How to make a Jon Snow Costume without breaking the bank (The Doublet)
Looking for the material for the doublet was not so easy. I surmised that the original outfit was made from a kind of rough weave linen, which to buy was going to cost too much money. I needed to find an alternative that fitted in with the general style of the costume, and to keep in with what you could imagine would have been available to the characters at that time.
Luckily I was able to find some black hessian at £11.99 for 5 metres. It was rough on the skin but I figured that it meant that there would be enough for both the garment and the cloak so I decided to include a cotton lining to the doublet for added comfort. I chose to use a pattern for the garment because overall it just seemed easier that way, and it also meant that I could create a basic doublet which I could then customise as and when I needed to. In the event this worked out really well.
I used a simplicity Renaissance pattern to create a basic undergarment. (£6.99 from eBay) and I then customised it by merging the two patterns by transferring the rivet effect over the to the doublet. I used a piece of real leather cord to lace up the front of the doublet. The overall look was very effective.
To finish off I added some wadding to the skirt of the doublet and then pinned it in the appropriate places and quilted it - which resulted in a very heavy and substantial skirt. This was by far the most difficult part of the costume to do. I managed to make a good job of it by first marking my lines with dressmakers chalk and pinning each part. Before using the sewing machine to create the quilted effect, I hand sewed the layers into place to avoid any bunching of the material and to give an overall even effect. I completed the garment by binding all edges of the doublet with a ribbon of heavy cotton.
The wadding, cotton bias and leather cord cost £3.80 in total and the rivets cost me nothing because luckily I already had some spare ones in my workbox.
Total cost so far:
