How to make a bliault (12th Century Tunic)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/7545734790_831bffc6e4_b.jpg

Every outfit needs a foundation, and here's a tunic that's a great place to start. Even though we're not re-enactors, it's basically historically accurate, and has several nice practical features. All you need to be able to do is thread a sewing machine and sew a straight line - you could even do this with handsewing, though it might take a while. The measurements supplied are for a garment which will fit up to a relatively large man (44in chest) but as it's an unfitted garment it will work on people a lot smaller - just shorten the arms.

You will need - - 3m of fabric. We suggest linen, as it's comfortable, cool in summer and warm in winter, reasonably cheap and looks fantastic. - Thread in a matching or darker colour. (TIP: if you think you might dye the garment later, get cotton or silk thread. Normal sewing thread won't dye and you'll end up with visible stitching. Coats cotton thread is very good. Guterman quilting cotton thread is too coarse.) - A tape measure - A pen - An iron

Total cost - about £13. You should be able to get linen for £3-6 per metre (try ebay). Shown with a charity shop belt (£2.75)

First - take a look at this picture: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7127/7545613218_bd7ac8b8fd_o.jpg

This is basically what your bliault looks like, laid flat, from the front. The body is a big rectangle, as are the sleeves. The little blue bits under the arms are triangles of fabric called gussets, which act to give you a little bit of room under your arms for comfort and movement, and take the stress off the seams at that point. The red triangles are called gores - they're sewn on to the straight piece to give leg room.

This is how it looks before you sew up the side seams:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7130/7545613394_aa4e799678_b.jpg

<b>Looks fiddly! Why can't I just cut that shape in one piece? The answer is that there's no reason why not. In fact, you can find specific instructions on just how to do that here:

http://tutorials.abbott.me.uk/odyssey/rome

The trouble with the one piece construction method is that you waste a lot of fabric, and if you're big you'll find the sleeves too short. Historically, loom width was far less than the width of modern fabric, so they invented ingenious solutions like pieceing the garment to save money when fabric was expensive and labour was cheap. But try it this way - the underarms are more comfortable and hard wearing, and you'll save fabric and money.

Ok. But why do I need an iron? You'll get a much better result if you press your seams at every step. Once you've sewn a seam, put it on the ironing board and press it open - it will look like this:

http://media.coletterie.com/2011/02/open-seam-500x333.jpg

You can sew several seams then press them open, but a good rule is don't sew across a seam until you've pressed it. Feel free to ignore this bit if it's too complex or you can't be bothered, but I guarantee it'll improve your final result.

Cutting out the pieces

The Fronts (white): Cut two pieces measuring 25inches by 42 inches The Sleeves (yellow): Cut two pieces measuring about 18 inches The gussets (blue): cut four pieces which are right angled triangles with the two short sides measuring 6 inches (in essence, cut two 6x6 squares then cut them in half along the hypotenuse, like a posh sandwich) The gores (red): cut four right angled triangles, about 24 inches long by 14 inches wide.

Here is a possible cutting layout for 60 inch wide fabric




To finish the neckline, you can turn the raw edge inside and hem it by hand. Or, to make it neater, use bias tape. You can read a short article on how to do that here (Part A - how to make a nice curved neckline on your garment).

http://tutorials.abbott.me.uk/home/bias-tape


Want something simpler? It doesn't get easier than the one piece tunic on the Roman kit making page here:

http://tutorials.abbott.me.uk/odyssey/rome