and a Golden egg challenge
For most people engaged in re-creating the Middle Ages quilted garments are known only for their usage under armour, such as the pourpoint of Charles de Blois or the auqueton of the Black prince.
Quilted garments were, however, not only used for military purposes. In the 13th and 14th century, ready-to-wear quilted garments, such as jackets, became popular in Southern Europe under the influence of Muslim manners of dress. These were made from linen or half cotton/linen and with cotton wadding, and since the materials were relatively cheap (and labour very cheap in the Middle Ages); they were actually a cheaper alternative to wool garments to keep warm. There are preserved statutes for a guild specialized in the making of quilted vests and jackets in Venice as early as 1219. For those interested in cotton in medieval Europe, I have also written a blog post about that, which can be found here.
The fashion for quilted garments was not limited to the Muslim world, or to Italy: In the later 13th century, St. Isabelle of France, the sister of St. Louis, who lived 1224-1270, chose to have made for her a sleeveless shift in linen, batted with cotton. Isabelle, a princess and would normally not have worn cheap quilted garments for warmth, but furs and fine woollens. Isabelle was, however, very pious and chose to dress in simple garments, from cheap materials.
I chose to research and recreate this “auqueton” of St. Isabelle of France as my Golden Egg challenge. The name “auqueton” from the Arabic “al coton”, meaning “cotton”, of course. While St. Isabelle did become a saint the garment in question is not a religious habit, but a secular garment worn for warmth. The auqueton is one of the garments included in the recent book by Elizabeth Coatsworth and Gale R. Owen-Crocker: Clothing the past: surviving garments from early medieval to early modern western Europe. (See also Sihame Cornetet's blog with analysis and a reconstruction of the garment.)
Some of the reasons that I chose this specific project were:
• It is from one of the time periods I mainly make and wear
• It is based on a preserved garment
• It involves the new fashions for quilted clothing, and cotton, which is something that I am interested in researching further.
• It is rarely done, apart from a recreation made by Sihame Cornotet, which can be found among the references, I don’t think I’ve seen anyone making it.
Making the auqueton
The auqueton was made correct materials and with period sewing techniques but of course in a size that fits me.
My first step was to make a test to see how much the fabric would shrink from quilting. I took some linen scraps and measured and marked a rectangle on it. The cotton batting was spread very thinly, just like the original. I then quilted it with waxed linen thread, using running stitches. The finished piece was still flexible, due to the thinness of the cotton wadding, and it didn't shrink noticeably.
Then I cut the pieces, two main pieces, and four gores, two at each side, which are triangles with the tops cut off from linen. I sewed the gores to the sides of the main pieces by hand, using waxed linen thread, and then felled the seams.
After that I cut out the cotton batting.
The cotton batting that I had bought was way too thick for the project, but also quite easy to take apart into layers. First, I cut the batting after the shape of the linen pieces, and then I pulled the layers apart.
I then pinned the second layer of linen on top of the batting. To secure it further I basted around all the edges, along the seams where the side gores are attached and from neck to hem in the middle. Helped by my trusted assistant Miss Esau.
Then the quilting began. And it was actually quicker work than I anticipated.
I did not quilt all of it from the same side, but worked a couple of rows on one side and then started from the side seams or the basted line in the middle. This was to make the quilting as even as possible, without using a frame.
In later periods, such as the 18th century petticoats were made on quilting frames, but these were high end products, not like this auqueton, which Owen-Crocker and Coatsworth suggest was not made by professional quilters, but by the servants of the princess Isabelle. This is after all the underwear of a very humble person, and it certainly fits my own sewing preferences: functional, rather than pretty, needlework.
When the back and front were both quilted, they were sewn together. I had left sewing allowances all around the pieces, which made it possibly both to fell the seams, but also to turn in the edges at the neck, armscyes and hem and whip stitch them together.
Wearing the auqueton
Mainly I have planned to wear this garment for sleeping in my pavilion at Double Wars, since camping in May requires warm clothing. It is very soft and nice to the skin, and feels really cosy. However, I thought that the project would not be complete if I did not test it as a warm layer outdoors too. So at St.Egon’s Feast in Gotvik in March, which was both cold and windy I used it under a thin wool gown when outdoors. I don’t think that it is as warm as an extra layer of wool would have been, but I was not cold either. It also breathes well enough that I could wear it indoors for hours afterwards without getting too hot. And it was thin enough that people didn’t see that I wore a quilted garment under my mid-14th century gown.
References
Andersson Eva/Aleydis van Vilvoorde: "Cotton in Europe in the Middle ages" in The Dragon's Tale - newsletter of the Kingdom of Drachenwald, Volume 39, issue 6, October 2017
Coatsworth, Elizabeth and Gale R. Owen-Crocker: Clothing the past: surviving garments from early medieval to early modern western Europe, Brill, Leiden, 2017
Cornetet, Sihame, Auqueton: A garment to keep warm, 2015 https://passioncostumes.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/auqueton-va.pdf
Mazzaoui, Maureen Fennell, The Italian cotton industry in the later Middle Ages, 1100-1600, Cambridge U.P., Cambridge, 1981
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