This is an extant 15th century cut velvet piece that was acquired by Charles de Bourbon that he graciously allowed me to handle.
I suspect the colors were a originally black velvet pile on a gold silk ground.
The plie on this fabric is only a couple millimeters high, and the ground is a tight woven plain weave silk. It's at least a 20mm weight, if not heavier.
Close up of the ground.
In my houppelande I attempted to reinforce the modern velvet with period methods of using linen, flat lined, as an interlining and a pad stitching nearly every inch. This method worked well for my sample piece.
However the weight and bias stretch of dozens of gores was more impactful than I had anticipated.
Over a the course of a year of stitching and ONE day of wear the shoulder seams stretched over an inch, the sleeves 4, and the hem close 6 to 8 inches. Some of the silk threads in the seams and pad stitching are starting to pop out and one of the lining seams needed repair already. Considering this isn’t a rushed project, and my other hand stitching garments that have lasted a decade with minimal repair, it's not a stitching skill issue. Since the threads are slipping instead of breaking it tells me to fabric isn't holding the threads in place either.
Sigh.
Luckily, I anticipated taking the lining off for the next phase of gold work. I'll adjust the shoulder length and add twill tape to the seams to support them better.
To stablize the stretching, I'm going to apply a modern solution of a lightweight cotton fusible interfacing directly to the pad stitched linen interlining before I start the embroidery.
I should have just fused a silk backing to the velvet before I cut it. But I was trying to make it work without fusing because I'm not sure if it’s a period method for the 1410s. Lesson learned. However to do that now, I'd have to rip apart the entire garment and a year's worth of work. I simply don't have the time to start over on the project.
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