Waffenrock

This is my second try at making a waffenrock or bases for Mike (the original pictures and description of this outfit are still included at the bottom of this page for comparison). The first version was pretty disappointing for both of us, so I decided to spiff it up a bit and record the process in a diary of a costume make-over. It still isn't completely authentic, but it's a whole lot better now! I'll be adding more pictures of this outfit in the fall when he finally gets to wear it to faire.

This costume is still a work in progress in many ways, but my husband probably won't get another chance to wear it again until next spring, so this will have to do for the moment. Mike decided that he wanted something different this year, so he thought that it would be fun to wear a "dress". He originally picked out a few pictures of men wearing bases from the children's book The Brave Little Tailor, which has some really amazing illustrations with depictions of clothing inspired by German, Flemish, and Italian Renaissance styles. Mike is not an authenticity junky like I am, so the final product is a compromise between our two tastes. He still desperately needs a good hat, sleeves, and hosen, but I had some serious procrastination issues with this costume, plus I had to completely re-design it once because the first version looked really bad. Hopefully, it will be re-worked and improved upon over the winter. You can read more details about the construction below the pictures.

First of all, I'm not even sure that I'm using the right terminology with this costume, but I don't know what else to call it, so "bases" will have to do for the whole thing. Herbert Norris calls a similar outfit a "tunic and bases" in Tudor Fashion, and he claims that the skirt would be a separate garment from what you see on the torso. Personally, I'm not sure that I would agree with that hypothesis in all cases, so I decided to make it all one piece in my version. But anyway, the bases are made from a sage green cotton twill that I found on sale for $2 a yard (this outfit doesn't look quite as grey in real life). The guards are made from a heavy wool felt, and they are also a little more green than what you see here. They are edged with strips of bronze silk that has been snipped at regular intervals similar to some of the edging on men's clothing in Patterns of Fashion. It is fully lined with raisin-colored linen, and the torso has an interlining of extra-heavy cotton twill.

The torso pattern was made by draping, and I decided to go with a low square neckline because that seemed to be one of the key elements found in the Italian version of this garment. Mike requested that the outfit had side openings that laced closed, but I might change it in the future to have front ties like the Florentine bases seen here. Design wise, the front of this costume is the main part that I am unhappy with, and I really think it needs something else to break up that space a little better.

The skirt is made from gored panels, and it is actually a little fuller than I intended. I would have liked to use more pleats in the skirt, but Mike thought it looked to "girly" that way. As it is now, there are just two large knife pleats in the front and two in the back. The sides and back of the skirt drape beautifully, but the front does not look as good because the pleats are more easily messed up as he walks. I will probably re-pleat the skirt in the future, but I'm still trying to figure out what would work well and still make him happy. He also didn't want any splits in the skirt, although I pointed out that this would be common in period. I think a slit in the front of the skirt might help the way it hangs some, but the jury is still out on whether or not he will go for that. The skirt of his bases are a little longer than what you typically see, but we both liked the longer versions like what the man on the left of this Raphael painting is wearing.

I'm been trying to figure out the mystery of high-necked Italian shirts lately, and I think a actually came up with a good solution in this one. The problem is that Elizabethan shirt patterns don't produce full gathers across the shoulder, which is something that you see in most Italian shirts, and the low-necked camicia is quite uncomfortable if gathered close to the neck. I have not found much evidence of raglan sleeves being used in the 16th century, but I did find a pattern for a 19th religious vestment with modified raglan sleeves in Cut My Cote that looked very similar to earlier Italian shirts. I realize that there is 300 years difference between the two garments, but shirt construction was very slow to change, and religious garments are usually based on more traditional styles anyway. I decided to try a simplified version of this vestment pattern after several failed attempts with other styles of shirt, and it actually worked really well. The front and back panels have only the slightest angle to the sides, and a large gusset is used under the arms, similar to what you find in other 16th century shirts. So basically, it is not documentable at all, but it looks right and is still based on sound shirt construction techniques. You can see the effect much better when he is wearing the neck closed, so I will try to take some better pictures of the shirt sometime in the near future.