New costumes for some St. Thomasguild members

Children grow. Which means that we continuously have to make new costumes for them to fit their new size. While my youngest son benefits from the outgrown clothes of the eldest; the eldest profits from getting new clothes each time he has grown. This time he became old enough to have his own doublet in the 1370 style, with lots of woollen buttons.  For adults, such a doublet is closely fitting the body, however for growing children more space is allowed. This is also true for the sleeves, which are not tightly fitting and .thus do not need to be buttoned at the wrist.

 My oldest son in his new costume in castle Loevestein.

Below the black doublet he wears red trousers with a codpiece (hidden by the doublet). Underneath the trousers are the first pair of shoes made for him. The shoes are based on a 14th century find in Dordrecht, the Netherlands and described in the book "Stepping through time" by Olaf Goubitz. The shoes, made by master historic shoemaker Gert Buurman of the Gelderse Roos, are toggle fastened with an additional drawstring at the bending point.

Standing on an X-chair showing the new shoes.

But not only children get new clothes... I still needed a cloak to keep warm in the evening and I thought it was necessary for our visit to castle Loevestein in March as well.  So I did have a cloak, but the weather proved to be very sunny and warm. My cloak is made in the style that appeared around 1350 and continued into the early 15th century, which means that it is buttoned (mine with eight woollen buttons) at the right shoulder. Unfortunately, there is no good description or find of such cloaks. It appears only on period miniatures or funeral brasses.  I made it 7/12th of a circle. This extra 1/12th circle was in fact unnecessary, half a circle is more than enough to cover the body and have enough room for your arms. The cloak consists of two layers of wool, making it warm and heavy.

 

An apothecary with a blue buttoned cloak from Tacuinum Sanitatis 

(fol. 87v, 15th century, BNF Nouvelle acquisition latine 1673, Paris, France).

My cloak together with a loose hood. ...

 

The difference in shade of the dark grey inside and black outside of the woollen cloak is easily seen. 

The row of buttons is on my right shoulder.