> Recently, I was given some information which seems wrong to me. I was told > that > > I should be using twill tape to stablize the neck and front opening of a > (pre-tudor) mid-15th century laced front kirtle. To me, that sounds like a > modern sewing technique, but the woman who told me this said that was the way > the extant clothing was done. I've tried doing some research and can't find > anything to confirm it. Does this sound right to anyone here? Thanks.
Hi Teena, The Museum of London book, _Clothing and Textiles c.1150-c1450_ by Elizabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard and Kay Staniland has one example from the second quarter of the fourteenth century that they think is a neckline which is finished with a tabby-weave silk ribbon on the inside (page 106). The ribbon is pretty narrow (5mm wide) and sewn with two rows of running stitches (at the neckline edge and the middle of the ribbon) and the bottom edge of the ribbon is held down with a whipstitch (well, the book calls it a hemstitch, but the drawing shows something I’d call a whipstitch rather then a hemstitch… but stitch-terminology is always a bit tricky). I’ve used this as a neckline finish many times – it creates a lovely crisp finish to the edge. The same book shows a late fourteenth century fragment with eyelets (page 164). The fragment shows eyelets on a silk facing, with traces of the woolen cloth that the facing was originally attached too. This was not a ribbon, but a facing – however, the facing (at least along the outer edge which still shows wool fragments) was topstitched on (with a running stitch), which is not how a modern facing would be applied. If it helps any, I recently wrote up documentation for my early 15th century laced front kirtle, and I corral this (and other construction information) all into one place – you can read it here: http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/Sunny/index.html(it’s the Duc de Berry Peasent Dress) -sunny _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
