Making The Doublet

 Greetings

This is how I made the doublet for my costume at the 2019 Worldcon in Dublin.

I actually started to blog about this at the time, but suddenly realised I was infringing Maggie Percival's secrecy rules about the set (even if I  never actually mentioned why I was making the doublet- still-oops...)

Anyway, This was not the first Seventeenth Century doublet I have made. I made a plain blue wool doublet for the Three Mooseketeers set I took part in at an Eastercon ( British annual national SF Coonvention) in the 1990's.

I also made a burgundy wool doublet and britches decorated with silver lace and gold and silver twist braid. This had burgundy ribbon points holding up the britches,

I had not, however sufficiently stiffened the front panels of the doublet.

I had also made a full Elizabethan slashed suit with trunk hose and pullings-out (I have posted about this previously).

The doublet I need to make for the set had to be black, but to be made like an opera costume.

Thus I reasoned it had to have sufficient decoration to be visible from a distance.

I decided it would be slashed with white pullings-out and decided to trim it with black velvet and the same gold and silver twist braid I had used on the burgundy doublet.

The braid was all hand couched onto the flat pieces.

This shows the stiffening panels(or belly pieces) added to the front of the doublet. I have also sewn the sleeves closed and cut the first two slashes to the front of the doublet.

The next picture shows the addition of braid to the front and to the rear side seams, as well as the front pullings-out.

The next two picture show the doublet with the tabs and picadils added. The tabs were edged in black velvet and braid and the picadils were black velvet backed in black wool and decorated with couched braid.

This is the rear view.

Next, I sewed in the sleeves and added a velvet stand collar.

This is the front view.

And this is the rear view

I then added white metal Tudor rose buttons.

Here is a picture of me wearing the completed doublet with the lace collar, britches and bucket-top boots

This is the front.

The side view.

and the rear view.

And here is a reminder of how the costume looked when I wore it for the set ( photo by Andy Trembley- used with consent)

I will post later about the boots and boot-hose.

Until next time

Adieu