The burgundian gown is hand-sewed with beeswaxed linen thread, primarily in a running stitch, though areas of high stress were sewed in a backstitch. The gown is wool, and the trim is rabbit fur. The gown would more likely have been fully lined in fur, as opposed to just trimmed in it. As it is this gown is toasty! I suppose I shouldn't have waited until Summer to pick this project up :-)

The wool was originally a bright turquoise, and I wanted a color that was a bit more subdued and closer to a woad over weld green I had seen in a hank of wool. I thought a dark green dye bath would achieve the color I was looking for, but it just darkened the turquoise slightly. Kris Spinster, a fabulous sheep to yarn craftswoman, suggested that I dye the wool in a black dye bath using about 1/2 of the dye recommended for the weight of my cloth. Sure enough, the black was the perfect tincture!

The gown is cut so that the edge of the V-shaped opening is on the straight of the grain, as opposed to on the bias. Because there is stretch on the bias, cutting this on the straight of the grain should keep the neck from stretching. The gown is gut of 4 panels, fit fairly snuggly at the breast, but diagonally down from the bottom of the armseye to the hem. Each panel has about a 45 inch wide hemline.

The back collar treatment was one of many styles seen in period. One of my costuming books has a wonderful image of this collar that I'm still trying to source exactly. It's an illumination of well-to-do folk gathered socially around a fountain, while to the left it depicts the burial of the dead from the black plague. I'll get the scanned image up soon.

I should be wearing a chemise, kirtle, and a panel or partlet in front of the opening of the dress, but I just finished sewing the gown and wanted to get some pictures up, so I'm in mundanes underneath the gown. Also, the girdle is temporary—it's folded and pinned fabric. I'm toying with inkle-weaving a brocaded band for the girdle, but my loom isn't wide enough. The reality is likely that I'll sew that fabric into a girdle and be done with it. Also, I don't think there is a vendor producing belt fittings wide enough for this belt, which is seen belted in the front or the back of the dress. This will mean some sort of compromise on the attachment for the girdle, as well.

That's the down-and-dirty. I'll get more details up soon. Oh! And I just received the 1/4 inch reed I ordered to try to weave a form for a truncated hennin. I'm following Mistress Eleanor le Brun's instructions. I'll report back on how the project goes.

The hood pattern is based largely from the extant hood highlighted in the Museum of London's Textiles and Clothing: 1150-1450 by Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland. I cross-referenced this pattern with the wealth of extant hoods examined in Woven into the Earth: Textiles form Norse Greenland by Else Ostergard. This hood was not intended for me, so it's a little big around my face and across my shoulders.

The hood is sewn of wool with a linen lining. The Museum of London book shows at least a facing for the button holes. The button holes are hand-sewn with silk buttonhole twist and are a little big for the reproduction buttons. I had originally intented to make cloth buttons, but the melton weight wool was too bulky to form a small enough button. The hood is constructed of two side panels with quarter-circular gussets inserted underneath the ear. It has an attached liripipe.

More to come on the hood, as well. It's hot today (nearly 90 degrees) and I'm pooped!