Buttoned Hood

Okay, this will be boring for anyone who isn't into 14th-century garb. I promise my next posts will be about the Estrella War trip and my medieval underwear!

I've made a lot of hoods in the past ten years: open and closed, long and short, lined and unlined, with and without liripipe. This was my first attempt at a tight-fitting lined hood with hand-made cloth buttons.

It's made of silk noil  ("raw silk"), which is one of my favourite fabrics. It drapes beautifully, is very colourfast, doesn't fray much, has a slightly slubby texture and yes, it was available in England in the 14th century! I hand-stitched the whole thing including buttons and buttonholes. (No, I did not use my period scissors to cut the fabric nor my period brass needle for sewing…. but I could have done so. And I could have lost my precious brass needle with the way I carried this project around. Not worth it.)

All the stitching was done with linen thread. I would have preferred silk because it's more durable but I didn't have any on hand. Silk thread is not easy to find around here. I picked up several colors of silk thread while I was at Estrella so now I'm all set for future projects.

I finished the last few buttons on our flight to Phoenix. The last day we went to the Estrella War site was cool enough for wearing the hood. It has a long liripipe which I tucked into my belt at the back. I am very pleased with this addition to my medieval wardrobe.

The colours of the hood are pretty neutral so it "matches" well with the hot pink surcote

Up close you can even see the gussets on the shoulders. But you can't see if I'm having a "bad hair day"