Red and gold sideless surcote – HSM April 2021

Wearing my red and gold damask sideless surcoat

Back in 2019 I threw out my back right before an SCA event. I wanted to still attend, but found myself wondering what to wear – since I also wanted to wear a short corset to support my back. I decided to use a regular underdress, then my corset, and then a sideless surcote which still gives me easy access to adjust the laces/etc. Having them in my wardrobe was fantastic, since most of my other garments really wouldn’t give me that ability.

Since I totally love all the wacky wild 15th century hats, I thought it might also be a good idea to pull together a few more sideless surcotes to add to my Medieval Capsule wardrobe since they’re pretty easy to wear, and I certainly have enough headwear to accompany them!

New veil & my very late entry into the Historical Sew Monthly January challenge

I’ve gotten a lot of wear out of the veil I made to go with my Byzantine outfit in January 2016, but I noticed that it had stained lightly with wet, freshly dyed hair… so when I was washing fabric for the fourth version of my horned hennin, I decided to wash up enough linen to cut a new veil as well.

Marking linen for a half-circle veil.

Based on Fabrics-Store’s linen, I’d estimate this around 3-4 oz/yd, though I bought it from a different seller who doesn’t note the weight of the fabric. My previous veil used 2.8 oz/yd linen from Fabrics-Store.

I folded the fabric in half, and marked out 71cm from the centre in an arch to make a quarter-circle on the fold – to make a new half-circle veil (the shape I find attractive and versatile).

My previous veil was entirely hand-hemmed… but I didn’t really feel like spending that kind of time on this one. I ended up doing a stitch, turn and press, turn and press and stitch on it by machine instead.

I did add the same embroidered “L” to one of the corners like I did on my last veil though…

The result is a heavier veil than the other one I have – I think it will work well for styles where I wear it under another hat (like my Byzantine costume) but I don’t think it works well on the soft collapsible horned hennins that I made. So… for that – I’ll be making another 2.8 oz white linen veil instead!

 

The Challenge: January 2020: Timetravelling Garments: Create an item that works for more than one historical era, or that can be used for both historical costuming, and modern wear. It could be an apron that could do 1770s or 1860s in a pinch, a shift that can work under many decades of fashion, or a historical cape you also wear everyday, etc.

I am getting to the 2020 Historical Sew Monthly challenges EXTREMELY late, but this project suits this theme, so I’m calling it good. I’ll be able to wear this veil through several different costume projects – my Byzantine and 15th Century costumes specifically.

Material: 100% linen

Pattern: 1/2 circle, marked directly on fabric

Year: generic medieval – suitable for my 11-15th century costuming

Notions: thread

How historically accurate is it? The shape seems to suit many paintings and illuminations. The construction is entirely by sewing machine.

Hours to complete: About 10 minutes to cut, another 45 to hem and embroider.

First worn: not yet

Total cost: The linen was on a great sale for $4.95/yard (USA site plus shipping)  and this veil took just under a meters, but the leftover bits from the half-circle being cut out went into making my fourth version of a horned hennin.

15th Century Capsule Wardrobe

V-neck Burgundian gown worn with my red horned hennin

The next “Capsule Costume Collection” is another small one, but one that I think is perfect for doing as a capsule collection because there is the potential for multiple layers with certain styles, and I have created an abundance of amazing headdresses for this era.

Horned hennin V4

V-neck Burgundian gown worn with a white horned hennin

While constructing the thid version of my horned hennin, (which isn’t complete yet…) I was struck with a different idea, so kind of dropped that project (for the time being) and went back to the drafting table.

I wanted to continue on the path trying to make a collapsable and packable hennin, and decided that for this one I would do an all-white hennin, like some of the inspiration images from the research I did when constructing my second version of a horned hennin in red velvet.

Make a packable hennin

V-neck Burgundian gown worn with a white horned hennin

I’ve offered to teach a class for Avacal’s Winter Crown on February 15, 2019 in Beiseker, Alberta. I figured I’d share a little bit of information here in case anyone was interested. (You don’t need to be an SCA member to attend the event.)