I've moved on to making my coif, as I have spare white linen, but no funds to purchase the linen for my petticoat bodice or kirtle lining at the moment!!
Linen caps, or coifs, were worn by women of all social classes - and I am certainly no exception! They are actually very comfortable to wear, and stay on well, although I plan to make a hat to pop on too. If I was one of the gentry, I would perhaps embellish it with embroidery, but obviously mine will be plain and simple.
It's fairly easy to make - plain white linen fabric, and a bit of measuring sprinkled with a helping of guesswork!
I'm using the pattern from Clothing the Rose, which is based on this lovely Holbein sketch of none other than Anne Boleyn.
My large head piece is 16.5" (round top of head from bottom of one ear to the other) x 12" (nape to about 1" back from hairline) - and then with a bit added all round for seam allowance.
**I would rather have made it even longer than this as I don't feel it tucks in neat enough. Perhaps an extra inch and a half**.
I then guestimated when drawing on the 'ear flap' pieces by looking at the sketch, but made them a little smaller as Anne's coif is wired and mine is not. Mine are about 2" wide and 3.5" long, but this includes seam allowance.
**I later had to shorten these as they were too long and flappy. I tucked the material in further and whip stitched it closed. Not the ideal job I know, but it makes them nice and firm. They are now 1.5" long, excluding seam allowance.**
The forehead piece is, again, 16.5" long and I have made it 2" wide - but added seam allowance to these measurements.
The straps to tie it together are 29.5" long, which is the measurement from bottom of ear 1 round the nape of my neck to ear 2, then right round the top of my head back to the nape again, plus another 8cm (I know I'm switching units here!). I've made them 4" wide as they are folded in half and sewn. Again, I added some seam allowance to all this! At first I only cut one, then couldn't for the life of me figure out how it worked...took about five minutes for it to finally click in I needed to make two! Duh...
I hemmed the two body pieces, and backstitched then turned the straps. Then I sandwiched it together, remembering to tuck the straps inside so that they will be on the outside. I sewed the bottom and sides, then turned and closed the top with a French seam.
Linen caps, or coifs, were worn by women of all social classes - and I am certainly no exception! They are actually very comfortable to wear, and stay on well, although I plan to make a hat to pop on too. If I was one of the gentry, I would perhaps embellish it with embroidery, but obviously mine will be plain and simple.
It's fairly easy to make - plain white linen fabric, and a bit of measuring sprinkled with a helping of guesswork!I'm using the pattern from Clothing the Rose, which is based on this lovely Holbein sketch of none other than Anne Boleyn.
My large head piece is 16.5" (round top of head from bottom of one ear to the other) x 12" (nape to about 1" back from hairline) - and then with a bit added all round for seam allowance.
**I would rather have made it even longer than this as I don't feel it tucks in neat enough. Perhaps an extra inch and a half**.
I then guestimated when drawing on the 'ear flap' pieces by looking at the sketch, but made them a little smaller as Anne's coif is wired and mine is not. Mine are about 2" wide and 3.5" long, but this includes seam allowance.
**I later had to shorten these as they were too long and flappy. I tucked the material in further and whip stitched it closed. Not the ideal job I know, but it makes them nice and firm. They are now 1.5" long, excluding seam allowance.**
The forehead piece is, again, 16.5" long and I have made it 2" wide - but added seam allowance to these measurements.
I hemmed the two body pieces, and backstitched then turned the straps. Then I sandwiched it together, remembering to tuck the straps inside so that they will be on the outside. I sewed the bottom and sides, then turned and closed the top with a French seam.
Voila!
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