A 14th Century Dress Attempt

I found out Monday I would get to see a medieval village this weekend on a trip which was the perfect excuse to sew something medieval like I've been wanting too for a while now!

Being the last week of school, I only had the last night before I left to work on it.

This woven blend fabric frayed so incredibly badly that I finally just had to use a serger on all the seams. The inside looks nice, but I cringe to see how not historical it looks! 

I really wanted one of these sideless surcotes to put over the dress too. They seemed to be fairly common in that time. 

Overall, I'm happy with it and it looks from the overall appearance to look medieval... but then again, I really don't know! If you can't tell I'm feeling a little bit lost in this era. I actually really like the 14th century, but I know I would have felt better with a lot more time spent researching, pattern making, and getting better fabrics. Fabric can really make such a difference!

The Details:

Fabric: Blue/Purple woven fabric blend, and white brocade type fabric (which I used the inside of because I felt the silver looked more Medieval than stark white)

Pattern: McCall 5499  

Year: Late 14th Century, Medieval 

How historically accurate is it? 

The pattern is pretty inaccurate from how it's put together. I think perhaps the finished product looks more accurate, at least I hope so! I did adjust the pattern to be as form fitting as I could, since I know that is at least is a characteristic of the late 14th century. From my research, I didn't fully understand this, but it sounded like the sleeves at that time had more room at the elbow and above but were very tight below the elbow so I tried to do that with this. Of course, to be accurate the sleeves would need to closed with buttons which mine don't. It does lace up the back, though I'm pretty sure the way the pattern has you do it is not accurate.