Medieval Dress Pattern for Women
This is about as medieval-looking as I need to be, and I’m sharing my pattern here in case it comes in handy for anyone else.
I read the instructions about how to cut a medieval t-tunic dress the authentic historical way, but my attempts didn’t come out very well. I would have had to adjust the pieces for a while until I achieved something like fit. So I compromised with a modern cut around the shoulders, narrow medieval-ish sleeves and then the triangle inserts for the skirt. I do love the idea of not wasting fabric.
What’s wrong with this picture? Only the camera, I think. At the one Faire I’ve ever been allowed to attend, I stopped to admire a lady who seemed straight out of the 14th century from her head to her toes to the embroidery frame on which she was stitching. Nothing about her wasn’t an enchanting glimpse of a byegone time, and then I heard her say to the person she was talking to, “I’ll message you on Facebook!” I felt startled, because I was buying into it completely, and it seemed impossible for her to know anything about Facebook.
Pattern fits a 38″ bust / 30″ waist. The waist is only slightly tapered and the skirt width is determined by the godets you put in. It wouldn’t work very well for a large bosom unless you insert underarm godets like the original page says.
My upper arm measurement is 12.5″ and the cutting line for the orange sleeve produces a finished product that is intentionally snug on me.
http://forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/Tunics/TUNICS.HTML
There’s the original with the instructions of how to put the skirt godets in. Basically you extend your bodice pattern pieces to the floor, then insert huge wedges into all the seams to flare the skirt out. I only put them in the sides and back on this one, that was enough. I didn’t like to have one in the front seam.
This is the underdress made from the same pattern.
I think it looks very medieval with the “puddling” effect at the bottom like on the old statues. That’s because it hasn’t had the lower edge trimmed yet.
Blue dress made from this pattern, only changing the neckline shape, and short sleeves. I added a gathered skirt which didn’t look right at all, but I love how the top and sleeves look. Photoshop to the rescue, and the gathers are no more.
The pale-colored underdress is from the same pattern and shows how the sleeves are a little too long, which is what I wanted, and snug enough around the wrists to stay up.
This is what the pattern looks like in AI. It spreads over 7 sheets of printer paper which you match up, tape together then cut out. Here’s the pattern in pdf to print
