All posts tagged: medieval

Draping and cutting a 14th century gown

As I mentioned in the HSM ‘Out of Your Comfort Zone’ post, my challenge for this challenge is medieval: specifically a gown (kirtle) from the last quarter of the 14th century. I’ve never made a medieval gown before, and my only dabble in medieval has been a shift (and really, a medieval shift is hardly different from an 18th c shift).  So this is a totally new period for me, and definitely out of my comfort zone. To help, I’ve been relying on the following books: Crowfoot, E., Pritchard, F. & Stainland, K. Textiles and Clothing c.1150-c.1450. Great Britain: Boydell Press,  2001 Thursfield, S. 2001. The Medieval’s Tailor’s Assitant – Making Common Garments 1200-1500. Bedford: Ruth Bean Publishers, 2001 And the following websites: Costly Thy Habit La Cotte Simple Som När Det Begav Sig (no, I can’t read Swedish, but google translate is a wonderful thing) Some Clothing of the Middle Ages The Battle of Whitsby, 1361-2013 The Medieval Tailor And a fair amount of messaging Sarah of A Most Peculiar Mademoiselle (and Som När …

Tell me about the early 14th century

If you read my blog a lot you may realise that the areas between the 5th and 17th centuries are basically a costuming black hole for me.  I’ve done barely any work in that period, and a correspondingly brief amount of research. I know about textiles from the ‘Dark Ages’ and Medieval period, but my knowledge of the clothing is pretty basic. But now I have a reason to tackle the Middle Ages – specifically the early 14th century in England.  Think 1310-1330.  (Sorry, can’t tell you what the reason is yet). I do know that sometimes the trick to knowledge is not actually knowing the stuff, but knowing where to find the information.  I have a lot of leads, but I also know that there are a lot more out there. So, dear readers, who among you does late 13th and early 14th century costuming?  What are your favourite resources for that period?  Expand my knowledge! Update:  I’m mostly interested in men’s clothes – commoners, lower grades of knights, jesters, mercenaries, and maybe a …

Terminology: The So-Called ‘Viking’ Apron Dress

For my first guest writer for the terminology series, I’m very excited to introduce Cathy Raymond, of  Loose Threads: Yet Another Costuming Blog. Cathy’s Medieval and earlier focused blog is one of my favourite textile reads because her area of research is well outside my usual scope, meaning that I learn something new with every post. At the same time, her writing is so thoughtful and considered that it makes me continually realise how timeless and universal textiles are, and how relevant the way we think about the scraps of fabric found in Viking burials (for example) is to the way we think about fashion and textile design today.  So without further ado, Cathy: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello! I’m Cathy Raymond.  The Dreamstress has asked me to contribute a guest post about an item of costume terminology characteristic of my preferred area of costume research, namely, the Migration Period and that part of the early Middle Ages often called the “Viking Age”. Unfortunately, as one delves back into what is known about costume in these periods, it …