Recently I have decided to return to the SCA after a hiatus of a number of years. So I began the task of digging through all my old stuff to take stock of what I had and what I needed. I’ll be attending my first event in over five years this coming January. I’ll try to remember to take pictures.
First I began digging out the garb. Oh what a sad state that was in. My entire garb wardrobe consisted of what could only be called “newbie” garb. I felt a bit ashamed of this since I’ve been in and out of the SCA for 23 years. So I decided to start making some “real” garb.
Now for beginning events there isn’t anything wrong with newbie garb. It takes time to decide on a persona, research it, research the appropriate garb, collect materials, etc. However after 23 years I should have certainly had something better than a basic T-tunic and skirt or my “bodice babe” outfit (which doesn’t fit nearly as well as it did when I was 24).
Generally the first task is deciding on a time period and culture. Well, since I haven’t very long until my next event I decided to start on garb first. Fortunately garb doesn’t all have to relate to the same persona. Which is good for me because I love so many different styles and time periods that it wouldn’t all fit on the same persona no matter how I tried to justify it.
I’m not a great seamstress so I’ll say right off the bat, anything I say here shouldn’t be taken as gospel when it comes to sewing. Since I’m generally using other people’s instructions that have been posted on the internet, often what happens is I hit a spot where the instructions either are ambiguous or simply don’t exist. Rarely the instructions are incorrect when they are there. In such cases I have to fumble my own way through and try to figure it out. I will include what I fumbled out just in case it is helpful to someone else.
The Cotehardie
Since my first event will be in the winter time, I chose first to make a garment that would be relatively warm. Big flowy skirt and long sleeves seemed good so I chose to make a cotehardie (also called the gothic fitted dress). I happened to find 15 yards of brushed cotton at a flea market and thought that would make a great cotehardie.
Next began the search for HOW to make such a garment
I found several sites with basic patterns and/or instructions. The one that seemed the most complete and easiest to follow was at Caitlinn’s Clothing (link: http://www.caitlinsclothing.com/ ). She has several sets of instructions there but the cotehardie (link: http://www.caitlinsclothing.com/cotehardie.html ) is the only one I’ve followed to the end.
I have to say that the instructions found here were, for the most part, complete, precise, easy to follow. I’ve never had such an easy time making a garb piece (that wasn’t a T-tunic!). I wish I had been able to take pictures along the way of the process but I currently don’t own a camera. I’ll try to get my hands on one for other projects.
Since I was working alone, I followed the instructions for the Drafted Cotehardie rather than the Draped Cotehardie (which requires a second person to do the pinning). On the Drafted Cotehardie, however, one error I noticed in the measurements was with the circumference of the chest, ribs, waist and hips. When it instructs you to divide your measurement by 2, that should actually be divide by 4. I have e-mailed with Caitlinn about this and she said it is already fixed in the PDF version which will be going up after the beginning of the year. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on that.
Be sure you pay very close attention to the instructions. I missed a couple things that caused some headache later on and created more work than I really needed to do.
This is the finished gown:
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w22/nauloera/SCA%20Pictures/cotehardie1.jpg
Note the “gappies” at the laces. This is one of the areas where I mis-read the instructions. My grommets are actually too far apart for a spiral lace. I’ll be adding more grommets to compensate. It could also be solved by throwing a tabard or sideless surcoat over the top if I were lazy. I’m not sure I’m terribly fond of the spiral lace either. After I add the additional grommets I’ll decide whether or not to use it on the next one I make.
A note about the lacing. There are plenty of places where you can buy garment type lacing, leather lacing, etc. The lacing I’m using there, and likely I will continue to use on future garments, is the Kiwi brand boot lace, 72”. At less than $1.50 for two of them it is difficult to go wrong and I like the fact that the little tips are on the end so I don’t have to try to figure out how to keep my lacings from fraying. No, they will never win any A&S competitions, however I’m not writing an A&S post. This is for garb that looks better than basic newbie garb yet is still practical to make.
A note about grommets. I’m sure experienced tailors already know this, however I did not. EXTREME care must be used when using the small, single piece grommets (I believe I was using 3/8ths inch size) with the little teeth. These grommets like to bite completely through your fabric. They also tend to only partially grip, cause pulling and fraying, and just generally be a pain in the butt. Be sure that you stitch around the grommet and through the fabric to provide extra reinforcement if you want the garment to last. I will be doing a great deal more research on grommets before I make my next garment that requires them!
While I’m not sure there is much of anything of use in this article, I hope they get better as time goes on.
Thanks for reading!
Manhalah/Nauloera
SCA/WoW
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