My husband's dark green outfit from c. 1300

I am right now suffering from secondary infections after I got the flu two weeks ago, so I spend most of my time sleeping or coughing up my lungs. Somehow I today foudn the energy to add another costume to this blog, mainly thanks to the fact that I had once written a presentation of this outfit in Swedish so that I could just translate the text and put in some photos.

You find information and images here, including photos of my draping of a coif pattern.

My new purple silk bliaut

So, I have not only finished my silk bliaut. All hand sewn, which gos faster than one usually thinks. What stops med from hand sewing all my costumes is that my wrists and hands wouldn't be able to cope, since I have arthritis. I also sometimes find it boring, there's enough on a gown that has to be hand sewn that I sometimes make the long stright seams on machine before felling them by hand.

But, back top the bliaut in question. Trying to use as much of the pretty saree borders made me think about period silks and contruction and come up with a theory about trim on 11th and 12th century garments. It's here - enjoy!

And that's our cat.

Cheating with a sari

I'm making another 12th century bliaut. I am even going to make it fitted at the waist, ignoring the fact that I'm way too fat for that style. From a period perspective I mean - I've seen lovely ladies larger than me looking stunning in bliauts. On the other hand, just being this fat is un-period ;) And surviving a hole where the duodenum connects to the stomach, which I did one year ago. So I'll just give up on any tries to be perfectly period here :)

Anyway, I have already tried out the the contested bliaut-with-a-waist-seam-theory (discussed in the link) once, and while it was very pretty and worked well I would have preferred a rectangular cut without waist seam and a skirt that widens with gores this time. Unfortunately saris don't come that wide, and since I'm going to use a purple silk sari I will make it with a waist seam.

The fancy part with lots of gold will somehow be used to make a border around the neckhole, but I haven't figured out how yet. For now I'm just starting with sewing the skirt together.

Unlike my green bliaut (linked to above) this one will not have straight panels for the skirt, but slightly gored pieces. Like this:

If anyone wonders why the skirt pieces are made with an upward curve it is to compensate for the fact that I can't curve the skirt at the hem if I want to keep the gold border.

I think it will be pretty. Or maybe handsome, because while the hanging sleeves aren't that common on men in illuminations this is pretty much a unisex style.

St George, looking saintly unkempt in hair and beard, but very fashionable otherwise.

Facebook page

BTW, this blog now has its own facebook page, which you can Like if you want to. That's mainly to stop spamming my colleagues and work contacts whenever I post something here, but it is a nifty way to keep track of what I'm doing if you're on facebook.

My husband's 12th century silk tunic

This tunic was started in 2006 and "finished" in 2014. Luckily it is not a very fitted type of garment. And my husband hasn't gained as much weight as I have in those years. Here's its page with more info and photos.

An essential guide to hood-wearing

Some people that I know have a blog called "The Medieval Hunt". They have made this both good and funny guide to ways to wear your hood 14th and 15th century style. With documentation and awesome musical choices.

13th century cottes for me and hubby

The best garment ever: The Maciejowski cotte with semi-detachable sleeves. More about them here.

16th century maternity wear

So, while pregnant with my latest/last in 2004 I decided that I needed to reconstruct a preserved 16th century kirtle of a type that could be used as maternity wear back then. It can be seen as extreme insanity, but was actually rather fun.

Since this one also once had a dress diary there's lots of construction info and and detail photos on its page.

My masterpiece

This gown probably is the prettiest gown that I have ever made. Such a pity that I made it when I was the thinnest that I had been for a decade then (2008) and will never be again. Still: the prettiness exists and I can pat it and I can look at the photos.

 

It is also one of the best documented when it comes to how it was made, so its web page is worth having a look at.

My brown v-necked Housebook dress from 2009

Another old dress that never really got written about on the web site, though you could find it under the A&S Stash challenge. I feel somewhat like a trend setter here, since you never saw this type of dress on people before that and I have seen several examples after that :)
It's a pity that I would have to lose 20 kilos or something to be able to wear it again.

Anyway, here the page is: with sources, more photos, construction info etc as usual.