Interpreting a 14th Century Gardecorps

“I have wanted a gardecorps since I was 15 years old…”

A gardecorps was a traveling cloak with hanging sleeves and attached hood that was worn in Europe from the 13th to early 14th centuries.

My friend Jacob, had been gifted over a decade ago with a beautiful piece of forest green coat-weight wool, which he had roughly cut into pieces before stashing it away two years ago. Once I convinced him to let me finish it for him, our mutual excitement rose. He supplied buttons that another friend had brought back from Mongolia. My friends also stepped in – Astrid shopped for lining fabric for me in Canada, and Crystal supplied a wood block that I would use to print a border on that lining. Marie donated bells for what would become a detached and dagged hood. It became a truly collaborative project.

After lining up the other materials I needed, and the courage to finish a garment that someone else had started, I began…

Jacob had cut the pieces for a floor length garment. But during our initial fitting, I lamented that although it fit him well enough, it lacked the fullness of the profile we were aiming for.

“What if we make it shorter?” Jacob suggested.

Shortening the gardecorps by 10 inches gave me just enough wool to add in, in order to achieve the fullness of the historical profile. So I returned to my studio, tore out all the seams, and started piecing. Fortunately, piecing is a historically appropriate technique…

Pleating helped to hide the new seams and gave the garment the fullness the profile I was aiming for.

I then began to deviate from historical precedent. When I was trying to squeeze out enough lining for the sleeves from the two choices I had, Jacob cited his love of asymmetry, and suggested that the sleeve linings could be mismatched. His love of asymmetry would later factor into the undertunic that would become part of this ensemble.

Detailing is always my most fulfilling work. It’s how I make a garment unique to its wearer. It’s also how I try to hide flaws… The block printing on the inside of the lining hides the stitch line that I found abhorrent. The frogs – cordage crafted from the lucet fork that Jacob had already carved for me, hide the flanges on his buttons. The interior hook and eye helps the front panels to hang evenly, in spite of the left panel being 1/2″ longer than the right – a flaw I was never able to correct, and which continues to plague me on other 14th century garments that I have made.

At last, the profile is corrected and the gardecorps is complete.

Next up – the hoods and a tunic…