A complete simple woman’s costume
I would like to show you a complete outfit/costume for a the interpretation of a simple woman in this post including costs when building the separate parts in order to give you some inspiration and show you that a good quality Interpretation is possible at low costs.
What you see here:
Dress/kirtle/cotte:
made from natural brown wool in 1/2 twill bound wool after different original pictures from Austria and Germany around 1350, the pattern is from the Greenland findings (Herjolfsnes), sewn with natural brown wool thread and a brass needle after findings from London See more about it here
Costs come to around 100-120 EUR per 5 meters of natural brown fabric (slim ladies will need a lot less I suppose). I bought it via naturtuche.de but you can certainly find cheaper sources with a little searchtime. You can buy wonderfull plant dyed fabrics in the same quality from 35 EUR per meter at the Färbehof
Apron (optional):
White apron from hand woven linnen, sewn with handmade linnen thread and brass needle after findings from London. The upper part is decorated with german smock technique as can be seen in the Holkham bible and Luttrell psalter. More about it here
Costs come to around 20 EUR for 2 x 0.9 m handwoven linnen, probably a lot less for machine made linnen.
Hair cap:
after different original pictures from Austria and Germany, made from white linnen, pattern take from St Birgitta’s cap, sewn with white linnen thread and brass needle after findings from London. More about it here
Costs come to around 50 cents for some leftover white linnen
Veil:
after different original pictures from Austria, made from white linnen More about it here
Costs come to around 5-8 EUR for 1/2 meter of linnen or wool
Straw hat (optional):
after different original pictures and the Lengberg findings, made from strawbraids, sewn with linnen thread More about it here
Costs come to around 5 EUR for the straw braids
Leather belt:
with simple embossments, a simple brass-buckle and brass strap-ends. Made by Nikolaus Hofbauer More about it here
Costs when bought around 15-20 EUR (f.e. Lorifactor), in my case it was a swap
What you do not see here:
Simple undergarment/shirt from linnen:
made after different original pictures, sewn with white linnen tread. I unfortunately do not have any good pictures of the shirt.
Costs come to 10-20 EUR for white linnen fabric
Stockings:
from greyish-brown 1/2 twill bound wool, sewn with hand-spun linnen thread, need to be replaced in the next months More about them here
Costs come to around 5 EUR for left over Wool fabric
Shoes:
handmade leather shoes after findings from Lengberg Tyrol, made by Klaus Öchsler More about them here
Costs when buying similar shoe-models at a well priced seller come to around 60-90 EUR, for very good quality as here probably 150-200 EUR
Hairpins (optional):
after London findings, made by Karin Freitag, admittedly a bit over the top for this simple outift, yet you never see them underneath the cap, so they are so to say my little dirty secret :-) More about them here
Knife (optional):
with a handle in disk-technique and leather sheath, made by Nikolaus Hofbauer, I have no photos of this one at the moment.
All in all, a good quality costume for beginners to join events and make first experiences is possible from 200 EUR upwards, if you are able to sew yourself and swap some goods.
Ready to go? See our Beginner’s roadmap
