The Armour Archive

Tailoress

I resorted to what I always resort to when I'm stumped over something tailoring/shape-wise. I broke out the scissors and napkins. I used two pens to represent the two proposed wires coming out of the forehead prong (new technical term). I cut the napkin into a square. I turned the napkin so one corn...

Tailoress

Hi William,

I'm taking pictures as I go, never fear. I just feel like it'll make more sense to post them all in a series together when I'm finished for a more teachable effect. (The biggest student here is me, btw.)

Stay tuned.

Tailoress

OK, I got it done fast in Visio: http://www.cottesimple.com/armourarchive/proposed_wire_structure.png The thick lines are the proposed diamond structure, while the dotted lines are the rest of that diamond structure yet not portrayed on the brass. The thinner solid lines with circles at the end are ...

Tailoress

Good idea, Char. I do need to do that... I'll try to sneak it in today.

Tailoress

Tasha, I think that Charlotte is on to something. Is there any reason to think that we are looking at a cylindrical thing on the back of the head? It might well be a structure on each side of the head. That would account for the dip in the middle when view from the front. Mac Hi Mac, I'm fairly cer...

Tailoress

Ohhh... Now I think I see what you mean by the diamond shaped cage. You mean vertically oriented, at the back of the head? Almost like home plate? Home plate has five sides.. I'm proposing a 4-sided diamond (4 prongs of wire, all connected by a diamond-shaped wire at the far end, vertically-oriente...

Tailoress

Bob, I am confused by what you're talking about... I'm not talking about the hennin structure (i.e. the cylinder on the back of the head) itself being an issue... I'm talking about the veiling and what wire structure might be holding it up underneath, separate from that cylinder. Have I misinterpret...

Tailoress

I was just trying to pull it closed on one side (other side is sewn up) and the gap was big -- like 2-3 inches, and that was around the ribcage, which isn't squishable. My fear is that even if I put in the eyelets and just leave it with a gap when laced up, it'll look uneven on the outside where The...

Tailoress

raito is making very nice progress on the chain: http://www.cottesimple.com/armourarchive/bronze_rectangular_links.jpg ******** I cut out my foundation dress from the dark brown wool last night. I sewed it mostly together, flat-lining the torso portion with canvas for support help, and found that my...

Tailoress

I like the baby-bouncer idea, and it would tie into the lift that the extended hennin-prong (for lack of a better term) seems to do in some of those images. However, my big mystery is the back. Am I seeing a diamond-shaped cage of wire with see-through veiling draped over it in some of those images ...

Tailoress

I apologize for the width of this image. It's the best I could do in the limited time I had to sneak this work in. Folks, please lend me your thoughts on the images below. I didn't have time to organize these images in discrete style groups, but you'll notice that some of the veil formations are pre...

Tailoress

I am working up a large sampling of brasses with this headwear arrangement and will start a new thread with them. I need help on the analysis of what might be going on, hennin, wire, and veil-wise. I figure multiple minds working on it are better than one. Stay tuned and help me out when the time co...

Tailoress

I so wish you were right. The Charles de Blois is easy-peasy compared to figuring out this freaking hennin. I got my hands on a metric ton of images of women with this style of headgear (all of them brass rubbings) and all THAT did was confuse me more. Some stuff was elucidated, other stuff obfuscat...

Tailoress

Someone needs to do a count of how many pennsic tshirts you see at Kalamazoo. Really? I only attended one year, but I was told ahead of time to not advertise my involvement with the SCA if I hoped to get an ounce of respect from the academically-affiliated historians there. I was fine with that; ap...

Tailoress

Thanks, Gwen. ******** Well, well, well. Isn't this just an Oyster Project. (The more you chew it, the bigger it gets.) I kind hoped I'd be all done the hennin by today, but I'm still in the thick of it. The cylinder is constructed and covered in wool. The long loopy-thing is constructed and covered...

Tailoress

You are correct. It's around 1405-10, from what I can tell, at least the copy you have. The original text was published in 1389, so some folks confuse that fact with the date of the more famous illuminated version that is published now and widely available, MS franÃ§ais 616, held at the Bibliotheque...

Tailoress

The two layers of glue-soaked linen worked. I was able to curl the rectangle together and secure it by sewing it to itself with silk thread. Then I took the circle, snipped it until there were little tabs all around the perimeter, and folded them inward. I inserted the tabs inside the cylinder and u...

Tailoress

Hennin update. Probably more detail than anyone is interested in. Last night I cut out 2 rectangles of natural linen and circles of same, quilted the two layers together, and then soaked them in a glue bath made from Elmer's. I laid them out to dry on wax paper. They weren't dry yet as of this morni...

Tailoress

Here are raito's first bronze, rectangular chain links in progress. This is the rough-out part of the work, and these aren't fully finished/refined, etc. I think he'll do a great job matching the look and feel of the chain from the brass rubbing I posted earlier in this thread. http://www.cottesimpl...

Tailoress

Hi James, actually I'm only using the silk velvet for accents, like the collar, cuffs, and hennin -- the rest will be wool for both dress layers. I will still be hording the lion's share of what's left of the silk velvet. I have ten yards, so I figure I will eventually use it to make something truly...

Tailoress

Responding to several folks at once: Char -- I'm glad you posted it, because I noticed it still wasn't up on your website but knew it would add value. And get the written part done, woman! We're all waiting! Ilsabet -- No, not Freya... she's the other fabric merchant I mentioned who is the better-kn...

Tailoress

I should clarify that I will not be re-inventing the wheel with intensive research. I will be relying on existing reports from those who have done a bunch of research already, and will apply my own construction analysis and experimentation to the understanding I glean from those works. Two particula...

Tailoress

This isn't a defense of any of the issues in this thread, but I will point out that finding a shop isn't like going out and renting an office. Between the noise issues, the tools needed, and finding the time outside of full-time work elsewhere, it can be a monumental and long-term project. As for us...

Tailoress

sean of the chipendales wrote:Just for the fun of it, I found all the cuss words in this thread.

This is what I meant when I met you at Pennsic and said you were funny on the Archive. This and also the nekkid pictures (of) you posted in the pinup thread.

Tailoress

It certainly brings up an interesting question about whether the black showing in her bodice is a placket of some kind or another dress layer under the red one... The lifted skirt only reveals a silk chemise -- no sign of a black dress. Hm. In other news, in the Classifieds I have a thread about bro...

Tailoress

Piers Brent wrote:Sorry I'll go away now and drop Glen a note to clean it up.

You don't have to 'go away'. It was funny. But the conversation is rather off-track now, what with DeClermont bringing in Vulcan mating habits and all.

Tailoress

Good Lord, can my thread be any more derailed?

Tailoress

I don't know what's gotten into you!

Tailoress

Yes, please, I vant zee peectures! Not posted here, though. Brent: I'm with you -- a sharp-dressed man is far sexier to me than a guy in a thong. *shudder* General Update: I now have hooks and eyes and the fake hair for the bun. I think I have just about every material I need except the chain, and t...

Tailoress

It's possible to be focused and obsessive and yet still finish in a timely manner. In fact, focused and obsessive people often DO finish on time. It's the easily-distracted who lag behind and have ten irons in the fire, none of them ever hammered into something finished. What focused and obsessive ...

Tailoress

That merchant didn't happen to have a website? I can't wait to see how it turns out. You're going to look splendid! I wish I remember who she was. It was at an EK Crown and I think she was selling fabric and other things together, but I know it wasn't that lady who usually sells fabric up in Canada...

Tailoress

Piers Brent wrote:Can I come and sleep in your tent?

That's rather left-field of you, Brent. What... do you have a think for women in hennins or something?

Tailoress

From a merchant in Quebec in May 2006. I got it for $10 a yard, though it was worth much more, IMO. It has an almost matted fur-like pile and doesn't feel or look anything like the modern mixed velvets we so often see advertised as "silk velvet". I showed it to some textile experts in La B...

Tailoress

Uh-oh! Pressure is ON!

That's why I'm posting about it here, actually... I want to be held accountable.

Tailoress

Thank you everyone who took this weird little request of mine seriously! I have someone who's already in progress on this and thinks he can get it done pretty easily.

I don't want to waste anyone's time on this now that I've made a deal.

Thank you again. You guys rock.

-Tasha

The English Hennin Puzzle