Andrew's New Doublet

At the very end of 2015, I realized that my 12-year-old son had outgrown all his nice garb. 9 February was the date for our annual Candlemas event, which serves as an excellent excuse for everyone to wear nice clothes. I had some sewing to do. Because he's in the throes of puberty, I knew I'll need to make him a new one soon. He may only get one wearing out of this before he outgrows it completely (a fitted doublet doesn't leave much in the way of "room to grow"). So I took every cheat I possibly could with this project. All the materials are stash except the buttons, which he picked out. The fabric was also his choice, for his first doublet a few years ago. It's 100% dead dinosaur upholstery fabric, but it's pretty and the price was right. Even with all the machine cheats, it took about 40 hours to make this garment (not counting the time to make the pattern).

Chronological Anarchy Warning

I have a bad habit of forgetting to make posts. I'm usually good about taking pictures while I'm working, but then the photos sit on my hard drive. I'm pulling together the info on several recent projects, but it's going to appear here in the order that I get around to them - so completely jumbled, as far as order of completion. Sorry about that. But I figured it was better to just get it up, rather than worrying about going in chronological order.

Fabric Bias and Binding

Fabric Bias and Binding

presented by Honorable Lady Simona della Luna

at King’s College 2016 in the Barony of Namron, Kingdom of Ansteorra

m.k.a. Star Maddox Star.Maddox@gmail.com  

loom illustration by Pearson Scott Foresman, from Wiki Commons

original woven fabric illustration by PKM at English Wikipedia, modified by Star Maddox

A glossary and a list of additional resources may be found at the end of this handout. The most up to date version of this handout may be found at http://lavorodellaluna.blogspot.com.

What is bias

When woven fabric is made, the loom is set up with long warp threads. Then the weft thread is passed from left to right and back agin, forming the cloth. Sometimes the warp and weft threads are the same fiber, strength, and spacing, and sometimes they are different. The far left and right edges of the cloth are woven in a slightly different style, forming the non-fraying selvage edges. If a strip of cloth or pattern piece is on the straight of grain, it is in line with the warp threads. If it is on the cross grain, it is lined up with the weft threads. If it is on the bias, it is oriented at a 45 degree angle to the warp and weft threads. The grain line marked on pattern pieces is intended to be matched to the straight of grain, though for some fabrics the cross grain will work as well, as long as the warp and weft threads are the same.