Completed cotehardies for a client

I finished these two cotehardies (aka gothic fitted gowns) for a client. She wanted them to be similar to two dresses I made for myself, just without all the heavy hand stitching.
These are both late 14th century styles, though they are still present in the early 15th century.

The first dress is made of linen. The second is made of cotton velvet with silk sleeves and belt.
My intern Dani helped me sew on all these buttons. There are so many! How sumptuous!

My similar dresses:
http://www.faerie-queen.com/early-15th-century-cotehardie/
http://www.faerie-queen.com/purple-velvet-cotehardie/

Sideless Surcote and Gothic Fitted Gown in Progress

I have several projects in progress right now. Since I have photos of these, I thought I'd share! These are both 14th/15th c. I have a couple of late 16th c. projects going too, but I need to photograph them before I can share!

The first one is a wool gothic fitted gown, lined in linen. I already had both fabrics at home, and I thought it would be nice for cold weather. It gets much colder in CA than where I grew up, so now I'm always bundling up in lots of layers that may or may not match, and this will really help!

The second one is a sideless surcote to accompany a late 15th century transition gown - also made, just not pictured. I used non-bias binding since I really only have evidence for non-bias and I wanted to try it out. I've worked with tons of bias binding in my life, and I was a bit worried about going around all these curves without bias, but it worked out really nicely! It's still pinned down on the backside in the photo, hence all those little pinned spots.

Green and Brown Cotehardie

I made this cotehardie for my boyfriend. It's green and brown linen, fully lined. The fabric is all linen. The buttons and button holes are all done by hand. He's also wearing a coif and tights I made for him.

I have more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/early-15th-century-male-cotehardie/

Green and Purple-ish Cotehardie

In case it wasn't obvious by now, when it comes to SCA period, I LOVE late 14th-early 15th c. So I made another one! This is one of the cotehardies I'm most proud of. I made all the buttons by hand, and I also did all those millions of button holes by hand (fun!). This is patterned with gores in the sides and back. The gown is single layer linen because I live in southern California.

The veil I'm wearing is white linen. It's a pretty basic frilled veil style.
The belt is made of velvet with metal filigree bits I sewed on.

You can see more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/early-15th-century-cotehardie/

Medieval Morgan Le Fey

I finally posted these images! Months ago, last summer in fact, my barony did an Arthurian Legends themed event. I decided to be Morgan Le Fey. I've been dabbling in alchemy, well, since before I was in the SCA. I only just decided to make it one of my historical art forms last year. Anyway, my vials were all filled with useful concoctions I've made, as well as some dried herbs.

The gown is late 14th / early 15th c, depending on the specific region and person. The way I've styled it here, I feel it takes on more of a 14th c. vibe. It's a linen cotehardie / kirtle / gothic fitted gown with buttons all the way down the front and on the sleeves in counterchange. The sleeves pin on.

More picture here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/morgan-le-fey/

Medieval Marketplace

We recently went to Medieval Marketplace, an SCA shopping event at a local park. We took Laura with us, so I dressed her up. She happened to fit perfectly into my old green kirtle. I made this kirtle in a rush right before Gulf Wars the year I joined the SCA and suddenly needed a week's worth of garb. Anyway, I think it fits Laura better than it fits me now!

I wore one of my newest dresses, my green and purple/pink/whatever-that-color-is-called cotehardie/kirtle, and my boyfriend wore his newest cotehardie. My frilled veil is also new, and I the coif he is wearing is fairly new as well, all made within the last year. (I just haven't edited my photos of these garments yet because I am lazy! Okay, because I am busy...)

I do wish there weren't cars and modern things in the background. I am so jealous of European SCAdians and other reenactors who live in Europe and get to go to events at real historical locations!

Cotehardie Commission

I did this 14th century gown / cotehardie as a custom commission for a client. This is all linen, red and black parti-colored with long sleeves and gold colored buttons. It's my favorite 4-panel cotehardie with gores, and I really like these colors!

Green Summer Cotte

I made a very lightweight 14th century cotte for my boyfriend for summertime. This is single layer linen. It's pretty simple, the most painstaking aspect being the fit, which I've already worked on with him in the past. This one is slightly less fitted than some of his other cotehardies/cottes, in consideration of warm summer weather.
He is also wearing tights I made for him, along with a black linen embroidered coif.

You can see more images here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/green-cotte/

Light Blue Cotehardies and Wool Cloaks

As promised, I do indeed have fancy photos of our new light blue cotehardies, along with red wool cloak and hood and my boyfriend's brown wool cloak. This was inspired by Red Riding Hood and pre-Raphaelites and early 15th c. European fashion. The kirtle and cotehardie are patterned according to period documentation, as is the hood. The cloak has a small modification that adds significant practicality. Period cloaks, from my experience, appear to have been semi-circular. Also in my experience, this means they are very annoying to wear. I cut shoulders into my cloak pattern, and bam, works like a charm! I've been told that attached hoods are not period, but I have sources that prove they did exist, just more rarely than unattached hoods.

You can see more photos here: http://www.faerie-queen.com/

Purple Velvet Cotehardie

This is a dress I made last year. I realized it was before I started this blog, and I wanted to share anyway. Plus, I only recently took fancy photos for my website. I wear it occasionally to court-like events, but I am choosing to share the fancy photos rather than the plain old event photos.
This is a cotehardie, late 14th century French style. It is made of velvet and fully lined in silk with matching silk sleeves, belt, and tressour crispinette (the hat). The buttons and button holes were all done by hand, and all the beading and trim was also applied by hand. I made the necklace too. Lots of work, totally worth it!

More images are here on my site: http://www.faerie-queen.com/purple-velvet-cotehardie/

Al-Savalley Anniversary

Two of the Shires near my area had a joint anniversary celebration. My boyfriend and I wore our new blue cotehardies, as you can see below. I went for a very whimsical feeling on these. While staying within the realm of historical accuracy, I sort of Pre-Raphaelite-d it up, as I so enjoy doing. Yay, fun! At the event, we did thrown weapons during most of the day, and I ran a competition.

Light Blue Cotehardies - In Progress

Hello! I wanted to share some progress photos from a recent project. I made these light blue linen cotehardies for my boyfriend and myself. Aw, so matchy! Below, you can see my boyfriend modeling a shell of a garment, pre-buttons, followed by my dress pre and post-buttonholes, lacing, and applique. More photos of the finished garments to come!

Robin Hood Archery Tournament

My local archery range is host to Robin Hood archery tournament each year. This year, I wore my green and white parti-colored cotehardie. The dress is all linen, and I made the cloth buttons by hand.
My boyfriend wore his Tudor outfit. The doublet is cotton velvet, and the pants are brocade and velvet. His necklace is brand new. I made it using some gemstones and components I recently purchased.
My boyfriend also won the baronial championship for thrown weapons!

Lyondemere Arts and Archery

Lyondemere is a barony just south of me. They had their annual Arts and Archery event. I participated in both arts and archery, as well as thrown weapons. I wore my maroon wool cotehardie with long sleeves and a wool hood since it was a bit cold.

My cotehardie is made of wool with buttons in the front. I chose the trim because it looks so much like period woven trim. I have since learned card weaving, but this dress was made a few years ago, before I knew how to weave at all. The hood is dark blue wool, lined in teal wool.

The photos were taken by Lady Rayne Archer of Annan.