Construction of the Houppelande

Some in progress photos. 

Here is the link to the actual documentation for this project! 

The Velvet houppelande ACT I 

Patterning-

A lot of this was previously discussed in my updated pattern here. The extant houppelande had 19 trapezoid panels. 4 of which were pieced to make wider panels. I originally choose to have 20 panels the same width because I had enough fabric to not piece panels and wanted to avoid putting a front opening down the center of such narrow panels, based on my previous experiences of how awkward it is to finish. The width of the panels also being dictated by the width of period velvets and fur panels.

From my mock up it revealed that since I had lengthened the gown it didn't have the volume needed to achieve the right shape, giving an awkward tulip silhouette, and since I wanted to maintain working within the width of velvet in period, the solution was to add two more panels and gores to the back of the garment. For a total of  22 panels, plus 2 full length gores, and 8 short gores.

My back gore pattern from the mockup. 

The center front and center back panels are wider at the top, as per the mockup. This is so that I can cut the curve of the collar without affecting the panels laying on the shoulder. When trapezoid panels are sewn together they create a curve, and when that curve is sewn into the shoulder seam, that drapes the opposite direction, it creates tension, and combined with a bias to straight edge is what causes the natural pleating effects that make houppelandes iconic. So it was important to not cut into that. 

The curve on these shoulder seams became more pronounced as the velvet relaxed.

I ended up with this cutting layout. It has 10 trapezoid front panels, 12 trapezoid back panels, 2 full length gores, 16 trapezoid sleeve panels and (not shown) 8 shorter gores and the collar that was cut from an extra yard. 

Cutting the Fabrics-

One of the most nerve racking things, cutting into expensive fabrics!  That's 4 layers 8+m of fabric laid flat! 100% silk velvet, 12mm silk for lining, 2.8oz linen for interlining, 3.5oz linen for fur backing.

Luckily a partner had a large enough space and an extra set of hands to help me lay this all out. 

I started off using bottles as weights and then used pins to align all 4 layers of fabric along one selvage. 

Note that the bottles left round circles in the delicate silk velvet. They seemed to have steamed out, but still was not a best choice. Next time I'll try hockey pucks, since the curved edges are less likely to cause that issue. Glass fabric smoothers would have been a common item in a tailor's shop that might have worked as a period weight in this application. 

The fabric was divided into 4 equal widths, each representing half the width of silk velvet in period.  Each width was then spit on a diagonal, the short width on the front panels measuring 5cm, as was the dimension on the Prague Houppelande. 

Because I added 2 panels in the back, I reduced the top of the back panels to 4 cm to maintain the shoulder length.  Even still the shoulders seams stretch wider with the velvet than the mockup, so I ended up adding a few pleats and using a line of stay stitching to hold them in place. 

I used 2 meter sticks taped together to get a long edge long enough to mark out the pattern with tailors chalk. 

As I was cutting I made sure to pin a post-it note to each section with it's name and the nap direction. And then put them in individual freezer bags to protect them. 

While pining my panels together I'm making sure to alternate the nap pattern, and to make sure I'm matching a bias edge to a straight edge. There are a few pen marks on the seam allowances to help keep that sorted out. Unfortunately I discover later that I messed this up with my covid brain fog.

The Velvet Shell-

The threads I am using are a 50# purple Silk thread and a 100# white silk thread.  A 50# thread is stronger, and is being used on the structural seams on heavier velvet and any finishing details I want to blend into the garment. The lighter white silk thread is being used for the silk lining and seam allowances. I'm also using modern tools such as needles, bee's wax, thimbles, snips, pins. 

I am sewing the 2.8oz linen interlining as a flat lining, since it's purpose is to add strength and structure to the silk velvet to closer resemble period velvets. It will also provide a backing for future embroidery.  The Golden Gown of Queen Margrete , and here is an extant example of a garment with a linen lining. Medieval linens came in a wide variety of weights, from heavy canvas to almost translucent, lighter linens such as this one have been found on extant undergarments. I choose this linen because it's not a particularly finely woven linen, but provided the right amount of structure, and was lightweight, which is a big factor in such a garment. 

To sew the velvet and interlining, I used a simple running back stitch with 5-6 stitches per inch which seems to be a common stitch length in extant garment. I then did a simple over cast stitch on the seam allowances.  With all of these seams I made sure to start sewing at the top of the garment and work my way down, so that any uneven stretching would be at the hem. 

Finished seam from the right side.

Aside- look at that color in natural light!!

Finished seam on the interior 

After a month of devoting every free moment I had to hand sewing, I did resort to using the machine to replace the running stitches on the back half of the gown, and rework, however continued to hand finish all other elements.

Hand sewn front half hanging out. 

Because the velvet can be easily crushed I'm trying to roll it up as much as possible as I'm working with it. As I got more of it put together I began to pin the panels to my mannequin so they could hang and to not be folded or rolled. 

In progress picture of the center back panels. 

Before I ripped out the center back due to my labeling mess-up. 

Also starting to sew this project while I was still in recovery from a nasty bout of long covid and still suffering from major brain fog wasn't the best idea. AFTER I had hand sewn the entire front of the houppelande, I realized that I didn't mirror the pieces when I started, and thus had 2 of the same front half instead of mirrored. Luckily, I had enough length, and the nap of the fabric is almost indistinguishable, so I could make do with only ripping out one center front panel and moving it to the other side, and adjusting the hem a bit shorter along the sides to make it work, instead of having to re-sew 2 weeks of hand work. 

I also made the mistake of labeling and cutting my back panels wrong. Which I did discover quicker, but had a few panels already sewn. So I ended up ripping out a total of 6 panels, the wider center back panels ended up being used elsewhere, combined with the stretch of the fabrics I ended up putting in several pleats at the shoulder anyways, and my hem needed adjustments, a couple panels pieced at the hem. 

I'm kind of irritated at myself, all my carefully planned tailoring of the panels at the shoulders and hem was thrown off. Plus my near zero waste cutting pattern now generated more waste and some piecing when I had plenty of fabric to make it unnecessary. I know that I can do better. But c'est la vie, and I made it work.

Here the uneven nature of the hem is quite obvious.  

But look at the drape and the way it catches the light! 

(And NO that's not the belt that goes with this outfit, lol)

I also needed a last minute purchase of more thread because I didn't plan for this much rework, nor the amount of thread needed for pad stitching and the dress guard.

Interesting Tidbit from my research- The Parisienne Guilds statues of the time stated that fiber arts must be done during day light hours. Work done after dark was considered inferior and could result in fines.  (The Silk Industries of Medieval Paris, Sharon Farmer)

Technically most of my sewing would be illegal. Thank goodness for modern lighting!

Two useful things I've found when hand sewing is to keep a fuzzy blanket on my lap, that way a needle won't get caught up in any other fabric, and the fabric doesn't slide around. Most fabrics need a bit of tension while hand sewing, and silk velvet such as this can very easily be distorted and pucker if the right tension isn't maintained. I try to tuck one end under my body, between my knees, or pinned to my pants, as I sew, so I can pull gently with one hand, and allows me to keep tension and allowing me to pull my thread tightly without any fabric bunching. Once sewn to the interlining, the velvet hold the shape of the linen. An after observation was that a silk organza might have been a better option for structure since it tends to hold it's shape better.

An example of using tension and a fuzzy fabric to aid hand sewing. 

I need to talk about pressing seams... because period seam smoothers were round glass objects that used their weight to press seams, or flat irons could be heated in the fire and used in a similar fashion as modern irons (Did Shakespeare use an Iron). But they would completely crush silk velvet. The needle boards traditionally used to iron velvet were first used in 1870, and the modern hack of fluffy towels doesn't translate into a period methods because towels were simple woven linens in period. While a shorn lamb fur could be a common item in a medieval household that might work for pressing velvet seams, I have no evidence. So I simply dampened my fingers and use them to gently press the seam and tacked down the seam allowances as I went to keep them neat. It also has the bonus of a second line of stitches to strengthen the seam, to both add strength to the seam, and to prevent any fraying.  Even still I wasn't happy with how the seams fell, and so I did resort to using a modern iron with a fuzzy towel to press the seams. 

Once allowed to hang, I then added pad stitching down the center of each panel and gore. The pad stitching adds structure to help keep the fabrics from stretching further, and helps maintain the natural curves in areas such as the collar. Pad stitching was often used in gambesons of the time period.  I choose a simple running pad stitch on the body of the garment since it doesn't need to shape the garment.

An interior pic showing the finished seams, curved shoulder and the simple pad stitching. 

The Collar-

As I worked through the garment it was obvious that the collar was going to need a bit more structure. So I chose a felted wool that had enough structure, cut a bit smaller than my pattern was, and pad stitched that to the velvet. Which was then covered by the linen interlining, this it had switched to the front top of the velvet with a running back stitch along the top curve of the wool, then flipped it around and pressed to have a crisp edge for the silk lining to attach to later. 

I then carefully back stitched the collar to the neck opening and felled the seam allowances with another line of back stitches. I used back stitches in this area because it is a stronger stitch and this area will have a lot of pull on it from the weight of the garment, and possibly people stepping on the hem. Again, I may add twill tape in this area to take the pressure off the seam. 

An in progress photo of the initial shaping of the hem. The centre front is purposely a bit higher to make it easier to walk in. When finished it should just brush the ground. 

The Lining-

For the 12mm silk lining, I'm bag lining it, so I can unpick it as needed for future embroidery. I sewed most of the lining in tandem with the shell so that I could make sure I was making the same adjustments, (and mistakes!) to the lining. 

I used the same running back stitch, but because it is a finer material the stitches are finer, closer to 8-10 stitches per inch. The allowances are treated with a simple overcast stitch that rolls the cut edge under. It's not as finely rolled treatment as I would do for a veil, This is simply because I was worried that the seam allowances would fray apart, and seam allowances would lay nicer. None of it will be seen once it is sewn in.  Afterwards I have pressed the seams with a modern electric iron.  Like the outer shell, I did resort to using the machine to replace the running stitching on the back half of the lining, continuing my pattern of hand finishing the seam allowances and any visible stitching.

Attaching the Lining-

After the shell has been completed, hung out, ironed, and then pad stitched, it will be ready tack in the satin bag lining. For this I'll fold 1/2" of the raw edges of both to the interior, using a whip stitch at the edge, iron the edge, and then use a running stitch 1/4" away to keep the edges crisp and to prevent any stretching. I will also have tacking stitches at intervals along the seam lines.  Keeping the stitches on the exterior will ensure I'll be able to remove the lining for cleaning or future embroidery without damage to the fabrics. 

You can see that the collar looks like the manuscripts from the first decade of the 15th century when standing up, and like the second decade when folded down.  

Also once the machine sewn seams were hand felled and steamed with the iron they were indistinguishable from the hand sewn seams. 

This makes me quite pleased. 

Dress Guard- 

This gown is an expensive labor of love, and to protect the hem I'm adding a dress guard at the hem. It is usually a durable fabric used to protect expensive fabric hems from dirt and snags. They are extremely popular in later periods, While it is hard to find visual evidence of a dress guard in use on houppelandes, especially the interior of a silk lined one, most images show a fur trimming instead, which would also protect the gown from damage. 

Roman de la Rose (1400-1402

In period you often see manuscripts showing a hem of a different color, this could be a fancy decorative element, a guard or a repair. An example of this is on the fitted cotte in the French manuscript Roman de la Rose above, from slightly before this time period, and in the images below, although later, from the French Manuscript, La Fleur des Histoires, MANSEL, Jean (1400-1473), Also shows a guard of a different color used on the hem. 

An example of a non fur guard on a fashion garment.

However, we do need to keep in mind that Manuscripts were created to show the noble ideal, and not exactly reality. The English Queen Isabella (1320) was known to replace hems to preserve the longevity of gowns, and there are a handful of extant textiles from the fourteenth century that show silk reinforcement was used in edges, openings, and button holes, (https://rosaliegilbert.com/sewingtechniques.html) and given the amount of  narrow silks found in the inventories and guild records of Paris during this time (The Silk Industries of Medieval Paris), the use of silk reinforcement appears to have been common practice. Also, if one is going to spend a fortune on one gown, it would seem like a common sense practice to protect the hem of the gown from dirt and stone surfaces. While a houppelande is a item of copious consumption, it is not a period of fast fashion, and a gown would need to last.  

Despite the tenuous evidence, I'm adding a lightweight faux silk dupioni to the inside bottom of the gown wherever it touches the ground and a few inches up. Previous experience has shown that hems on the ground quickly degrade, even when wearing it indoors. I chose this fabric because it is lightweight, so won't affect the drape, and is tightly woven, so less likely to snag. It's also less expensive and time heavy than having to replace or redo the bottom of the silk lining. In the future, when I will need to replace the guard, I will replace with real silk, but this development came at a time when my budget didn't allow for more real silk, and frankly I know this part of the gown will be quickly ruined, that is it's entire purpose. In period the slubs in the dupioni would have made it an inferior and cheap silk, and therefore more appropriate for hidden support. 

The dupioni was cut on the striate grain, and I used a running back stitch to make one long strip. The cut edges tucked and pressed under and then I whip stitched one edge to the front edge of the finished hem, wrapped around to the interior, and simply tucked and folded to match the circumference of the gown, this technique being called a nun's tuck in later periods, and then also whip stitched at the upper edge.  

Picture to Come!

Now If there was a period solution to preventing OTHER people from stepping on my dress! I actually thought about putting reflective tape on the hem in hopes that it would warn others, lol! But hopefully the reflective nature of the velvet itself Will have to suffice!

This same dupioni will be used to reinforce the front opening for future buttons and around the collar to protect the gown from body oils and sweat.  

The linen backing for the fur is being set aside for the moment so I can use it to cut out the fur panels later.

Which finally is in my possession! 

Houppelande Mockup process!

It's been a long minute since I had the bandwidth to work on this, had a nasty bout of Covid, and lingering complications along with family issues that sapped my energy the past couple months. I had some more pressing garb to finish, but I'm back at the project now!  

So my initial mockup definitely has some adjustments to make.  

The I need to make my center center front panels wider, so I can get a properly fit neckline. This problem is also the reason why the extant Houppelande had an extra panel in the back. And so that's probably the best solution without compromising the drape. I want to keep the gore seams on the shoulders for the drape.   

And that hem and train is quite a mess. 

Houppelandes of this era had a lot of volume. 

My pattern took the width of the extant Houppelande panels and just made them longer, meaning the volume of my panels shifted to the hem.  So that the circumference around my feet is less than the extant Houppelande. It creates a more tulip shaped gown, instead of an A-line as shown in the art work, and the train doesn't spread or pool as it should.  

I could solve this by readjusting all my panels so that they are 15cm at the floor and continuing the angle into a shorter train.  If my fabric wouldn't be wide enough for that, then I could add triangular gores to achieve the volume.  Or make fewer panels, but wider as I had done in previous Houppelandes. 

The pattern fix is the orange dashed line. 

And the train would also require a few gores as well. 

Also adding 4" to each consecutive panel results in 40" of a train... Im only 5'-2" tall... That's a bit ridiculous even for me. Lol. 

The thing is that my panel widths were being dictated by the width of my fabric, 45", which is twice the width of period velvet. Laid out with 4 panels across the period width, gave me almost exactly the dimensions of the extant houppelande.   

If I try to layout the panels to piece them, (right half above) it actually creates a lot of 'unusable' waste. Half the cut would be just a gore instead of a usable panel.   

If I try to increase the width by cutting 3 panels per width, (left half above) then I end up with one wider trapezoid with 2 bias edges, and 2 thinner panels that have a straight and bias edge. Which would make uneven drape and awkward to pattern, plus strays far away from the extant shape and width. 

So I took it to CAD and figured out how much my original panels were short at floor height. Turns out it was about 30cm, or 2 panels worth. Since adding an extra panels in the back already helps solve the neckline issue, I'm choosing to shorten my train, and add in 2 back panels, and some gores as needed in the train. It still works out to use the same amount of fabric and fur. 

Wider front panels, shorter train, 2 back panels, and extra gores to maintain volume through the train. 

Below I added in 2 back panels to the existing mockup and cut the train to reasonable, it creates a nice neckline for a collar, and now achieves the A line shape!  

I call that Success! And it will be better when panels are recut to the shorter length, being a bit wider.

The slits in the train are the areas where I'll need some gores. 

Adding an extra 1.5" to each front panel allows for a nice clean neckline, ready for a collar! 

Don't worry about the shoulder wings, once I have sleeves and heavier, more supple fabrics, those should lay flat to create a soft drape. 

A sketch of my sleeve pattern. 

My sleeves like the body of the Houppelande, are panels, each 11.25" wide. They start at 24" long at the front of the sleeve, and 42" at the back.  For this mockup I wasn’t sure of the curve needed for the sleeve head, so I ended up leaving 12" of the seam closest to the body open and pined it to the Houppelande. I ended up with a trim line shown in purple. 

You can see the weight of the sleeve takes care of the shoulder wings.

Trying to show how it's set in.

A test of the fit and length on me. 

I might add a few more inches to the panels because I wanted dagging. It depends on how much fabric or fur I'll have left to do so.

The collar closed. I think it needs an extra half inch in the front and back. 

The collar laid open.

And with the collar sorted out, I've got all I need to start cutting the real fabrics! 

Wish me luck! 

Costly Thy Habit. Houppelande Project Expenses.

Or the definition of insanity? 

Not shown- The Furs, extra thread, Guard fabric. 

A simple record of the expenses and hours involved for this Houppelande project. 

Materials 

I need 8 yards of 45" fabric to pull this off. 

There are 5 layers, fashion, interlining, lining. Fur and fur interlining. For some items I have ordered extra in case of mistake or 10 yard shipping discount. 

Items with * have extra due to packaging amounts.

• Silk velvet from Amazon- 28$ per half yard. I ordered 12 yards* and was given a discount- total of $621
• Silk satin lining from Dharma trading- 12mm Charmeuse 10 yards* $144
• Linen interlining from Fabric-store. 2.8oz 8 yards. $218
• Silk Threads- $40
• Guard fabric- $20
• Goldwork Embroidery- Total- $350
• 1mm French purl gold wire- 60$
• Twisted gold threads*- Tied to History- 50$ (way overbought before embroidery scope changes, but will use with a gusto in the future.)
• Fine Silk thread-$7
• 3mm natural pearls- $30
• 6mm natural pearls- $30
• Various brass leaves and medallions*- $76
• Glass seed pearls* 2mm, 3mm- $16 (these ended up being unsuitable but couldn't return) 
• 12/0 pearl white seed beads- 9$
• Chalk- $5
• Embroidery loom and ties *- $55
• 17 ermine plates- Lyon Fur, retail for $225-250 each **
• Linen interlining 10 yards* from Dharma trading. 3.8oz $115
• Leather for binding- $25
• Silk Threads- $16
• Mockup muslin fabric* and thread- $25

For a grand total of approximately $5,430.

Now granted I've had parts of this project funded by others, reciprocity, and **discounts on the fur. A lot of the embroidery bits were gathered over time, where from my stash, and/or are going to be used elsewhere.

There are also a lot of hidden costs that I didn't include because they are already in my tool kit. 

• Measuring tapes and straight edges
• Tailor chalk and markers
• Needles, thimbles, pins, spray starch, awl, beeswax, pattern weights. 
• Heavy duty fabric scissors.
• Embroidery floss for background and button holes. 
• Bead needles, peal reamers. 
• Embroidery snips
• Sewing machine, bobbins.
• Labels and gallon baggies.
• Fur machine 
• Leather punch, awl, leather needles.
• Storage containers and workspace. 
• The practice piece of silk velvet. 
• A few other materials that were bought but were wrong but usable for other projects. 
• Books! Research books! 

Now, should we talk about time? 

Keeping in mind that this is building off the knowledge and skills I've been acquiring for the past 20 years. 

I started to actively plan this project about a month ago.  And I suspect that I've spent over 100 hours researching, hashing out the details, and sourcing the materials.  

The embroidery sampler for this project took about 20 hours for a section, but that included a lot of tearing out of things and getting a feel for the real gold material which is more delicate. Now that I have a handle on it I suspect that each section will take about 10 hours and I'll be attempting to complete 6 of them on one sleeve.  Approximately 60 hours.  

My mockup and patten adjustments will take at least 12 hours. 

Ironing, pinning, marking, and cutting out ironing 4 layers of fabric- 12 hours. 

It's takes an average of 90mins to hand sew and fell each vertical seam, and there are 36 seams. Then the satin lining. And hemming approximately 46ft of hem. So 100 hours. 

EDIT- The gores, extra panels and pad stitching added a lot more time. Plus mistakes had to be reworked.

Close to an additional 40 hours of sewing. 

I suspect that ripping apart and reassembling the fur plates even with the machine will be at least 20 hours. Cutting and sewing the leather edgeing, 8 hours. Powdering sleeves and collar, 16 hours. Sewing the backing and attaching it to the fur- 40 hours. So 96 hours. 

So if everything goes to plan this project will take close to 400 hours.

Edit- closer to 500 hours 

If you add material cost with time (professional wage on working hours of 25$/hr = $12,500)

We get close to grand total worth of...

$17,000 

($19,500 if we include research time)

And dispite that insane cost, a tailor, embroiderier or furrier would earn a wage 4£ a year in late 14th century. And a gown of equivalent status costed 66£ .... 16x the annual income of the people crafting such a garment. 

Houppelande Details- The Fur Lining

So two common questions I've been asked with this project is why am I choosing to line the the velvet with silk, when there will be a fur lining, and the why will the fur lining be removeable.  And they have a similar answer. Versatility.

Schachzabelbuch - Cod.poet.et phil. fol 203r | Fur workers 1467 Dutch

Originally this project scope a fur lined court Houppelande-

• Fur was an essential material used in the construction of period garments, So much so that the fur work would cost much more that the materials and labor for the rest of the garment. Furrier guilds enjoyed more status and power that the silk industry. And there were many regulations that showed how important this industry was in period.
• I am attempting to recreate a high status garment of the nobility, and the nobility tended to occupy stone building that tended to stay cooler in all but the hottest weather. 
• Outside of multiple layers of wool, fur was the most common way to create warm garments, and I tend to run cold. 
• Accounts and the surviving art show most of the houppelandes that are made of silks, velvets and other high end textiles of similar caliber to the silk velvet and gold work I am using were lined in Fur. (Inventaire du mobilier du chateau Chailloue de l’annee 1416, p IX, 7, 11, 12, 13) (Inventaires apres deces de Dijion, entry 30, 31, 62, 63)

So why make the fur removeable?

• Clothing tended to be a larger percentage of one's income than it was today, Clothing was a valuable enough asset to be willed out, was considered valuable gifts, and there was thriving second hand market. As such people tended to have a lot less garments, and replace them less frequently. Noble court attendants and servants alike tended to be gifted a new length of fabric at Christmas and Easter for the creation of  winter and summer outfit. If you are only getting 2 outfits a year, then clothing needed to be long lasting, versatile and cleanable! In a time when social standing was reflected in your appearance, it simply wasn't socially acceptable to let one's garments fall into disrepair.  
• Having a removeable fur lining meant it would be easier to access the interior of the garment for repairs, make it more adaptable to the change seasons, and make it so the fashion fabric could easily be cleaned without ruining the fur, and the fur cleaned and reconditioned. 
• Some of the post mortem inventories of southern France list houppelandes with a lining and also with fur lining. We also see a lot of entries of a non furred houppelandes followed by a pelisse (a separate fur garment) or a body fur without sleeves (Inventaire du mobilier du chateau Chailloue de l’annee 1416, p 7)
• Veale opens her book with a story about a maiden who hurriedly removed her fur lining, and then wore her gown in public to impress a suitor, and other that her lack of warmth turning off for the suitor, this wasn't met with any social reproductions that wearing and unfinished gown would have. 
• The Goodman of Paris instructed his young wife to recondition furs that had become stiff from moisture with wine, 'Sprinkle the hardened fur with wine, sprinkling it from the mouth as a tailor sprinkles water over that part of a gown which he wishes to shrink, and then scatter the best flour upon it and let it dry for a day; then rub the fur very hard . . . until restored to its previous condition.' indicating they could be removed to not damage the fashion fabric with wine or flour.
• Fur linings typically had their own lining of linen and edged with leather. "Often skins were backed with canvas or other lining and, when stitched into a gown, their edges were bound with fine leather (Veale).
• A few accounts show finished garments being sent to the furrier as the last step of the process.  
• Accounts show that Furriers where often tasked with the job a cleaning fur linings with chalk and then basting them back into the garment. 
• We have an illustration from the 15th century showing a furrier sewing a complete garment of fur (possibly a pelisse).
• Statues show that used furs must be sold with their original garment, showing that the fur could easily be separated.  
• I also have chronic illnesses, and sometimes the weight of this garment might exceed my limits, so having the fur lining be removeable will make it be versatile for my changing needs. 

So why then another silk lining for the fashion fabric?

• The silk satin lining on the fashion fabric is the scope creep that I am choosing to make the garment versatile, and longer lasting. 
• It maintains the visual aesthetic.
• It hides and protects the backside of the embroidery, and interlining needed to stabilize the velvet.
• The additional weight of 12mm satin is negotiable and has zero effect on the drape. 
• Some of the points about removeable furs also point to a fashion fabric lining. 
• There are several accounts of velvet gowns lined in Satin, so it is documentable. 
• In 1401 Duke Phillip ordered 102 gowns (Houppelandes) in green velvet lined with white satin for his son's wedding guests to wear. The two for the Duke and his Duchess were matching, each with one sleeve encrusted with jewels, and the other sleeve had thier initials embroidered in crimson and encircled by foliage of Pearls. (Tales of the Medieval Marriage Bed 1300-1500, R.C. Famiglietti, p65)
• Une Houppelande de veloux fourrée de satin noir "A velvet houppelande lined in black satin" (Inventaire du mobilier du chateau Chailloue de l’annee 1416, p IX)
• The Dijion Inventories mention a lot of Voilet, which is an odd way to denote purple, and due to a lot of other clear misspellings or mistranslations, and the consistent use of Voilet in places where one sees velvet in other inventories, and no other references to velvet, and the price, going forward I'm assuming Voilet is a meant to be velvet. (See entries 30 and especially 31) There are also a lot of entries for "fourree de blanc" in context this seems to be shorthand for undyed silk or high quality wool, that was ubiquitous by this point.

Choosing a Fur!

Reading through the 1416 castle inventory, prosperous accounts from Dijon, and antidotes from several authors, I see a trend emerging. Houppelandes of expensive silk fabrics often are more often paired with silk linings in Dijon and the south of France, But Northern markets priortized fur linings. In order of market cost, low to high, common rabbit, summer/red squirrels, fox, gris (most popular option), white rex rabbit, white lamb, white lettuces, black lamb, minivair, black squirrel, marten, and ermine are all found. Women tended to have white and less expensive furs while men prefered black fur of higher value, but that isn't always the case.

The vouge fashion in 1415 was for black/grey/white furs, since they would need to be imported. (Veale, Delort, CdB) 

 

*I might insert a chart here if I get ambitious*

That is a lot of Options!

So narrowing it down to what is right for me and the project. 

Factors include loft of the fur, suppleness of the skin, and the overall weight of the fur.

I don't want the fur to be too lofty, or stiff to ruin the drape of the velvet, and I do want to reflect the higher status as much as possible.

Considering the size and amount of fabric involved in this project, choosing items of less weight is a huge factor.  The silk velvet is 1.5kg, the linen interlinings 2kg, the habotai .3kg, plus various notions, is close to 5kg (11lbs), before factoring in the fur or the weight of the goldwork.  

So process of elimination-

• I'm allergic to rabbit. 
• Martin/Sable is too expensive.  
• Fox is too lofty, too heavy and expensive modernly. 
• Budge (or lamb) is to heavy for my goals. 
• Red squirrel is available and affordable, but it is a lower status fur, also a bit stiffer and heavier than I prefer.
• Gris while was an economical mid status fur of great popularity in period is ironically too expensive modernly. 
• A sample plate which I thought was black squirrel in the photos ended up being a dark redwerk that was too stiff and heavy, so no black squirrel available. 

BUT! BUT! BUT!

Ermine- Luckily, my fur source (Lyon Fur) was able to stumble across some older "ermine" plates from his vendor that are affordable, and would be a more fitting fur for this project. It is light weight, low loft, supple, and a high status fur. Judging from the size of the skins in these plates, It's clear these are of the long tailed weasel instead of the short tailed ermine, but even in period it was common to mix up Ermine and Lettuces. (Delort) I'm currently waiting for a sample to arrive and the plates to be reconditioned.  If these samples turn out as we suspect they will be, then I plan to powder the sleeves with a skin dyed black, as was done in period to achieve the classic ermine look. 

"Erime" plates before being reconditioned. The yellowing and wrinkling should be minimized by the process.  

I'm anxiously awaiting for the results of the process.  

See the ermine on the Queen's sleeve, and collar, and fur peaking out at her hem? That's the goal here. 

Minivair- which is fading in popularity by 1415, and is a bit expensive, but is a viable option, especially if paired with a demi vair in non visible places. It has the right weight, loft and passible status. This will be my second choice.

Custom plates-

Fur work is often guess work. Tanning and preservation methods on fur can only make it last so long, and so extant fur examples simply don't exist, as far as I know. So we base our knowledge off surviving documentations, which can be vague at times, and needs a bit of extrapolation to figure out, with the help of surviving vintage furs that are clearly post period.

We see in the fur books by Veale and Delort, that the guild statues outlined very strict regulation for standardized fur plates sizes. Ermine and minivair were regulated to 8 tiers of 120 skins per plate (Veale). Other varieties of vair were regulated to 48 or 52 skins per plate (Delort), thus creating standard sizes, 55-60cm wide, that closely followed the silk loom limitations, and would have been a grab and go option for the majority of people. 

However we see that custom garments where often exempt from these standards-

"Certain furs, having been made for a particular gown, varied more considerably in size: Edward III in 1342 bought furs of squirrel made of anything from 80 to 760 skins, whereas the standard fur of eight tiers used only 120." (Veale).

And in these examples-

"a gown made in 1531 at a total cost of £66. 16s. 4d. The eleven yards of black Lucca velvet cost £10. 7s., and 12s. was charged for the making of the gown; the 1,046 ermine skins cost £34. 17s. 4d., the 18,000 'powderings' £9 and the sum of £12 had to be paid for the work on the skins."(Veale)

"Skins of pured minever were about 5½ inches long and 1½ or 2 inches wide, and even to sew together the 120 skins usually put into a fur of minever of eight tiers involved the sewing of over 400 seams." (Veale) 

In that last example, if we use the standard size of ermine and apply it that 11yards of fabric, assuming 55cm wide, the amount of skins ordered implies that there wasn’t many waste skins. Indicating these were custom plates made for this specific garment, and given the standard wage for furriers of the time (4-6p per day), it amounted to over a years worth of fur work. Presumably then the nap of the fur would be the same direction. This is something we see commonly in the noble and royal accounts- Individual skins are being ordered instead of standard sized furs. 

So for my project, I want to have the fur nap align as much as possible, and since it is clear fur work was customized in period by the nobility, I too will be adjusting my plates to be customized for this gown so that the fur can be the same direction with little waste. 

However, I'm am busy with modern adult life, so even though I'll be disassembling standard fur plates to make custom platesand going through the process of powderings on the sleeves, I simply don't have the ability to put a year's worth of hand sewing into it. So I'll will be using a machine specifically designed to sew fine furs. Plus the pates already come machine sewn, and the machine stitching does not change the way the fur is assembled or they way it functions. 

Backing and Binding the fur lining. 

In Veale, it is mentioned that fur is often backed by linen, and the edges bound in leather. 

In addtion, to prevent the fur lining from stretching out of shape, it needs something to pad stitch too. So, I have decided to go with a lightweight linen for backing. I am waiting for fur sample to arrive before choosing weather to use a 2.8oz or 3.8oz linen. I have to consider the weight and whether the lighter weight is appropriate enough for pad stitching the fur. I will update with my choose and thoughts behind it.  

In pervious fur projects I have used twill tape for binding. It's something that was used often in vintage furs. But in period a small woven band would have been extremely laborious and my observation is that they are generally kept as visible elements as trims and belts. Plus my personal experience shows that the twill tape on a hem that touches the ground absorbs moisture easier and then keep the fur damp longer which makes it crunchy and damaged when it does dry. 

A furrier is already working with animal skins, so they would have easy access to leather. So it makes more sense to follow Veale's statement and use leather for binding.  

So with that knowledge I have choosen to get a couple supple lambskins to be cut into binding strips. I'm choosing white lambskins, because lamb is a fur often used in garments, and so would have been an easily available leather for the furrier. It's also soft, thin, flexible, and is lightweight so makes it ideal for binding for this project. 

And again, due to modern time restraints, I'm probably going to use the machine to attach the binding to the fur. 

But I do plan on making a small hand sewn sample just to highlight how it was done and the sheer amount of time it takes. 

Sources-

Inventories-

DALME online inventories

Inventaire du mobilier du chateau Chailloue de l’annee 1416

Les inventaires apres deces de la ville de Dijion a la fin du Moyen Age (1390-1459) tome I : 1390-1408

The household inventory as urban ‘theatre’ in late medieval Burgundy

Dressing the King and the Beggar: The Various Levels of the Textile Market and their Prices in Medieval Valencia (13th - 15th centuries), Juan Vicente García Marsilla

Household Inventories of Medieval Europe

Snyder., Désirée G. Koslin, Janet E. Encountering medieval textiles and dress. Palgrave Macmillan US, 2002.

Ertl, Thomas, and Barbara Karl. Inventories of textiles - textiles in inventories: Studies on Late medieval and early modern material culture. V & R unipress, Vienna University Press, 2017.

Fur-

Veale, Elspeth M. The English fur trade in the later Middle Ages. London: London Record Society, 2003. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/london-record-soc/vol38

Delort, Robert. Le commerce des fourrures en Occident à la fin du Moyen Age (Vers 1300 - vers 1450),

Clothing in the Court of Burgundy 1.1.2 The Furs (English translation per Charles de Bourbon)

Wadmore, James Foster, Some account of the Worshipful Company of Skinners of London, being the guild of corpus christi, Blades East and blades, London 1902

Economics-

Guilds in the middle ages pdf ebook