Rickard's green tunic and pink surcoat from the Codex Manesse

 

I made this outfit for my husband in 2004. Before I had a digital camera, I borrowed my brother in law's . That's why only have one photo. He has worn it quite a lot since then, but I also need to find photos, and tehre's a lot to go through from the last twenty years .

The inspiration is of course this lovely illumnation from the Grosse Heidelberger Liederhandschrift a.k.a Codex Manesse; a German manuscript illuminated between 1300 and 1330.

Link to a much larger version here.

Both garments are made from thin wool or wool mix. The tunic is a mix of wool and cotton, an uncommon combination in period, but a linen/wool mix wouldn't have been that uncommon. The surcoat is a wool twill, lined with a thin beige wool tabby. In the period fur would have been a more common choice, but both wool, silk, and fustian - a linen/cotton mix, were used as lininings. There is in fact even a medieval German and Scandinavian word for thinner wool used for linings "foderduk"/"Futtertuch".

 The tunic is a rectangular cut, with gores in the sides, back, and front. The sleeves are made after  Herjolfsnes 41, with modifications to make it fit this earlier period better: i.e. wider over the upper arm.

The surcoats has slits in the front and back and quite large armscyes.

I used the same rather stiff Indian trim for both the sleeves on the green tunic and around the neck of the pink surcoat.

I have an instruction about how to shape stiff trim around a round neckline here.