Coats for Gulf Wars

It's somehow much easier to work on jackets, coats, and cloaks when there's snow on the ground.

Everyone with extensive Gulf Wars experience is worried about another really cold one this year.  This seems amazing to me, as I have always been quite warm during the day, though nights can be really chilly.  Still, it's a great time to curl up with handwork under piles of wool.

I'm sewing for three on a regular basis now, so first I attended to the family:

 

Teenaged girl likes both Oriental and Irish culture.  She'd received a wrapped Mongolian coat shell, but it needed a lining to hang right and a bit of finishing.  Cue leftover felt from the tent, and I used white thread to reference sashiko quilting.  If she ever wants to push the jacket more Japanese, I can add more quilting, or if she decides to sway towards Early Period British Isles, then we can take the collar off and fasten it with brooches.

 

The resident Viking has a favorite coat, of wool herringbone twill, but it really wasn't warm enough, and it fits differently since he's lost a lot of weight recently.  The new lining I've added is a striped wool twill, brushed and incredibly soft.  The extra fabric folded open like lapels when he was trying it on in rough assembly stage, so I took the hint and chainstitched on a series of severely abstracted black rams.  I used JaggerSpun 2/24 SuperLamb, which is a superwash merino wool thread available from Ursula's Alcove, and my favorite embroidery floss in wool.

(spear dancers from Sutton Hoo, via Rogers' Cloth and Clothing) 

I'm in excellent shape, garb-wise, but I am concerned about the cold, and wanted a Early British warrior's jacket.  I do have a new voluminous cloak, courtesy of the Christmas gift swap, and I'll certainly bring that, but for cooking in the morning chill, or for easy maneuverability in the marketplace at night, a trim jacket is easier to manage.

I really wanted to use a piece of nearly black brushed wool felt, that's incredibly soft, that I was given a couple of years ago, but at only 2 yards, I wasn't sure I had enough for the wrap.  I'm also not sure that the wrapped jacket is appropriate for women, given that the women's jackets seem to have vertical trim down the center preserved on the backs of brooches that follow the spines of the bodies.

 

(Kentish brooch-closed dresses and jackets, also from Rogers' Cloth and Clothing, which is one of the main types of garb I wear.)
 

But the evidence of that presented in Rogers' book is so tenuous, and the angle of the wrap is shown as being so steep, that I'm not sure we can really know.  I can always fall back on the "I need male-ish garb for fighting" argument...and come on, the wrap design is so attractive, I can't wait to get the right trim made and the jacket embroidered.

Here's a trick for getting the extra wrap out of only enough fabric for front and back.  Admittedly, this works because I am slender, with broad shoulders.  A more pear-shaped person would need a larger triangle than would come out of the neckline.

 

See, the wrap portion of the front right piece is taken from the neck of the front pieces.

 

It gets attached like this.  Here's the jacket, roughly assembled.  I intend to run the green-gold wadmal around the hem, and also at the cuffs, heavily embroidered to resemble the Sutton Hoo art.  I also see in the art another line of tablet-woven trim, around the neckline.  Another project!  But that one can wait for a bit.

 

I'm planning on closing it with two of my TB-3s from Raymond's Quiet Press for now.

Comments

[Ysabella]

Aaaah, snow. I've heard of this mythical thing, but it seems to be more likely as soon as one leaves Trimaris. Spiffy looking garb, Greet, I'm sure it will be delightfully warm! After all, we all know that wool is the superior fiber, yes? *grin*

Hope all is well in your corner of the world, we miss you!