Well, another portion of my outfit for the Ayerton Blue and Green Fashion Show has been completed. I must say that I am very pleased to have completed it and I’m am rather pleased with the way it came out, but to the average viewer it is most likely rather underwhelming. I finished the Linen Coat which is simply a T-Tunic slightly larger than the white shirt I recently finished. The coat is two colors, blue and green. While I always planned on doing a green and blue coat, this one also serves the purpose of gaining me entrance into the Blue and Green fashion show. It is entirely hand stitched, which I must say took far longer than I had expected as there are no difficult stitches. I really tried to concentrate on proper construction this time around. I also tried to ensure that I had on average 18~20 stitches per inch. Since the garment is stitched using white linen thread it looks rather cool. The closeness of the tight stiches really stands out on the blue and the green background. As a Circa 1200 woodworker (or at least while wearing this garment) I am a man of simple means. While I was able to dye the material myself, purchasing dyed thread for sewing was an indulgence which I a man of my station could not justify. I tried pulling threads from the selvage to use for construction (as I had done for the braes and the shirt) but the threads must have been weakened by the dying process as they could not stand the rigors of the hand stitching.
Here is a close up of some of the stitches as viewed from the outside of the garment.
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Here is an image of the garment being worn.
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You’ll note that there is a slit in the front, but not the back. This was customary for craftsmen and laborers of this time who might need the flexibility and range of motion for their work. When working I can wear the coat with the front edges tucked into my belt as seen below.
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