home - website - blog - tutorials - bio - books - shop - contact me

fabrics
& sewing

basic
medieval
clothing
sewing
tutorials

eyelet
tutorial

buttonhole
tutorial

cloth button
tutorial

lucet cord
tutorial

tassel
tutorial

 

Sewing Tutorial:
Easy Basic Medieval Hood Tutorial

Suitable For Women, Men and Children

This can be used for 13th and early 14th century re-enactors, since a later medieval hood usually has triangle gores, either at the front or on the shoulders. This is a very easy hood to put together which will give you a toasty warm product for cold mornings and crisp evenings and has the trademark dangly liripipe hanging down the back which is a feature of medieval hoods!

Made in wool or silk for evening feasts, it's a great dress accessory and only has 2 seams. If you line it in another colour, it has 6 seams- 2 seams each and two to join! If you're sewing for a child, make the pattern smaller. If you don't have a pattern, there's one HERE which is to scale.

Step 1
You need: fabric, scissors, pattern of some kind, needle and thread and pins. If you don't have a pattern, there's one HERE which is to scale.

You can use it for your own private use, and adjust it to suit your own head and shoulders size. Make a trial in scrap fabric first.
Step 2
Leave the fabric out flat and fold it horizontally with the good side of the fabric on the inside.

The top of your hood is going to go right across the top, and it will save you a seam.
Step 3
Double check that you've folded correctly.

Here's a side pic to make sure you've folded the right way.

Right! Good to go.
Step 4
Position your hood along the top fold of the fabric and pin! pin! pin!

If you have a really limited amount of fabric, the dangly liripipe at the back can be cut out separately and sewn on, but you must do that before you sew the sides up or you'll discover that sewing a tube onto a rectangle will try the patience of a saint. Okay, now cut out your hood.
Step 5
If you DID cut the dangly liripipe separately, now is the time to unfold your hood, measure half way down the back of the hood and sew the dangly liripipe on so it looks like this.

Step 6
Okay. Now it's cut out and you have a liripipe on the back, re-fold it so it looks like this and it's ready to pin, pin, pin and sew up.

The next picture shows where to pin and sew.

Step 7
Right! Sew along the two red lines. Start with the seam at the back at the bottom because it's the fiddliest, and then do the one at the front.

If you want to line this hood, you just need to cut two and sew them together. The trick to joining them is to flip the hood so the stitching is on the outside and sew the two bottoms together. DO NOT also sew the face openings together or you will not be able to turn the hood right side out. After you sew the bottoms together, THEN turn the hood right side out and lastly sew around the face opening.

Step 8
If you'd like, you can add some embroidery- lines and scallops are very popular and can be seen throughout the popular manuscript, Romance of Alexander, like I did with my hood.

Happy sewing!

Copyright © Rosalie Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property of Rosalie Gilbert unless stated.
Art & artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.