Doublet Materials

I wanted to write a post about the materials used in our Modern Maker doublet, partly for my benefit to remember what all we used, but also for others so they might know what's out there.  So on to the cloth we go.

The fabrics were all purchased from www.fabrics-store.com.  The outside is their IL019 Blue Bonnet (5.3 oz.).  This is a pretty common weight of linen in our house; it breathes well, and holds up to the abuses I tend to put on my clothes (mostly fencing).  For interlining we used their IL095 Natural canvas weight (10.2 oz.).  This is the heaviest weight linen fabrics-store sells, but I think it's the first time we've used it.  The fabric really, really wrinkles and doesn't want to go flat again, no matter how much it's ironed.  I'm not sure we would choose this fabric again because of that.  We might try one of their 8 oz. canvas weight linens instead of the 10 oz. or source from another supplier.  Lastly for the lining we used their IL020 Bleached Linen (3.5 oz.).  This is a lighter weight than a lot of linens we use, and for me it was a little frustrating to deal with it, but I think that was more my inexperience and indelicateness more than the fault of the fabric.  There's also a smattering of black silk for facings & edgings as well as some wool used for shaping that was from leftover stock in the house.

That's all the fabrics, but what about everything else?  We used a Dark Azure (7330) Gutermann 50 weight all cotton thread bought at a local big name fabric store for anything requiring a match to the outer fabric, and we used pretty much an entire 110 yard spool.  For basting and any other uses of white we used whatever generic white we had around the house - I suspect it was Coates poly.  It was the same for applying the black trim, whatever we had in the house.  The buttonholes were done in a black silk buttonhole twist that we had around, but we had to buy a second package.  Eyelets on the sleeves were done in a lighter blue silk buttonhole twist that was also laying around the house.  Eyelets on the doublet around the waist and sleeves we used a crocheting cotton thread that was also around the house.

Lastly we have the trim & buttons.  We utilized a 9mm wide black cotton herringbone twill.  I think it turned out well for the pattern we chose.  For buttons, we used a lovely cast pewter button from the Tudor Tailor's Etsy shop.  The one we used doesn't seem to be appearing in their shop right now, so I don't know if it's just out of stock or they're not producing anymore (which would be a shame).  They do still have their other buttons though, so there is hope.  There are a total of 22 buttons sewn on right now, but room for 2-3 more.

That wraps up the list of materials we used on the doublet.  I'd love to hear what favorite sources other people use.

New Doublet

Kate posted a general post about the new doublet/jerkin we've been working on for quite some time, but I'd like to add my own thoughts here.  This doublet constitutes the most amount of non-leather based sewing I've ever done.  I was guided by my ever loving wife through all of it, and she still did a large chunk of the work, but I think we both learned a lot.

This doublet is intended as a prototype, actually.  The goal is for a new leather doublet that I can use for fencing.  More on that will come later.