HSM Challenge 2024: Made to move - a generous apron

 At the moment I don't have any "fine" aprons, because all my 16th century aprons have been used when cooking and doing work in camp. They have stains and holes in them and look generally worn out. I'm also worried that the gowns that I wear get stains as well from workin, so I decided to make a big apron to really protect all my clothing.

In late 15th century and early 16th century art you see this kind of apron quite a lot.

Among reenactors it's commonly called a "midwife's apron", but this kind of apron shows up on people in a variety of occupations, even men. 

On a trip down further south I passed by a fabric outlet that had hemp fabric for sale and I bought 2 m of it for a bargain. I then started with cutting off a strip of fabric that I could use for the strap.

It's not cut on the bias, so the the strap doesn't curve perfectly, but here it was more about not wasting fabric. What was left of the fabric after the strap was simply cut in half to form the front and back pieces.

The fabric was marked and pleated one one side to the width I wanted it to have. I then hemmed the sides and sewed them together. It was simple trial and error to get the side seam as long as I wanted it.

The strap is one continous piece, with the top of the back and front sewn into the strap. This was also a trial and error to make the strap long enough. Since the late 15th and early 16th century is all about large headwear it is i mportant to make the head opening large enough to be able to get a wulsthaube through it. I might have done mine a tad too small. The front and  back are exactly the same.

Looking at the finished apron it looks a bit too wide, maybe I should have used less fabric? On the other hand all my wool gowns have skirt with a cirumference at the hem of at least 3 meters, so I don't want an apron that is much narrower than that at the hem. A thinner fabric might be better to get those soft folds that are seen in the art, but this is definitely an apron that will give a very full coverage over my wool gowns.

What the item is: working apron, also called a midwife's apron
How it fits the challenge: I made it so large so that I could move around the hearth, without having my finer gowns that I wear under it bunch up under it.
Material: 2 m of hemp fabric
Pattern: my own
Year: Late 15th early 16th century
Notions: linen thread
How historically accurate is it? around 75%
Hours to complete: 24
First worn: not yet
Total cost: $25