Houppelande Refurbished

As luck would have it, I came across a wool Houppelande at a plague sale (garb downsizing for the barony) in fall of 2022.

I was struck by it because it fit perfectly and was made of wool. I knew that I needed to take it home and give it a makeover. My goal is to recreate the black dress from the April Illumination of the Labors of the Months as illustrated in the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

Thus, I formulated the plan to do the following:

• Remove the white velvet;
• Line the Sleeves with Red Fabric and trimmings;
• Stablizie the collar with interlining;
• Line and face the collar and front opening;
• Put in a waist tape to give stability to the waist area;
• Modify the closures (hook and eye).

The first thing I did was figure out the pattern. I was able to draft the sleeves by laying it out flat. However, the dress had pleats sewn around the waist which I decided to remove. I regretted this later as it will require a lot of work to add them back in to the gown, but, it definitely changed my understanding of the gown because I was able to lay it out flat and discover its true shape.

The gown was a circle made of two half circles sewn together in the center front and center back with holes cut in the shoulders to add the sleeves.

The sleeves were also half circles extending straight from the shoulder to the hand and curving toward the floor.

The collar was kind of a strange shape which you can see in the pictures below, but, I was able to make it work.

Materials

After creating a pattern I realized just how much fabric would be required to line the sleeves and I immediately abandoned my ideas of lining it with silk. So I purchased several yards of high quality polyester shauntung to give the impression of silk.

I needed to find some interlining to give the collar and chest area a bit of stiffness to stand up properly. I was able to find hair canvas at Jomar for a deeply discounted price. So I bought as many yards as I could ever need.

I bought some red grosgrain ribbon to act as a waist tape and some gold braid and fringe to add as decoration.

Construction

I removed the white velvet from the collar and sleeves. This took much less time than I thought it would, but then I had to vacuum and use tape to remove all the little white fuzzies that were stuck to the wool.

I drafted patterns for my hair canvas pieces and then I pad stitched the collar pieces and front and back pieces into the gown. I was able to curve the seam allowance of the wool over the edges of the collar.

Hair canvas is known to be itchy, especially around the edges, and while I knew it would be covered in a lining, I did want to try and avoid it poking me. So I covered all the raw edges with twill tape.

Once that was done, it was time to move to the sleeves and lining!

The first part I chose to line was the collar. I did so by pinning the lining fabric onto the collar and then carefully trimming away the excess before folding the edges under and stitching by hand.

For the sleeves, out of laziness I laid out the fabric for the sleeve flat on the ground, folded at the shoulder, and then carefully placed the houppelande sleeve on top using it as a pattern (rather than drafting one myself). This took a lot of time to get right, and it would have likely been easier to do with a pattern, but alas.

I then sewed up the side of the sleeve and then carefully pinned it, right sides together to the sleeve of the houppelande. Originally, I did not intend to bag line the sleeves, but given how long it would likely take to hem the sleeve edges, I chose instead to bag line them. If I have time to redo them in the future I will.

Next came a thorough pressing before sewing the lining to the shoulder seam. I first basted the lining to the seam allowance of the houppeland sleeve. Then I tacked the edges down. As this part of the fabric was the selvage, I was not worried about fraying. This edge will also be covered by the lining.

Then I cut out two semi-circles for the lining of the “bodice” portion of the houppelande. I hemmed the bottom edge using a narrow hem stitch.

Then I carefully pinned the pieces into place, during the edges under and sewing them down by hand.

And then it was done!

Alas, due to the covid, I was not able to wear it to the event I intended, but… nearly a year later I wore it to a very wet chilly event and it was a dream.

Things to Fix:

I still need to add the waist tape and reset the pleats around the waist. I think this will give it a “finished” effect and also make it easier to take on and off at events. Though it did do just fine with out it. I also need to figure out a way to sew down the lining along the front edge so it doesn’t show as much when the gown is closed.

I will someday remove the bag lining of the sleeves and hem the edges. The Tres Riche Heurs image includes a gold fringed edging. I have purchased some fringe that I think will look lovely with the sleeves, so this might happen sooner rather than later. The fabric of the sleeves in that images is also patterned, and I believe it would be fun to add a gold stamped pattern to this fabric.

I would also like to add a woven hem to the bottom of the gown. This is another one of those silly time consuming activities that will be put on the back burner, probably forever but a girl can dream!

Updates as of 11/18/23

In advance of a generally cold weather event where I knew I would be spending significant time outside, I chose to take this as motivation to make some changes to the houpeland. I ripped out the stitches connecting the red lining of the sleeves to the black outside. I then rolled the hem on the red fabric and added fringe, finishing with moments to spare during the car ride to the event.

I also made myself a little matching hat. Enjoy!

Overall, I love the way the fringe adds to the majesty of these sleeves. Maybe someday in the future I will get around to adding goldwork to the red lining. And I would like to sew the pleats back into the bodice. But that is a project for another day.

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