I'm not quite sure whether to call this a jacket - almost certainly too modern a term - a waistcoat, or a doublet bodice. But whatever it's called, it - like my grey waistcoat - is a working woman's garment and is both comfortable and practical.

It is made of a light-weight, twill weave sheep-coloured wool known as "say", which is available from Historical Management Associates. The buttons are made from the same cloth and are actually the third set, the dog having eaten the first two. It is lined with a heavy unbleached linen and, as usual, everything is hand-sewn.

I am wearing this over my usual yellow kirtle.

Unlike the seventeenth-century waistcoat this garment is suitable for Kentwell.