I entirely hand sewed this surcoat over the course of about two weeks in May of 2014.  When I cut out the fabric it became quickly apparent that the stiffness of the material meant that if I made it on the sewing machine I would have to top stitch every seam in order to get it to lay flat.  I don’t mind using the sewing machine for hidden stitches, but I hate having visible machine top stitching on my historic garb.  Since I am usually capable of sitting on the couch and hand stitching even when I’m feeling too sick or weak to wrestle fabric around on the sewing machine, it worked out pretty well.

Style:  14th or 15th Century Gates of Hell Sideless Surcoat
Fabric:  Heavy weight upholstery fabric, fiber blend
Construction:  Entirely hand stitched.

The fabric I used is of unknown fiber content (but I’m pretty sure at least partly synthetic fibers), but it was free, a nice heavy weight, and looks a lot like a tablet woven design. It was custom made to fit Diana, based on a piecing diagram from http://www.kostym.cz/, with an extra gore on either hip to better fit on her larger frame. It also has a slight train.

Underneath of it she is wearing a lightweight yellow linen front lace kirtle I also made.