The Armour Archive

Charlotte J

I'm not sure about inexpensive, but a very reliable online source is B Black and Sons . Unlike fabric.com and sites like that, their fabric choices are consistent. Occasionally you'll find some good specials. www.fabric.com and www.fashionfabricsclub.com both frequently have good deals, but it's a l...

Charlotte J

A: Pulling at the seams. Yes, the linen is too light, in that while the back and sides fit beautifully, the fabric at the seam separates (warp from weft) at the pressure point. It's particularly noticible because it's a shot linen (shot means warp and weave are two different colors, right?). I don'...

Charlotte J

When I first read though, I thought you said "too small", but now I see you said "too light". What do you mean? Is it stretching too much? Not supporting you? Pulling too much at the seams? Could you just go add a lining to it and salvage the work that you've already done? While ...

Charlotte J

I always fit using linen. I usually turn around and use that fitting for the lining of the first dress, after tracing off a pattern, of course! Most of my dresses, wool or silk, are lined in linen anyway. I know of some people who have made wool fitted dresses with no lining, and not had trouble. As...

Charlotte J

Baron Alcyoneus wrote:http://www.worldwideironing.com/index.htm

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Charlotte J

See m for several examples. (Gaukler's also made a buckle in that style, but I think it was a custom job, and I can't find it on his website any more, anyway.) You mean the puppy belt? He told me at Pennsic that after he sells the ones that he has he's not making any more. I don't know about the bu...

Charlotte J

Fire Stryker wrote:That lovely Gilt silver buckle that graces Bractea's web site is the one I pictured above based on one of Van Der Weyden's works. It was a custom job, but they seem to fancy it enough to offer it as a design.

I was wondering if it was the one that you'd commissioned!

Charlotte J

For women in the mid-to-late 15thc in Europe, fo' sho'. In fact, it's been a hard thing to find a repro belt buckle in the appropriately wide and shallow format that is seen in figural art on women wearing the v-necked dresses. Raymond's Quiet Press gets within the range stylistically, but not enti...

Charlotte J

I'm not a dyeing expert in the least, but Jeff has some nice samples that were sent to him once. IIRC, there was a sample of something that was brown dyed, that was overdyed in blue, giving an almost black color, but with a bluish cast. Does this ring a bell with anybody? I hesitate to take a guess ...

Charlotte J

I usually don't change for court. But if I do, I'll usually put on a second layer over my fitted dress.

Charlotte J

That's only because the night before I told six people in the same room with me that I wasn't going because I didn't feel well and they all turned and looked at me in unison, total silence, eyes wide... which is when I knew for sure. Terrible, terrible actors. I can't imagine telling a friend you w...

Charlotte J

(less a comment for T, since she already knows, but more for any kids trying this at home.) Oooh no, I didn't "know" until I laced myself downward last night. The muscle in my left arm almost went on strike. I didn't know I could get my heart rate up so fast just from trying to lace mysel...

Charlotte J

An observation: I can see why hidden lacing rings would be the preference when lacing a pretty serious curve together. There's puckering that can't be avoided with traditional eyelet lacing. Not sure how I feel about it, but it's done, so I think I'll have to live with it. Interesting. I was thinki...

Charlotte J

I adore these pictures.

Charlotte J

No one's mentioned it, but I notice a pin in the fore part of the veil. Pinning the two sides to make the pleat? Or attaching the veil to the hennin (is that what you're calling the structure holding the hair?)? My first guess would be pinning it to make a pleat. If you have pins in the back as wel...

Charlotte J

Sa-weet! Tasha, you're such a slacker.

Charlotte J

I totally missed this (warning, very large image) the first time through. The woman rifling through the chest has a center back seam line, and a really nifty headdress (sorry, not like the one you're looking at). It's hard to tell since she's holding a baby, but the woman wearing your hat looks to b...

Charlotte J

Very, very cool! And, get a load of her princess seam. So-called "modern" one too -- it goes up into her armpit, not her shoulder. Huh! I know! I *squee'd*. I LJ'd. It was better than Cats. The other shot of a woman with that same coif in this MS seems to show a more V-neck style (she's h...

Charlotte J

There are examples of the style (including other angles!) in the Pageant of Richard Beauchamp. There might be a better copy out there, but I found a full version online:

http://www.archive.org/stream/pageantof ... 5/mode/2up

The money shot. Costuming-wise, at least.

Charlotte J

I said it was similar to Bohemian work, I never said it was Bohemian. "The Beautiful style", as it was known in Bohemia, of the first decades of the 15th century, is what is refered to as 'international gothic' by art historians. I would wager a weeks salary the image is pre 1450. I am qu...

Charlotte J

I see this as being strongly related to the headdresses in the brasses that Tasha posted above, but not related to the Woodville headdress. The artist has depicted the caul as if we could see the broad side of it, but the face is more of a 3/4 view. This is consistent with the treatment in the bras...

Charlotte J

http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000143749

Charlotte J

It could be. But the collar itself is wider than most of the 1440's collars that I've seen. Perhaps it's folded open more? I don't know. I think that you're right in that it's not 1480s-90s, but I don't think it's as early or as Bohemian as you've claimed. But I thought we were talking English, and ...

Charlotte J

Except for the woman's gown, which seems to suggest a later date. It's not unheard of for Biblical scenes to show earlier fashions. It certainly might be misdated, but could you please just post some constructive information? I'd love to see what you can provide us in the way of 1470s-80s female hat...

Charlotte J

Have you actually been following the discussion where Mac and I have been tossing around the idea of the caul hairstyle? Now, if you have the exact answer of how this was constructed, with all of your reference materials, I'd love to see it. Perhaps the V&A has the dating and country wrong on th...

Charlotte J

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7055 ... st-before/

Possibly related:

Charlotte J

As an aside, this exercise is really helping me round out my collection for my V-Neck gown class/presentation.

Charlotte J

http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000143473

Charlotte J

May or may not be a related style:
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O7018 ... f-st-john/

Charlotte J

Tasha, The more I look at these headdresses, the more it seems to me that the thing being worn by Liz Woodville is *not* the same thing that appears in those brasses. The thing Woodville has on her head is clearly a sort of cylinder. The things in the brasses and in the pics that Charlotte has post...

Charlotte J

http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000143053

Charlotte J

Hope you don't mind all of the picspam. I'm just posting them as I find them in the list.

From: http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000143037

Charlotte J

From: m I only noticed the hair piece AFTER I stared at this incredible dress for a few minutes. In the non-detail view, I assumed it was a sideless surcote type dress, based on the plastron of fur. But it's a V-neck gown! http://corsair.morganlibrary.org/icaimages/1/m126.068ra.jpg

Charlotte J

A different caul style, but similar veil configuration.

from:

http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000142855

Charlotte J

Tasha:

From: http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000119255

ETA:
A very small one here, hardly worth posting an image of:
http://utu.morganlibrary.org/medren/sin ... A000119266