The Pourpoint Commission: Getting The Show On The Road

Arthur and his knights (round table? see?)
wearing pourpoints.  I am slightly weirded
by Sir Eyes On My Tunic in the lower left.
BNF 343, 1380s.

I have previously alluded (for, like, the last several months) to a commission I have accepted, to make a pourpoint.  Here's where we actually talk about that shiznit.

For those of you coming in cold, a pourpoint is a men's garment of the mid-to-late 14th century. It developed from the padded tunic worn under armor; and as often happens, a military necessity created a fashion among men who wished to be seen as Manly Men.  The pourpoint is similar to the cote-hardie in that it's tightly-fitting (at least, in comparison to the fashions that preceded it) and short (often barely covering the rump), but it's padded/quilted, and the images you see in manuscripts make the gents look like pouter pigeons.  To make things a little more complicated, you could also have a padded martial garment of this general mode worn over your armor that was of expensive materials (this is where the Black Prince's jupon comes in; it is silk velvet with metal thread embroidery).  But, this particular commission is for a courtly, fashionable, not-worn-anywhere-near-armor pourpoint.

Charles de Blois'
pourpoint

Charles VI's pourpoint

There are two extant pourpoints kicking around; one that belonged to Charles de Blois, duke of Brittany (d. 1364) that lives in the Musée des Tissus in Lyon, and one attributed to Charles VI, king of France, that lives in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Chartres (which is child-sized, so is figured to date between 1370 and 1380).  These are both of costly silk lined with linen, and are similar in patterning.  Charles VI's garment is padded & quilted to hell and back; Charles de Blois' is not currently but looks like it may once have been.  

How do we (I) know this stuff? Happily for my sanity, I can once again stand on the shoulders of giants: Tasha Kelly of La Cotte Simple has studied the bejezus out of pourpoints and generously makes her findings available, including publishing a pattern for Charles de Blois' pourpoint.  So I picked that up first-off, and (after measuring my patron & establishing his general parameters) cut out a muslin that I fit at Pennsic.  I actually only cut out one arm to fit...and it was dumb of me, in retrospect, to do the left arm on a right-handed fighter.  But the subject seems reasonably proportionate, so I think we'll be OK.

Fitting the muslin (in

field conditions and 90deg

heat)

Although the actual commission is for a silk garment, I am not so foolish for lack of sense as to go merrily sailing in at flank speed when I've never done a padded or quilted item before.  Especially when the patron has purchased Sartor silk for it AFJDKLSJFKLDFJDF NO PRESSURE NOPE NOPE.  So, I am making a linen version first.  It'll be identical in all other respects, just made out of base(r) materials.  (This will also give me a ridiculous amount of practice on the goddamn buttons.)  I had been figuring on using cotton batting for both verisons, because it's easy to come by, but it looks as if you can get 100% wool batting more easily than I thought.  For a price, of course.  Hmm.  (Quaere: is modern wool batting going to be anything like what they used in period, anyways?)

The current milestones:
- Sat, Oct 22 (Winter Wolf event): Have the main body pieces quilted and basted together for fitting.  Hopefully at least one sleeve as well.
- Sat, Nov 12 (St. Elegius event): Linen version done, entered into the A&S competition.  This means also documentation written up, hey ho.

Presumably by that point I will also know whether I need to make adjustments before starting the Real Item; and I'll then plan out the rest of the work.  The patron has not expressed a desired delivery date, but I do not want to drag out the work, so I'll aim to have it done by Twelfth Night at the outside.

My immediate next steps are:

• Wash the dark green linen I'm using for the test version
• Unpick the muslin, iron it, incorporate with notations into a new pattern
• Pick one of my various linens to use as its lining (at least they're all washed already)
• Iron & cut out both linen layers
• Get cotton batting
• GET MOVIN' YO.