There are a number of commercial patterns available for use in making 12th century-appropriate clothing for re-enactment, stage or screen.
Useful articles written about specific garments
Rowen’s Article from Tournament’s Illuminated [get permission to re-publish]
There are (or were) a number of online resources/instructions as well.
- 10-gore Dress
- Marc Carlson
- To do a basic cote, you really can’t do better than Cynthia Virtue’s (Cynthia du pre Argent) site, here: http://www.virtue.to/articles/ Under the clothing section, the first two items are articles on basic men’s and women’s garb for 1100-1300, and a tunic pattern worksheet to get your pattern made for the items in the first article. She also has lots of info on appropriate accessories, fabrics, and such.
~ Brangwayna Morgan
Message #194, August 31, 2002
That is a great page, and it’s like having a note from my mommy saying I don’t have to make a bliaut, something I had been dreading because I suspected it would not be flattering to my size-24 figure. This article says older women (I’m 56) did not wear the bliaut – it was “the court dress of young noblewomen … Older women and lower class women wore the cote.”
~ Joan the Harper
Message #195, August 31, 2002