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.

Recent Acquisitions

My family has spent Christmas at the Bavarian Inn Lodge and Restaurant in Frankenmuth, MI for years. It's become a family tradition. The inn is reasonably priced and close to home. Only takes us an hour's drive.  The inn also has several indoor pools, a water slide, put-put golf, and game room. This is nice when the weather is nasty, we can stay indoors at the inn and still have some family fun time. The restaurant has a great family style broasted chicken dinner that is to die for. My son would eat the bowl of buttered noodles alone if we let him.

Downtown Frankenmuth has lots of shops but by far the best known is a huge Christmas store called Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland. The store is so huge, they measure it in football fields. It's five and a half football fields of indoor sales floor space, all in one building.

This was this year's first purchase.

THIS is how Santa looks in our home.

I also found this kilted Santa but passed on purchasing it. Maybe next year.

Things From My Desk: Grumpy Coffee Mug

There are many things I find necessary to function each and every day. One of these is caffeine. My preferred delivery system is coffee. Tea is okay, but I still like a double strong, double sweet cup of joe.

This mug has a couple of nice features. First of all, it's huge. It's almost impractically large for your standard mug shape receptacle. It's kinda heavy, and unless you guzzle it down, the coffee goes cold before you can quaff it. Secondly, it has a prominent image of Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on it. The text running around the edge says "Grumpy from morning to night."

I don't use it very often. When I do, you'd rather leave me alone until it's empty.

Grumpy needs more coffee!

Knead Free Dinner Rolls

I stopped making these after I got a KitchenAid mixer. They are great rolls if you don't have time to knead. Here it is as I found it on the Internet years ago.

Melt-in-Your-Mouth Holiday Dinner Rolls

This is a traditional recipe from my wife Nancy Spence's family. These dinner rolls are a big hit during holiday meals - where a double recipe served 24 people, including seven under the age of seven, last Christmas! The little people loved 'em.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 pkg. dry yeast
1 egg
3 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

In a large bowl mix the sugar, butter and slat into 1 cup of boiling water. Let cool to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast into 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Beat egg. Add yeast and egg to first mixture, then add flour - don't over-mix. Cover, let rise, poke down.

Turn half of the dough out onto a floured board. (NB. The dough is very sticky - don't give into the temptation to add flour!) Roll out to form a rectangle roughly 8x4 inch. Brush with flour, roll up jelly-roll fashion and slice off 1-inch pieces. Place slices into buttered muffin tins and brush the tops with butter. Repeat for balance of dough. Let slices rise in the tins once more. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 15 minutes or at 400 degrees F. for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 16-20 rolls.

Note: you can refrigerate this dough after preparing the rolls in the muffin tins and before the second rising. You can then pull the rolls out 2 to 2 1/2 hours before baking to let them rise the second time. This procedure works well for busy holiday meals - the dough can be prepared the day before the big day and set aside (if you have enough refrigerator shelf space!) Then pull the muffin tins out a few hours before serving to sit at room temperature and rise before baking. They are best served straight from the oven to the table, where the delicate butter and yeasty aromas help them live up to their name.
- Contributed by Ryck Lent

Things From My Desk: Lunchtime Edition - DiBella's Subs

This is a special lunchtime edition post. I'm starting to run out of somewhat interesting things from my desk.

I decided to try out one of the local sub shops. Ann Arbor has many great restaurants, but it can be a challenge getting to them from south of town. Fortunately, I'm near Zingerman's Bakehouse. The selection is great but limited compared to their main deli location. But, I've been there several times and want something different.

Yelp pointed me to DiBella's Old Fasioned Subs just a short hop over the expressway from my office. Reviews were pretty good so I decided to give it a go. In short, it makes Subway look like a kiddie sandwich shop. I had the Godfather - Genoa Salami, Capicola, and Spicy Ham on a Everything bun. The bun is a bit like an everything style bagel. Nice crusty exterior with a semi-soft interior that holds up well. I can't go there often as I'm trying to lose weight, but I'll definitely be back!

The Godfather