Tudor Tailor Petticoat

It may surprise many of you that until last winter I had never worn the Tudor warming layer called a petticoat underneath my various Tudor gowns.
While living in Oklahoma I moved into a home that was built in the 1930's. The windows all appeared to be original to the house, and despite updated gas heating being installed the old vents had never been filled in. Even after adding weather stripping there was still a draft sometimes. What is my point of this anecdote? for the first time since 2011, I lived in a place that was cold enough I might want an additional layer and could comfortably experiment with the addition to my silhouette. When you daily high for weeks at a time is 20 degrees, a petticoat magically seems like a marvelous idea!

Remembering how warm my red wool kirtle based of Peter Brughel the Younger's paintings were, and from period sources I knew the garment had to be wool. I selected a bright red wool I had purchased at JoAnns on clearance. Its a tropical weight so my hope it if the drape on the back of my gown the light weight might be well tolerated during a warmer time of the year as well. This petticoat was fully lined with linen to help extend the life of the garment. The bodice is a heavy weight linen scrap, and the skirts were a dark colored linen to help hide any menstrual blood since I can't bleach the wool. I did not add any additional stiffening to the bodice as this is not mean to be a supportive layer. The kirtle preforms that function in a Tudor lady's wardrobe. The pleats were padded with wool felt to help increase the skirts volume. Each piece was hand flat lined and then whip stitched together in a 16th century fashion

This pattern came from The Tudor Tailor. It seems the open bodice was inspired by a popular jerkin design during Herny VIII's reign. I have not found any surviving petticoats from Henry VIII's reign for women, only wardrobe entries. While I can't document the shapes beyond The Tudor Tailor, it does seem a period plausible pattern to me. I can say the warming layer on its own made a huge difference in my personal comfort in my drafty Oklahoma home. Recently I have not had many occasions to wear my Tudor wardrobe about, but when I get an updated photo with this garment I will be sure to update here with a before and after photo.

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