Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part III: Buttons

This is part of a series following my progress making a doublet. 
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part I: Getting Started
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part II: Problems
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part III: Buttons

Buttoned Up

After solving the problem with the back and collar, I finally started considering my fastening options. Doublets are form fitting, so you need something that will hold up to the stress (especially with my girth.) Historically, you have hooks hidden from sight, laces, or buttons.

I've decided to use buttons. Laces would be easily adjusted and easy to make. Hooks are pretty simple, but my rough highlander outfit probably wouldn't have them. Buttons are more work than laces or hooks, but I like the look.

There are a few websites that suggest several types of buttons. The two most common are a bead covered with thread or gathered fabric. Metal buttons were expensive.

Scott Perkins's blog, Garb for Guys, has several post on making and attaching bead and fabric buttons.

Stitch demo: Handsewn Button Holes
Buttoning Up - Part One
Buttoning Up - Part Two

Marc Carlson's web site has a section called Jennifer's Stuff with Medeval stitches, basic fabric buttons, buttonholes, and attaching buttons.

Sewing Stitches Used in Medieval Clothing
Basic Fabric Buttons
Buttonholes
Attaching Buttons

After considering my options, the fabric buttons looked pretty easy to make. I made a couple of test buttons using three different diameters of circles made from the same fabric as the outer panel material. I practiced making a buttonhole with some scrap farbic.

Buttonholes
My buttonholes are a little rough, but they'll do the job. I should have practiced more. To protect the buttonholes, I used a buttonhole stitch around the slit using three strands of Six Strand Pearl Cotton Size 5 DMC Floss #938. Not knowing how much I'd need for the eleven buttonholes, I purchased ten skeins, but only needed half of them.

I used a bit of scotch tape to help mark the borders for the buttonhole stitching. Unfortunately, they turned out inconsistent and pretty sloppy. I also made a major mistake and put the slits too far away from the edge of the doublet. I re-slit the buttonholes closer to the edge, which made them to wide. After attempting to stitch the excess slit, which looked pretty ugly, I covered them with some floss. It's not pretty, but I didn't have much choice. Lesson learned.

Failed first attempt - too far from the doublet edge for my girth!

Next time I'll make a template I can fix in place to the edge of the doublet, stitch the buttonhole, and move down the edge to the next slit. I might also try using some waste canvas to help guide my stitches. My wife has used it to cross stitching on linen. I don't see why it shouldn't work for guiding buttonhole stitches.

"Rustic" buttonhole and button

Buttons
The process of making buttons is pretty interesting. You need to cut out circles of fabric roughly the diameter of a spool of thread. I had to make a couple of buttons before I had the correct diameter for my buttonholes.

From fabric circle to finished button

1. Thread a needle with a doubled length of thread (so you end up with four strands), run a gather stitch along the edge of the disk.
2. Pull the ends of the gather stitch thread to make a little purse. Tie off the threads.
3. Flatten the purse to form a disk pulling on the edges to get the largest diameter possible.
4. Re-thread your needle and gather stitch a second time along the edge of the disk. Pull the ends of the gather stitch together, keeping the purse top inside the pocket. You'll end up with something that looks like a mushroom cap. You won't be able to close the gap completely, just get it as close as you can and tie off the thread.
5. Re-thread your needle a third time. Work around the edge of the mushroom cap, pulling the puckered edges together until you form a ball. Knot your thread and you'll have a finished button.

You'll end up with buttons that have a "tail" of threads. I left the tails on just to make it easy to keep track of the button. Remember to remove the tail before attaching the button.

Button fabric circles

Gather stitch the fabric circle

Make a purse

Flatten the purse into a disk

Gather the purse into a mushroom cap

Finished buttons with tails!

Attach the Buttons
Once you have the button made, it's time to attach them to the doublet. I lined up the buttonhole side of the doublet over the button side and used the buttonhole to mark the correct location for the button with some chalk.

Thread your needle with three strands of floss and tie the end. Run the needle through the bottom edge of the button where the edges of the mushroom cap are sewn together. Now run the needle through the doublet edge, just shy of a quarter inch from the edge. Leaving about half an inch of thread between the button and the doublet edge, run the needle back through the bottom of the button making a loop. Continue to stitch loops between the button and the doublet about six times.

Now, loop the floss around the loops of thread occasionally running the needle though the strands of the loops, until you have formed a smooth neck. This will shorten the length of the neck between the doublet edge and the button. Knot the floss next to the edge of the doublet and cut.

I'm sorry, but I didn't take any photographs of attaching the buttons to the doublet. The links above have some great photographs if you need a visual reference. 

Buttons attached to doublet edge with a "neck" of floss.

Buttoned Up!

Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part II: Problems

This is part of a series following my progress making a doublet. 
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part I: Getting Started
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part II: Problems
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part III: Buttons

ARGH!

A work in progress - needs buttons and front collar

All of the panels are sewn together and, I've run into a problem. I attempted to make the back one piece instead of two split down the middle. When I pinned together the interlining everything looked OK  However, now that I have all the layers together, it doesn't drape as much. There's excess fabric below the collar, above and between the shoulders, and in the lower back. One of the challenges of working alone with a mirror and without a form.

I also don't like how much of a length difference there is between the edges of the front and back panels. The web site I'm using as a reference suggests hiding it under the arm by aligning the bottom when you sew them together. I think I might rip the seam at the top of the longer panels, tuck in the excess to match, and resew the seam.

After pinning up the excess it looks like I have enough room to split the back panel in two, tuck and hem the excess fabric, and whip stitch the two back panels together.

After some alterations...

After some alterations

Well, splitting the back and taking in some slack helped, but there's still a slight pocket behind the collar. 

And there is a goofy notch in the collar at the back seam. I'm going to remove the integrated back collar and replace it with a one piece collar all around. I think that will look better and maybe the transition from the collar to the back will be more angular.

Goofy notch in collar

After even more alterations...
The integrated collar is gone and the back looks a lot better.

Now I just need to make a collar, buttons, buttonholes, epaulets for the shoulders, and eventually detachable sleeves.

Integrated collar removed

Things From My Desk: Lunchtime Edition - Onigiri

I love my daughter. She loves Asian culture, especially the food. We've made sushi and egg rolls at home several times, but she has always wanted to make onigiri - Japanese rice balls. On a whim she asked if she could make some from our Indian curried chicken dinner and some other things we had on hand. She fused Indian, Thai, and Japanese together into lemongrass and curried chicken onigiri.

When I asked her what she was doing and I said it sounded interesting, she offered to make my lunch for me. I think they turned out pretty darn awesome.

Thai and Indian Onigiri

Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part I: Getting Started

This is part of a series following my progress making a doublet. 
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part I: Getting Started
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part II: Problems
Renaissance Doublet/Jerkin - Part III: Buttons

Now that I have a great kilt for the renaissance fair, I've been working on accessorizing it. I've seen a lot of kilt outfits with jerkins or doublets and would like to do something like it. All of the English doublets I've found have a prominent point in front. Jerkins on the other hand, do not. Since I'll be wearing this with a great kilt, I'd rather avoid excess fabric below the natural waist, so I'm modifying the doublet to be more of a jerkin.

Doublet patterns are a bit odd. A doublet is supposed to fit snuggly, unlike modern clothing. A pattern is really just a suggestion. You need to drape and pin to fit, copy something that fits correctly, or sacrifice an existing shirt to make a pattern.

I have an old denim jacket that fits rather snug like a doublet should. I copied it to make a pattern. It must have shrunk over the years :-)

If you want detailed instructions there are a couple of nice web sites. http://www.theweebsite.com/landsknecht/patterns.html has many basic patterns with instructions, including doublets. A very nice site with incomplete but helpful construction tips and photographs can be found at http://freespace.virgin.net/f.lea/doublet1.html. I won't go into the details here.

The interlining material is simple muslin. The inner/outer fabric is cotton broadcloth. To make it more versatile, the inner and outer fabric are complementary browns. I'm going to attempt to make the doublet reversible. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the fasteners on something reversible. We'll see.

After a dry run with pinned interfacing (see the second link above), I was satisfied with the fit. I traced an one inch border around the interfacing on one of the outer fabrics and cut.

Doublet back interlining with incorporated collar

After cutting the outer fabric, I trimmed the corners and made stress release cuts (I have no idea what the correct term is) so the fabric would go around the curves. Trimming the corners removed enough material so I could fold fabric around the corner without adding bulk. Make sure you don't cut all the way to the interlining or your cuts will be exposed on the edge.

Next you fold the outer fabric guided by the interlining edge. Pin them down to hold in place.

Side and front panels with outer fabric and interlining pinned together

Back panel with outer fabric and interlining pinned together.

Once you have them pinned, hand stitch them together from the inside but only through the interlining layer. This will hide your stitches from view once the inner panel is sewn on.

Stitching the outer panel to the interlining

I have to stop here for now. I'm in the process of sewing the outer fabric to the interlining. I'll return with more soon.

After stitching the outer panel to the interlining, use the panels you have finished as the pattern to cut out the inner panels. Turn the edges of the inner panel inward toward the outer panel. At this point the panels and interlining are pretty thick. Instead of pinning the panels together, use metal clip barrettes. They hold pretty well and don't distort the fabric like a pin does. They are also easier to move as you work.

Use a ladder stitch to stitch the inner and outer panels together. Stitch a millimeter or two from the edge of the panels to hide the stitch between them. If you do not plan on making the doublet reversible, leave the inner panel edge slightly short of the outer panel edge. This will help keep the inner panel from showing.

Ladder stitching the outer and inner panels together

The finished panels, ready to be sewn together.

Once you've finished sewing the panels together, you can whip stitch them to each other. A whip stitch is fairly strong, and if you sew close to the edge, very little of the stitch will show on the right side. Put the panel edges together right sides facing. It's unlikely your panel edges will be exactly the same length, so start at the bottom and work your way to the underside of the arm so you can hide the discrepancy under your arms. For the shoulder, start at the shoulder and work your way toward the neck. If they are way off, you can always rip the seam at the long, adjust, and resew.

Whip stitching the side to the back.

The finished seam from the wrong side

The finished seam from the right side. Notice the length discrepancy at the right.