landsknecht hose part 2 - the codpiece

 So it was time to sew the hose together. For all the seams I have used a rolling stitch with a back stitch every few centimers. I am not sure where I read it, but I am sure that someone recommended the rolling stitch because it is a bit more stretchy than the backstitch, even if the backstitch is stronger.  For the crotch seam I only sewed themtogether down to basically the start of the bum itself. To cover the crotch itself I need a flap, and that flap is also what I attach the codpiece to. 

The general shape is basically a wedge. This first version was a bit too funnel like, I did narrow the top part to make it look more like a wedge in the end. I cut it out on the bias. It was attached to the hose using a backstitch, since it will get a lot of stress when sitting and moving around. 

I didn't make it a two.coloured flap, most of it isn't seen anyway, but I added red square on the top part as an applique to keep the two-colour scheme going.

As for the codpiece itself. Among reenactors it's common to see the rather oblong codpiece as the most common thing, but looking at woodcuts a lot of the codpiece are more round. I simply googled "free fabric ball pattern", and there were loads and I cut out three pieces to make a half sphere instead of six to make a ball. In the photo below you can see the pattern piece above the codpiece. 

I continued with the two colours. The codpiece was stuffed with fabric scraps from the project.

To keep the stuffing from falling out I sewed a backpiece in linen. The backpiece is also a pouch, so that it will be possible for my husband to keep his snuffbox and a credit card in the cod piece. The top of the codpiece isn't stuffed but keeps it shape anyway.

This was the final codpiece.

The codpiece was sewn to the flap, except for the top which was kept open.

To keep the flap, with the codpiece attached, in position there are four lacing holes. The ones on the sides attach to lacing holes on the side of the main lacing for the hose. The middle holes attach to lacing holes under the main lacing. I need to try if I can take them through the same lacing holes. 

The middle lacing also goes through a single hole on the codpiece so it is possible to close the codpiece and keep it attached to the top of the flap. This is not the final laces that I am going to use, but they work for now. I'm actually thinking of using pink silk ribbons and make bows, since a lot of woodcuts have a lot of bows on them, but you rarely see bows on landsknecths today.

And with that it was finally time to be able to put both the doublet and hose on, to start marking out where I should make lacing holes to tie them together.

So for now it's lacing holes and hemming that needs to be done on the hose, and more lacing holes on the doublet, but then it's finished. This is basically what I had set out to do before Medieval week in 10 days, but since I do have time I and some fabric left I am thinking about doing a pair of short hose for the lower legs as well.

I would also love to have the time to adjust my own gown and maybe make a hat, but my main focus is to make sure that he is well dressed in Visby.