The theme for the Kingdom of Atlantia’s Twelfth Night 2022 celebration is 14th Century France. Normally I stick to later period, but a proper Gothic Fitted Dress/Cothardie/whatever you’d like to call the basic fitted dresses in Medieval Europe has been on my ‘to sew’ list for a while so I am taking the plunge!
Garment History
The word ‘cotehardie’, or ‘cote’, or ‘kirtle’ in medieval western Europe (basically England and France) can actually refer to a large range of garments depending on specific time and location. What I’m thinking of and working toward is what I think of as the ‘classic’ medieval dress – fitted in the body, gently flaring from the waist or hips to the ground, with no waist seam, usually wide-necked and generally self-supporting.
The garment appears to be an evolution from rectangular constructed, very fabric-efficient styles of earlier parts of the Medieval era and before. Garment makers started using curved seams to emphasize the shape of the body and support the bust. At first they may have been built out of slightly stretchy wool and pulled over the head, but eventually they begin to be shown with an opening in the front, held closed with either buttons or lacing.
Drafting or Draping?
As best I can tell, there are two methods modernly used in designing a Gothic Fitted Dress: drafting or draping. Draping gets to the result a little faster, but requires a knowledgable assistant. Drafting can get you close quickly without assistance, but may take more adjustments for the final pattern. I will be working from a draped pattern, though I have a drafted pattern as a backup.
As I’m currently on the curvy side of my usual body shape (#thankyoucovidquarantine), I am opting for a curved front pattern. While a straight front is in many ways as simpler construction, it requires any additional fabric to give room for the bust to go to the side seams, which is a rather drastic amount for my current shape.
Draping my Pattern
I went to a friend highly skilled in the art of fitting GFDs. This technique has been discussed in many forums, so to summarize: we started with four panels of muslin, each a bit wider than half the width of my body. She did an initial pinning to get the rough shape of my body in to the sides, then began pinning the fabric more tightly around by body. This eventually resulted in a curved seam at the back, sides, and front. The new seam was marked on the fabric. We cut each quarter out on the pattern lines, then graded the two front and two back patterns to find a happy medium between the two sides’ versions.
Mock it up!
No way I’d build anything this form fitting without a mockup! I did a quick muslin mockup (well, two – it’s very easy to cut out four front pieces, ask me how I know…) and made a few tweaks, then recut in a heavier cotton. With a few more tweaks, I was ready to start on my first wearable mockup.
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