12 Panel Cotehardie

I decided some time back that I NEED a twelve panel cotehardie. The first cotehardie I ever made that wasn't from a commercial pattern was four panels, and while it was fine, the next one I made with eight panels was significantly nicer looking. The two side gores on each side made for more boobie support and a nicer shape. So four side panels on each side should be EVEN BETTER. Yes? In theory. In practice, this is actually a Very Ambitious Project for me. Why? Extra sewing of long side seams? Nah, I can totally deal with that challenge, even though I prefer to hand sew my cotehardies. The problem is, there isn't very much of me to fit twelve panels around. But I won't let this stop me! I NEED a twelve panel cotehardie! My last cote is 28 inches around the smallest part, so I figure I've got to divide twelve panels into 28 inches, yes? So the eight side panels will be one inch wide each, at the smallest part. That's eight inches. That leaves five inches each for the front and back panels. Somehow it didn't exactly work that way. I have no idea how, but this stupid pattern has been giving me a headache for a while now. I cut it out in the first week of January, worked on it with gusto for a couple of weeks, then threw a little tantrum at it and tucked it away at the bottom of my projects basket. I didn't have much trouble getting it tight enough and getting the right shape, the panels just ended up all wonky. I managed to pull the back seam in so far that my arm hole came half way along my back, but the side panels were so tiny I couldn't pull them in anymore!

Anyway, I want this cote for Rowany Festival in April, and I had intended to do a whole lot more work on SCA stuff before my holidays ended, but they kind of disappeared somewhere and now uni goes back in a week! So I pulled it out again on Wednesday, with the idea that I would Get It Done so I could cut it out yesterday. Well I did get it out and I pulled it apart again and sewed in back up AGAIN to move the side gores up in order to give me some seam allowance in the arm hole. I also took my time carefully measuring each bit and trying to get both sides even. I suck at keeping things even on both sides, which is why I only use one half of the pattern, and cut both sides the same. I know we're all supposed to be naturally crooked, but I'm not crooked enough for it to make a difference if both sides of my cotes are cut out exactly the same shape and size.

So I pulled it apart and sewed it back up again, and somehow it ended up bigger. Whyyyyyy? That's when I gave up working on it for the day. But I made myself get it out again yesterday, and fiddled with it a bit, and ended up with this:

 

It's slightly crooked in the front, you can see the zip walking around to the right, but that will be fixed when I pull it apart and even up the panels. I'm wearing my little tennis dress chemise that I made as a first prototype to experiment with chemises under cotehardies. It used to be a tunic thing that the Baroness gave me because I'm small enough to fit into it, so I didn't have much fabric to work with, hence the shortness :P I like the short sleeves though, they work very well under the fitted hinge sleeves. I must mention that the zip isn't staying, it will be replaced by lacing holes later. The zip is just a usefull tool to see what the pattern looks like, because the damn thing is way too tight to pin shut. I even struggle to zip it up :P I will trace this pattern onto calico as a template to use next time, and this fabric will be my lining :)

 Notice that you can see my floor? Half an hour earlier you couldn't. The next step of this process is Cutting Out, and I loathe Cutting Out, so I decided I needed to clean my room. I even cleared out my sock drawer and threw out a bag full of old holey socks. Funnily enough, the remaining socks took up two drawers. I have no idea how they fit into one in the first place.

Anyway, here's the side view:

There's a lot of extra seam allowance now, but you can clearly see three of the side panels, the fourth ended up only half an inch wide, because I needed to bring in an inch, and the back panel needed to move across under my arm a little more to bring the arm hole closer to my actual arm :P I'm happy with the shape down the front, yay boobies! A lot of the time when I try to move my boobies up, they end up being flattened :( I need to clean my mirror. I don't think it's ever been cleaned.

Well, that's as far as I got yesterday. I did bring my fabric out to start Cutting Out, but I had to mark where the stitching was on my pattern so when I pulled it apart I'll be able to see where everything goes, but then my fabric marker started running out so I couldn't. I needed to have a nap instead :P Maybe I'll start Cutting Out on Saturday. I wish a little fairy could do it for me, I really hate Cutting Out :(