This cotte is constructed of four panels with gores at the sides beginning from about hip level. The dress is cut with a slight s-curve along the center-back seam for a closer fit in the small of the back, and with a slight curve in the bodice to help add support. That being said, this dress could do a bit better job at bust-support and slight lift. It's worn over a linen smock or chemise, and it is often worn with a similarly cut lined over-dress.

This is the first cotte I've handsewn. It's made of unlined wool flannel structurally sewn with beeswaxed linen thread. Though a running stitch would be more appropriate for those seams with no stress on them, I sewed the entire garment in a backstitch for reinforcement. Hems and facings are sewn with silk thread. The neck edge is single folded and stitched with a running stitch. The hem is single folded and stitched with a hem-stitch.

The facings of the sleeves and front opening are silk ribbon. Silk facings are evident in extant pieces included in Museum of London's Textiles and Clothing: 1150-1450 by Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland. The buttoned edge of the sleeve would probably have sufficed with just a single folded hem along the edge as opposed having a silk facing as the buttonholed side of the sleeve does.

The eyelets up the front opening of the dress are handsewn of silk thread in an alternating hole pattern as seen in the effigy of Catherine Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick, c. 1370-75. My eyelets are about 1/2 inch from the edge of the opening and are spaced about 1 inch apart from each other. The buttonholes on the sleeves are hand-sewn of silk thread and are about 1 inch apart from one another. The buttons are hand-sewn wool buttons, cut as disks then gathered with the raw edges stuffed into the button, sewn to hold the button together, and finally sewn in the same silk thread to the edge of the sleeve. The buttons go along the back of the sleeve not quite to my elbow. The sewing techniques I employed are well-documented in the Sewing techniques and tailoring chapter in Textiles and Clothing: 1150-1450.

I've got the shoulders a bit wide on this dress. The shoulder seam shouldn't extend beyond my shoulder point, and, well, these droop a bit. I really should reset the sleeves on the dress. That would give me an opportunity to adjust the side seam of the bodice to shore up the chest support a bit. (It's a bit late to adjust the front seam with the eyelets in place!)