Standards - Clothing for Women

All women's clothing should adhere to the rules of under the basic clothing standards

The Women’s Clothes:

Chemise: Your underwear should be white linen. This will be long sleeved and will absorb your body oils to prevent the soiling of your gown. The standard construction we use have body panels, attached sleeves, gores & gussets. This maybe constructed via machine, but the neckline and wrists must be finished by hand using linen thread.

Stockings: Need to be made of a three-shed twill wool or higher count. Tabby is also acceptable. Stockings are worn over the feet and calves, under shoes and tied at the knee with garters. These are fitted to the foot and calf and extend just above knee. The construction is done with a two or three piece pattern in one of two foot styles. The two piece pattern contains a calf and top of foot piece and a bottom and side of foot piece where the three piece pattern consists of a separate foot, top of foot and calf

Garters: Are tied under the knee to support your stockings. These should be out of woven silk, wool, or linen via finger loop braids or inkle loom weaving. They will not be seen by the general public so a strip of wool or linen will work in the interim.

 

Gown: A gown may be made of tabby or twill wool. Wool repels rain and keeps you dry. Gowns hems should be above the ground, but not higher than the ankles; this prevents the fabric from getting dirty and muddy and then getting the rest of your outfit dirty. The gown laces up the front, beginning below the bellybutton. Methods of lacing are either hand-done eyelets or small brass rings. Sleeves can be long with or without one button at the cuff, long with a row of buttons from the elbow down, or short sleeved with pinned-on sleeves. If your gown is short sleeved, then separate pin-on wool sleeves are required and they should be pinned on with brass pins.

Overgown: A secondary requirement that will be very necessary in colder weather. This overgown will be in the same style as the gown described above or in a V-necked style. Both are acceptable.

Head Covering: There are a few options here. The first is in a turban style. A white linen wrap is used to cover the head. This is approximately 24” by 36”, or any size that works to wrap your head in a turban format. The second is a hood – made of unlined wool and sewn down the center to attach the two halves of the hood and depending on the style

Shoes: Shoes should be made in a style seen in art of the 15th century or from examples of shoes from that era. We prefer a brown color or finish to black. Please no bright colors and only use colors you can prove existed. Shoes should be made of a thick bottom and thinner leather on the upper part. The upper should not be more than 4 oz. leather and should be malleable. Vegetable-tan or oak-tan leather will work best and chrome-tan leather should be avoided. Shoes must be constructed as a turn shoe with the proper split hold, also known as a top stitch and have a rand.