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So You Want To Tudor

or My ideas on creating comfortable tourney garb.

by Mistress Jania of Call Duck Manor

As I have strolled about in my costumes, I received many compliments on both my lords' and my appearance. Since I learned to sew when was very young, I did not view my costuming results as being accomplishments until several years had passed in the Society.

When I found out that many thought the Tudor style of garb was very hard to create, I certainly chuckled. This was because I knew that my costumes usually started out as McCalls or Simplicity patterns (which I added a flourish here or there. If you can follow a pattern made by either of these companies you can also make a Tudor outfit. Depending on your sex or for whom you are sewing you will need a wedding dress pattern or man's shirt or caftan pattern. If you're looking for a wedding dress pattern, one which has a princess style cut bodice is more similar to the Renaissance lines, but it is not as easy to fit if you are one of those people who must modify the standard pattern to make it more like your own body shape. The man's shirt pattern could be any pattern which has set in sleeves, but no yoke on the front or back as is found in western shirts.

The first thing to realize about creating garb is that in the Renaissance, the people whom you see pictured in the paintings did not have to do anything, and they lived houses with little heating in a cold environment. If you really want authentic Tudor style garb, you must also plan to hire a servant because you will not be able to pick up your ice chest, set your table, cook, or use the privy. (Think of hoop skirts in the privies at Bort Meadows.) In fact you may not even be able to dress without help. The object of this article is to provide you with some simple adaptations of basic patterns which create the allusion of the Tudor Era without the heavy velvet, many layers, hard boning or much padding. This garb is meant to be washable and tourney comfortable, While your finished outfit may not follow that which is seen in the paintings, it may be closer to that which was worn by someone who did not have servants, and had to do their own work.

The most important part of any costume is the lining. The next important part is the interfacing, If you are not willing to incorporate these into your garb, you should look for a simpler style, The interfacing keeps the points up and the tabs down and the lining makes the garb hang well while being sturdy enough to with stand many wearings and washings. Garb made using denim does not get 'tired' looking, so you can have the Tudor style & times without the weight of Velveteen or Velvet. Camping out is very hard on clothing, You should always have enough material to completely line the bodice or shirt of any outfit you make. This fabric will usually not show so it can be almost any fabric, I prefer to line everything with some sort of cotton, I also prefer to make most of my costumes of completely washable fabrics, One of my favorite fabrics to use for the outer garments is denim which can be found in many colors besides blue. This is a fabric which retains much of its body throughout many washings, For a change in appearance, look for fabric with small stripes, Corduroy also is nice to sew on, Any color is suitable except for day-glow orange or other such colors, Sometimes it is easier to find trim and match the fabric to it rather than the other way around. Wash all trim, fabric, cording, lining and anything else that can be put into the washing machine. Then the garment will at least survive hand washing. The idea of dry cleaning any outdoor tourney garb is not good planning in my opinion.

The first thing to think about is your basic body shape, The Tudor silhouette can look good on the very slim to the very large, the difference lying in where you put the flourishes and how you conceive yourself. The Tudor silhouette was achieved by using a great deal of padding and/or boning in the shoulders, across the chest, (Some surviving 1500 male clothing had a beer belly look done with padding called the 'Peascod' look,) in the puffy mens pants or with great bun rolls around the hips. By adding epaulette or shoulder rolls the interest is focused about the face. Braid can run up & down diagonally, on the sleeves only, Placement of trim can visually enhance or distract from your attributes, If you are female and you think you could never survive all that boning and corseting (1 can't,), then you will adapt make a softer fitting style without the long pointed bodice. Accordingly, if you are male and a gaudy cod piece would make you uncomfortable, then you make your shirt a little longer and wear tights to show off your legs. With a figure far from perfect, I still have never felt the least desire to add any bun rolls or other padding, except in the sleeves, to any garment I have created for myself or anyone else. When the weather is cold I add long underwear underneath and if it is warm I take off a petticoat or two while still maintaining the over all comfort and appearance I enjoy. My lord can add or subtract long sleeved T-shirts.

Underneath It All

The Elizabethan, both male and female, wore a shift or shirt under all the clothes. Making proper undergarments may be an extra step, but it serves as a light padding layer which lakes the garment hang better and helps prevent perspiration damage. I recommend you make one. My lord has one costume in which the shirt is a very visible component. He has worn it several times, the shirt is tossed in the washing machine, but the outer coat-tunic has not needed to be washed. This undergarment garment should be all cotton or cotton-polyester with as little polyester as can be found, If you love to embroider and really want one with blackwork trim like Henry VIII, I recommend a book from the Dover Needlework Series, Repeats And Borders, Iron On Transfer Patterns. Not all blackwork is counted thread work as we frequently conceive of it today. Shirts on display in the British museums have fanciful embroidery designs with flowers, bugs and acorns in bands of black embroidery. This book has some flower and leaf patterns that if simply outlined with black thread would make excellent blackwork trim for shirts. The patterns are repeat ironable designs therefore you could make rows on sleeves and fronts with the same pattern.

Using your basic shirt or blouse pattern, you must add extra material as shown in the diagrams. There are two styles of shirt/shifts which are found on both male and female. The peasant blouse style is usually now thought of as primarily female, but there are a couple of paintings of men in which the undershirt appears cut in the peasant blouse manner. If you want sleeves that can be pulled through your slashed over-sleeve, you can make the sleeves the full width of the fabric. (I have some sleeves which are each 44 inches wide and everyone loves to pull them out of the holes in my over- sleeves.) The length of your shift/shirt is determined by your garb. I have found having two knee length shifts when camping very practical, I wear one and use it for a night gown Saturday.

This meant I felt modestly dressed no matter who was sharing my large tent that night or if the privy called. Then on Sunday after everyone was up, I could have a basin bath and put on a fresh shift. The first Twelfth Night I ever attended found me dressing in the parking lot, I wore my shift and fancy petticoat while driving, 1 slipped my hoop skirt under the fancy petticoat and the overdress on in the parking lot and before I drove home, I took them off again in the same place. That was before I knew how all the ladies help each other dress in the rest rooms.

While tying your cuffs closed is a period idea, it is really much more practical to use elastic or big snaps. If you find your self suddenly cooking, washing up or starting a fire, elastic allows you to quickly push your sleeves out of the way, particularly important on a windy day by your butane stove. The neckline can be left plain or can have a small ruffled edge. My sewing machine has some nice built-in embroidery patterns. If you put size a 16 needle in your machine and use buttonhole twist thread on the top and the bottom, you can make some machine embroidery that can look like double sided blackwork.

I hope I have given you some ideas to think about in starting to create your image in the Society., We will continue with various costume ideas in the next issue.

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