspect it was something like 30/2, and 60/2.

 The Pattern:

While there are a number of patterns for close fitting braies out there--many of which consist of three rectangles such as this example from Mistress Sylvie la chardonnière--I did not feel that would give the close fit I was looking for.  You also see some with a fairly large, diamond shaped gusset.  This also does not give the look I was aiming at, as it create too many folds between the legs.

Calvario; Painting by Pedro Sanchez I
Second Half of the 15th century?

In the end, I decided that I would need to experiment and go (*gasp*) conjectural to get the results I wanted; relatively loose in the front for comfort, gusseted between the legs for movement, and closer fitting in the back, especially at the waist.  You see above example clearly shows a diamond, or potentially an elongated hexagon.  In some later examples you can see signs of some gathering at the center front--this won't work with a triangle, so I decided to combine the two; the gusset is a strip running from the waistband in the front with the triangular end finishing somewhere around mid-cheek in the rear.

Measurements were relatively simple; the legs are two rectangles which would be trimmed down; I made them just long enough to go to the upper thigh and roughly 1/2 my hip measurement wide.  I believe I made the gusset one handspan (3.5-4") wide, by approximately 3/4 my total rise in length.  Once I could try them on, I brought in the inseam so it would be tightly fitted.

Seams:

I kept the seams simple; backstitched for strength, then flat felled (which is clearly visible in the Calvario painting).  The separate belt casing at the waist was stab-stitched, as I was going through many layers, plus needed the strength.

Construction:

The steps of construction were quite simple.  This is actually a problem--I made this over a year ago, don't have detailed photos, and because it was so simple, I didn't take notes.  So the following may or may not actually be correct.

Begin sewing the center gusset at the top, and stop at your front rise measure.  Repeat on the other side.

Then pin the leg pieces together at the inseam to find where the turning point was, and begin sewing from there, up to the end of the gusset.  Then repeat on the other side, continuing to the top this time. 

At this point, I was able to bring in the bottom hem to fit correctly and sew down from the turning point of the gusset to the bottom hem.


Fell the seams in whichever way works best for you, then hem the bottom.

 The last step was installing a waistband, and pleating the front.  Because there is some extra width from the gusset, that was dealt with via overlapping box pleats, and covered with the waistband.  This didn't work as well as I would have liked--I will touch more on that below.

Conclusions and what I learned:

Going into this project, I knew it would be a pain to research...I didn't expect to end up in a transitional period and have to make choices, although I probably should have.  Construction wise, it was quite straight-forwarded--just basic seams.  I did find theorizing the fit to be both fun, and I was fairly correct--the end result was close fitting in the rear, and comfortable in the front*.  When I wore them as part of my 14th century at June Crown, they worked quite well; that said, I do need to put eyelets in at the correct locations to tie my hosen up to my belt.
*Like a reverse mullet?

What I would do differently:

I probably will end up having to make another pair of these eventually, so:

1. Give myself plenty of extra fabric at the top--at the front and back they are barely long enough to hold my belt.
2. Use a drawstring cord instead of a belt.  Instead of pleating the front pouch, I would make a bunch of eyelets there and run the drawstring through those; I've seen several examples ( later) which show a cord tied there, and I think it would give a cleaner finish.
3. Make sure I don't make the thighs too tight--I did this time, but have lost a little bit off my thighs, and haven't added it back in muscle (yet).
4. Try to figure out how to reinforce where the three seams meet between the legs.  It is a weak point.

How HA is the project?:

Moderately.  Due to using a conjectural pattern, and heavier linen, it is slightly less so than I would prefer.  How about a mostly random 80%?

Time:

As you might expect, it was a quick project, even if I did handsew it.  Only 6:30 hours.

Bibliography:

‘Del Gotico Al Neoclasicismo’ <https://galeriacaylus.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/del-gotico-al-neoclasico.pdf> [accessed 2 August 2019] (Page 20, Pedro Sanchez I painting)

‘Quick&Dirty Braies (Well, Ok. Not -Dirty- but You Know What I Mean) – Research Dumping Grounds’ <http://research.fibergeek.com/2011/06/21/quickdirty-braies/> [accessed 2 August 2019]

‘Réunion Des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais -’ <https://www.photo.rmn.fr/archive/07-506165-2C6NU0CH4UJ0.html> [accessed 2 August 2019]

Wight, C., ‘Image of an Item from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts’ <http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=32092> [accessed 2 August 2019]

© John Frey, 2019. 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.