Period Clothing
by Glendora Andre
Introduction and Bylaws
Interpretive
Clothing
Scottish Culture
History
Music and Dance
Military Life
Language
Bibliography, Sources
and Library Materials
It is also difficult to find examples of common dress. These were not people of whom portraits were painted, and for the commoner, clothes were very expensive and have not been preserved. There is hardly a kilt in sight in most paintings of Scottish nobility during the Clann's period of interest. Knowledge about clothing generally comes from lists of household inventories and purchases. Other sources include observant diary or journal writers who happen to mention these usually overlooked details. Another source is sumptuary laws controlling what could be worn and court records of convictions on these laws.
The innumerable steps, the effort, time and frustration involved in making clothing by hand is hard to imagine. Production was within one household, or possibly extended to the local community. The steps would start with raising and shearing the sheep, washing, combing and possibly dying the fleece. Spinning the yarn was carried on in every spare minute by women and children. It took 6 spinners to keep one weaver busy. Since the fabrics were hand woven, it seems likely that they were not standardized widths, but varied from 27 to 36 inches maximum. This would have been the comfortable width that a weaver could reach for throwing the shuttle, and yet provide a small loom that could fit in the corner of a cottage. This implies that that a truly ‘period’ kilt or plaid may have been stitched together down the length to provide the full width as we wear them. Larger looms were certainly in existence, but cloth in larger widths also would have been more expensive, and probably and less affordable to common folk.
As to the garments, the last stitch of every seam and cuff and pocket was done by hand. As a result, clothes were refurbished, altered, given new trimmings, brought up-to-date, patched, mended, cut down for a smaller family member, and then perhaps inherited by the next generation. Clothes and fabrics were normally worn until they "fell from their backs, torn, soiled, and rotted with sweat". Anything remaining would be used for rags. A few well darned spots or patches would give any historical attire an authentic look.
From earliest times, [six] natural fabrics were available and primarily used: silk, cotton, flax, [hemp and nettle], and wool. Silk was an imported luxury and scarce. It would have been a prized possession, even a silk item as small as a ribbon was worthy of mention in an inventory or will. [Editor's note, sixth edition: linen may be produced from flax, hemp and nettle fibers. Linen is a type of cloth, not a type of fiber.]
Although tales of carrying a lady’s favor may be over- romanticized, the expense of such luxuries as silk ribbon brings a certain extra meaning to the thought of a favor given to a romantic interest.
Cotton too was imported into northern areas that did not have the climate for growing it. It was imported into Great Britain first in the late 1600's, and slowly increased through the second half of the 1700's. [Editor's note, sixth edition: there are some references to cotton or cottony materials in our period or earlier, but this is a description of a type of fabric, not a type of fiber. Cotton was so named because of its cottony appearance.]
Flax grew in a few areas, but was much more difficult to spin and provided a garment that was less useful for an agricultural population in a cool or cold climate. By the 1600's linen was used to a small extent, primarily for trimmings and accessories such as collars, cuffs, women's caps, men's "bands", or neckwear, or for shirts and shifts that were generally the only items of underwear. It too remained a fabric primarily for the privileged class. My own opinion is that linen still would have been a more common fabric for shirts and shifts for middle to lower classes, since although it was difficult to work, it was a not an imported item. Linen is produced from flax [or from hemp or nettle] which must be soaked and beaten to release the spinnable fibers.
Wool was the material most widely used for clothing, especially by middle and lower classes. Sheep were indigenous to the British Isles, running wild in the forests which still covered much of the land. The type was a small black-faced breed similar to some still found in districts of Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
There may have been few fibers available, but there was no lack of variety of fabrics. There were biases (plain woolens), worsteds, and broadcloths. In the north were homelier and rougher fabrics worn in the country and growing towns. There were Kersey (course wool), fustian (wool warp and linen, or cotton weft), drugget (closely woven wool), serges, linsey-wolsey (linen and wool), and shaloom (twilled worsted). Wool was fulled, felted, or napped for a denser, warmer fabric. These early versions of what we would call cloth blends today would be worth experimenting with for clothing if they can still be found at a reasonable price anywhere, or could be a goal if we ever recruit a serious weaver.
Purchased clothing was cut and styled by a traveling tailor. He was considered an important member of society, though not highly paid. He worked for both men and women of all classes. The skill of cutting garments was learned through an apprenticeship, as patterns were not generally used. Extremely simple, straight-cut garments which were made at home (including the kilt) both used every scrap of fabric and avoided the expense of a tailor, assuming he was even available in remote areas.
Fabrics, trims and accessories were supplied to the tailor by the customer. These were available for purchase only from the great variety of peddlers and traveling salesmen and at fairs. In the 1600's in England, for example, shops for such items existed only in the largest cities - London, Bristol, and Norwich.
In general, for accuracy, it is probably safer even for officers to dress slightly below your character’s station, rather than be too richly dressed. We don’t want the public to think all Highland mercenaries dressed like fashionable cavaliers. As a newly forming unit some of the officers may be newly promoted as well, and have not had their raises long enough to improve their wardrobe. When I was captain I toyed with an idea of a skit issuing an order that when recruiting squads leave camp to visit local villages, the recruiting sergeant should wear a kilt so the locals don’t think they’ve lost all their “Hieland” ways to the continent. We have some clear descriptions of the wealthy ‘roughing it’ in Highland garb while hunting in the countryside: ‘For once in the year, which is the month of August, and sometimes part of September, many of the nobility and gentry of the kingdom (for their pleasure) do come into these Highland countries to hunt, where they do conform themselves to the habit of the Highland men, who, for the most part, speak nothing but Irish; and in former times were those people which were called redshankes. Their habit is shoes with but one sole apiece; stockings (which they call short hose) made of a warm stuff of diverse colours, which they call tartan: as for breeches, many of them, nor their fathers, never wore any, but a jerkin of the same stuffe that their hose is of. . . with a plaid about their shoulders, which is a mantle of diverse colours, much finer and lighter stuff than their hose. . . ’ -John Taylor of a Highland hunting party in 1618.
