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I plan to make two costumes, one a gown type:

(Wenceslas Hollar ~1640)

(Wenceslas Hollar 1640)

The other the more common jacket and petticoat:

(Wenceslas Hollar 1643)

I shall be using Reconstructing History Pattern RH101, mainly because patterning out the jacket defeats me!

Other references used include:

Clothes of the Common Woman 1580-1660, R Morris.

Clothes of the Common Woman 1580-1660 Part 2 Making the Garments, J Hugget

A Visual History of Costume: The Seventeenth Century, V Cumming.

Fashion in Costume 1200 – 2000, J Nunn.

Historical Costumes of England, N Bradfield

And numerous websites.

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This is Me at Kelmarsh last year (2007), the skirt I made with a drawstring waist, the jacket was borrowed from the regiment. As you can see, plenty of room for improvement!

So how far have I got? Working from the inside out.

From the time most costume histories start (Celts), the basic undergarment worn by men and women was the shirt, shift or smock. Made in linen or hemp, it was worn next to the skin under the woollen outer clothing. Linen was easy to wash, and kept the more difficult to wash woollen clothes free of grease and sweat. My shift was finished in time for Kelmarsh, made to the standard pattern (typically calf length for women), from off white handkerchief weight linen (fairly fine), with a mixture of hand and machine sewing (I was running out of time!).

Petticoats (skirts) were worn in layers, the number depending on the weather. I’ve made my under petticoat from linen. I’m not sure if this is correct for the period but it will be cooler in our 21st century summers! The colour is ’salmon’ which I’ve over-dyed with tea to ’sadden’ it (make it duller). This colour is authentic to the period being an exhaust colour (second or third dyeing) for madder red dye. It looks much brighter in the sun than it really is. The petticoat is entirely hand sewn.

Next comes the stays. These are still in progress, and have been given their own page! Worn over the stays is the bodice and outer petticoat, and over those the jacket. These will be completed at a later date.

Progress as of August 2008:

Here am I after Kelmarsh this year (2008), stays finished and a much better silhouette. The jacket is out of the Regimental kit, very old and battered (which is wonderful) and fits me like a glove. The rest I have made myself:

See page 2 ‘Getting Dressed’ for further pictures of 17th century clothing.