Finally getting back into this project, I've started remaking the blue tunic, this time in linen, which is far more satisfying than the dreadful cotton.
Having measured up and cut out the pieces for the front and back, , however, I realised there probably won't be enough fabric for me to do both rhe sleeves and the hood, so today will take me on yet another trip to the fabric shop. :p
This is how much I managed to do before running out of material, though:
Having learned a few lessons from the last attempt, I'm using three
layers of material for the front piece, plus a fourth layer for the
gambeson pieces at the shoulders. This will pad the whole thing up and
give it the rigidity around the shoulders seen in this photo. It also
makes sense to pad the chest area with you several layers of linen as
this would serve as extra armour and protection against weapon
penetration.
Also, having studied the video blog material on my precious Blue-Ray of The Hobbit, I finally found some shots of the back of the tunic, allowing me some further insight into how it's been constructed. As I'm loathe to post images on my blog that I do not have the rights to, I'll post the sketch I made from the still instead, which illustrates the extra layer on the shoulder area on the back piece:
It now looks like this:
Front piece stitched together (I know, the gambeson piece is far too small, but I cant be bothered redoing it again):
I will return to you with more updates once I have grabbed some more material and made further progress! :)
