My New Cotehardie

January 31, 2010 at 10:39 pm | Posted in Tailoring | Leave a comment

For some time now I have wanted to own excellent garb. Most of my garb was not bad. I’d learned to make tunics from Mistress Nest, so even from the very beginning I was using period construction techniques. But I didn’t have any fancy garb, and I had no wool SCA garb. I do have a wool skirt and bodice that I use with my Polish reenactment, but it was based on a design that is slightly out of period, and I’m not entirely happy with its outcome, so I have not ever worn this outfit to an SCA event. It was high time that I acquired some wool clothing that I could be excited about in an SCA context.

To fix this, I purchased some green wool and set about making a cotehardie. My persona is from 1381, so the garment fits into my persona. Mistress Nest helped to measure me, since it is essentially impossible to fit your own cotehardie. Up to this time I had only created fairly baggy tunics, and I’m mundanely a t-shirt and jeans type of person, so having such a tight-fitting dress was quite a different experience.

Here is a picture of me in the cotehardie:
This was the first time I had ever worn it … in fact, I had finished sewing during the event, and changed into the cotehardie halfway through the day. Since I had been frantically finishing the garment, I hadn’t had a chance to double-check the fit. I ended up putting the gores in too far down. I have since fixed this problem and the unsightly rolling has gone away, making the dress look much nicer!

On another happy note, this picture was taken while I was speaking during Mistress Nest’s Laurel ceremony!