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Doublets were worn by both men and women during the Elizabethan era. The term refers to a type of outer garment, designed to cover the wearer from the waist to the chin. They were fashionable amoungst the men and women of the middle and upper classes, but I've found no evidence of them being worn often by the poor; poor women tended to wear what we think of as a bodice, lacing in the front, and the men wore a garment that, while resembling a doublet, was often closer to a vest in fit and nature.
The idea of a doublet for women is generally acknowledged as being another of those spanish inventions. It invaded england somewhere around the 1550's, if I recall correctly (it's rare that I do). It was another invention of fashion that came underfire by puritans, such as Stubbes in his Anatomie of Abuses (1583). Apparently, he felt it was inappropriate for a woman to wear a garment that closed all the way up the front (rather than having the low cut neckline of a proper bodice), as it was immodestly mannish. The puritans were a little weird that way.
Women's doublets were often worn open from the bustline up, with the high standing collars turned back in a rather italien style. With doublets meant to be worn open, the collar could either have corners in the normal, right angle fashion, or the collar could take a gracefull curve from the higg point in the back down to the front proper. Sometimes, another doublet like garment would be worn under the open doublet, creating a jerkin-like effect. The doublet could also be worn closed up to the chin. The collar of the doublet is excellent for supporting ruffs.
The doublet for men came into fashion rather earlier than the doublet for women. It seems to be the more or less natural evolution of men's fashions of the time - take a look at portraits showing typical male clothing from about 1530 - 1600 and you see a very clear march of fashion. The man's doublet was worn closed. Sometimes, an open jerkin was worn over it.
Fashion is an odd thing. As the reign of Elizabeth progressed, it became popular for the belly area of the doublet to be padded in the front. (And the front only - the sides were to remain slim. The effect was not that of a beer belly. It's actually closer to a low pregnancy.) This 'peasecod belly' also attracted the ridicule of puritans like Stubbes.
On an unrelated note, I'm actually a big fan of puritans in the Elizabethan era. The produced an awful lot of documentation of the fashions of their times (biased in the precise opposite of the normal slant). Pointless trivia: Walter Fysche, Queen Elizabeth's first tailor, was a puritan. I find that amusing, somehow....
Master Pattern for Women's Doublets
Yet
another cheesey master pattern drawing. I really do apologize, but photoshop
and I argue terribly when it comes to actually making a picture from scratch.
Piece A is the front of the doublet, piece B is the front side, C is the back side, and, predictable enough, D is the back. Pieces B and C can, and arguably should, be cut as a single piece. Unless you have a persuasive reason for making them separately (like, say, you are applying trim 'chevronwise' (that would be, 'in V shaped patterns' for those of you who aren't up on your 16th century tailoring vocab), and you need a seam to tuck the ravelly edges of your notably uncooperative, hard to keep lined up right, eats needles, why did I pick this crap? am I nuts?, evil, evil gimp from hell into. Actally, the doublet in question turned out rather well, which is more proof of my theory that you can cuss fabric into submission. Pictures avaliable.)
Now, here's the tricky bit in making doublets for women: Women have a bustline. (Thank you, missa, would you tell us something we don't know?) Darts, used today to deal with this fact of life, weren't used in the 1500s. If you look at thr front and front side pieces, you will note that there is a slight curve on the side of the front piece, and a more pronounced curve on the front side of the side piece. The join in these two pieces is about midway up the armscye. When you sew a shallow curve to a sharper curve, you get a piece of fabric that won't lie flat - sort of like a bolster pillow. These two differently curved pieces force the front of the doublet to conform to the front of the woman. Getting the curves right is easy if you are drafting your pattern via a tiole on a dressdummy, or if you have a friend to help you draft it against yourself. It gets a little harder if you're working with the flat-pieces-of-tissue-paper-then-I-try-it-on method. The curve goes where a piece of material would start to make little crinkles if you were to try to smooth it around yourself while wearing your corset, basically. (This is pretty logical - that curve exists to eliminate the presense of wrinkles at the curve of the bust in the finished garment) The curve will start right about the edge of the corset, and will be shallower for the small busted and more pronounced for those to whom the breastfairy was abnormally generous. The curved seam between the back and back side pieces serves the same function, but is much less well defined.
The bottom of the collar area has a little dip in in the picture - this is to prevent the collar from wrinkling acrossthe base of the neck, due to the natural curvature of the neck.
Master Pattern for Men's Doublets
Sorry, guys, this isn't up yet. It is done much like the women's doublet, except, obviously, without the consideration for the bust.
There are two important bits to fitting a doublet for men or women. Firstly, it must be fitted *exactly* across the shoulders. This is especially true in women's doublets, which can be worn open - it is the exactness of the fit across the shoulders that makes everything lie right when the doublet is opened. Secondly, as with all fitted upper garments, the length of the armscye to waist measurement is crucial. If you make it too long, you will have wrinkles show cross the sides of the doublet. Don't do that. When in doubt, it is better to make it a half inch too short and rely on skirting to cover the gap. For the men in the audience, a doublet will not fit to where you wear your jeans. You should fit it to your natural waist, not the top of your hip (or halfway down your hip, depending on your normal jeans-preference).
This is actually pretty easy - all doublets are front closing. I recommend fully lining the darn thing, since it will lie more neatly that way. Sew together the outer pieces at all seams but the center front. Do the same for the lining. Now, match the center backs together (right side to right side always!), and sew around the outside of the completed pieces, leaving enough of a gap at the center back to turn it right side out. You will have to finish the armholes by hand, as well as the gap you left for turning. Voila!
Visual Reference
Women's Doublets:
Italien style Doublet
English style Doublet
Men's Doublets:
English style Doublet
