The Armour Archive

Tailoress

Vitus, you know I'm one of your tribe. I'm a little embarassed to admit this, but what the heck (the truth sets you free), I spent six months in counseling this year over this very problem.

I finally realized that my counselor was a very nice man, but he had no idea how to help me help myself.

Tailoress

Most satin has a slippery or glossy side and a sticky or dull side. The glossy side would be next to the body in the case of a lining, and the dull, sticky side would be turned inward against the fashion fabric. If that's so, it would not slide around too terribly much against the fashion fabric.

Tailoress

All right, J. Morgan, that's entirely too respectable-sounding for this thread. We're talkin' gold lamÃ©, people. Stapling the hemline. Making your sleeves so that they would fit an ape, not a human. That kind of thing. Heck, I'll expand it to include "any outfit you made before you had any kin...

Tailoress

My ex-husband's first acknowledged kill in SCA fighting was had during a melee. A set of mishaps sent him bodily flying, head-first, into another guy's helm. The other guy called it good and staggered off to regain his wits.

Tailoress

Galfrid, thank you for that clarification. It's a huge, big deal and I consider it a victory for anyone who wishes to use faithful-repro photos of old art to educate through the web. From the page Galfrid posted: ...the Wikimedia Foundation has stated its opinion as follows : To put it plainly, WMF'...

Tailoress

MJBlazek wrote: I called it a jupon before and other people picked my nits! I like you the best so I guess I'll pay more attention to what you say

Aw, thanks.
I recall that conversation... I came to your defense with the word "jupon", IIRC. At least I'm mostly consistent.

Tailoress

JoJo, that middle one, from France, is not from the 1360s. Too many elements point to the 1330s. The sleeve style the lady is wearing on her surcoat, for instance. Classic late 1330s style, just before that small flare lengthened out to become a tongue-like tippet in the 1340s. Her headwear as well....

Tailoress

Hi Matt, This is, admittedly, a small nit, but I wouldn't call that style a "tabard". I'd call it a jupon, or a surcoat, as it's much more structured than a tabard. It closes on the sides, probably with lacing. Or, if it's sewn shut on the sides, the front is most likely laced. As far as I...

Tailoress

Er... looks like a basic slip knot to me, JoJo, unless I'm looking at the wrong knot:

How to Tie a Slip Knot

-Tasha

Tailoress

TallTom wrote: I was wearing the very spiffy Tashawear red linen surcoat.

Glad you like it and are getting use from it!

Tailoress

Here's a picture I took of Master Galleron de Crecy at the Combat of the 30 in 2006 at Pennsic:

[img]http://www.cottesimple.com/armourarchive/Battle30_2006/DSCN0043.JPG[/img]

I just regret not getting the picture with him wearing his helm.

Tailoress

for the Southern Region of the East Kingdom, I would have to say Master Jeffrey the Younger and our own Galfrid atte Grene have some very spiffy kits. Dang, you beat me to it. To make it a hat trick, I'd also add Master Galleron de Crecy to that august company. He wears Mac armour, and it's rather ...

Tailoress

Hi William, I have a bench that I adore that is made with this plan: http://www.cottesimple.com/armourarchive/breakdown_bench.png I just drew that from memory and I'm not a woodworker, so I'm not sure if the dimensions are entirely correct, but the design is. Hopefully it makes sense. The legs are a...

Tailoress

I was just looking at the little metal heater shields at the Met on Saturday, which are similar to what Bob describes. They're invariably identified as horse accoutrements, but they're the right size for an aventail plaque too, so it is not unreasonable to consider that the aventail versions would b...

Tailoress

re: helm attachment - lots of depictions of great helms being attached, but these plaques appear on bascinets. I found a bascinet-with-aventail with a buckle and strap sticking out below it on the fellow's back in an illumination. I've been tagging the pages of my books with interesting stuff. BNL ...

Tailoress

Uric, it sure would be cool if you had a real excuse to come up for Pennsic. As King.

Tailoress

Halbrust, you do have a point about silk being harder to embroider than other fabrics. Depending on the type of fabric, it can be anything from resistant to needle punctures to slippery and maddening. It's not impossible, but there's a reason that there are extant embroideries from the medieval time...

Tailoress

Galfrid, that miniature gives me the impression that the singular ailette is there because the guy is wearing his shield over his other shoulder. That would at least give a plausible reason for wearing only one. Also, I found a photo of a German stained glass piece that shows a guy with a bascinet a...

Tailoress

I wonder if those plaques were worn front and back, maybe? As in: two at a time... Also, I don't have other images from those MSs to compare at the moment, but the one I mentioned that you found, Galfrid, shows what looks like one ailette on the slumped-over guy -- as though it's not really an ailet...

Tailoress

Perhaps it's my peculiarity, but if it's available in book form, I always opt to own my own copy, especially when it's cheap and plentifully available. As much as I do love the web and all that it offers, there is also great value in having a physical collection of reference books. Oh, I quite agre...

Tailoress

Galfrid, I tagged your examples with "heraldic plaque" and "plaque", just to be safe. The one I can remember off the top of my head is from the BNL, Arsenal, inv. MS 3480 RÃ¨s: Legends of the Holy Grail; approx 1407. (Or possibly MS 3479, the first half of the story.) I found it ...

Tailoress

For very cheap you can pick up a copy of The Craftsman's Handbook by Cennino d'Andrea Cennini, a late 14thc instruction book that explictly tells you how to decorate clothing with paint. Or, for very free, you can read Cennini's Craftsman's Handbook at m Perhaps it's my peculiarity, but if it's ava...

Tailoress

"Finally," thought Sir Gilles. "A visor to accommodate my extreme wall eyes."

Tailoress

They show up in manuscript miniatures too, here and there, circa turn of the 15thc. Given the size of a miniature and the ability to heraldicize surcottes (yes, I made it a verb, forgive me), I'm inclined to believe these really existed and are not an artistic convention for portraying heraldry... b...

Tailoress

For very cheap you can pick up a copy of The Craftsman's Handbook by Cennino d'Andrea Cennini, a late 14thc instruction book that explictly tells you how to decorate clothing with paint.

Tailoress

This thread is awesome. The stapled clothes comment reminds me of a friend who stapled her hem once, in the early days. Stapling, glueing, taping.... any port in a storm! Though this wasn't the first thing I made, I did make two dresses early on from a kind of cotton that was treated on one side wit...

Tailoress

I wore a cotton chemise and a wench bodice and skirt a friend lent me. I attended the event under duress after two years of another friend asking me to go to one. Naturally, I was instantly hooked the minute I walked in the door. And wanted my own clothing, stat! Which led to the silver bliaut..

Tailoress

DuncanT, I think you are winning so far. For certain values of "winning".

Tailoress

In the spirit of time-wasting that inspires so much of my posting here, I'd like to start a thread in which we discuss the first SCA garb we ever sewed ourselves -- but only if you (like me) had no clue what you were doing in the authenticity department and made something so utterly heinously WRONG ...

Tailoress

Would The Devil's Broker: Seeking Gold, God, and Glory in 14th Century Italy by Frances Stonor Saunders be of help? It's about John Hawkwood. I have it and only barely started it before getting distracted by other books. It looks promising, though.

Tailoress

Raw cotton clumps very easy so I have no doubt that it could be 'rolled' out in a way like batting sort of. I have seen many padded textile armours and none seem to have been filled like that even those with hay or plant material looked like they had thread through some of the plant material, indic...

Tailoress

Janet Arnold examined the garment and wrote an article called "The Jupon or Coat-Armour of the Black Prince in the Canterbury Cathedral". This was published in Church Monuments in 1993. She states in there that there was originally a linen foundation, then "cotton wool wadding", ...

Tailoress

I love it. Might you expand your collection to include any and all MS miniatures that show figural material culture beyond armour? For instance, the clothing aspect alone would garner a lot of interest in our general niche. Another idea: while you allow people to enter a name and a comment, you migh...

Tailoress

I have an arming coat Tasha made for me with hemp canvas from here: m and the fabric is pretty nice. Thanks for bringing them up, Jon. I used to get all my hemp fabric from them -- great selection of colors, weights, and weaves. But their prices took an astronomical leap in the last five years. I h...

Tailoress

There are plenty of people who only take part in the SCA for fighting. They arrive, put on their gear, fight, and then pack up and leave. They don't stay for feasts, camping, service, socializing, etc. And I am a-ok with that, personally. Their membership card is as blue as mine. Their entrance fee ...

True Confessions [SCA]: The Heinous First Garb You Made