a white Carolina Wren in a dark red circle

Sefa Sews

Historifying a Late Period Dress, featuring Pin-On Sleeves

April 2022 - May 2022

A woman wearing a red linen short sleeved dress with red, gold, and black trim around the sleeves and neckline

I bought this lovely red linen dress from Briar Patch Garb at Gulf Wars! It's cute & comfortable & relatively cool, especially compared to my Viking garb. I knew it wouldn't match any of my other early period garb, but I liked it so much. It's unfortunate but true that very early on I had a little have-to-be-historical chip on my shoulder. I don't know why! Everyone is so chill & welcoming in Meridies, but I genuinely felt a little bad getting a not perfectly period piece of garb. Very fortunately I got mostly over it pretty quickly, but I wanted to share because a) if you feel the same kind of way then know you're not alone (and I encourage you to wear what makes you feel happy) and b) it sets up how this project got started in the first place!

A fabulous friend had a vigil party before her elevation and I attended in the red dress, when I was still in my slightly-apologetic phase. I mentioned it in passing during a conversation with several extremely knowledgable & creative folks. They, of course, kindly disabused me of the notion that anything was at all wrong with the dress. They also threw out a ton of ideas for how I could historify the dress a bit more if I really wanted to! I decided that would be a fabulous project; I'd have this delightful dress AND I could throw on a few details before court to take it up notch. Also I didn't know about late-period garb, and (clearly) I love diving into a new topic!

First add-on: Pin-On Sleeves!

The first suggestion that evening was adding some pin-on sleeves. It was extremely uncommon to walk around in short sleeves with no other covering - I mean probably not impossible, but pin-on sleeves are extremely well-documented, versus bare-armed medieval women. As soon as I started looking I found lots of amazing references in art and tried by other Scadians. I've linked to my favorite sources below, but I wanted to include these two pictures as specific references that very directly influenced my choices for this dress & this project.

A detail from Hugo van der Goes' 1470 painting Massacre of the Innocents, showing a woman in a red dress and white head wrap with an arm thrust out to protect a baby
A detail from Rogier van der Weyden's painting The Seven Sacraments showing a woman's back. She wears a red dress with light yellow sleeves and white head wrap.

These are details from two separate religious paintings created within about 50 years of each other in 1450-1500 CE. The detail from Massacre of the Innocents looks as if it has trim around the sleeves, similar to my dress, above what appears to be a dark blue underdress. The dress from the Seven Sacraments influenced both my sleeve color choice of gold fabric as well as seam placement for my project. Also, they both have 15th century Western European belts, which makes sense as the artists are both Dutch. I hope to get a similar belt soon to add to this outfit! The detail from the Seven Sacraments also clearly shows the woman wearing a white underdress, peaking out above her neckline and around the pin-on sleeves.

As always, my first step was bedsheet mockups! My very first mockup was done with some scraps of muslin I had leftover from another project, which I pinned together around my arm to get an idea of basic sleeve shape. I based the sleeve pattern you see here (made from purple Goodwill bedsheet) on that first muslin mockup. Below that is the first sleeve I sewed using the pattern (also bedsheet). I was happy with the fit, so I made the silk sleeves next.

I had never worked with silk before. I found a nice silk taffeta at a local fabric store in a gold similar to the color of the sleeves in The Seven Sacraments above.

Two pieces of purple cotton on a wood table. One is laid flat with a post-it note that reads sleeve pattern, the second is a sewn sleeve

Here is one of the silk sleeves made from my sleeve pattern! This is all machine sewn.

For those of you who, like me, are rank beginners, here are a few things I found out about working with silk taffeta:

  • Embrace the wrinkles
  • Taffeta will fray & has like no stretch
  • Pin placement during construction is important, as pin marks stay clearly visible long after pins are removed
  • Plain graphite pencil did well for marking on the light fabric
  • Use the smallest needle possible, lightweight thread, and practice stitches & tension on some scrap taffeta to get it right; otherwise, taffeta loves to pucker at the seams
A gold silk sleeve on a wood table

Even with figuring out the taffeta, this part of the project was extremely easy. Now that I have the pattern it would only take me a couple of hours to finish a new pair of traditional pin-on sleeves, start to finish.

But a traditional pair of pin-on sleeves meant I'd have to wear an underdress. And part of the whole point of this project is to keep the dress as cool and unlayered as possible until I have to historify it up. So, in a move that took me a disproportionately long time to execute, I decided I'd attach a faux-underdress to the sleeve tops.

A gold silk sleeve on a wood table, with a band of white linen attached to the wide upper end of the sleeve

I sewed some white linen to the tops of the silk sleeves by hand with whip stitches, to keep the illusion as complete as possible from the outside. Then I lined up fasteners both in the sleeve and in the dress, so I would have two snaps to keep the "underdress" in place and two hooks to keep the sleeve in pinned-on position. I'm actually quite happy with the hooks, and will do this for future sleeves as well. It's nice not to rely on just the pin to keep the sleeve in place, and I can forego pins on the side of the sleeve near my body.

A close up of a silver snap fastener attached to white linen on a sleeve, and a silver hook attached to the inside seam of a gold silk sleeve
A close up of the inside of a red dress sleeve showing a silver eye fastener and a silver snap fastener sewn to the sleeve

Second add-on: A veil!

The next part of historifying this outfit was some kind of head covering. It was, as with bare arms, unusual for women to walk around without some kind of covering on their hair. This definitely happened more often than bare arms, if art is to be believed, but this project was to lean more historical instead of less. Since my main persona is a Viking, or occasionally Roman in hot weather, I didn't have any late-period head coverings. But I did have some extremely lightweight linen! So after doing much research and watching tutorials, I decided a half-circle veil would likely be the best fit for me.

I don't have any pictures from the process of cutting the veil, because it was fairly simple and unscientific. I put the linen I had over my head and played with it in the mirror until I liked the length on the sides, then marked, measured, and cut it out. I use a lot of string and pins to make sure my curves are traced out the right way. Lots of throwbacks to geometry class! Here's the shape of my half-circle veil, which is the one I am wearing in the photos at the end of the post. Also here's a second veil I made at the same time in an oval shape so I could try both.

A white linen veil on a wood table in the shape of a large half circle
A white linen veil on wood table in the shape of a large oval

I hand-hemmed the veil with a tiny rolled him and veil stitch, which I've linked to below (aka the Magic Veil Stitch). It took FOREVER, but it looks great, and I'm working on hemming the oval veil slowly but surely as well.

A close up showing the tiny sewn hem of a white linen veil, no more than a half centimeter wide

One of my household members, a brilliant & awesome woman, gave me the best idea ever for keeping things on your head without circlets or coronets. Yes, pins are good, but my hair is especially thick and slippery. Her original advice was for veils, but my St. Birgitta cap WOULD NOT STAY ON the first time I tried this setup, so I applied her advice to the cap.

Y'all. Wig clips.

Now this thing does NOT come off until I want it to.

A close up of two white wig clips sewn into the front edge of a white linen coif

Third add-on: A necklace!

This was a quick win, since I had already made a necklace to go with the dress for the aforementioned vigil party. I just changed out the pendant to be a bit more low-key. It's more of an Italian necklace, as inspired by Dawn's Dress Diary, but it's the right time period and who's to say this late-period persona wouldn't have gone to Italy at some point! Everything here is from JoAnn's, nothing special about any of the findings or beads.

A choker length necklace made up of pearls, red beads, and brass beads on a gold silk background

The big reveal!

Here it is all put together. From comfy and cool to extra-historified. The first time I tried this outfit out I wore the veil all day, grateful for the sun protection. The sleeves only take maybe 10 minutes to get put on and arranged, especially if I have some help with the snaps.

Most of my time for this project was spent on planning and research versus sewing! I'm glad I took it on, and it's made me much more interested in late-period garb. Maybe I have a coathardie or two in my future!

A woman wearing a red linen dress with gold silk sleeves pinned on. Her head is covered by a white veil, and she is also wearing a red, pearl and brass necklace as well as a black belt and brown shoes
A woman wearing a red linen dress with gold silk sleeves pinned on. Her head is covered by a white veil, and she is also wearing a red, pearl and brass necklace as well as a black belt and brown shoes

Sources and Additional Info

Handcrafted History's Pin on sleeves tutorial.

Sidsel from Postej & Stews pulled together a ton of pictoral examples of Medieval and renaissance use of short sleeves and loose sleeves on dresses.

Cerridwen's Creations blog post on her Fitted Dress with pin-on sleeves.

Hope Greenberg put together a fairly exhaustive portfolio of images of 15th Century Female Flemish Dress in art from the 14th century on.

Mistress Elen verch Phelip's class on Medieval Veil Wearing 101.

Mistress Elen's class included a link to this excellent video demonstrating how to hem a veil with a tiny rolled hem.

She also demonstrates the veil hem stitch and other techniques from her class in this Opus Elenae video.

Now that you've made a veil, here is Morgan Donner showing how to wear a veil and wimple with a cap or coif as the base.

This Dawn's Dress Diary blog post on Commonly worn jewellery in 1480s Florence gave me inspiration & examples for the necklace I made.

•••

Here are links to the items in this post that I did not make:

The red dress is by Briar Patch Garb, white linen St. Birgitta coif from Linen Garb, black leather belt from Renboots, leather turn shoes from Viking Leathercraft


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Gallery

A woman wearing a red linen short sleeved dress with red, gold, and black trim around the sleeves and neckline
A woman wearing a red linen short sleeved dress facing away from the camera
A red short sleeved linen dress lying on a wood table, shown from the waist up
Two pieces of purple cotton on a wood table. One is laid flat with a post-it note that reads sleeve pattern, the second is a sewn sleeve
A gold silk sleeve on a wood table
A gold silk sleeve on a wood table, with a band of white linen attached to the wide upper end of the sleeve
A close up of a silver snap fastener attached to white linen on a sleeve, and a silver hook attached to the inside seam of a gold silk sleeve
A close up of the inside of a red dress sleeve showing a silver eye fastener and a silver snap fastener sewn to the sleeve
A photo of a gold silk sleeve attached to the short sleeve of a red dress, showing the front fold of the sleeve
A photo of a gold silk sleeve attached to the short sleeve of a red dress, showing the back seam of the sleeve
A close up of a white pearl headed pin attaching a gold silk sleeve to a red short sleeve
A white linen veil on a wood table in the shape of a large half circle
A white linen veil on wood table in the shape of a large oval
A close up showing the tiny sewn hem of a white linen veil, no more than a half centimeter wide
A white linen St. Birgitta cap with long tie strings on a wood table
A close up of two white wig clips sewn into the front edge of a white linen coif
A choker length necklace made up of pearls, red beads, and brass beads on a gold silk background
A woman wearing a red linen dress with gold silk sleeves pinned on. Her head is covered by a white veil, and she is also wearing a red, pearl and brass necklace as well as a black belt and brown shoes
A woman wearing a red linen dress with gold silk sleeves pinned on. Her head is covered by a white veil, and she is also wearing a red, pearl and brass necklace as well as a black belt and brown shoes
A woman facing away from the camera wearing a red dress with gold silk sleeves, a black belt, and a white veil