[Sca-cooks] OT-Med Tailor's Assistant

[Harris Mark.S-rsve60]

Adamantius replied to me with:
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Also sprach Stefan li Rous:
>Specifically, I'd like to get away from my generic T-tunics and
>closer to an 12th C Anglo-Norman look.

A common sentiment. On the other hand, since what 12th-century
Anglo-Normans actually wore seems largely to have been variations on
the T-tunic, we need to establish a distinction between identifying
cultures that did not wear such tunics and merely sneering at them
because some people consider them beneath the notice of some SCA
costumers.
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Okay, I was real clear. Since this is a cooking list, I didn't
think folks would want to get into all the details. Yes, the
Normans did wear a variation of the T-tunic. By "generic"
T-tunic I meant the very typical use of a single tunic color
with thin, bands of embroidery woven seperately and then sewn
on. From what little I've seen on individuals and books, the
Normans tended to use larger bands of color and wide embellishments,
rather than thin bands. The SCA as a whole seems to overdo the
use of metallic embroidery.

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I wear dalmaticas and coptic shirts most of the time, and they can
get pretty complex from a tailoring standpoint. A T-tunic with, say,
circular, bias-cut, French-seamed gussets in the armpits is nothing
to sneeze at, if that's what your culture actually wore. A common
Anglo-Norman garment for men might well fall into the category of a
T-tunic with gussets in the armpits and gores in the skirt and
neckline; not all that much simpler to do than a lot of later-period
stuff.
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It might. It is exactly some of these small features, as well as
the banding and embroidery I mentioned earlier, that I am hoping
that this book, although a century too late, might be able to
help me with.

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Unless you define a T-tunic as not having any additional tailoring
done to it... or is that what makes them generic ;-) ?
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Having had to add gores under the arms of some of my T-tunics, I
suspect that they did indeed make variations to the "generic"
T-tunic.

I hope this is clearer. Now can someone who has this book or
who has looked at it, tell me if this book will be useful
to me? Or will only a professional seamstress understand it
and thus it be way over my head.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net