The Kirtle
of a flemish working woman

04 May 03
I have bought the fabric for the kirtle. I originally wanted to buy linen, but as my economy is rather low, i decided upon brown cotton. I prewashed it, and I am ready for sewing. When I get the time, that is.

09 June 03
Finally! I have made the bodice of the kirtle, and I just need to say 'Jen Thompson - thank you!' This means that I have used her bodice pattern, and i have been sewing although I should have been sleeping. (it is 03:15, and I am awfully tired) Tomorrow, I will write a more detailed description. Here is an image, but id doesn't look good. When I am wearing it, it does look good. The dummy is not perfect, but at least, I managed to make  a fitting bodice without pain, sweat and tears.

10 June 03
Here are another image. The reason why the triangles are not at the sentre front, as they are supposed to, must have something to do with the fifferent size of my breasts once I have taken off my bra. Still - the shape of the bodice makes sure that there is no real need for a bra underneath. Gahh! Look at that skin colour - I made the image lighter, just for you...

The shape of the kirtle might look a bit strange, but it is very comfortable. The more comfortable it is, the more likely it is that a working woman would do it that way, right? As you can see from the image, the lacing holes are made  the very lazy, but not neccessarily un-period way. 

'What has happened inside Marthe's head when looking at images of flemish kirtles?
- Thank you mini-me, that was a very good question!    

*Gored/pleated/both? 
Erhm - good question, because I have been having a hard time deciding on that one. After a lot of pondering, I decided that the kirtle should be both pleated and gored (in the quite traditionally elizabethan petticoat styre). I 'know' one thing - there is no reason why  the kirtle should be fully gored. When you look at Aertsen and Beuckelaers paintings (especially Beuckelaer) you see that big bottoms are in fashion. Some of the women looks as if they even wear a bumroll. You can also see that no farthingales are being worn by the workers. You cannot be sitting on the floor wearing a farthingale, can you? And if you have no farthingale, but want a big bottom - you will ahve to pleat the skirts. But why do I believe that the skirts are gored in front? Well - it you look at the same image again. Look at the working woman - you can se that her skirts are laying smoothly in front, while there are folst on the sides and back. Tadaa! Perhaps you can see it better on the bigger version.  

*Boned/not boned?
There are plenty of images showing boned bodices on flemish working women. I think that the more busty/wealthier women would wear boned bodices. The vegetable seller with the big bottom has bones in front, the same goes for Martha and Mary. Still, there are plenty of unboned bodices around. For instance, the pancake woman and this woman are boned at all (or so it looks). As i am not that busty, I will try the unboned version first.    

*The shape of the bodice. 
That question was easier! If you have another look at the pancake lady, you can see that she has an arched bodice. Arched, but not too arched (I think I will moderate the arch on my bodice, because by now, it is too tall and not at all filled by my breasts.

So, when I am done with the pleating of the skirt, I will post it here. Be patient, now I will return to the dreaded fitting of my brother's doublet. He seems to change measures every time I try it on!  

Sources:
Beuckelaer, Joachim - The Cook (1574), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Pieter Aertsen - Market Scene, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Beuckelaer, Joachim - Christ in the house of Martha and Mary, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels
Aertsen, Pieter - Vegetable seller, Museum Mayer van den Bergh, Antwerp
Beuckelaer, Joachim, Market Scene, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. 

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