Period Garments

I began making period garments in college, in order to participate in the Society for a Creative Anachronism. From there, I went on to making my own wedding party's clothes (all of them!), and from there to creating for Renaissance Faire participants. Unfortunately, I have photos of only a few of the 50 or so outfits I have made.

Aside from Renaissance Faire costumes, I've done Ancient Greek, Bronze Age Norse and Celtic, 12th to 15th century Mediæval, Renaissance, Regency, and Victorian. I think of the futuristic Space Alien stuff as belonging with Fantasy.

Here are some examples of period garments I have made:

Ah, when the world was young and so were we!
These Renaissance "peasants outfits" were made in 1981. Of course, peasants wouldn't have princely silver circlets, but what the heck. His shirt was based on a Y-shaped one piece yoke, with huge sleeves and body panel, and a pointed collar. The cuffs and placket had a few inches of trim, and closed with single abalone shell buttons.
Her outfit has the ever-useful tied-on-rectangle apron. The buttons on the bodice were fake mother-of-pearl. (I was just beginning to learn about period accuracy.) The belt was one of three hand-hewn from a piece of thick rawhide, with a buckle from Tandy.
The mug was purchased at Cost Plus in 1979.


The same bodice and shift as above, with a gored skirt, kilted up to show home-made elkskin boots. The pouch is also elkskin. The arisaidd (I've seen lots of spellings of this word.) is a hemmed 2 1/2 yards of Dress Gordan tartan. The belt is the second of the three, with a dragon buckle. The cup and fan were purchased from Pier1 in 1980.	This beauteous maid was a docent at Southern Faire. This was the second "middle class" woman's outfit I made (1981). I didn't make her crocheted snood.


This was the first. (The instrument is a sackbut.) The snood had over 300 little pearls on it. The puffs were rather denser than I had intended. As it happens, I haven't tried to do a puff around a collar and placket since then.	This one I did in two days with no machine! This is my Mom, in a russety-brown straight skirt, high white cotton partlet, and kettlecloth bodice. I finished the lacing holes in the truck driving down to Faire.

Fire and Water. His tunic and cloak were made for a Tolkien Fair, but are fairly generic 12th/13th century. The boots were also homemade, these of medium weight cowhide. The cudgel was found in a meadow near UCSC and lovingly sanded. Her tunic is more or less 12th century, with a timeless straight skirt and the same elk boots and belt as above. The basket, by Carolyn Thoms, was purchased at South Faire.

This dear Tot, at three years old, had to attend a Mediaeval/ Renaissance wedding. The tights, cord belt, and "kung-fu" slippers were storebought. The tunic was 10th - 12th century style, of blue cotton with woven-in stripes of satin and matte.

Rather than having a seperate ruff, or having it attached to a shirt collar, this lace ruff was attached to the blue no-wale corduroy doublet, which had pewter buttons from waist to throat. The breeches are narrower than is accurate to the period, but were made that way intentionally, to show off his legs. The boots were handmade by him at the same time as the boots above. The shirt is by Dye Spots, available at Reanissance Pleasure Faire.

This leine has pleats on the sleeves, tacked down with ribbon trim, but with drawstrings at the bottom 6", plus drawstrings around the bells of the sleeves. The hanging yellow ribbons are drawstrings. The belt is the third of the above mentioned set. The breeches are of brushed cotton with drawstrings at knees and waist, but also a buttoned fly on the front (hidden under the front of the leine). The outfit was made in 1982 or 83.
Her shift is of white muslin with green drawstrings and stitching. The bodice is gray no-wale corduroy with green braid trim. These were made in 1985
The tot was 21 months old. The shift-style shirt had blue drawstrings and his little breeches were the same grey as Mom's bodice, but with blue ribbon trim. The bonnet was crocheted varigated acrylic. These were made in 1986.

This is Rosin Dubh in my second Irish guna (Gaelic for "dress"), made for her in about 1993. (The first was a reversable one for Rowan Fairgrove.) The leine (Gaelic for "shirt") is actually a full length shift, but with the distinctive gathered sleeves. These have drawstrings along the tops, rather than pleats. They can be drawn up nearly to the elbow, to get the length out of the way for work. The bells are sewn shut about half way up, so the provide pocket space. The skirts are gored, and nearly full circles.

This Victorian Afternoon Dress, made for Dickens Faire, was called "The Pink Bon Bon". The jacket was princess seamed front and back, with each section coming down to a point. The shiny stuff below the trim is satin fringe. Rather than making the blouse a seperate piece, sleeve ends and collar were attached directly to the jacket. The hat was of matching fabric, decorated with artificial flowers. The snood under it is crocheted of gray satin yarn.

I think of this as the Bon Bon's American twin. Made for a Civil war re-enactment participant, it had the same sort of trim, but also ruching over the princess seams up the front, around the shoulders, and down the back. The skirt was fuller, and worn with petticoats instead of hoops. The cap was her own.

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