67148 tmta 5

Materials

Outer fabric - use lightweight (but firm) woollen or worsted cloth, closely-woven linen or furnishing union (cotton/linen mixture). Twill-weave linen or flannelette sheeting can be used in place of the medieval fustian. Elaborate doublets could be in taffeta, satin, patterned silk or embroidered silk. Some 15th-century doublets had the collar or sleeves madę in a finer materiał or richer colour than the body, which was largely covered by the outer garment.

Lining - use linen or another light wool. lnterlining - use canvas or calico. Use stiffer canvas for standing collars.

Padding - use layers of soft woollen cloth

Planning and cutting

Instructions for planning and cutting specific doublets are given as captions to the Figures. They include basie (Fig 4) and fashionable (Fig 6) versions.

Cut all the pattern pieces in the outer, interlining and lining materials, noting instructions for the different sleeves. For edges which are to have eyelets or buttonholes -sleeve openings, fronts and lower edges - cut the interlining to the fitting linę, but cut the outer materiał with extra seam allowance to fold back over the interlining (Metbods, Fig 12). You can cut the lining shorter along these edges to avoid working the eyelets through extra layers of seam allowances.

To plan your garment use the wearer's personal bodice Błock. The pattern shown here corresponds approx. to modern size 42. Thefine lines show original Błock outline.

Heavy broken lines indicate alternative outlines. Letters indicate joining points. For abbreviations and symbols see p. 10. Add seam allowances. The four bodice pieces must be cut accurately for a proper fit.

Making up

Doublets are built up from several layers of light or medium weight materials to produce a firm, structured effect. The same result will not be achieved with a single thicker layer, so there are no short cuts.

Interlining - Tack the interlining to the wrong side of all outer materiał. The high 15th century collar needs an interlining of stiff canvas.

Bodice - Make up the bodice, including the hip sections and under collar. For collars see Metbods, Fig 14.

Sleeues - Make up the sleeves including the linings, with puffs if used. Finish the wrist ends with any fastenings, and tack all layers together round the sleeve head.

Set the finished sleeves into the doublet body, matching the SP and BP.

For sleeveless doublets (Fig 5) finish off the neck and armholes.

Padding - The bodice of doublets can be padded with extra layers of soft cloth over the shoulders and upper chest. Add them at this stage, stitching them lightly in place along the seam lines, then stitch down the edges of the outer materiał on the inside, over all interlining. Padding of sleeve puffs is described in Fig 9. Bodice lining- Stitch the facing to the collar. Make up the complete lining for the Back, Front and hip sections.

Pin the lining into the bodice (Metbods, Fig 12), matching up the seam lines; turn in the allowances round the armholes and edges. Hem round the armhole seams, then hem or stab-stitch round the front, neck and lower edges (PI 1). To make the garment firmer or hołd any extra interlining in place, catch the lining through the seam turnings of the outer fabric, stitching along the seam lines from the inside so the stitches are not seen on the outside.

continued overleaf

Basic doublet

4

Fashionable doublet

95