Costume Tips * How to talk medieval * Simple Costume Patterns * Where to hire costumes

Costume Tips

HATS
All people in the 16th century wore some form of hat or head covering, almost at all times. These hats or coverings varied widely according to class, gender, age, and personal tastes.

BELTS
Peasant and lower class men and women usually wore sturdy leather or cloth belts. They were not worn to hold anything up, but as a tool belt, to hang things from.
Often the tongue of the belt was quite long, and hung down in front for as much two feet, depending on the size of the wearer.

POUCHES
As Elizabethan clothing didn’t have many pockets, people carried their money and other small essentials in pouches, which were also known as purses. Pouches could be hung from the belt, carried in a pockets, or, for ladies, worn under the skirts and accessed through an opening in the skirt seam.

SHOES
should be low heeled and sturdy. High heels were just being invented at this point, and only worn by highly fashionable ladies.

RUFFS
Ruffs are the most distinctive item of Elizabethan apparel. They began in the early part of the 16th century, as small ruffles on the neck and wristbands of smocks and shirts, and by the end of the century they had become independent garments of incredible complexity, size, and cost.

GLOVES

Gloves were worn by the upper classes for formal occasions. They were made of soft leather, wrist length, and often decorated with embroidery or jewels. Black, browns, tans, and whites were common. Modern gloves can easily be decorated.

Gauntlet style gloves, with a deep flared cuff, were worn for fencing and hawking. Excellent ones can be purchased from fencing suppliers, and trim and jewels can be added as needed.

FLEA FURS Flea furs, or zibellini (singular, zibelinno, Italian for decoy) were an accessory for the wealthy. They were small pelts of sable, fox, ermine, or other animals, cured and stuffed. The paws and the head, or perhaps just the snout, were replaced with ones made of gold set with jewels. They were worn over one shoulder or draped over a hip, attached to a belt or girdle. It was believed that fleas would be attracted to the fur and away from one's person.

KNIVES, SWORDS, DAGGERS, AND OTHER POINTY THINGS

Almost all peasants and lower middle class people carried knives on their persons. These were not for defense, they were for eating with. The idea of one’s host providing cutlery was just beginning to catch on, as was the concept of forks. Eating, for most people, was accomplished with a spoon and a knife, and one brought one’s own to the table.

Knives for peasant use should be single edged blades, similar to modern hunting knives. A knife is worn on a belt, in a protective sheath with secure fastening. It can be kept in a basket or pocket, but if the blade is over 4" long, you will be breaking the concealed weapons law in many places.

Daggers are defensive weapons, with double edged blades. They should be worn by men, in a belt sheath as for eating knives. they would be carried by men, very rarely by women. Middle class men might wear only the dagger, upper class men, nobles, and their menservants might carry them in combination with a sword (often as a matched set.)

All gentlemen carried swords, all the time. It was the mark of their station. The best sword style for the period is that known as the swept hilt rapier. It was worn on the left hip, if the gentleman was right handed, suspended from a belt by a leather hanger sometimes know as a "frog".

Simple Costume Patterns

(Kindly submitted by members of the SCA)

Basic T-Tunic

Now that you have a nice, compfy pair of period trousers, maybe you'd like something to cover your upper extremities as well? I suggest the versatile, universal, and down-right comfortable T-tunic.

The T-tunic is so called because of its resemblance to that letter when opened and laid flat, and has been worn by just about every culture at some time or another. It's good for a starter costume, as it may be converted easily into a garment fitting the era you finally do choose to portray. The pattern can be adapted to be short, long or anywhere in between, as full/narrow as you desire, with long, short, medium, full, narrow, or even no sleeves, with open or closed sides, as you wish. Try your first one out of an old cotton (highly prized fabric in the Middle Ages) or muslin bedsheet -- it is already broken in,it's expendable, and it will drape well.

To construct: 1. Find and write down these measurements:
o Neck to desired length + at least 2"
o Neck to crown of bust (2" - 3" below center of armpit where bust is fullest)
o Bust or chest at fullest +3" for ease of movement
2. Fold your fabric in half width-wise. Fold it again length-wise (4 layers).
3. Find the length from the neck to the crown of the bust and mark on the fabric with
tailer's chalk all the way across.
4. Find the chest measurement and divide by four. Mark this point on the line you have
just drawn with the chalk, measuring from the center fold out.
5. Find the point from the neck to the desired length of the garment and mark it. Now
note the length from the line you drew in #3 to the line you just drew. Draw a diagonal
line, according to your own desired fullness,issuing from the armpit and ending at the
edge of the fabric. Mark the distance from the bust line to the hem on this line, and
round off the bottom edge as in illustration #1 or straight down as in illustration #2. 6. Parallel the lines you have just drawn (which are your seam lines) 1/2" out -- these will be your cutting lines. 7. Draw a line issuing from the bustline-armpit intersection across the fabric at 90 degrees or at an angle which will provide you the desired fullness in your sleeves. Parallel this line as well with cutting line 1/2" out. 8. Mark the point along the center fold which is 3" from the top. Find the point on your shoulder where your head, if not for your neck, would meet your shoulders, and mark this point on your fabric. Connect these two pints with an arced line. This is your seam line. Parallel this seam line 1/2" closer to the edge of the fabric, as before, for a cutting line. This will give a neck hold which is a little wide, but which should slip right over your head. 9. Cut out pattern, cutting along all cutting lines, open the fabric -- you now have only two layers -- and stitch along side seam and sleeve-seam lines. 10. Turn neck, faace edges, hem and wear. For longer sleeves, simply and fabric to sleeve edges before sewing side seams. HINT: Turn raw edges of neck, cuffs and hem to the outside. Press down and cover over with ribbon or trim. This is a very period practice and it secures the edges, increasing the life-span of your new garment while adding a measure of grace at the same time.

for more ideas on creating costumes, check out these links:
Making costumes using commercial patterns:
http://www.reddawn.net/costume/costpat.htm
Instructions for making tunics:
http://www.ansteorra.org/regnum/hospitaler/articles/fip.htm#All%20Purpos e%20T-tunic
The Costume Page - have a look see under Costume-Making Specifics
http://users.aol.com/nebula5/tcpmake2.html

Where to Hire Costumes