buttoned and lined liripipe

I thought that I would show you how I made my buttoned liripipe.

The pattern is a mix of Herjolfsnes no.72 from Greenland and hood no. 246 from the excavations in London. It is a tight hood but it can be worn both closed and open with the front part turned back.

I used a really nice thin grey wool for the outside fabric and a bright fun checked wool for the lining. I study tailoring and we made half a tailored jacket as a exercise and after everyone had cut out their jackets there was a lot of fabric over due to the fact that we pattern matched it. And most people just threw the pieces away since they were pretty small and they thought it was kind of ugly.
So I sneaked around and pulled their pieces out of the bins, free fabric is love.
The colours fit into the medieval colour spectra with a madder red and the other colours are also possible to achieve with plant dyes. So I pieces the scraps together, I know that pattern matching is not that period but I could not help myself, I just love pattern matching.
I sew with waxed linen thread and with sewing thread depending on what I am sewing.

I start with cutting the shell fabric out. I have a pieced liripipe to save fabric so I take my big piece and put it on the lining with the wrong sides together.

Then I baste the two layers together. Making sure that I do not baste to close to the edge at the slits for the shoulder gore.

Then I cut the hood out of the lining fabric. Doing it this way in stead of cutting them separately is that there is no need to match them later, they are identical right from the start.

Cut the slits for the shoulder gore in the lining fabric to.

We are going to start with putting the shoulder gores in. We will sew them in from the right side. It is a easy way to set gores without having to worry about the tip being all wonky.
With a chalk I draw the sewing allowance on the gore. I have 1cm

Sewing the gores in from the right side is a technique that have been found on the garments from Greenland.

The cut slits in the hood have now sewing allowance so put the cut edge to the chalk line.

You should put the gore in between the lining layer and the shell fabric.
This is why you should not baste to close to the edge.

Pin it in place.

Fold the edge of the slit in.

Do this all the way around the slit, see how easy it is to make a pretty tip on the gusset.

Make sure that you only pin the shell fabrics layers together.

Then sew the gusset with this kind of stitch.

Make sure that you only sew the shell fabric together.

And there is your gusset.

This is the backside. The line is there to help me to pattern match the lining gusset.

Do the same thing with the lining gusset. Yes, there might have been some non period pattern matching going on here to, but there is a lot of piecing and that is totally period

Then you attach the liripipe the same way, from the right side. I do this because I am lazy and that it gives you a nice flat seam from the beginning. And the seam will not get any wear so it will hold anyway.

I do not line the liripipe, no one will see it anyway and it will just be bulky.

I cut the seam allowance down a bit, to reduce the bulk even more.

Then I sew down the seam allowance. I use filler threads to keep the edges from fraying, and it looks pretty as well. This is a technique that have been found in the garments from Greenland.

Then I mark out the centre front of the hood. On the buttonhole side I want it to overlap with 0,5 cm so I mark that out to.

I baste the centre front line on the button hole side to make it easy for myself when I am going to mark out the button holes later on.

On the side were the buttons will be attached I fold in the seam allowance completely, since you want the buttons to be attached to the edge of the hood at the centre front.
I cut some notches in the seam allowance to make it possible to press.
On the side where you want the button holes you only press in 0,5cm since you want it to overlap a bit.

I trim down the seam allowance where the notches are so that the notches are cut of, It looks prettier.

Then I trim away the lining a bit, to make it smoother.

Cast down the edge with filler thread.

Like this.

Finish of both sides the same way.

Then you sew the buttonholes. I use a silk buttonhole thread to work mine, It gives the best results and have been found on the garments described in Textiles and clothing.
I wait with the buttons since I always sew the buttons on last. It is a tailor habit and comes from the fact that you can not do a proper last press on a garment if the buttons are on it.

Not it is time to sew the neck seam. I mark out where I want to sew.

I start at the liripipe. Here I sew with short running stitches. There is no stress on these seams and sewing a back stitch is just wasting time.

I sew with short running stitches all the way to this point in the neck, this is where I start sewing with back stitches.

Then I press the seams apart.

Period seam allowances are narrow so I try to simulate that with cutting my seam allowances down a bit.

As I have done with all my other seams, I use the filler threads when I cast the edges down.

Now it is time to hem the hood. I have chosen to tablet weave around the hood.
If you want to know how to do it, I explained this in my tutorial on how to make a open hood.
Click here to go to it.

Now we make the buttons. Mark out the size on a piece of fabric.

Using a strong thread (I use waxed linen) sew running stitches around the circle.

Then I trim the edges. If you have a big button you can leave these on to use for filling of the button. But my button is small so I cut it away.

I gather the the button around my thumb.

Fold the edges inside.

Make a single knot and pull it together.

Then I massage it between my fingers. I find that this makes a better shape and also enables you to pull it even tighter.

Pull it tighter and make the second knot.

And then you have a button small round and tight.

Using the left over threads I sew them right onto the edge. Make sure that they have a bit of a neck or else they will be hard to button.

Now it is time to take away all the basting and to press your hood well. The tailor in me hates unpressed seams, everything is better well pressed.

And then it is done! Worn here with my modern clothes and my Bigritta cap.

And of course the pattern. In cm per usual.

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