Do any of you know of any "how to guides" for making the various styles of 14th century head dress.Managed to find one source but it aint' that good.
thanks
You could well feel swamped by the amount of information out there on this one (particularly ladies headwear)! Since you mention in the other thread that you portray such a large chunk of the 14thC, it might be wiser to go with simpler styles, using rectangles pinned in place, which although a pain to master, means that you can use the same linens/silks depending on whether you're aiming for an early or later style (great for those of us on a budget, and are slow hand-sewers).
My own headdress is a bit of a cheat, the wimple part is a tapering tube, narrow opening around the face, wide over the shoulders, with a rectangular veil tied over this. This was easy for me, since I have long hair the plaits were no problem. Things get more complex if you need to create the shape first. One way round having short hair would be to buy a crespinette from someone like Kats Hats, or make your own: This might be a better option if you're portraying someone higher up the social scale.
It's worth just experimenting with cheap (but *similar weight*) cloth cut in various shapes and some nice long pins, just play about until you find a style that suits. I can almost guarantee you'll stick yourself (or rather your ladyfriend) a few times, but it gets easier with practice!
I'm afraid when it comes to men's headwear I'm a bit of a novice once they go beyond a simple caul or hood (though you can have fun with a longer liripipe, colour variations and dagging for eg).
Hi,
Thanks for the info.We are actually trying to find some information on making crespinettes,Cauls etc.. ..Are there any websites/books out there?...
Cynthia Virtue has a few articles on headdresses (IIRC http://www.virtue.to ). Otherwise I'd recommend looking at discussion list archives as this topic comes up now and again. (PM me if you want some links.) Another way - especially for veils and head wraps - is to get together with some like-minded people and try it out on each other.
Latheaxe try and e-mail kats-hats as she makes fantastic headdresses for ladys for the 13th,14th and 15th century(14th is her forte) kats-hats@blueyonder.co.uk
Try the links at http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/wsnlinks/i ... &catid=168 for a variety of pre-17th century headwear; I've found Thursfield's Medieval Tailor's Assistant to be helpful for patterns and ideas for constructing a lot of different styles.