SCA: Summer Project, Part 1 (Pleated Serk)

 My big summer project (which I’m hoping will be my Kingdom A&S project) is not only begun, but partway finished: 

That needs ironing, sorry 

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at making a pleated-neckline serk, and now I have  The serk took me 11 hours almost exactly; that’s including drafting the pattern and making a couple of mock-ups to test the fit in the shoulders.  

Pretty decent side gores (outside)

The whole thing is hand sewn, using linen thread the same color as the fabric (it’s a dyed fabric, but it’s a natural linen color).  

Gathering the neckline

The only exception is in the neckline, which I gathered using mercerized cotton sewing thread, because it slides through the fabric better than the linen thread  the blue cotton thread was removed once the neckline was completed. 

Neckline binding strip at the slit

The Pskov serk, on which I based my overall design for this project, has the front made in two panels cut along the selvedge, with the selvedge edge in the center so that the neckline slit doesn’t need to be hemmed. I…forgot to cut it that way. Oops. Rather than doing a tiny rolled hem here like I usually do, I opted to finish the slit with a thin (3/8”) bias strip to protect the edges against wear and tear.  I don’t know if this is necessarily a period-accurate technique - but the neckline binding strip is made in the same way, so they knew HOW to do it at any rate. 

Inside view

You know how I feel about armpit gussets…but this one came out fairly nicely, if I do say so myself. 

So now we move on to the next phase of this 4-part project: the smokkr/apron dress that goes over this pleated serk. It’ll be simple and straightforward - for once the smokkr is not the star of the show…but we’ll get to that in another post.