Landsknecht/Empire Resource List: Underwear

This will be a collection of resources that will hopefully help beginners with the daunting task of creating their Landsknecht garb starting from the base clothes to outer garments. This definitely isn't the best or complete guide and is only knowledge that I have gathered over the few years making garb for both LARP and the SCA.

The base layer: Undershirt/Chemises

The best way to start a outfit is with the base! I prefer to make the undershirt before anything else as it's usually the easiest thing to make and is the 1st layer to any outfit. There are two ways to usually do these shirts; smocked or gathered, a smocked shirt requires more work and is far more difficult to make than a gathered shirt but is the more historical way to make an undershirt. I've provided information for both below:

Smocked shirts:

Portrait of a Man, 1516 - Albrecht Durer

Pretty right? Smocked shirts are what you will see in most paintings and illustrations of people who have money, They vary from being quite basic with simple lines of black linen thread to very sumptuous designs with gold embroidery and pearls!

Great example of something quite basic

And something more fancy

Here is some more information on how smocking works:

http://germanrenaissance.net/honeycomb-pleatwork-collared-smock-simple-easy-pleatwork/ 

And here is some links on how to make your own smocked shirt:
Low smocked shirt: http://germanrenaissance.net/dorotheas-pleatwork-hemd-smock-with-cord-tufts-and-tassels-pattern-gathering-tutorial-part-1/

High Smocked shirt: https://katafalk.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/patternmaking-for-the-kampfrau-hemd-chemise/

Is the above a bit too much work? are you in a rush? Then I would suggest a gathered shirt!

Gathered Shirt:

This is my favourite way to make shirts because honestly I'm just too lazy to smock anything; in the future I might do my own tutorial for quick and easy undershirts.

These lovely shirts can be done with or without embroidery depending on how fancy you feel, as you can see these use a lot less fabric and consist mostly of rectangles so they're a perfect introduction to making your own patterns! Below are more tutorials:

Low neck chemise: http://www.elizabethancostume.net/cheminst.html 

Basic shirt: http://costumehistorian.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-early-modern-shirt-c1530-c1660.html

Another basic shirt but with more pictures: http://www.houseffg.org/resources/Elizabethan_Shirt.pdf 

One of my favourite tutorials is in the Tudor tailor book which can be bought here (it has a lot of fantastic tutorials in it!): https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Tudor-Tailor/9780713489859 

Don't want to make your undershirt? That's totally fine! Here is where you can purchase them:

(this is mostly for Australian folk)

Arms street is definitely the fancier choice and usually have better construction and superior fabrics: 

https://armstreet.com/store/medieval-clothing/short-medieval-linen-shirt-for-women 

https://armstreet.com/store/medieval-clothing/medieval-classic-tunic-natural-flax-linen

A bit late but it works for Empire: https://burgschneider.com.au/lacedshirt-stoertebecker-natural.html

The neck is a little wack but it works: https://epicarmoury.com.au/clothing/tops/1475/undershirt-white?c=429

When it comes to undershirts please note that in most cases they're not gendered and really shouldn't be; As seen below men wore loose gathered shirts but these days they're mostly coined as being for women. 

Urs Graf - 1516

Like seriously the couple below are pretty much wearing the exact same thing, typically if you're wearing a dress the chemise would be longer but the length doesn't really matter because the dress covers it!

Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

1510–65

Heinrich Aldegrever

And that's it for this section on underclothing! Stay tuned for more posts on resources!