Hi! I’m new to this
list and to early period garb. After 5yrs of doing Elizabethan and two kids later, I’ve given up
wearing corsets 🙂 I’ve been searching
the web and there seems to be no real consensus on the basic construction of the bliaut. Do most people follow the
tunic construction (long rectangles for front
and back with gores)or the separate
pleated skirt cut? Also, this may be a stupid question, when the directions call for cutting the bodice
several inches (or in one case 1 1/2x)the
torso length, is that the length from under the bust to waist or from shoulder to waist? I’ve made a hip-length mock-up of each, but I’m not sure how much wrinkling
there’s supposed to be. Thanks!
~ Giovanna
Message #1002, April 9, 2003
Hi Giovanna,
I’m new as well, but what I’ve done is use the cutting layout from Maggie Forrest’s TI article from a few years ago, give it narrow V neck (to make the wrinkling on the shoulder) and a dozen loops on each side to lace the thing up. I don’t know how much wrinkling there is “supposed” to be – I have the same question of the more experienced on this list — the first one I made I didn’t any length to the body and as a result don’t lace it tight enough to wrinkle much at all. The second one I added 3 inches and rather like the way it gathers.
Cheers,
Wencenedl
P.S. Thanks for my morning smile, BTW! I play in a kingdom where “early period” refers to dates with 3 digits, and as a result I tend to think of the 12th and 13th as firmly in the middle!
~ Elise Cormode
Message #1003, April 2003
“I’ve been searching the web and there seems to be no real consensus on the basic construction of the bliaut.”
You’re not wrong there. But that’s what you get when we have no existent examples of the garments to copy from, and have to rely on the artwork.
Do most people follow the tunic construction(long rectangles for front and back with gores)or the separate pleated skirt cut?
Personally I prefer the t-tunic version. It looks more medieval to me, but the separate skirt reproduces what we see in the artwork very well.
Also, this may be a stupid question, when the directions call for cutting the bodice several inches (or in one case 1 1/2x)the torso length, is that the length from under the bust to waist or from shoulder to waist? I’ve made a hip-length mock-up of each, but I’m not sure how much wrinkling there’s supposed to be.
Not at all a stupid question. For my cutting pattern the torso length is from the armpit to the hip bone, where the bodice (cors) would lace up. As for how much wrinkling there should be, we don’t know. I strongly suspect that like most “fashions” it varied from a modest amount, to as much as they could get away with. My suggestion is try whatever best suits the width of fabric you have and decide whether you want more or less wrinkling for your next bliaut.
~ Rowena / Belinda Sibly
Message #1006, April 9, 2003
If you lace it to hip
bone, then do you add your side gores from your hip also, rather than your waist? And what do you use
for lacing holes? I normally would use
hand-sewn eyelets, but some of the sites I’ve
read mentions using rings, I assume stitched to the edge so that the edges of the fabric don’t quite meet.
~ Giovanna
Message #1007, April 10, 2003