First off 14th Century week continues with today’s surcoat over a kirtle and some headdresses. Second off Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrated yesterday.
Surcoats were worn over kirtles (I did one of those on Wednesday). Like a lot of surcoats, today’s has slits in the front that provided access to the purse worn off the girdle underneath. Think of it as the 14th century solution to pockets.
Today’s paper doll surcoat with kirtle was inspired by the Romance of Alexander from the Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 264. There’s a bunch of different examples of this short sleeved surcoat in there, but I based this dress off the red dress in this miniature and the blue dress (and pink dress) in this miniature.
One of the interesting things about those miniatures and many others from this era (check out my 14th Century Dress Pinterest board for more) is how many of them show women with their hair uncovered. Unlike later eras (and some earlier ones) the 14th century seems to be a time when women could go around without covering their hair.
(Women shown with uncovered hair in miniatures from other eras are often depicting vice and/or wickedness and this is indicated by the uncovered hair. The scandal of showing one’s hair in the 15th century was intense. )
However, some women did still cover their hair. Here’s one miniature with some hair covered and here’s another and here’s a third one. You also see head coverings in statuary. One thing I do when I am trying to decide what to include in these historical sets is to try to find multiple examples of something. That’s why you see some duplication of types of images on my 14th Century Dress Pinterest board.
That’s also why when I am dealing with an era I don’t know much about it can take me a long long time before I am comfortable drawing a paper doll of it. I learned a lot of history from Tom Tierney’s historical paper dolls and I want mine to be as helpful and accurate as I can make them.
If you want some say in the time periods I create paper dolls for, think about supporting the blog on Patreon. I tend to listen to my Patrons when they make requests. Here’s a post about what patrons have made possible from earlier this week.
Have you enjoyed 14th Century week? Let me know. I love to hear from you.
Need a doll to wear today’s paper doll clothing? All the A Pose Dolls & Clothing
I just love medieval costumes! Fairytales and all.
BTW, pdf links of this one lead to the Alice doll.
Oh, and thanks for doing this. Your dolls and costumes are one of my very few addictions.
I’ve very much enjoyed this week, and like you said, a lot can be learned from paper dolls.
Not willing to be annoying, but the color pdf link is still not working. Promise I won’t bring this up again.
You’re not being annoying at all! I copy and paste some of my code, so typos sneak in and the site runs on pretty heavy duty caching, so things don’t always “show up” immediately when I fix them unless I remember to clear my cache. Try it now, I think I got it this time. 🙂