The body of the doublet went together without too much hassle. The main fabric is a black velvet that I was given by my Laurel on the occasion of my elevation. I’ve been sitting on it for years, waiting for the right project to come along. Hopefully I chose correctly. The body is interlined with one layer of a medium weight yellow cotton that no one in my family should ever wear on its own. The body is lined with lightweight red linen, and the skirt is lined with a medium weight black linen.
The velvet was basted to the interlining, then sewn together at the sides and shoulders. The lining was sewn up the same way and then machine sewn along the bottom edge, turned, and hand topstitched. Then the center front and neck opening were basted together and a wide black linen facing was attached by machine and finished by hand. Finally, the arm holes were turned under and hand finished.
The edges of the doublet are decorated with a stiff red velveteen ribbon that I got for next to nothing from a floral shop that was going out of business. It’s crinkly and has a tendency to shred at the ends, so I have some worries about its long term viability. In the worst case scenario, I’ll have to replace all the trim, but that’s not the end of the world.The center front is open at the top, and closes lower down with five sets of hooks and eyes. There’s some gapping there, but it will all be covered later so it’s not a big deal.
The skirt presented a bit of a problem at first. The corners curled under terribly, and it just didn’t look very good. By the time I realized the problem, I was way too far down the road to go back and rethink the construction. Instead, I ended up cutting small strips of flexible plastic cutting board and stuck them under the trim at the corners to serve as stays:
That seems to have more or less solved the problem. You can also see the shirt I made for this doublet (sans cuffs). It’s based essentially on Jen Thompson’s tried and true chemise technique. Next, sleeves!