# Making Some Renaissance Kirtles Using Only 16th c Sewing Methods ## Метаданные - **Канал:** Bernadette Banner - **YouTube:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AFey2TDCx8 - **Дата:** 09.05.2026 - **Длительность:** 25:50 - **Просмотры:** 207,480 - **Источник:** https://ekstraktznaniy.ru/video/52818 ## Описание ⤠ REFERENCES ⤟ Janet Arnold, et al. "Patterns of Fashion 3: the content, cut, construction & context of European men's and women's dress c.1560-1620" (Second Edition), The School of Historical Dress https://shop.theschoolofhistoricaldress.org.uk/product/patterns-of-fashion-3-the-content-cut-construction-and-context-of-european-mens-and-womens-dress-c-1560-1620/?v=7885444af42e Juan de Alcega, "Tailor's pattern book, 1589 : facsimile" via https://archive.org/details/tailorspatternbo0000alce Jane Malcolm Davies, Ninya Mikhaila "The Tudor Tailor: Reconstructing 16th Century Dress" https://www.tudortailor.com/the-tudor-tailor Hand sewing knowledge is all in my own book, "Make, Sew and Mend: Traditional Techniques to Sustainably Maintain and Refashion Your Clothes" https://linktr.ee/makesewandmend ⤠ HOW TO SUPPORT ⤟ ♥️ PATREON for exclusive behind-the-scenes content! https://www.patreon.com/bernadettebanner ⚝ NEBULA to see these videos ad- and sponsorship-free, + Original content! http://ww ## Транскрипт ### What is a Kirtle? [] Today is a very exciting day because while I've always loved 16th century dress, I've never yet had the opportunity to do a reconstruction project in this period until now. So, let's get into learning and experimenting with 16th century dress beginning, of course, with the foundations, which in this case is the curdle. Before we had corsets, before we had stays, before we had bodies even, — we had and by bodies I mean the precursor to bodice, not, you know, bodies, obviously. We had curdles, sometimes referred to as petticoats in the period since the skirt and the stiffened bodice are connected. This was the structural layer worn just over the linen smock either underneath the fancier gowns or just on their own. This project that I'm currently working on calls for two 1560s curdles, both of which I will be completely hand stitching in a 16th century method throughout this video. One will be made of a fancier silk taffeta, which will have a bit more decoration to it, and a second plainer curdle, which will be made from a worsted wool with no extra decor. ### Historical Fabric Widths [1:06] The wool curdle, as will become a theme throughout this video, will be the good child. As a fabric, especially on shaped garments, it's pretty forgiving to work with and in this period wool cloth would have been woven quite wide, so my 55-in wide modern cloth here is perfectly acceptable to work with. Silk, on the other hand, is a bit more complex in this period because the cloth is woven much narrower. Per my reading, it seems that widths don't exceed 22 in — in the 1560s in Europe. So, the first thing I'll have to do before cutting out the skirt panels is to trim down my yardage into 22 in strips. Why, you might ask, am I cutting my fabric apart just to literally sew it back together in the same strips to form basically the original width? It seems like overkill, I know, but using the fabric of the original width forces us to put seams in that are present in historical garments that otherwise wouldn't be present in the reconstruction. Plus, it'll force me to think about fabric usage in a more historical context. Less width in my fabric means that wider panels like skirts or long gowns may require several piecings in order to get the desired shapes. I love getting to experience the decision-making process of historical tailors when I'm faced with these challenges of laying out garments, deciding where to place cuts and piecings where necessary, and of course then deciding where to cut those small piecings on the cloth in the most efficient and fabric saving manner possible. You use a lot less fabric this way and therefore it saves a lot of money by piecing the cloth, especially since history really just kind of gives us open permission to piece at will, regardless of grain line or pattern matching, even on the highest class of garments. These guys really do not care as long as you are saving precious fabric. And honestly, I love saving precious fabric, too. The one main downside to modern fabrics having to be cut to width is that you don't get the benefit of working completely selvage to selvage, which of course you would have if the fabric truly was woven to 22-in width. And this would save a ton of seam finishing because you don't have raw edges along the edges of the fabric. But I'm going to work with as much selvage as I can get access to. But this also means that I have to take a moment to trim off all the modern selvage fluff so that these selvages can better mimic the clean selvages on historical cloth. And of course, we are ### Making Buckram [3:24] not finished with our pre-sewing preparation because before we can get to sewing, we're going to need a few more layers. Some linen of varying weights for linings and interlinings, but most importantly, we are going to need some buckram for ultimate stiffness. Kirtles are worn in history before the widespread use of whalebone. So, we once again do not have bodies or stays or corsets yet. This is our stiffened bust support foundation garment, and we are achieving that stiffness not through boning, but through stiffened fabric. Modern buckrams tend to be made with synthetic components either in the fabric itself or in the glue, which can cause a divergence from the stiffness and properties of the historical stuff. So, I'm going to have a go at making my own buckram. It's really not a very difficult process, and I've always wanted to have a go at it. It's literally just medium to heavyweight linen. Historically, this didn't have to be the best quality linen since it was going to be heavily treated and was never going to be seen. And the whole thing is basted with a hide glue to give it that rigidity. I'm using the more substantial, but still passably historical quality red edge linen, which I'll also be using in its unglued form as interlining. Those of you who caught our extremely nerdy deep dive into comparing all different qualities of linen and trying to find historical quality linens, you will probably, like me, now understand way too much about the varying properties of all the different linens available to us, at least in the Europe side of the market. Only the bodice is going to be treated with all these inter and linings, and only the front really is going to be treated with the buckram, but I will need about four concentric layers of buckram for each bodice. So, I think I have measured and glued accordingly. Spoiler alert, I had not I did have to end up piecing one of the bodice panels, but that's fine. ### Cutting the Interlinings [5:12] Once dry and sufficiently papery, the buckram is pressed and I can proceed onto the last bits of cutting. Because I want the several layers of buckram in these bodice fronts for maximum stiffness, I will also have to try and avoid any harsh ridges caused by too many thick layers stacked on top of each other. Each layer therefore is going to be cut slightly smaller than the last. I did this fully concentrically with each piece being fully smaller on all edges around than the last, but next time I think I might try experimenting with only doing this to the top edge, since I think it actually might be beneficial to have maximum stiffness in the peak, and also to have maximum rigidity for the eyelet holes, at least at the side opening edge. Only the front half gets this full buckram treatment, since its function is, of course, primarily bust support. However, the back panel will still need some little bit of body, because otherwise a single layer of fabric will just be too weak to fully connect to the highly stiffened front panel of the kirtle. So, I'm cutting one layer of plain untreated heavy linen to interline both the front and the back. And, of course, one final layer of nice, beautiful fine linen for the lining on both halves. The interlining layer for the front isn't really going to add anything in terms of stiffness that the buckram won't already add tenfold, aside, of course, from stiffening the straps, which would otherwise be unbuckramed. But, its primary function, however, is to give me something to stitch onto when assembling all the buckram layers. Otherwise, I would have to stitch all these layers of buckram to the fabric itself in order to get it to stay, in which case I would have tons of massive structural stitches showing through the front layer of [snorts] the fabric, which the portraiture definitely does not show. So, that is not the technique that they're using. So, after making sure that all of my buckrams sit well within the seam lines, and stacking each concentric layer on top of one another, I'm ready to properly destroy my hands. ### Padstitching & Shaping [7:29] Using the heaviest weight linen thread that I have, I'm going to pad stitch all of these layers together. This requires pliers and my most industrial strength metal thimble, since, alas, my leather thimble will simply puncture if I try to force a needle through four layers of glued fabrics, which I definitely don't know from personal experience. But thankfully, these stitches can be on the larger side and don't really have to be pretty since none of this will be seen. Well, except by you, but I trust that you're not going to tell anyone. The trick to working with any shaped garment like this is to work with it in its final form. Surface area plays a surprisingly significant role in three-dimensional shapes. Since each concentric layer of buckram will technically have a slightly tighter curve than the one behind it when worn on a curved body, this curvature should be worked into the layers as I'm sewing. Otherwise, if sewn flat, the layers would bubble when curved since that excess surface area has nowhere else to go but out. And you can already see in the finished structures that they are automatically holding out that curve since the surface areas are really pinned into place like that with each stitch. A bit of heat will rework that glue to really solidify it into a curved shape. And this will continue to improve with wear since the heat of the body will continue to mold the shape to the wearer. Now, I can cover over the structural shape with the outer fabric, stretching it nicely so that there is no wrinkling or bubbling. Once again, I'm working with the bodice over a tailor's ham to keep it in three dimensions so I can be sure that the silk follows the concentricity of the other layers and won't bubble when curved on a body. This was a lot more forgiving with the wool since it has a bit more natural give to it so I could really get a nice smooth finish. The silk is much more rigid, so if it's not pulled tightly enough, it would bubble. And if pulled too tightly, I would end up with stress wrinkles. The back panels get treated in the same way only with just the plain interlinings, no buckram. ### Assembly [10:22] The actual assembly of the bodice is fairly simple. Since these curtals will both have left-hand side openings, all I really need to do in terms of stitching together is one side seam and both shoulder seams. This is done with a tight backstitch and heavyweight silk thread on both versions for maximum strength, since the bodices will be tightly fitted and will take quite a bit of strain. — Then all of the seam allowances around the edges are pressed in and secured down with a whip stitch, catching only the interlining layer so it doesn't show through to the front. I'm also doing this to the seam allowance along the body seam. I'm not sure if this was done in this period since it will be covered over with lining and I personally haven't seen any extent references or examples of this. However, this is definitely something that happens in stay making 100 to 200 years later. So, I am purely hypothesizing here that we are also stitching down the body seam allowances here in the kirtles. — It really just helps to flatten that seam allowance bulk, which is especially important for tight-fitting garments like these. ### Lining [12:42] And to finish everything off nicely, I can add in the fine linen linings to cover all of the structural business. This is attached all around with a much nicer whip stitch. I'm using a fairly lightweight silk thread for the silk kirtle and I'm using a waxed linen thread for the wool kirtle. Generally in early modern and really up to 18th century sewing, it tends to be common practice to match the thread type to the fabric type. So, if we're working on silks, we're using silk threads. linens or wools, we're using actually usually probably linen threads because it's a lot cheaper in this period. Definitely not in the modern day period, but you know, we do what we must with reconstruction. Except, of course, if the stitching is going to be seen, in which case we will use silk. Once again, I am not sure if this was done historically, but I'm going off structural instincts here. But, I'm just reinforcing the inside corners where the straps meet the bodice front with a couple of buttonhole stitches. Since the fabric here is quite hard to turn in and it feels just a bit delicate, this should just prevent any fraying or tearing anytime soon. We do see similar reinforcements at vents and slits in shirts. So, it's not wildly off-base, and I do think it is a perfectly plausible solution to any juncture that might need some extra reinforcement that might be at a point of weakness. ### Adding Guards [14:21] Ironing board is currently being occupied with 15th century things. So, I have made myself a little makeshift ironing board — [snorts] — from my leather cutting board, some batting, and a mock-up. — [snorts] — It's working out fine. I took a little break here to press the edges in on approximately 8 mi of taffeta strips because I've decided to add some guards, which are basically just strips of decorative fabric, to the silk petticoat. This is something that we see all over Renaissance gowns and petticoats, especially in Italy, which is where our silk petticoated lady is from. The bodice stripe layout here is taken roughly from an Italian Renaissance portrait, which I've been referencing quite a bit for this project. But, unfortunately, I am unable to turn her around. So, the back bodice stripe configuration is indeed guesswork. As far as I've seen on extant garments, bindings and decorations like this continue to be cut on the straight grain instead of on the stretchier bias as we would normally do today. This is probably for fabric use efficiency since the bias requires cutting at the exact 45° angle through an entire good square of material, which of course you won't be able to use the entirety of, whereas straight grain strips can be cut zero waste or just pieced from offcuts if necessary. It just requires a bit more finagling around tricky curves and sometimes if the curve is just too tight to steam out smoothly, we'll just require some easing pleading in the trim. But this is seen on extant garments, so is therefore perfectly acceptable. And now that all the complicated work is done, we can get back to the skirts. Okay, so the first ### Sewing the Skirts [16:00] step in putting together the skirts is I'm just going to assemble the front and the back pieces. So I have a bunch of rectangles and I've got these two shorter width tapered pieces that will make up the front and then three just plain rectangles that will make up the back. So I'm just going to go ahead and stitch all of these together. Just use a little running stitch, probably a combination stitch taking a little backstitch every now and then so that we have a little bit of security, but long skirt seams like this that take a long time and don't take a lot of strain tend to just be running stitched that way we save a little bit of time. So we got a lot of sewing to do. I have assembled all of my silk panels to comprise one full front piece and one full back piece, which I can then stitch together at the side seams. This whole piecing into front and back panels was not necessary for the wool because I was just able to get the entire front panel and back panel cut out of the width of the fabric that I already had and we didn't have to do the whole cutting things into 22-in panels shenanigans. — And then this side gets a 10-in opening. So, after seaming all of the skirt panels together, I now just have to hem off the skirt opening with a tiny little hem. Okay, I think I've done this right. And then the skirt is ready for a bottom hem, which unlike the rest of hems elsewhere, the bottom hems tend to be on the wider end to add some weight to the bottom of the garment. This one, I think, measures probably around 3/4 of an inch. I did, devastatingly, read immediately after finishing this hem that a lot of gowns and girdles are faced with a strip of heavy linen or wool felt at the hem, probably to weight them down and to allow the skirts to hang smoother, but also to protect the hem from wear if it drags on the ground. I am on a slightly tight deadline for this project, so I did not have the chance to rip it out and add one in for this go around, but I will definitely be redoing that in future and keeping this in mind for future 16th century endeavors. ### Hem Guards [18:45] And of course, just to create some visual harmony with the bodice, I'm just adding some strips of guards along the hem edge of the silk girdle. This is an extremely common decoration on girdles all over Europe, so not just for the Italian ladies. I know for a fact that at least the English ladies are also very fond of this particular hem stripe decor. Time to find out if my maths is correct. Yes. What am I nervous about? No. No. Oh my god. Oh. The seams peeling up. The top edge of the skirts are simply overcast to prevent them from fraying. I have not come across a definitive way that the skirt tops were finished in this period, but once again, I do know that by the 17th and 18th centuries, the raw upper edges of the skirts were simply folded over once, pleated, and whipped to the bodices. So, that is what I've decided to do here. Modern fabrics, however, are a bit more loosely woven than the historical fabrics would have been, and are thus too fray-prone to leave raw, hence the overcasting just for some lightweight preservation. ### Lacing Eyelets [20:35] And now for the finishing touches. The bodices will need some eyelet holes so that they can be laced closed. These are offset slightly to facilitate spiral lacing, which is the most common lacing technique during this period. I already figured out all the spacing on the mock-up, so I just get to plagiarize myself here. ### Attaching the Skirts [21:41] — And with the bodices completed, all that's left to do is attach the skirts. ### Reinforcing the Opening [22:24] So, this juncture where the skirt seam ends and splits open into the top of the skirt where, you know, you enter and exit the garment here, this is a really vulnerable point because despite the fact that this is backstitched a couple of times, there's going to be a lot of pulling here and it's just going to make this little bit quite weak as you can probably already see the seam threads are stretching a little bit there. So, what I'm going to do is reinforce this a bit with a worked bar. This is basically just a strip of thread that's going to be reinforced across with some buttonhole stitches and this will just help to make it not only the thread itself really strong, but just kind of give it a little point so that this thread catches before the actual seam thread start. And this is something that was often done in various periods of history to help strengthen any splits and seams that happen. For example, at necklines, on sleeves, at skirts, vents in garments. So, this is just going to get buttonhole stitched all the way across. We're effectively just tying a bunch of knots across this strip of thread. Just going to make it nice and strong. At least 100 hours of stitching later, let's have a look at the final result. ### Final Reveal & Isabella Cortese [23:45] These two curtles are the beginning of what will become a much larger project I have got myself very roped into on the subject of 16th century women in alchemy. There will be a lot more to come on this from reconstructing how women practicing alchemy in the 16th century would have dressed — to reconstructing some historical alchemy itself. So, be sure to subscribe if you wish to follow along on this. — The lady in silk is modeled off of Italian alchemist Isabella Cortese, a woman of much mystery who, and I cannot emphasize this enough, has truly become Glorbo from my Renaissance and I am in so deep at this point. Truly obsessed with her and her role as an early modern scientist in what we've believed to be such a male-dominated field, and I cannot wait to bring you guys along on my quest to resurrect her, after a fashion, of course. But, I have got lots more sewing to do in the meantime before we can truly bring her to life. So, I'm going to get back to work, and I look forward to seeing you back here anon. ### Credits & Tech Bros [25:22] There's a bunch of tech bros watching me. What, you've never seen a tutor before?