Dressing the Royals

I was honored that Maynard and Liadain, the current royalty of AEthelmearc, asked me to make clothing for their reign. Here is some information about the finished products:

I chose to make Maynard a cote of linen using the same pattern I used to make my husband's cote.   I used blue linen for the outer layer and white linen for the lining.  The main seams are all machine sewn, but the hems and buttonholes are hand finished with silk facings.

For Liadain, I created two garments, an under dress of black linen and an outer dress of blue linen.  The under dress is spiral laced at the center front with gold buttons on the sleeves.  I used the curved front fitting technique described by Tasha Dandelion Kelly to fit the pattern. 

The outer dress is styled after Margaret of Flanders from the Chroniques de France ou de St Denis in the British Library (Royal 20 C VII: f. 182). I like the drape of the long sleeves on this fitted dress; they look regal and have more weight than plain white tippets.

Margaret of Flanders (front in the red dress) Chroniques de France ou de St Denis in the British Library (Royal 20 C VII: f. 182).

Since we live several hours apart, I had limited access for multiple fittings.  I made the initial pattern for the body of the outer dress using one panel for the front and two for the back (to add shape along the spine).  I copied the lines of the side seams from her under dress and then tweaked the pattern at a second and final fitting.

I decided to make this dress lace on the side in order to have a clean front, similar to the image below: 

Side lacing: Tacuinum Sanitatis Lombardy c. 1390s, BNF Ms Nouvelle acq. lat. 1673, f.96r.

I patterned the sleeves using my standard upper sleeve pattern (my pattern for long sleeves is normally constructed with a seam at the elbow like in the Charles de Blois pourpoint - more on that in a future post).  I altered the seam so instead of being along the back of the arm, it is at the front.  This allowed me to create the upper sleeve and the long 'tail' as one piece with an opening at the front.  I lined the sleeve in white.  Similar to Maynard's piece, all the main seams are machine stitched and the hems, button holes, and silk facings are all hand finished.

Although I neglected to take pictures of the pieces separately, I did get a nice photo of them both wearing the finished product:

And one showing more detail on the sleeves of Liadain's outfit:

Looks like two happy customers!