Here is the jacket in person, along with the new linen kirtle underneath and a very old apron. I still need to make a new coif to go with it. The ensemble seemed to wear well. I think I may take the side panels out, reattach the sleeves so they aren’t puckered at the shoulder, and reset and trim down the side panels at the bottom. That should be easy enough to do.

One side of the jacket put together (front, side panel, back)

The left sleeve installed.

The basic concept seems to work fine, though the sleeve should probably have been much wider to match the painting. Still, it’s wide enough as it is. In fact, the sleeve was a bit wider than the arch of the armscye, so I opted to just ease it in rather than cut it down (since I’d already finished all the edges). Hopefully a little steam will smooth that out, and if it doesn’t I’m not too concerned about it. I also took it in about an inch and a half on each side with a tuck in the center of the side panels, to account for seam allowances that were in the pattern but didn’t happen in the final garment. I need to finish and install the other sleeve, and then it will be done, more or less. The plan is to do hooks and eyes up the front, but I may just pin it this weekend.

I have plans to make myself some new clothes, but first I must make my lovely wife new clothes. I made her a Flemish peasant outfit once many years ago, and it seemed like time to try it again. I’d already done the combination of side-back laced kirtle and front laced overgown that everyone in the world has done, so I opted instead for a front laced kirtle and short jacket. There are a couple of examples in Brueghel’s Wedding Dance, conveniently showing similar jackets from the front and back:

This detail shows the seam lines in the back.

This image shows the front neckline.

I’ve always wanted to do something like this with a square sleeve head inserted into an arch-shaped armscye, so it should be interesting. I cut some rough rectangles that I thought would approximate the pattern pieces, then draped them on her while she was laced into the kirtle. I turned down the corners at the top to make the neckline, and took in the center back seam until it fit right, trying to keep all the pieces as simple as possible. The sleeve pattern is drafted from measurements.

I managed to cut all the pieces out of some black wool that used to be a cloak at some point, and cut the lining from some medium weight teal cotton that I’ve had for probably 15 years. I’m wrapping the wool around the edges of each piece and putting it all together by hand. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it done by this weekend when she needs to wear it…