Jacobean jacket

22 February 2006
I'm in the planning stages of making a very pretty jacket in the Jacobean style. I think they are lovely and I have permission from my mum
to take a little bit of the most gorgeous crewel fabric to do it! I'm sort of in research phase, but I really do know which way I'm headed.

The Bath Museum of Costume c. 1620	Margaret Laton's Jacket from the V&A c. 1610	Maidstone Museum & Art Gallery	Suffolk Jacket
Metropolitan Museum of Art	Ulster Museum Jacket	Another Jacket from the V&A	Burrell Collection

While these are all lovely and a great source of information, they don't intrigue me as much as this one from the V&A (c. 1600-25) does:

Isn't it wonderful? I really like that it's so different from all the others. It seems that, like the longer surcoats and ropas, this might
have been used as maternity wear. Now before anyone jumps to conclusions, no, I'm not expecting, but someday...

I've read and re-read Drea's page on her Jacobean Jacket and Petticoat, I've poured over Patterns of Fashion's photos and patterns,
and I recently found this great Timeline of Women's Jackets, all these things lead me to the following conclusions: In order to make
this jacket I'm going to be altering a pattern or drafting my own. Although I'm sure Kass' pattern is wonderful, it's not the right shape
and neither is Dawn Anderson's. So, I'm going to alter Margo's Comfort pattern (which I just finished using for a full length surcoat).

I'm not overly fond of the pointed neckline, so I'm going to do a rounded one that it more similar to the fitted jackets. It's just a little thing,
but I think it'll look better on me. I'm also dislike the color of the ribbons. I like the Bath jacket's pink ones, but the pinks in the crewel are
sorta tricky so, I'm going to have to think about it. I may also swipe the shoulder wings from the more fitted jackets, but that remains to
be seen, guess it depends on what I make for the sleeve.

27 February
Teddy noted in my LiveJournal (aka LJ) that the jacket looks as though it may have been cut down from a longer surcoat. Although the
idea had crossed my mind, I hadn't really thought about it much. It does seem possible, even likely that this is the case. Those Renaissance
(Jacobean?) tailors sure knew how to recycle and this wouldn't even have been a tough recycling job. No taking apart an entire garment
to fashion it into something new, just an easy chopping off of the excess.

I have a question regarding this type of jacket. What does one wear under it? Smock-wise, I mean. Every portrait of one I've seen has
the large collar and I can't figure out if it's a low necked smock or a high necked shirt that goes under it. It seems that either would work,
but I can't really tell.

15 April!
I managed to get the first part of the muslin together for the Jacobean Jacket last night. I still need to do the sleeves. I'll have more than enough ivory silk to line the whole thing, so that makes me happy b/c that should go smoothly. The crewel will be harder since I'm going to have to try to match the pattern. I also double checked last night and found that I have more than enough piping in green velveteen and I'm thinking I'll dye the silk ribbons to match. If there were any photos, I'd post them.

I also have another jacket to post a photo of, this one appears to be similar in shape the the one I'm creating and is a very nice pic of the back
It's from the V & A and from what I understand is in QEWU (I don't yet have a copy of this book):

9 June
Wow! I haven't had a chance to work on this for sometime now, but since Oliver! goes into tech on Monday my job as costumer is almost
finished. Which means time to work on my stuff! Since April I've managed to find a muslin pattern for the inner layer of my MQofS
sleeves and they are just the right size and style to fit into the jacket. I also managed to ruin the silk ribbons I attempted to dye green
to match the velveteen piping I already had, so I've decided to switch to pink ribbons after all. I know the color isn't perfect, but it's pretty
darn close and I'm using the ribbon that was tied around my wedding bouquet, so it'll have special meaning. With that change comes a
debate. Should I go ahead and use the green velveteen piping or should I make new with some pink silk? The silk is a lighter color than the ribbons, but it was also part of my wedding and I think it'd look pretty cool, but I can't make up my mind. (at this point I'm not ready for
another adventure in dyeing)

I just this week had a chance to lay out the silk lining and get it cut. It is a lovely very light, ivory shantung. I serged all the edges so that it
doesn't fray or loose shape. I also cut out pockets of plain ol' cotton muslin because it's stronger than the silk and it almost matches the
background of the crewel.

If I could just remember to take the silk pieces to the office where the crewel is I'd me much further on this little project. I really need to
look at the pieces and figure out how to use the pattern of the fabric, then cut a large piece, bring it home, hand wash it, then finally cut
the rest of the jacket. I think it'll only take me a few hours to put the thing together if I ever remember to take it with me!

20 June
Yesterday I took the silk lining to work and played with the lay-out of the pieces. After some thought I (with help from my mum) figured
out how to place the pieces so that the pattern was symmetrical and so that I used as little fabric as possible. I brought the crewel home
and washed it in wash water in the bathtub and let it hang dry overnight.
Tonight I pulled out the map that I'd made for the pattern piece placement (alliteration!) and carefully started cutting. After I had all the
pieces cut I pinned them to my dummy and started making minor adjustments. Because the crewel is hand embroidered the pattern
isn't perfectly in scale with itself. In some spots a flower is larger, some smaller. It's sort of frustrating, but that's the nature of a hand
made item.

I finally got the pieces to look good together and then I pined on the pink silk ribbons to see how it will look when it's done.
I kinda hate it! Ok, that's an over statement. I hated it when I had 3 ginormous pink bows down the front. It just took away from the
special-ness of the fabric. 2 large bows seems much better. I'm going to sleep on it, b/c I'd hate to cut the ribbons and then change
my mind about them, but they are better than anything else I have.

I also think I've made up my mind on the piping. Because the pink silk is very light & I don't really want to ruin it, I'm going with the
green velveteen. It's a color that's already in the fabric and it's already made too. I also think I might forgo the pockets. The seams
are in a rather funny spot in relation to where my arms fall and it just would be helpful to have them in the seams. Maybe I'll figure out
a way to put some into the lining so I still have a place to stash stuff, but it won't be visible.

29 June
The jacket is almost finished & I promise that I'll get some earlier photos up soon, but for now here's the almost complete look: