Beginners & Newcomers' Guides to Garb Making

Basic patterns for an easy T-tunic, a 13th century tunic, a wide-sleev ed gown, a laced gown, a kirtle, ladies' hose, an early hood, a hood with shoulder gores, a basic surcote, and two sideless surcoats.

This tunic is meant to be a loose fit, between thigh and knee length. It is ideal as a basic tunic for fighting, and can be decorated and made to look very nice for general wear. For women: This pattern adapts very well to be made into a dress.

Patterns for a man's tunic, hood, and hose.

My basic philosophy, when it comes to choosing fabrics for the SCA, is know what they did in your time period and then make the best choices you can find and afford.

Suggestion s for basic constructi on of garments.

Basic patterns for clothing and accessorie s.

Fabric analysis and how to lay out the pattern for a simple medieval tunic.

A guide to tunic construction, including suggested fabrics, recommended colors, and trim placement.

Fabric selection, fabric basics, things to consider when purchasing your fabric, and making a basic T-tunic.

If, like me, you don't own a sewing machine, and are pretty bad at sewing anyway, here's a quick n' easy period outfit you can make with 3 metres of material, a needle and thread, and some (optional) iron-on hemming tape. To be properly (i.e. decently) dressed, you should have an undertunic also. Make two of these and wear over each other. Wear a long pale colored wrap (about 4 foot by 8 foot) with the outfit. Voila! Instant Roman Lady!

Steps to creating a custom doublet or bodice pattern with the tape and T-shirt method.

Period patterning is easier than one might think. Gowns and tunics made with rectangles , triangles, and
occas ional parallelog rams and trapezoids occur in cultures and times throughout the purview of the SCA.

This group is for SCA members to share tips for creating SCA items in a frugal way.

Guidance & advice for clothing; mostly line-drawing patterns for medieval garments, including shirts & tunics, a hood, hose, doublets, and a few Middle Eastern garments.

A pattern and step-by-step photos with assembly instructions.

Cutting diagrams for An Early-Medi eval Gown, a Simple Open-sided Surcote, a Simple Sleeveless Surcote, a Simple Norman-sty le Gown, a Simple Smock, and a Simple Half-circl e Cloak.

In the article I talk about an Anglo-Saxon type tunic. While the geometric approach to tunics is probably appropriate in the context of Anglo-Saxon garments, I should note that the centre gores front and back probably are not. A T-tunic in period was far from simple; it was a complex garment made up of many pattern-pieces, a far cry from our one-piece, fold-and-sew standard material-waster.

Most of you are probably familiar with the ubiquitous . T-tunic, the tunic of Rome, Greece and a lot of the barbaric tribes, as well as the Christian Copts. Sometime around the fourth or fifth century A.D. the tunic with fuller skirts began to be seen in Europe.

The Great Pattern Review is an ongoing project. The goal is to provide a forum to share our knowledge and to be helpful and encouragin g to both sewers and pattern makers.

The cut of this dress is based on practical experiment ation rather than on a known period cutting method- but it does leave very little waste and can be pieced together out of narrower cloth very easily.

This is not meant in any way shape or form to be insulting to anyone who is learning to construct pre 17th century garb. We have all made our first piece of garb at one time or another, with varying degrees of success and problems. Please consider the following list as friendly advice to carry with you when you begin to design and construct your first piece of garb. Because of my costuming knowledge this list is very Euro-centr ic. It is also filled with my own bias on what is critical for making good garb and looking properly dressed at events. It is up to you to decide if my advice should be followed or ignored, trust me I won't be insulted.

The linen Bocksten-s tyle tunic is immensely popular in LARP, SCA, and Dagorhir. It's as comfy as pajamas, but it has perfect range of motion. It looks good on everyone, but it's easy to fit. It's simple to cut, but it uses fabric efficientl y. It's the ideal garment, and everyone should have one.

Se e also Measure and Draft a Better Bocksten Tunic.