1180-1210 Crown Tournament Commission

The Project

I was commissioned by two good friends of mine for a set of matching outfits for their debut fighting in our Crown Tournament this November. With reasonably short notice for this project in terms of ordering materials and accouterments, there's going to be a lot of work put into it over the next 4 weeks to get it ready. I'm T-Minus about 31 days to the event, and have my work cut out for me! 

The Inspiration

There's a few hundred year time difference between his and her persona, with Ennelynne being mid 14th Century German, and Daniel being late 12th Century Teutonic. Combining cotehardies and crusader robes would have been quite the challenge, so Ennelynne opted to go earlier period for this costume. We discussed the options and in order to get the aesthetic they both are wanting, Daniel is coming slightly forward in time and she's going earlier, and have settled on an early 13th century outfit. 

Hers

Ennelynne will be wearing a bliaut, undergown, and appropriate head-wear for the time period and a woman of her station. Linens were ordered and her undergown has been started already. The idea is to have a gold undergown, black over-gown (the actual bliaut) and all the decorative work done in red. The entire outfit is made from linen, and embellishments on her collars and cuffs will be done in a very pretty gold silk, generously donated by our current majesty, Jung-Mie. Her persona is Korean and she has tons of very beautiful silk :) 

The inspiration for her gown was a piece I found browsing the internet a long time ago, and had bookmarked. It is too early for my persona however I loved the idea of making one for when I didn't feel like putting on all my corsets and layers. The original blog, and creator are credited here: Racaire's Embroidery and Needlework. She's got some -very- beautiful work and the photographs shown below are her property and her creations.

I've loved this silk bliaut for a long time and am very excited at the potential of creating one. We are designing stencil work for trim on the sleeves and neckline, and a large period-inspired stencil print for the edging along the bottom of the tunic and dress. The collar will be embroidered and beaded, and there will probably be accent beading all over the front of both outfits, too.

Photo property of Racaire

Photo property of Racaire

His

The inspiration for his piece came directly from a museum replica. There are several examples of the outfits of the time, and photographs can be found here: Ranaan SCA Gallery. I believe these pieces are reproductions either from some sort of fine costuming or a museum example, however there is no associated documentation, so it is just the images. His outfit will be a double-layer tunic, with one falling to ankle length and the other to just below the knee. Again, the color scheme will be black and gold with red embellishments. Below is the primary inspiration piece for Daniel's outfit. 

The detail and bead work on this make it a big favorite of mine. I will probably try to incorporate the gold leafing pattern into the piece that I make, however I'm not sure yet whether that will be painted on or made from beads. A lot of it is going to depend on how much time we have and how easily these projects come together.

There's also the negotiation about whether or not to make a cloth girdle for this outfit. Daniel traditionally wears a leather belt, however the thick cloth in the same style as the woman's dress looks quite nice, and could be made to match with Ennelynne's. 

The keyhole neckline will be bound with trim, as will the sleeve caps on the short over-tunic. The embroidery along the bottom of both tunics will be recreated with fabric paint and a custom-made stencil. 

I have yet to determine what the appropriate headgear for Daniel would be, as I haven't seen any examples of this style of dress in full turnout. I would imagine some sort of hat would have been appropriate, but this may be skipped over due to personal preferences of the person doing the wearing of the outfit! 

Both the under and over gowns in this outfit will be made from linen, and as I'm largely unfamiliar with early period mens garb, I will be modelling the pattern off a previous commission for a Norman overgown/tunic commissioned by someone else. 

This is one of the few examples I've seen of the closer-fitting under sleeves, which I really like. It gives the outfit a more tailored and finished appearance and I think makes the entire thing look more put together.

The Under-gown

I patterned Ennelynne for her undergown based on a early period camp dress I have. I couldn't find any real pictures of what the undergown would have looked like, but I imagine from other patterns and garments of the time period it would have been a simple, gored, geometric pattern.

I unfortunately didn't get any photos of the sewing in progress, but it came together quickly and easily. I opted to use the same style slit neckline as the over-gown would have, however on second look realized it should have been a keyhole neckline on the under dress.  I have a linen smock that has the appropriate neckline that I wear underneath my Persian garb, and that gave a very correct look when worn with the under-dress. Here's a sneak peek of it before it's entirely finished. I'm very much looking forward to continuing to work on this project.

More to come later!!

-E