1570s Brunswick Man: The Overview of a Year's Journey

So...this is it.  The final post on the projects I've been working on for the last year--the 1570s Germans.  It has been a long journey, full of working on new and old skills, and on my writing skills--a full ten posts have been published to cover the various steps, not including this one and the unpublished doublet drafting system.  In addition, each item was entered in a Historical Sew Monthly challenge over the course of the year.

The Final Piece...the Tall Hat

This is it...the last piece for my 1570s Germans suit.  And boy, am I happy it's finally done.  The hat itself was a fairly quick and simple project....but I have been working on the overall project for just under a year now.  Because it is the last piece (yay!) I was able to enter it into the first Historical Sew Monthly challenge of 2017--Firsts and Lasts.

The Project:

This is an extremely tall, woolen hat, similar in profile to several examples from the period of 1570s Germany, which is part of my full suit from the same period (well, of course).  Unlike quite a few later examples, and my last tall hat, the covering is not a gathered circle, but fits smoothly over the base.

HSM Special Occasion: A set of ruffs...almost...there!

As the title says, I'm almost there.  Almost done with the year long project of making a 1570s German suit--all that remains is the hat.

Christ Blessing, Surrounded by a Donor Family.  German Triptych.  1570s
Note the untidy ruff.

Bi-annual Sewing Review: July-January 2016

Not just sewing, either--I will probably touch on some of my favourite articles I've written and posted here as well.  My review for the first half of the year can be found HERE.  Still, I want to touch on a couple of my major projects from before July as well.

Wearing all handmade clothing (wool shirt, wool waistcoat, and the front fall trousers), and working on the doublet.  Photo by Mercedes Houlton.

Aaand I present the 1750s Banyan Documentation. ...Finally.

This has been coming for a while, but I needed to finish (...or write, period) the third post on making the blasted  thing.  But here it is...the documentation for my 1760s banyan, which I shoehorned into the HSM Red challenge (yes, the garment is blue...but there is apparently enough red on it to count).
 

HSM 2017! It's happening again! The plots thicken...

As you may have guessed by the title, the Historical Sew Monthly is happening again, and this is my second year helping run it--I'm quite looking forwards to it, although some of the challenges are giving me trouble.

For those who do not know, the challenge is to make or finish a historical (up until 1939) piece of clothing (or accessory) by the last day of that month, and is meant to support and encourage period methods.  The piece can be finished up to two months before that--meaning the January challenge could be finished as early as December.  The link to how it works can be found HERE, at the Dreamstress' page.

(SCA) Period Buttonholes, the Class Handout

Buttonhole construction for All; Medieval and Elizabethan Buttonholes 

Photograph by Halfdan "Twobears" Ozurson of the Buttonhole class at Selviergard Yule.

Essentially, the way it works is that the construction and form of buttonholes has changed a fair amount since they show up in the early 1300s. Happily, the changes are actually linear for once—you can easily see the evolution from the original, fairly rough examples, to the modern keyhole buttonhole. However, since this is an SCA class, I will only cover the evolution through around 1600.  The full article can be found as my Buttonholes Through the Periods.

They can basically be broken down into two parts, as you might guess; Medieval, and Elizabethan. I could probably add Late Medieval/Early Renaissance (1400s) in there as well, but since it is firmly between the other two in style and construction, I doubt I need to. Both styles are worked with a buttonhole stitch—not ever a blanket stitch--, which you hopefully know how to do; if not, you’ll learn.  All period buttonholes are worked perpendicular to the edge of the material, and fairly close to the edge.