The Armour Archive

Tailoress

One can base things all they want on visual sources, but as soon as a _real_ tactile source is found, it can blow every bit of that basis right out of the water, which is what I think Chef is trying to say. Pictorial evidence is notoriously sketchy to use as the sole basis for a thesis. Don't worry...

Tailoress

I consider it more important being a friend in trying to give her another set of critical eyes, and help her improve her work to reach her goal, rather than giving her an "atta girl" or lavish praise for something that is the beginning of an investigation or research, and not an end. Okay, I've sto...

Tailoress

I believe that this type of belt configuration is widespread enough across a large enough cross-section of artistic portrayal through enough centuries to easily justify its use, especially for 13th and 14thc European clothing. The term "re-enactor's knot" is an unfortunate term because it has become...

Tailoress

Bob, I think you make some valid points, but I think too that you are missing the scope of Charlotte's paper. She is taking the standardly accepted and reviewed art that is commonly available to re-enactors who wish to mimic the look found within and breaking down the popularity of certain sleeve st...

Tailoress

There is a nice webpage put up by Heather Rose Jones on her site for extant examples of stitching techniques:

http://heatherrosejones.com/archaeologi ... index.html

Tailoress

Brent, I would be completely on board for that, and I'd like to volunteer to write any number of articles about DIY historically viable clothing in the late 14th and early 15thc for Northern Europe and Italy (but not necessarily anywhere west of Bohemia/Germany or South of France, like Spain/Portuga...

Tailoress

I had this book through ILL a while back; I found it to be quite interesting, but my biggest complaint was the somewhat limited scope. There is much more in that collection than was covered by the essays in the book, so it's good to understand right off the bat that the book is a collection of schol...

Tailoress

RalphS wrote:BTW, I hope this doesn't replace the ideas for published conference proceedings.

Indeed, that work has begun. Conference proceedings will be available in a few months. More information as it develops!

-Tasha

Tailoress

...so much time is being spent ripping a simple "how-to" article in a magazine apart... Now, that's a bit of an over-reaction, don't you think? When I read over the conversation about the braided points, what I see is wild enthusiasm for the topic and a desire for more detailed information, specifi...

Tailoress

The best solution for durability in bast fiber cloth is to simply not wash it very often. The second best solution is to hand-wash it in cold water and let it air dry flat. Things will get kind of stiff, but they will last a very, very long time, even with heavy use and friction. Heat breaks down ba...

Tailoress

You're welcome to speculate, critique and dissect as you like, I stand behind my interpretation. :shrug: Gwen It would help the rest of us who are interested in braids of all sorts to understand the reasoning behind your interpretation if the image is clear enough to see what you're talking about. ...

Tailoress

Spiffy! Glad to see more documentation on two-colored points. Not sure about the braid vs fingerloop pattern issue. The pic Gwen has in the newsletter looks like only two colors to me. Y'know what? I have two monitors, and the one I use more is darker but the other one is lighter, and when I look a...

Tailoress

I certainly dig the concept of using a regular old 3-strand braid for arming points -- so much easier! Just to expand the possibilities a bit, there is a fingerloop braid that also looks exactly like the image supplied by Toby -- it's called a "lace maskel" and when made with two colors, results in ...

Tailoress

This might only be useful to someone who reads German, but there's a book that contains recipes and descriptions from the 15thc for painting and gilding cloth. Here's the info: Ein Buch von alten Farben [A book of old colours] by Emil Ploss This is apparently from a manuscript dated to 1450: Nurnber...

Tailoress

Well, I get a big ole' fat F 'cause I don't know crap about the book!

But thank you for clarifying what the question is. I'm curious to hear more from those who have read the book and can point out some of its innaccuracies. Maybe it'll inspire me to go read the book too.

-Tasha

Tailoress

Oky-doky! I'm going to post your request around to interested types in my neck of the woods.

-Tasha

Tailoress

Still no answer to the actual question of the post. I am amussed and dismayed simultaneously. Cet, bear with me: what is the actual question? Jehan's first post doesn't have a question in it... Are you referring to another one? And, I know the expression you wear on your face when you make statemen...

Tailoress

Sir Nigel and The White Company sank the hook for me, ten years ago now before I knew the names which I now know like my best friends... You have my complete understanding about the "sinking of the hook" phenomenon. Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe and that silly book about the Holy Grail ( Holy Grail, H...

Tailoress

I find this discussion useful as a form of comparative literature with historical interpretation thrown in for spice. Nothing wrong with that. No need for folks to get annoyed about it either. It's what comparative lit discussions are all about -- how one set of writing off-sets, analyzes, or otherw...

Tailoress

Caithlinn, do you have a preferred email address that I can post with your request to SCA-centric lists? I can think of a number of folks who will probably want to contact you and get on your list, but who do not read the Armour Archive.

-Tasha

Tailoress

Karen Larsdatter wrote:The Chelles shirt has a center seam.

Wow. That pattern sure shoots Occam's Razor all to hell.

-Tasha

Tailoress

I get the sense that form followed function with the grande assiette craze. In other words, it's more likely that the military/laborer function came first, and was later adopted fashionably in civilian mode as a visual symbol of masculinity, such being associated with martial activities and physical...

Tailoress

Dag-nabbit, I have that image in the 2-volume set and my scanner isn't working. I'm very sorry. I will attempt to enlist Husbert in the fixing of my scanner today. Tired of not having its use...

-Tasha

Tailoress

Just to be clear, I'm not claiming any credit on "discovering" these pictures or anything... Klaus and I were discussing stuff privately and I sent him what I had with the caveat that I knew next to nothing about them and also didn't record where I got them originally, which I regretted. I know thes...

Tailoress

Kit, that looks very nice. I have three bits of advice for drafting and sewing that exact type of sleeve, which I've only done twice, but learned from my mistakes both times: 1) Make the sleeve cap an s-curve, so that the seam (and baggy part) run down the back of the sleeve, rather than directly un...

Tailoress

Upper timeline -- good question. I think they morph into somewhat different designs by the 15thc, but I'm not exactly sure when this exact style ceases to really look like itself... Here are some samplings from a slide lecture I give from time to time... This purse is dated to roughly 1400-1410 by t...

Tailoress

Okay, I drew up a diagram of pieces and also some written instructions for making one of these things. They're not exactly hand-holding though, so if you have questions, please ask. You can see the diagrams here: m You may need to use the "magnifying glass" option in your browser to see this image f...

Tailoress

James, I'm sending you an email at the account you have listed here on the AA.

Tailoress

That is it, thank you Jon!

Jehan, those were stirring words.

Tailoress

Beautiful work!! Thank you! It is no longer in my hands, so some of this will be memory-work only... So the dimensions are (eyeballing it from your photo) about 5" wide at the top and about 8" wide at the base of the trapezoid with an over length of approximately 10". That sounds about right... I t...

Tailoress

Well, there's a ton of visual imagery of male clothing with lacing up the front, but there's a rather annoying dearth of arming cottes as worn under armor for us to look over (in the imagery of the time). A decent example which shows the buttons from the waist down but probable lacing on the chest c...

Tailoress

Again, it's a matter of personal preference in fit. Some people like loose boots. K Definitely agreed that it's all about personal preference when it comes to our speculative re-creations. Having seen a number of padding garments of this type though and compared them to the look of unpadded ones, m...

Tailoress

Yup! Some kind of latten, most likely.

Tailoress

Ie, Murdock's coat? 1 layer of cotton batting (about 1/8" thick when fluffy) throughout. The more of these I do, the more I'm convinced that this is all the padding that's required if worn under good quality late transition harness. Some would say even less padding is actually required . I encourag...

Tailoress

D'oh, I just caught this here... I also answered one of your posts elsewhere... but not on this particular detail, Lia... I did indeed go searching for a pre-made metal ring. My local Michael's had "craft rings" with a 5" diameter, which is what I went with. It's made from some unidentified metal, b...