On Nov 11, 2010, at 6:42 AM, Laurie Taylor wrote: > I'm not sure how much overlap there is between this list and an SCA garb > list, so I hoped for more ideas between the two. > > I am cutting a cloak, the half-circle style as shown in Hill & Bucknell, The > Evolution of Fashion 1066-1930, c.1100 male/female. I opted for this one > because it fit well on my fabric without piecing. The fabric is a very dark > charcoal, almost black, woolen-like, though probably acrylic. It’s what I > had on hand so, even if the color isn’t period, it’s going to happen.
<snip> > Also, quite a few of the cloaks of c.1066-1260 or thereabouts are greater > than ½ circle and harder to fit on fabric without piecing. I did the math > to enlarge one particular pattern, and it would need a piece of fabric > around 105” x 120” approximately. How would you piece that, or how might it > have been pieced in period, assuming that they didn’t just weave a fabric to > a dimension suitable for that garment? Looking at surviving examples of medieval half-circular cloaks, where the cut is discernable from the available publications, pretty much all of them are pieced to some degree. (This isn't surprising when you compare the style to the typical fabric widths in use in the medieval period.) Most often, the basic shape is formed by sewing together strips parallel with the straight edge of the half-circle, but very often the area farthest from that straight edge is further pieced in order to use up the bits cut off for the curved edges of the strip next to it. Heather _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
