Adjusting the kirtle
1 February 2024 02:15 am
Advice if you aren't great with patterns or measures: Cut larger and pin in. It's always better to take in than discover it's way too tight!
I'm cutting down an unfinished kirtle of mine which I had cut and pinned for myself to fit my niece who is several sizes smaller than me. I couldn't part with the fabric which is a beautiful wine coloured fine linen, so I'm very happy it will be used. For myself dark coloured linens were becoming a little problematic since I'm having thoughts about dye and linen, but as a first garment for a young and noble lady in a very hot climate, it will serve as a nice undergown for her first event. I don't have an issue with linen clothing at all in the right circumstances, but the combination of the fabric and colour make me feel there are better choices for me personally.
It is the second layer, going over the linen chemise and An under-kirtle for a dark blue silk kirtle with short sleeves and white tippets!
It'll be her first event coming up soon, so my fingers are crossed that she has fun! I'm doing al the internal work by machine because, really, she may not have a great time and I have so many other projects which do require to be hand stitched inside and out, that I don't want to spend an enormous amount of time on an item that I won't be able to wear afterwards. If she loves the whole idea of tournaments and re-enactment, then perhaps I will resew the inside seams by hand, but we shall see. The other jobs I have are quite time-intensive and I also need to spend dedicated time on the next few books.
There are, quite simply, not enough hours in the day spend away from my day job.