I finished the chemise. Yay! Technically, it’s taken from a pattern Kohler gives for a coat (A History of Costume, pg 136). His text claims that a chemise would be cut in the same way, but with shorter sleeves. I went a little embroidery-happy on this, so maybe it is more like a cote. I might make a plain one for underneath and dye this one a festive color. I haven’t decided yet…
The neck and cuffs combine two stitches I normally use for utility sewing: the blanket stitch and a decorative knot. (I finally found a use for my uncanny ability to knot up embroidery floss at 30 paces….)
Hemline embroidery was pretty much ix-nay by the early medieval period. It was more of a Carolingian/Byzantine thing. I did it to hide machine stitching at the hem. This is, technically, not the worst inaccuracy in this little coat/cote/chemise/under-tunic thing… ;)
Tyler’s little shoulders don’t squish. *grumble* I didn’t have a problem when I tested it on Lizzle. To get Tyler into the darned chemise, I had to split it down to the hip. I bound the edges with a blanket stitch (just one row, this time). I whipped the edges together once the doll was inside, with a large stitch that resembles spiral lacing. Sewing a body into it’s clothing isn’t the most advanced way of handling closures, but it works. And, really, I mean, she is a doll….
