Kerchief with shaped and pinched wimple, 15th century
Assembled head-dress. A small, fine kerchief is pinned to a fillet. A pinched wimple is added, curved to the neck and set into a band. A plain black cloth veil is worn on top.
The wimple. Cut a rectangle of fine linen 80-100 cm long and 30 cm deep, and a band of the same linen about 35 cm long and 3-4 cm wide. Fold the band lengthways and turn in the raw edges. Hem the ends and lower edge of the rectangle.
6a b B
Form small, regular pleats, up to 1 cm wide, following the straight grain, damping the linen if necessary. Tack through the top of the pleats in the shape of the neck curve, dipping to about 5 cm at the centre. Cut out above the tacking, and enclose the edge in the prepared band. The ends of the band are secured to the fillet in wear.
CF 6. Tailed cap, second half of 15th century
The
kerchief was the
commonest form
of head-dress,
but in the
late 15th
century made-up caps
had begun
to replace
it.
This two tailed example, cut in one piece with a fold along the top, is related to the kerchief. The tails are crossed behind and knotted above the forehead.
20 cm
Pattern for a. Allow 25-30 cm for the CF edge, giving a total face edge of 50-60 cm. Measure about the same length from the bottom of the face edge to the start of the tail, A, depending how much turn-back is wanted round the face. Make the tail about 75 cm long. Cut the pattern on the fold. Sew each tail into a tube from the tip to the balance marks, AA, then join the back of the cap up to the fold, AB. Hem the face and neck edges.
199
Women's cloth head-dresses and hoods
This section includes the plain veil and hoods worn over the kerchief (Figs 1,2), round hoods - the less formal wear of fashionable women (Fig 3), and some late 15th century styles (Fig 4).
Throughout the period many women wore a thick veil of dark cloth over the kerchief out of doors. The veil was roughly semi-circular with the straight edge framing the face (Fig 1; Surcotes, Fig 1). It is still worn today by some nuns.
In the 14th and 15th centuries working women wore hoods as protection against the weather. They were open at the front (Fig 2; Kirtles, Fig 1). Women did not wear closed hoods or chaperons, and their hoods were not normally decorated with dagging.
A looser, fuller form, here called a 'round' hood, could be seen about the mid 15th century (Fig 3), worn by women of higher status. Towards the end of the century more elaborate versions appeared (Fig 4; Gowns, Fig 23). These replaced the spectacular head-dresses of the mid 15th century (see Fashionable head-dresses), and culminated in the early Tudor gable hood.
All these hoods were pinned on over a linen head-dress comprising a fillet, kerchief and perhaps a wimple. The hair, always long, was worn in a bun at the crown of the head, which supported the hood shape.
Materials
All these styles of veil and hood would be made of woollen cloth, thick enough for warmth but not too heavy. Some of the later fashionable forms (Fig 4) might be of velvet and could include fur.
The open hood might be made in brighter colours, but the cloth veil was typically black, dark grey or blue. The round hood and its later forms were usually black.
The front edge of some styles can be stiffened with a strip of canvas interlining, and the outer material doubled over it. All styles can be unlined or lined, possibly in white or a contrasting colour of silk (Methods, p. 50, 51; Pl 1).
Women's cloth head-dresses and hoods
b