| Sally Pointer & Gareth Riseborough The Medieval Costumes |
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| One of our regular jobs is at the reconstructed Medieval Village of Cosmeston in South Wales. This has given us an excuse to make items of costume that really get worn, rather than just coming out of the trunk for fancy dress occasions. Its not easy to see in these pictures, but our working gear is worn, patched and darned as a result of real work (and the occasional misbehaving goat or pig!) This page contains larger images than the thumbnails on the main costumes page, and they will take longer to load! |
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| This was my main working dress for a couple of years. Made in a herringbone weave linen in a madder shade, the pattern is based closely on the fourteenth century dresses excavated in Herjolfness. I've got a version of the pattern available online here if you want to try making one. The sleeve on this got damaged recently so I've alteredit to give elbow length sleeves. Its actually mush easier to work in now, and I can wear pin on oversleeves if its cold. The hood is linen, worn over a coif which keeps my hair under control and let me pin the hood on securely. |
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| Now here's a lovely sight- a man hard at work wearing what is technically his underwear! Gareth is wearing a linen shirt and 'pipe' braies, with a blue linen petticoat (the waistcoat which forms a foundation for his overgarments) and single leg woollen hose. The petticoat doesn't meet in front and is laced together instead. This means the overgarments fit smoothly and he doesn't get too hot. He can lace full hose to it as well as single leg hose. |
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| This is my 'posh' dress. Made using miles and miles of fine wool in a deep rich madder red, I usually wear this dress over a tightly fitted pale blue underdress which gives the right squeezed in medieval shape. Definately not a dress to wear whilst mucking out the chickens! The basic pattern is online here. |
| This page is under construction! There will be more images soon! |
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| And just in case you didn't believe me about the pigs...Gareth is being used as a scratching post by the old boar at Cosmeston. He's wearing a knee length woollen tunic over single leg hose with linen shirt, braies and a woollen hood with a very long liripipe (the goats were always very fond of that liripipe...) |