Something Homemade to Wear
Though sewing is supposedly a way to cut costs for garb, many an experienced seamstress will tell you how they broke the bank buying expensive fabric, trim or notions. But if you can avoid falling into the trap of paying too much for your materials, you really can save a lot of money.
The stuff on this page:
Before the five-step system, here's some general tips about garb:
- Try to have an early- or mid-period persona: The clothing worn after the fall of the Roman Empire and before the Renaissance was by necessity cheaper to make than later-period garb, because people in general had less money. With this period, you can generally get away with one linen tunic, one wool tunic, and one wool cloak for even cold weather: three layers, instead of the six (or more!) that you might see with some Elizabethan costumes. Not only that, but the material you'll be using will be cheaper than the silk organzas and brocades (and velvets, and damasks, and taffetas, and lace, ...) that you will want to use for later periods.
- If it's not seen, cheat: If you absolutely HAVE to have that Elizabethan look, you can try cheating on the parts that won't be seen. Since Elizabethan dress (and Tudor, and Italian Ren, ...) has so many layers, you can fake a few of the middle ones with cheap cloth instead of spending all your money on sections no one will see anyway.
- Go for natural fabrics: This might seem a little counter-intuitive on a page for saving money, but believe me, after the first time you go to a hot camping event in your polyester tunic, you'll be making one out of natural fibers anyway. So save yourself the $15 and just go for natural fibers to start with. If you can't afford linen, buy cotton / linen blends, or simply cotton. No one will bug you for it. If you can't afford wool, try wool blends or polar fleece (or something similar).
- Shop for fabrics in season: You will get a much better price on linen in the summer than you will in the winter. Contrarily, you will find that wool goes on sale during the cold seasons, not the hot ones. By shopping in season and being prepared to wait a few months for your garb to be finished, you can save a lot of money. (I got linen at $7 CAN a meter, as opposed to $15, by shopping in season.)
So now you know the general stuff, what about some details?
- Get it free: You never know where you will find free fabric if you ask for it. You (or someone you know) might be redecorating and have extra drapes or sheets, or your grandmother might leave you her linens. Many garb-makers I know buy extra fabric "just in case" when they make new garb. Some of them might hate the effect so much (or take pity on you) that they’ll be willing to give it to you for free. However, I wouldn't count on it. Better move on to:
- Barter for it: This is far more likely than getting free stuff. Many people I know barter fabric, either for other fabric or for other services. (Eg: I'll buy fabric and some extra if you'll make me a tunic at the same time.) If you know how to sew, you can probably do very well here by offering to make other people's garb, fixing their garb, or showing them how.
- Pay someone in the SCA for it: Again, many people have "leftover" piece of fabric they might be willing to part with for a price, which is usually lower than you'll find in stores. I've gotten some wonderful linen extremely cheap this way. And even if you don't get enough to make a full piece of clothing, try getting lots of different pieces from different people. I know someone who is going to be making a patchwork cloak with donated pieces. I myself am using two end pieces to make a two-colored tunic. Piecing is very period, so don't worry about the end result, especially not if it's your inner layer.
- Get it used at discount: You can really clean up here. Thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets will often have cloth, linens, or other things that can be "altered" to make garb. A hideously ugly dress with the right material can always be broken down and sewn again, or the trim can be used on something better. Many garage sales will sell linens, tablecloths, drapes, or sheets at rock-bottom prices that you can use to make garb. Look at each article as a variety of things that you can use (trim, fabric, buttons, etc.), even if it's not all for the same piece.
- Get it cheap: Sometimes you can't find fabric or notions anywhere else but at stores. Try buying in season (see above) to get sale prices. If you know a fabric or clothing warehouse near you, ask if there are minimum purchase prices. Even if there are, and it's too expensive for you, you can go with several other people to get the minimum. See if you can get a better price by buying in bulk (with other people, of course). And don't worry what what the clerk thinks of you for asking: a lot of times, they might be poor college students also!
Here are some tips that were submitted by other people about cheap fabric and sewing:
- Teffania Tuckerton has submitted so many tips that I've given them their own page. Click on the link to see them!
- Submitted by Buliwyf the Tiny: I've been in the martial arts for years and had an old karate gi (uniform) laying around. All it took to make it look European was some celtic trim around the jackets edges, tieing the calves up with leather thongs (fabric strips would have worked too). Add an extra long leather belt, and some arm bracers, and voila. I'm a Norse peasant from the 8th century. As far as the belt goes, talk to a leather worker near you. I got a 80 inch belt (I'm a pretty big fella) for $20 because he messed it up. It wouldn't work for modern sensibilities, but for Buliwyf the Tiny, it's perfect. My belt pouch was a woman's pocketbook that I just cut the straps off of then cut a belt loop for. You can get old purses from goodwill and thrift stores for a song, and they can make good pouches, or if you can work leather yourself, a cheap source of scrap leather. My knife sheath was made from one.
- Submitted by Isabella D'Angelo: Ebay and Bidville often have people trying to get rid of their fabric stashes. I've gotten 5 yards of green cotton on bidville for $5. On Ebay, I've gotten 21 meters of black velvet for $40! It's the rayon stuff, but it still looks lovely. I've also gotten 20 yards of indigo blue linen for $30. If you are not too picky on colors, the online auctions are a great place to start.
- Also submitted by Isabella D'Angelo: If someone is just starting out, the tunic tops are very easy to find in most fashion stores today. For girls, the peasant skirts and a nice peasant/gypsy blouse will be fine for most events. For guys, some corduroy pants and a tunic top, both very easy to find at the local mall, works well.
- Brother Henrik of Eoforwic submitted so many new tips I can't fit them on this page. Click here to see them!
- Submitted by Catriona inghean ui Dara: In the start it costs extra... but when I find a good bolt of dollar fabric at Walmart, I buy the whole thing. I make garb for me and usually 2 or even three more people. Then I sell them at events. I make enough money to cover the cost of fabric, plus enough for my next buy (sometimes even more, I'm not bad "garber" after all)
- Submitted by Eulalia de Ravenfeld: I invite you check out my notes on medieval women's underpants at http://www.reed.edu/~blacka/garb.html (I've found some 13th and 12th century apocryphal suggestions that maybe some women actually did wear pants under their garb). I realize that this is mostly later than your persona, but it still does offer some fodder against either authenticity mavens or your own quiet doubts.
- Submitted by Elizabeth: My own SCA mantra has become - never pass an op shop! I picked up a fantastic double pair of green velvet cutains that I made into a stunning cotehardie, and everytime I go into an op shop I always come out with something suitable - even if it's only a cheap box of candles or a clip-on earring that I now use as a brooch.
- Submitted by Brian Fulton: Wal-Mart sells fake fur squares (and whole sections like blankets) in the fabric section. A fur square (about a foot square I think) runs $3, and some rawhide bootlaces, $2. I used my Leatherman tool to punch holes along one edge of the square, knotted the bootlace and sewed it up the side. I repeated the other side the same way, then folded down the unsewn top 3" or so as a flap, punched another hole in the flap and the body of the pouch now sewn up, and rigged a tie-through/button flap, etc. with the remnants of the bootlaces to keep the pouch shut. Two slits on the back for the belt, and we had a furry-barbaric-looking fairly "period" pouch. It looked like a big piece of bear fur. The other guy was fixed up the same way, except a yard of cloth torn in two and tied together made a shoulder strap (which he preferred). Two pouches, 20 minutes work (mostly trying to find the little awl holes in the fur to get the laces through!) and I outfitted my two newbies with decent-working pouches big enough for wallets, cell phones, knives and other stuff. All for $10! The bootlace tiedowns and "thread" held well enough that they fought for six hours in them and lost nothing.
- Submitted by Brynna of Axewater: Consider what you will be using that garb for, for the most part. Are you in a camping area, where there are a lot of camping events? Or are you going to be mostly going to indoor events? Or are you going to be attending Court or Ithra sessions in your garb? I don't play much at the moment, but the events I'll be going to are going to be camping events, so the garb I want is going to be serviceable, easy to put on, adaptable to the weather, easy to clean and comfortable to wear. If I were to go to Ithra sessions or Court or indoor events, I would have a different outlook on what I would want to wear. My lord has some incredible looking tunics (he is Norse), but even though they have gorgeous trim, they can all be chucked in the washing machine after an event.
- Another tip submitted by Brynna of Axewater: Remember that most fabric stores sell remnents cheap. Quilters (me being one) always have scraps, and if you get ahold of a group/guild, you may even be able to score enough period type prints (all 100% cotton) for cheap, that you could make yourself a really cool looking gypsy outfit. Crazy quilting has ALWAYS been in style.
- Submitted by Saffiya 'bint Da'ud Al'Mubbarak: Join your local sewing guild chapter (American Sewing Guild, ASG.org), it gets you a 10% discount at a great many fabric or craft stores. Frequently they will take the 10% on top of any coupon or sale discounts. They also can point you in the direction of people to teach you basic skills that can be used for recreation.
- Submitted by Domenico Tremamundo: Here's a late-period Eastern European pants design that looks extremely simple: http://www.vertetsable.com/demos_recpants.htm
- Submitted by Mozelle: Get on your local and not-so-local fabric stores' mailing lists. They regularly send out coupons worth 30% to 50% off the regular price of a fabric cut, so you can make your own sale. This is usually for only one fabric cut. However, this is especially useful when you want to buy many yards of something basic, something that rarely goes on sale or even beat the original sale price. (Why get it for 20% off when you can use your coupon and get it for 40% off?) Also, you will know when many notions such as thread, needles, pins, etc., and basic fabrics like muslin are on sale, so you can plan your purchases.
- Submitted by Everild: Another good tip (for those in the UK and abroad) is charity shops. Keep an eye out in the material section - I've managed to get a couple of really nice skirts made out of a tablecloth from a charity shop, and the napkins, sewn together, made a really nice matching bodice!
- Submitted by Rev. P. Saunders-Cummings: In many areas, rural folk often wore baglike coverings on their feet, made from leather and padded with wool, rags, or even straw. This approach to footwear can easily hide modern sneakers. The very simplest form is to cut an oval of leather (or even synthetic hide if you cut it big and turn the edges to the inside), put your foot in the middle, and cut holes or slits for laces around the ankle. Draw leather laces through, tie a knot, and you are done! In this way you may wear very short modern socks and your comfy walking shoes while looking authentically "period".
- Submitted by Elizabeth Beaumont: For anyone who wants to make late period garb, that the idea of using cheaper fabrics where it doesn't show is period. There is a kirtle in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion which has a brocade for the front, where it would show under a loose gown (which looks a little bit like a modern dressing gown, other people use different terms for this garment), and a plain fabric at the back.
- Also submitted by Elizabeth Beaumont: Here in Australia I've found it cheaper to buy things out of season (or at least at the end of the season) In spring and summer, everyone wants the summer fabrics, then at the end of the season they will put whatever is left over on sale.
- One more by Elizabeth Beaumont: An addition to Nicolaa's website suggestion: try Kass McGann's www.reconstructinghistory.com (the beginners section). In addition to the St Louis Tunic on Mistress Cynthia's site there is the Bocksten Man's tunic, and a couple of others. There is also a pattern Kass has created herself based on these period garments. Cutting tunics in a period way also uses less fabric than the more common SCA method of drawing a T shape on your fabric, cutting it out, and throwing away the bit under the arms. People in the middle ages weren't dumb and if you had to shear the sheep, spin the wool and weave the fabric by hand would you waste any of it?
- Submitted by Rise Peters: One thing to be careful of, in buying fabric for SCA clothing, is that you don't accidentially get something that is flammable. I've had to replace chemises and tents because of bad fabric choices.
- Submitted by Anitra: Get washable fabric. Wash it before making the garb for maximum shrinkage. Washing garb at home (or even taking it to the laundormat) is a _lot_ cheaper than dry-cleaning.
- Submitted by Morgan the unknown: I have had good success with buying inexpensive wool and washing it with a couple of old sneakers loaded into the washing machine with it. This will shrink the yardage (sometime quite a lot, so be sure to buy on sale and buy a lot extra) - but what happens is that the wool acquires a soft napped look, very luxurious and "velvetty", and also VERY period-looking (especially for 1300-1500's).
- Also submitted by Morgan the unknown: I also think that inexpensive headware (veils, wrapped Flemish-style head-dresses, Jorvik hoods and so on) do a LOT for very little outlay.
- One more by Morgan the unknown: My main tip is, though. that you should do lots of research before you work out your costuming. That way, you won't spend $30 on fabric, and six hours of your life, only to discover it wasn't what you should have done in the first place. Better to borrow a tunic for a couple of months, use the best sources you can find, and then make an outfit that makes you feel good, that has some real connection with history, and is made of fabric etc. that is reasonably close to "period" - which will carry you through many more seasons/events despite (perhaps) a slightly larger intial outlay, than a thrown-together outfit that displeases you after two wearings.
- Submitted by inge: Fit your persona to your ability to sew and to pay for cloth. That doesn't necessarily mean you can't do the time period you're most interested in, but look for lower-class garb -- that way you can always upgrade later.
- Submitted by Alianora Munro: While at the sales and shops, don't forget to check for old curtains, bed linens, and table linens. I made my first chemise out of some old white cotton bedsheets I bought for a quarter at a yard sale. I still have and use some of the linen napkins I bought at the same sale (for 50 cents the set, IIRC). VERY occasionally you get really lucky and find that someone is clearing out granny's attic, and that granny not only did fancy needlework or sewing, but also magpie-like collected large stashes of fabric, embroidery threads, or other supplies which she never used, and some of which might be useful to you.
- Submitted by Kat: Remember that strips of fabric & ribbon are trim too.
- Also submitted by Kat: Ask around for out of the way places. There was once a place called Steiner-Liff in Nashville which had a remnant store. I bought cotton flannel on a regular basis for 50 cents a pound. I still have some even though they moved out of town years ago.
- Submitted by Mary Loomer Oliver: Well, one way to keep your garb cheap, easy to sew, comfortable, AND authentic is to stick to a place and time where all anyone wore were t-tunics. [Editor: usually this means earlier period stuff: after the fall of the Roman empire and before the Renaissance.]
- Submitted by Tangwystyl: I can think of two general strategies that help a great deal. The first is, as the old saying goes, to cut your coat to fit your cloth. If your budget won't support being a 16th century noblewoman at court, then don't try to be one. Be middle-class or lower-class. Dress for everyday rather than court. Pick an era when even a noble wardrobe won't break the bank. Focus on the basic core equipment that you _need_ and don't worry yet about the extras and extravagances.
- Submitted by Katherine Q: Also, with regards to costuming - if the outfit you want to make has multiple layers (for example a spiffy elizabethan court outfit), you can "fake" some of the underneath layers. By this I mean that for the skirt that shows under the split skirt on the top, you only need to have the bits that show be of more expensive fabric. The back part (probably 1/2 to 2/3) can be a plain, less expensive fabric. I would recommend keeping the two fabrics similar in basic color and weight, if possible, but this means that your 3 yard skirt now only requires 1-1.5 yards of that really nice $10/yard fabric and the rest can be the $2/yard fabric that's on sale! Or if you only have enough "nice" fabric to make a knee length gown for under your sideless surcote, but you really want a long gown, add an insert of other fabric from mid-thigh to mid-calf and use the "nice" fabric for the top and the bottom. What people aren't going to see can save your budget.
- Submitted by Laura: The key is learning to reduce items to their components... ask yourself, whenever you see something not too glaringly modern: "If I took that completely apart, could I do anything with the pieces?" That was the hard part for me -- I kept walking past things that were perfectly good material, or trim, or something, and then having to run back for them when my brain caught up.
- Submitted by Lady Fionnghuala Bethoc of Lindisfarne: I made a kinsail (spelling may be wrong) cloak for about the price of a winter coat (about $70 total) by purchasing the bolt end of Upolstery velvet (about 5 yards worth) at half price ($7/yd rather than $13/yd) because there wasn't enough left to do a whole sofa, and lining it with fake fur. I used it as a blanket at early season camping events and even used it at home a time or two on the worst nights. Not very cheap in terms of total price but it was a frugal purchase, and I did use the cloak in every day life when the temperature dipped a time or two below zero (F) and even changed a dead battery in such weather wearing it over my other coat, and stayed toasty warm the whole time. It was well worth the price and the effort it took to make it. It was warm and it looked very nice.
- Submitted by Nicolaa: Also, the SCA is notorious for attracting fabric hoarders. Check around with other members--find out if they have anything they'd be willing to sell or barter for. Goes for trims, too....
- Also submitted by Nicolaa: Another "cheap and easy" way of looking more authentic is to use authentic cuts--this especially goes for tunics. If you use a gore and gusset construction (here's a good website on how to do it: http://www.virtue.to/articles/tunic_worksheet.html) you're going to look more authentic even if your fabric isn't exactly "right"--and it doesn't cost you a thing!
- One more from Nicolaa: wear something on your head. Veils and coifs are pretty easy to make, and for summer, straw hats are wonderful. You'll spend only a few dollars, but your outfit will look more finished.
- Submitted by Angela: If you are looking for fabric for court garb, the samples from upholstery books can be fashioned at least into vest and tie-on sleeves. i got 4 large squares for $1.00 each [Canadian] in a lightweight fabric that is cotton and rayon blend and has the right look. The price was $35.00 per metre, but there was more than enough fabric in the 4 squares.
- Submitted by AElfwenna: 100% cotton Osnaberg is available inexpensively at WalMart and it looks a lot like linen. Every time I wear my Osnaberg tunic, someone asks me "oh, where did you find that nice linen?"
Want to suggest a tip? Email the webmistress at julie.golick@gmail.com.