Welcome to the SCA, now what?

When anyone begins in the SCA, we all have to figure out well who we are, again within a time frame.  While there are some sites online in which you can pick clothing from, they are expensive and well you just can't walk into your local Sears and ask for 13th Century Norman attire.   So here are some time periods and places to help you figure out what you need or would like to aspire to in the SCA. Also because we wear pretty heartily the clothing within the SCA, it is not perceived as 'costume'. These clothes are historical in nature and rather sturdily built to withstand life camping and in all sorts of weather.

Firstly, we need to do some planning.  Let me ask you some questions:

#1. Who are you making Garb for? Do you have a family?

#2. How do you figure out which era to be?

#3. How do you handle heat?

#4. How do you handle Wet and Cold?

#5. How authentic to you wish to be?

#6. Do you/Can you sew or are you willing to find out?

So if you are like me, who can't handle heat then you will need to adapt for Tourney Season.  Or some are cold all of the time and well you might want to learn to love layers but we shall speak of that later!  Next? We have 2 (at least) times within the SCA Tourney Season, and Feast Season.  This means making plans in the winter for Camping and in the Summer for Feasting.

Early Period Online Sites:

Reconstruction of Personal Style

http://www.umich.edu/~kelseydb/Exhibits/Big_Textile/Personal_Style.html

Frankish Clothing

http://reocities.com/Athens/Forum/6948/

Early Period Celtic Garb

http://www.celticgarb.org/clothing/main.html

Images to Help you out:

http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/rhuddlan/images/

Extant Clothing:

http://www.heatherrosejones.com/survivinggarments/index.html

Roman

http://www.housebarra.com/EP/ep05/14chiton.html

11th Century

http://www.regia.ca/conquest_era_clothing.htm

http://adamastorshire.co.za/chronicler/stormtidings/archive/garb/saxongarb.html

Coptic Tunics

http://www.housebarra.com/EP/ep01/07coptic.html

Vikings

http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/clothing.shtml

http://www.garbtheworld.com/pgs/viking.shtml

Men's Viking Garb

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/mensgarb.html

Viking Women's Garb

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/roach.html

http://szarka.typepad.com/sca/garb_construction_viking/

12th Century to 13th Century

Bilaut:

http://www.eg.bucknell.edu/~lwittie/sca/garb/bliaut.html

12th Century Clothing:

http://camelot-treasures.com/aenor/

A Court Gown:

http://www.gelfling.dds.nl/bliaut.html

Norman Women:

http://freespace.virgin.net/sarah.doyle/KIT.HTM

Seemingly Clothed and Proper:

http://www.3owls.org/sca/costume/costume.htm

12th Century Spain:

http://jessamynscloset.com/12thgallery.html

13th Century Gowns:

http://www.mediumaevum.com/75years/female.html

13th Century Men's Clothing:

http://www.mediumaevum.com/75years/male.html

Spanish Mens Extant Clothing:

http://jauncourt.i8.com/spanish.htm

13th Century Germanic Clothing:

http://www.gluckliche-eme.com/13chairandhats.htm

The Sideless Surcoat:

http://www.wodefordhall.com/surcote.htm

THE PELIÇON:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040119035535/http://webpages.charter.net/wildrose/Articlefolder/pelice.htm

Swedish Wills

http://www.forest.gen.nz/Medieval/articles/eva/wills.html

!4th Century Garments

Clothing:

http://www.medievaltailor.com/class%20handouts/sewing%20techniques%20paper1.pdf

A Comparative Study of 14th Century Clothing:

http://www.medievaltailor.com/class%20handouts/sewing%20techniques%20paper1.pdf

Gothic Fitted Gowns:

http://www.netherton.net/robin/FittedDressFAQ.pdf

http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/NorthernLights/Red_1380_French.pdf

http://cottesimple.com/

http://wp.bymymeasure.com/fitting-and-construction/pattern-a-gothic-fitted-dress

http://caitlinsclothing.com/Docs/1330ADGothicFittedDress.pdf

Cotehardies

http://sca-garb.freeservers.com/articles/cotehardie.html

http://www.damehelen.com/cotes/patterns.html

http://www.damehelen.com/cotes/evidence.html

http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/irish.php?s=&c=8&d=100&e=&f=&g=&a=200&w=2

http://www.chesholme.com/wfiles/2-1-Cotehardie.pdf

15th Century

http://home.uchicago.edu/~atterlep/costuming/costumingindex.htm

Children Clothing:

http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/Documentation/KASF2006/InfantOutfit.pdf

Burdundian Gowns:

http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/BurgundianCostume.pdf

http://cleftlands.cwru.edu/Burg/gown.html

http://www.james-gang.org/greydove/docs/houpburg.pdf

http://matildalazouche.livejournal.com/1760.html

http://cadieux.mediumaevum.com/burgundian-hennin.html

http://webpages.charter.net/eleanorlebrun/Mid%2015th%20Century%20French%20Dress.htm

Men's Braies:

http://thescholarsgarret.com/artifact/braies/

Another Men's Garb:

http://www.fashion-era.com/english-costume/1413-1422-king-henry-v.htm

Purses and Accessories

http://www.larsdatter.com/pouches.htm

Houppalande

http://www.virtue.to/articles/circle_houp.html

http://www.virtue.to/articles/laurel/laurel_constr.html

http://www.virtue.to/articles/bag_sleeve.html

http://www.chezirene.com/articles/drafthoup.html

http://www.theweebsite.com/cotelande/patterns.html#houplande

http://www.caitlinsclothing.com/houppelande.html

15th Century

http://www.historiclife.com/pdf/15thCenturyMensClothing.pdf

http://www.cottesimple.com/blois_and_sleeves/grande_assiette/grande_assiette_overview.htm

Men's Doublets:

http://www.nachtanz.org/SReed/doublets.html

Flemish Gowns:

http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/15th/

City States of Italy

Florence

http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/florentine/portfolio.html

http://www.faydn.com/kat/courtesan/15cflorentine/florentine.html

http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/15thdiary/page1.html

http://www.houseffg.org/belfebe/?page_id=34

http://genvieve.net/sca/mcitalrennotes/index.html

Milan

http://www.shipbrook.com/karen/dress_diaries/beatrice/

English

http://webzoom.freewebs.com/bessdarnley/Revised%20gown%20research.pdf

http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/Documentation/VNeckGown2009.pdf

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/medievalsca/clothing.html

Ottoman Empire Clothing:

http://char.txa.cornell.edu/influences.htm

Pouches:

http://www.historiclife.com/HistoricalClothing/Shoes.htm

16th Century

England/France

Yardages Used:

http://www.nachtanz.org/SReed/fabuse.html

French:

http://www.songsmyth.com/1560frenchkirtle.html

Tudor Images:

http://www.uvm.edu/~hag/sca/tudor/

Elizabethan Age:

http://www.extremecostuming.com/

Scottish:

http://www.medievalscotland.org/clothing/scotwomen.shtml

German Landsknecht:

http://www.medievalscotland.org/clothing/scotwomen.shtml

German 16th Century Overview:

http://www.curiousfrau.com/resources/getting-started/63-introduction-to-16th-century-german-costuming

Spanish:

http://www.entrada1598.com/mdia/rencloth.pdf

http://sayaespanola.glittersweet.com/

http://constanzamarinadehuelva.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/SurveySpanishGarb.57133017.pdf

http://www.gogmsite.net/iberian_style_in_the_farthi/

Persian:

http://www.willofyre.com/qaba_pattern.pdf

http://fenris.net/~lizyoung/16thCePers/16thCePersian.html

Clothing Merchant Links:

Patterns

www.ReconstructingHistory.com

Loads of patterns from many eras, you will need to make a toile to make sure it fit you.

www.Margospatterns.com

Margo Anderson has Elizabethan Patterns and Henrician or early Tudor patterns, really great with loads of information something everyone who wants to make really good

www.mediavealmisc.com

Period Patterns does have a reputation of being rather hard to deal with but if you are an experienced sewer you should be okay.

Part II

Getting what you need to make things up and if not ? Where to find Merchants to purchase Garb

Cilean