GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR
Clothing & Accessories
Clothing is the most visible aspect of your persona and can include any tools of your trade, weapons and armor, coin, and gaming items. “Kit” refers to all the things you have on or about you. Your kit may all fit into a belt purse/bag, or you may have a large chest (or two) that holds it all.
The following lists are the basics to get started. Members are happy to help guide and assist in creating clothing and accessories suitable for your persona. Clothing and accessories can be expensive or time consuming. You are encouraged to speak to the Education Officer or other members about items of clothing or gear before making a purchase or beginning construction.
Bringing period projects or items to a Bandes event is encouraged! You can discuss or get advice and feedback or just to show off.
Getting Started
First events can be daunting, but our members are happy to loan clothing and other items as you find your way.
Please contact us if there is anything we can do to help get you started or make participation easier.
Minimal Clothing List
Everyone
- hat (Monmouth cap, flat cap, coif, tall hat)
- stockings
- shoes
- garters (not knitted)
- gloves – knitted or leather (for warmth)
Male Personas
- falling band/cuffs
- shirt
- doublet (with sleeves)
- pants
Female Personas
- shift
- bodice (with sleeves)
- petticoat(s)
- apron
Minimal Personal Gear
- coins (you’ll get these from the clerk)
- belt purse or bag
- drinking vessel (wood or ceramic)
- bowl
- spoon
- knife (for eating)
Highly Recommended
- haversack (leather)
- lantern
- plate
- hand towel/napkin
- bench/stool
- cassock, cloak, or dutch cloak
- lacing points
Supplies & Bibliography
Clothing and Hat Suppliers
- Dirty Billy’s Sutlery, Bill and Fran Wickham; 717-334-3200. Primarily Civil War era but carries a line of 17th century hats as well. 20 Baltimore Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325.
- Black Swan Designs Part of Historic Enterprises, 19722 Casner Road, Ramona CA 92065, 760-789-2299. High quality goods including custom knives, shoes, badges, dress accessories, pottery, and horn lanterns. Clothing gwen@historicenterprises.com; Arms and armor – jeffrey@historicenterprises.com
- Kirstie Buckland, Chippenham Gate St, Monmouth, Gwent NP5 3DH ENGLAND. The best supplier of reproduction knitted caps.
- Kirstie Buckland, Chippenham Gate St, Monmouth, Gwent NP5 3DH ENGLAND. The best supplier of reproduction knitted caps.
- Crafty Beggars. Makers of handcrafted historial hats, and traditional crafts.
- Truly Hats Store. trulycarmichael@gmail.com 905-928-0324, Hats, Ouches, trims, and other Elizabethan accessories
- The 1642 Tailor. Tailoring to order for Gentlemen and Ladies of Quality. Suits of Apparel, waistcoats and petticoats made for Soldiers and Goodwives. Shirts, smocks, caps, coifs and sundries available to all
- The Bored Tailor. Paul Hargreaves. Watch his Facebook page
- Medieval Design. Medieval Re-enactment Equipment
- White Rabbit Linens is a company that creates historically accurate and bespoke garments. Alice Gordon, contact@white-rabbit-lynens.co.uk
Bibliography
The Tudor Tailor; Ninya Mikhaila, Jane Malcolm-Davies, et al. (2006). Historically accurate patterns enable you to make a wide range of garments. There is also information on how to store and look after your finished clothing. Heavily researched.
Patterns of Fashion: The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c1560-1620. Janet Arnold (1985). An excellent collection of patterns taken from original garments, featuring extensive notes and illustrations in the introduction.
The Modern Maker Vol. 2: Pattern Manual 1580-1640 Allan Mathew Gnagy (2018) Men’s and women’s drafts from the late 16th through mid 17th centuries. Primarily taken from surviving manuals from Spain of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Oak Furniture. The British Tradition Victor Chinnery (1979). Sumptuously illustrated account of medieval and renaissance furniture.
Shakespeare’s Restless World: A Portrait of an Era in Twenty Objects Neil MacGregor (2013). Revisit the world of Elizabethan experience through discussions of objects including a communion cup, a rapier, a pedlar’s trunk, a holy relic, and others.
Before the Mast: Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose Julie Gardiner (Ed.) (2013). An archeological examination of the contents and personal belongings of the crew of the Mary Rose, an English warship that sank in 1545