Jim: Everyday Jerkin/Doublet Part 1

The brief: A warm jacket style top based on an old piece I started years ago. Mostly to practice my altering skills and allow Jim to allow himself more kit, without worrying over cost and effort.

The build: This used to be a velvet waistcoat, lined in sheeting. It will be altered at the shoulders for a better fit and cut up to a high waist. The offcuts will either be used to add some tabs, or to create sleeves. There is some similar enough/different enough material that will be used as the sleeves if necessary. A selection of light gold lining has been chosen for slashes in the sleeves.

The fabric: Red (curtain) velvet waistcoat from about 5 years ago, lined in red sheeting and with some bargain bin trim. Additional fabric are all offcuts from curtain shop closing down sale, plus some sale ribbon from the Indoor Market.

Cost and time: Cost is very rough, as some of this material was bought over 10 years ago, but my best guess is somewhere between £6-8. Currently sitting at four hours, having finished the body.

Process:  Our starting point.

Overly long for the period we're playing, doesn't do up at the front, doesn't sit right on the shoulders and has never actually been sewn shut at the armhole. Oh dear.

The first thing to do was to re-pin the shoulders on Jim, so that I knew we had a good fit. They were quite far out from where they should be.



I then checked Jim's natural waist level onto the waistcoat and cut it straight off. After that I un-seamed the bottom pieces, giving me two lower front quarters, and the back half. I chopped the back half straight up the middle, turned all the pieces inside out, and then seamed them up to create four doublet tabs.




















As Jim wanted detachable sleeves, it was easiest to pull the shoulder seams apart at this point, and sew the armholes closed first, including ribbon ties into the sewing. After this I sewed the outer shell at the shoulder on the machine, then pinned the lining together to hand sew.

I also needed to add front ties to pull the doublet closed at the waist, although only a few. To save myself having to reopen the front I added them on top and covered then with some ribbon, which also added a bit more flounce. In retrospect I should have just reopened the front. While I sewed the trim on neatly many years ago, it turns out I didn't sew it the same distance away from the edge on both sides.

After this it was a simple enough job to pin the tabs to the outer shell, machine sew it, and then hand stitch the lining in place.


Annoyingly, somewhere along the way, one of the front tabs has hung down more than the other. I'll fix that tomorrow, and other than that, everything is very nice indeed.

Empire: Costuming the League

Over a year ago PD announced that they would be ending their then current campaign, Maelstrom, and starting a new campaign in 2013. This campaign is Empire and I am massively excited about it.

A group of us started planning what we would sort of game we would like to play within Empire, and where this would best fit in the setting. The nation that captured our imaginations the most was the League. This is a nation of colour and intrigue, or fighting bravos and underhand politics. Perfect for us and our play style.

Also, it really helped that the costuming for the League was so bloody beautiful!

And of course I became extremely excited about making these costume. Possibly more so than was seemly.

Currently I am making costumes for myself and two others; Joe and Jim.

Jim is intending to play a Ritual Mage and wants some very flash clothing for rituals, as well as everyday clothing.

Joe will be playing a politician, aiming for Senator, so wants constantly noticeable clothing to make him stand out from the crowd.

I haven't yet decided what I'll play, there are far too many things catching my eye. However I will be aiming for some sumptuous gowns, as well as some more practical doublet and hose combinations.

My intention is to record my progress here in order to have a record for other people looking to make their own clothing, just like Tim and Jess are doing here.

Matching chemises

Everyday Doublet for Helen

Everyday Doublet for Jim (Part 1)

Everyday Doublet for Jim (Part 2)

I wonder....

if this time I can keep up my good intentions. I hope so.

This was always meant to be a repository for my crafting process, but over the years every time I've tried to pick it up, I've been distracted and forgotten about it quite quickly. However I now have something to chronicle that I would like to share and that I would like to remember. This bodes well.

Some little background about me then, as this is all horribly out of date.

I teach Physics, so there'll be some of that cropping up.

I run and play LRPs, so there'll be some of that.

I am a feminist and try to keep abreast of politics, so maybe a smattering of that.

I knit, sew, tat, weave, quilt and many, many other things.

I am over on Ravelry here. There'll be a lot of that cropping up.

And I have two beautiful cats. They may also feature.

Anyway, as a precursor to the upcoming project(s) that have enthused me, I'll leave you with this: