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Flemish Working Woman's Garb

The basic pieces of the Flemish Working Woman's Oufit were:
 
The Shift (the sleeves and neck line of mine are showing). This was a piece of underwear, a tunic style blouse/dress worn under all your clothes.  I tried to find some linen to make it 100% period, but had to settle for Cotton.
 
The Kirtle (the dark blue under dress). This was the next layer of clothing, an under dress that could be heavily boned or not boned at all.  Since I want to use mine for other 'periods', I made mine very 'corset like', and it is 'boned' with wooden paint sticks from K-Mart!  The kirtle has spiral lacing on each side seam.  The fabric is a Linen/Cotton blend.
 
The Overgown (the reversible gray/green over dress).  This one gave me some trouble...since I tried to cartridge pleat it first! It looked great, then I realized it was no longer reversible! So, I had to take it completely apart, and pleat the two skirt pieces seperately to the two bodice pieces!  Finally got it to work...now I need to figure out how to get it to drape back, without pulling or coming undone...I might add hooks and eyes to the corner front of each opening of the overdress hem, then fasten it in the back waistline to give it the right 'look'.  Both layers are wool...but of differing weights, which added to the 'fun' of putting it together!  I used heavy duty metal 'coat eyes' for the spiral lacing that zig-zags across the front of the gown.
 
The Partlet (not shown, yet).  This was a piece of clothing that fits over the shoulders and front chest of the outfit.  It fastens under the arms with a simple tie.  This is made of the same fabric as the shift.  I had some linen, but made a mistake with my first pattern...*sigh*
 
The Sleeves (not shown,  yet).  I have a pair of red wool sleeves I took off a jacket, they will be pinned on, as was done in period.
 
The Apron (haven't made one yet).  I probably won't wear one most of the time, but will certainly have one one when we are having 'repast'...I wanna look the part!
 
The Coif (have to make a new one).  A simple hat, made of the same fabric as the shift and partlet.  I'll also wear my straw hat, since it will be over 100* at faire!

Oct. 1, 2003
 
I finally finished my outfit...well, almost anyway! I still want to make new draws and a new hat, but since I already have stuff I can use, I'm calling the NEW stuff done!  I need to get pix taken of ALL the pieces on...I got some without the partlet and sleeves, and it just isn't right...gotta try it on tomorrow and have Tom take more shots.  Since I didn't have him take these till late afternoon, we lost the light and had to stop.

Almost ready for Ren Faire!
smnewgarb.jpg
Oct. 1, 2003

Got the giggles!
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Silly goats tried to eat my photographer!

Billy and Lilly want to come to faire too!
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They were a hit when we took them a few years ago!

Examples of the Flemish Working Woman in Art.

waffle.jpg

My partlet is very similar to the one's shown here.

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Notice the differnce in the types of support the kirtles/partlets give.  Also, the size of the ruff on the partlet is larger in the last two photos.  I love the colors, and wish my dress had a little more color...but I was stuck with the fabric I had on hand...I couldn't find wool anywhere locally!

cooknb.jpg