in praise of the smock pattern generator

I cut out a linen undertunic this afternoon, and machine-sewed the major seams. For someone who's been in the SCA as long as I have, I'm pretty terrible at making garb: I haven't put the effort in to learn how to fit clothing well up front, nor have I made enough clothing to improve much through trial and error. But I live in a Pennsic kingdom, now, which means I need lots of clothes. And I've been wanting a handwork project for events (I'll hem and finish the seams by hand).

For undertunics there's a shortcut I learned about from chemicallace, called the Elizabethan smock pattern generator. (Instructions for assembly are here.) Despite the name, the smock generator makes a solid rectangular-construction undertunic suitable for most of the SCA's period. The fit is very good, at least if you're a person whose chest measurement is larger than their waist measurement, and you can adjust the time period by playing with the shape of the neckline. (In my experience, it's easier to make a neat rounded neckline than a square one, anyway.) You can also use the smock generator for overtunics, if you add a few inches to your hypothetical measurements.