Medieval kirtle

This post is about my work with 15th c dresses for the Golden Egg challenge I do in the SCA, and it will be something like an overview on dresses. If you want pattern outlays and sewing tutorials, …

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One-piece garment worn by women from later Middle Ages into Baroque period. Typically worn over a chemise or smock which acted as a slip and under the formal outer garment or gown/surcoat. Kirtles began as loose garments without a waist seam, changing to tightly fitted supportive garments in the 14th century. Later kirtles could be constructed by combining a fitted bodice with a skirt gathered or pleated into a waist seam. They could lace up the front, back or side-back, and be embellished.

Faerie Queen Costuming, 15th century French kirtle. (This no longer sold by them, but it gives a good visual of the kirtle with tippets.)

The kirtle was a garment that supported the bust and created the correct silhouette for the period. It was worn over the petticoat, and from the 1540s onwards, over the farthingale. It seems that the kirtle bodice was stiffened in some way, usually with buckram. This was a stiffened linen which may have had additional stiffening consisting of some kind of “boning”.

*** Welcome to the photo dump for my new blue kirtle (the construction of which was recently documented in my latest Dress Diary ). Based o...

c.1460s. Medieval kirtle with no waist seam and side lacing using metal rings.

Under her dress she wears a Gown/Kirtle: which is a layer of fabric placed under to give the stiff look to not show wrinkles of the dress.