For about as long as I can remember, I have been interested in the European Middle Ages. As I've gotten older, that interest has become far more narrow. I am now obsessed with 5th - 10th century English, German, and Nordic fashion and lower-class ways of life. I would be super focused on German (where my family is from) but unfortunately, I had to choose an era where archeological evidence is very hard to find. So I kind of make guesses based on all 3 sources, as they were pretty similar (in at least climate and proximity) during my era of interest.
So, I have been going to the local small Rennassaince fair for a while. This past year, I finally sat my self down and worked on an outfit that I can be proud of. I will share that outfit (and my retelling of it's construction woes) here. I am hoping that I will be able to make a handful of new pieces for next year's faire. Maybe some basic farmer's or layman's armor. Like a gambeson or something. Or maybe I'll make a whole new outfit lol!
• My finished project outfit! •
Ok this is my fave picture of my fit (even though you can't see my shoes - which I made btw!). Mostly due to the fact that I'm holding a sick sword. ANYWAYS! Everything in this image that I am wearing is made by me! (except the belt... leatherworking is my demon that I have not yet overcome) I've since slightly updated the overtunic because the trim finally came in. I'll post a pic of the full outfit once I have time to do a proper photoshoot.
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Some notes on this outfit: The yellow tunic and the white tunic (and the overtunic to an extent, but we'll get to that) were my first medieval clothing pieces that I made! I revamped them for this outfit (added trim and made them a bit shorter. These were also possibly the easiest pieces to pattern that I've ever made. They're just 2 rectangles, 2 trapezoids, 2 triangles and 2 squares sewn together with a neckline cut out. The overtunic was also originally made at the same time as the yellow tunic and the undertunic, but back then it was a full-sleeve tunic and navy blue! I took off the sleeves and gores, then added a lining, re-dyed it to wine red, and added trim. It was probably more effort than just getting 2 yards of wine-red cotton and making it from scratch, but it was fun. I've also added some new trim (which came in after the faire). The legwraps (which you can just see in this image) were originally a flannel cloak. I decided that the cloak was too small (and not my style anymore), so I tore it into 2-inch wide strips for legwraps! There are other things that I would like to talk about, but they are hard to see in this image, so I will talk about them once they all have their own images. |
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• My new project outfit! •
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This is my future project! The images to the right are from the Luttrel Psalter, a medieval prayerbook that has illustrations of both nobles and working class people on the comissioner's land. These images are of 3 women that I like the clothing of. The first 2 are the comissioner's wife and daughter (?), while the woman in the second image is a farmworker. I'm planning on using one of these women's dress as the basis for my next big project. I generally like the working-class styles, but I think that I might like the upper-class look a little better for this era. I might make a mix of the two to keep my favorite elements of both. Not sure yet. |
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I've been looking at the images for a WHILE now and think that all women are wearing some sort of kirtle-on-chemise situation, so I'm going to be working with that assumption. Kirtles look pretty easy to make so I am hopeful!
I think that I'm going to try to mostly follow the woman in blue in the 1st image, but suppliment with details from the woman in the 2nd image when there's lacking details. The 1st image is so degraded lol.
UGH I don't know if I want to go with this source (~1300s) or go with my interests and make a pagan anglo-saxon dress... I'll decide later.
