Finally some pictures...

Fancy new dags to wear with an old hat

Even if they are crappy phone pictures of Himself!

These were taken in the Doubletree Hotel in Portland the Saturday of 12th Night.  They are clearly not the best of photos, I'd like to take some better ones eventually, but this lets me put up something at least.

You can tell from his happy smiling face that he really likes his new houp.  I'm proud of the fact that I got his houppelande out of 8.5 yards.  Yes, that is a floor-length, giant, drapey-sleeved houppelande out of 8½ yards.

Showing off the pouch he made to go with it,
and the tenner which was a wedding present.

How you ask?  I took the lessons taught us by rectilinear construction and turned them on their sides!  Ignoring the sleeves, which took up just under three yards, the body panels are made of "gores" cut just like making inserts for skirts on T-tunics.

I measured his shoulder to hem and cut a full width panel of the fabric, a light weight wool gifted to me years ago when I thought I would make a Cranach gown out of it.  (I was young, I didn't realize it was too light weight when I fell in love with the color)  Luckily I was lazy, and my best friend didn't mind me re-purposing her gift into something for my Hubby.

First Crappy MS Paint Diagram

Back to the cutting.  The body is made from three full width panels of fabric, the first measuring from shoulder to floor with hem allowance, the second being back panels and a couple inches longer so they drag the floor when he walks (not a train, but just long enough to be imposing), and the third full width panel is halfway between the length of the two.  All three panels were folded in half, and cut into eight wedges using the cutting layout show in this crappy MS Paint diagram, not to scale.  The short end of the wedge is really all that mattered, his shoulder seam length was about six inches long, so each short end was an inch with seam allowance.  The other side of the wedge was whatever it worked out to be.

Second Crappy MS Paint Diagram

The pieces were then arranged into a circular shape, the shortest four in center front, the longest four in the center back and the middle four arranged along the sides, two wedges for each quarter of the body.
The second crappy MS Paint diagram shows the layout of one of the front panels, totally not to scale.

Doing the body panels this way meant I had practically no scrap left over from cutting.  This cutting method is great on a solid color houp because you can barely see the seam lines, and sewing straight to bias forces the fabric into draped lines at the floor.

Crappy MS Paint Sleeve Diagram

The sleeves are done in a strange fashion that was really hard for me to wrap my brain around.  Himself's knight's lady is a Laurel, and a good friend of his.  She's done a few houppelandes and when I asked her advice she said to make it like an angel wing sleeve, but to put the S-curve into the straight part of the half oval instead of the curved part.  This causes the seam to fall straight down the back, and the curved edge to fall back from the wrist, more or less keeping it completely out of anything you reach for.  The dags get cut into that curved edge, and I used a template made from a 3x5 card to trace them out.  I intended to do a gold leafed pattern on the sleeve of his 12th Night Houp, but I ran out of time/brains to figure it out.

A repro poster site

I love the thriftiness of this layout for the body.  I'm already planning to make him more houppelandes eventually, since I've decided this year is about making him new garb.  I'm only allowing myself to start one new project for me, I'm trying to make everything else for him or for our roommate.  I'd like to do a shorter length houp with rectangular pleated-in, gold embellished sleeves like the cup bearer in the January image of Tres Riches on the far left.  This is one of the main inspirations for the pouch he made, and we've developed some theories about pouches that should make for an interesting A&S entry.  My tenure as the Baronial A&S Champion is coming to a close, he's planning to enter the pouch into the competition.

Hope this helps save some people a little fabric when making a houppelande.  I don't know how well my theory would work with a brocade, but for a solid color wool, I like the way it works.

Working on the Houppelande...

I'm testing a construction theory that if it works, could revolutionize the houppelande.... I realize that's kind of a silly thing to say.  Lets go with could revolutionize the recreation of the houppelande?  I'm using a lovely light weight blue wool I was gifted with years ago when I thought I would make a Cranach gown out of it. (The wool is way to thin for rolled pleats so it's better off here.)

I'm trying out this theory where the body isn't made with quarter circles, but instead multiple "gores".   I put these in quotation marks because it really isn't a gore without going into the fabric of the main body, but it's the way I've been thinking about it, since that's how I cut them out. I cut out 24 wedges from the fabric and assembled them for the main body.

I'll go into more detail later, hopefully today, but for now I need to clean up and head to bed.

Everyone knows if I promise something as a Christmas present...

not to expect it before March....

I cut out the roommate's apron-dress tonight.  I'm hoping to have it all sewn up tonight or tomorrow and wrapped for her to open when she gets back on the 26th.  The apron is a good probability, it's all cut out and made of a thick lush teal wool from Pendleton, so I don't have to finish the seams.  I've also read somewhere the theory that Norse sewed their seam allowances on the outside of a garment and the decorative seam treatments are designed to finish the edges in a visible way.  It's an interesting theory and I'm giving it some thought, although not for Wednesday.  The garment is intended for An Tir's 12th night, so I also need to get the under dress cut out next week.

Extant Houppelande 1396

Also somewhere in the next couple months I promised The Boy a floor length, angel-wing sleeved houppelande as his Christmas present.  I have the wool, I just haven't quite figured out the cutting pattern I want to use.  The circle style has its advantages in simplicity, but isn't really fabric efficient.  Also the extant example is believed to be made from multiple "wedges" cut much like gores are cut for other dresses.  Of course I can't find the website I saw that on before...  I'm thinking about doing the wedges because the fabric I'm using is a plain blue wool which means I don't have to worry about an up and a down on it.

I'd like to finish it before 12th Night, but I'm not sure.  I've got a pair of braies mostly finished, and a shirt cut out and partially sewn. I'd really like to get a pair of hose to go with it finished, and a doublet to go under, since that would be most accurate, but I don't know how likely the doublet is any time soon.  I have a heavy red linen that I think would look good for the hose, I just need to find the time to pattern them, and eventually I'll get them sewn.  I'm thinking maybe a green or black linen doublet for under the blue houp, because those colors would look really good with the red hose.

April

August

My wifey sent me some gorgeous gold brocade and fifty bells to make himself a baldric out of.  The Boy is a fan of the Tres Riches styles so I'm planning a shoulder drape like the one in April or August's miniatures, and I'll see how far down his back I can make the bells go.  I might have to find some other kind of findings to spread out the bells.

I really should get back to the sewing.  How to Train Your Dragon is on, some how I find that to be a perfect accompaniment to sewing Norse clothing.