simple
Simple garb, by my definition, is stuff that is fast, easy, and comfortable. If you're in the SCA, it's what you'll spend 95% of your time wearing. I made all of this stuff when I was just starting out as a costumer, and I still wear it. It's not truly period, but it looks reasonably close - and there aren't that many people who look that much better, believe me. You can go sit in the grass/dirt/interesting geographical feature and watch the fighting without worrying about ruining your outfit.
What I have - and what I recommend - is the ever-popular look of chemise, skirt, and bodice or tunic. There's probably supposed to be some kind of hat in there - okay, there definitely is - but I wear a straw one and call it good. Although this is far from definitive, and is one of many, many sites to offer this information, I'm going to include an overview of how to create such an outfit. And obviously, you have many outfits if you come up with different chemises, styles and colours of bodices, colours of skirt, etc. Make sure, though, that there's some period coherency there - nothing's more fun than wearing a fourteenth century chemise with a sixteenth century bodice, because I will be the one to mock you, if nothing else. I have four bodices, three chemises, a wool tunic, and two skirts, all of which are more or less mix and match. Except for the chemise with the angel sleeves.
goal: completed, and completed, and completed over again.
chemise
skirt
bodice
tunic
everything else
For the bottom-most layer, we have the chemise. You can get very fancy with these - the one that I wear with my Elizabethan outfit has hand-done blackwork pansies on the collar and cuffs - but for simple garb, go simple, especially as complex tends to mean "not machine washable".
The chemise pattern - sketch to the right, someday - is basically a bunch of rectangles. Cut out two big rectangles of your desired body length and width and two of your desired arm length and width. (For poofier sleeves, increase the width somewhat, but increase the length more. If you have a very wide sleeve that is your normal length measurement, you won't have a poofy sleeve. You'll have a wide one. It will merely be wide, rather than gathering and poofing the way the longer sleeve will. See the difference?)
Take one of your sleeves and one of your bodies. Place them right side together so that one of the top corners - we'll say left - matches up. Mark a diagonal line across the matched up corner. This will determine the size of your collar - the top of the shoulder piece will be the side of the collar and the body piece will be the front and back. Make sense? I generally go with 8 inches in - you may have to play with this. Bear in mind that the smaller the diagonal measurement, the larger the neckline.
Sew across your line, and do the same with the other sleeve on the same body-piece.
Now. This bit is tricky to describe, but only because I'm no good at describing geometry.
You're going to sew the sleeves to your other body piece. To do this and have the seams come out right, fold your sleeves in half lengthwise. Now fold the sleeve top corners to the other body piece like you did before. You have to fold the sleeves because otherwise your chemise will have half of the seams on the outside and half on the inside. Play with this and make sure you understand what I'm telling you to do.
Trim your shoulder seams and finish them however you want. I generally serge them, but that's because a) I'm not an authenticity freak and b) I'm going to put a casing in the neckline and French seams are ugly to thread ribbon through.
But before we come to that, the side seams. (Drumroll, please.) These are sewn as one long seam, from wrist to hem. Always pin at the armpit first, as you're going to have to do a 90 degree turn there, and if you think your fabric will match up at both hems, you're wrong.
After you've done all this, you're going to put in the casings. Do one at the neck and one at each wrist. You can thread elastic or ribbon through here. Obviously, ribbon is more period, and what I would recommend. However, if you're doing a low-cut chemise, the kind that bares the shoulders, you will get a better grip with elastic, so use that.
Now hem it and you're done. Or, if you're clever, cut it so the bottom hem is selvedge and you don't have to hem.
2 further notes. For material, I'd go with the most period thing you can afford, probably cotton batiste or a lightweight linen. It depends on what you can afford. There are several advantages to this. The first one is that natural fibers breathe. This is very important, more so than you may think. You are not going to want to be running around in the sun in anything that is even slightly artificial - you will sweat like it's going out of style. The other note is that I find, for some strange reason, that it is easier to maintain natural fibers. In other words, if you get sweaty after all, you can wash the chemise easily. Obviously, this is only the case if you prewashed your material, so make sure you do that!
The other note is on sleeves. I've never made a chemise with a really bagged sleeve - the kind where you run a casing down the center top of the sleeve, put a cord through the casing and gather to that, so I don't know how to do that one. I'd say play with your measurements before doing anything. This kind of sleeve looks like it takes a lot of length. I have made a chemise with angel sleeves. All I did was to cut out the sleeve slightly larger than my arm circumference. Then, at approximately the elbow, I flared the sleeve into a triangular shape. (diagram to be added someday). I sewed this in following the instructions for a normal sleeve. For this type of sleeve, particularly if you ever plan to eat in it, I'd sew a length of ribbon on the inside and the outside of the chemise at the shoulder. Then you push the whole thing up your arm and tie the two ribbons together.
The chemise is another garment you can sleep in and be totally period doing so. Pattern: Laughing Moon #100, Ladies' Victorian Underwear
The skirt is very simple. I cut out a number of gored pieces (6 for one skirt, 8 for another) about four inches longer than my desired length. I sewed them together and made a casing at the top, which I put (gasp!) 2 inch wide elastic through. Then I hemmed them, and then I wore them.
The more important thing that I find with skirts is what you make them of. These skirts are both made of an incredibly cheap rayon-cotton blend. I got one length at Wal-Mart for $1.00 a yard, and the other for only slightly more from Joann's. They were incredibly cheap, and not composed of period materials, but they didn't look like it. Both pieces are textured in a kind of nubbly pattern that seemed period to me. I can wear them as petticoats with my nicer garb or as underskirts if I ever make a middle class outfit. I welted the hem of the black one with a nice quality black satin ribbon, which adds a very period touch to the skirt and makes it look a little fancier. Of course - and I don't have any definitive sources on this, but it's probably true - black is not period for middle and lower class characters. Basically, any color that requires an intensity of dye to create - black, red, dark blue, purple, dark green, whatever - is noble-class colors, because in period, the material would've been hellaciously expensive.
Even though they're cheap, they're damn near indestructible. This is the important thing about simple garb - you will not be standing around in it. I save all my money for garb that I don't plan to wear to a grassy field. That's what I buy nice material for. If I'm making an outfit for wars, I don't need to go with $14.00 a yard linen. It just has to look period - fake it with verve.
The other nice thing about the skirts - and anybody who does SCA overnights in Western Washington in the winter knows what I'm talking about - is that I can sleep in them. They are quite warm, since they're an artificial fiber, and they help a lot on cold nights when I stagger to bed, convinced that I'll be a popsicle by morning. Besides, changing out of warm clothes in a cold tent to get into cold clothes and a cold sleeping bag sucks. So make your skirts sturdy and they can do double duty. Much better than getting 12 dogs and a bunch of children for warmth.
I copied my bodice pattern from a friend, so I can't make a recommendation n any of the many patterns out there, although Sempstress, on the links page, has an excellent method for adapting a corset to a bodice, and also has an easy pattern for a corset. If you want to make it from scratch, I'd say start there. You don't need, at this stage in your costuming, a corset, so don't make one, but make the paper pattern - it will be much easier to work with than just a bunch of numbers.
Once you have a pattern that seems like it will work, you're ready to make it. As I said, this bodice is not worn with a corset - since it's a lower-class look , that would be silly. This means that you will want to bone it. Even if you happen to have small breasts, bone it anyway. You will look silly without the shaping that boning provides.
Do not use Rigilene to bone, or any other plastic boning. Plastic boning is advertised as having a memory, and it does. It remembers the curve that you want it to forget. I'd recommend actual springsteel boning, metal strapping from the lumberyard, or plastic cable ties. I haven't tried the last, but both Sempstress and Sewing the Seeds of Rebellion can tell you what you're looking for. Once you've found your boning, (get lots) you're ready to make the thing.
Basically, it's put together exactly like a vest. I usually sew from the top front-opening edge all the way around the bottom to the other side. Then I sew my boning channels in. Usually this is one inside of the grommets (towards the back of the garment, not along the front edge) in front of the bodice, one at the underarm, and several down the front. Bear in mind when sewing this that you will be folding the edges of the fabric inside to sew the thing shut, so don't sew your boning channels all way to the edge of the fabric.
I usually sew the ends of the straps together now. Then I fold the open edges together and pin very carefully. It's easy to have a small hole in the seam where you just didn't catch the fabric. Stitch all the way around the bodice, including the already-seamed edge. This looks decorative and conceals how the bodice was actually put together.
Once this is all done, you're ready to grommet. Do not use grommets from the fabric store, as they are crap. Go directly to the hardware store and get a packet with grommets and a grommet setter. I like 5/8" grommets, but use your own judgement.
Set the grommets on the bodice and figure out how close you want them to be. I generally go 1/4" to 1/2" from edge to edge.
Mark the centers. You can either cut an X shape over your mark, which I've never done successfully, or take a small pair of scissors and cut a hole large enough for the shank of the grommet to go through.
Set them following the directions.
For a more period look, go over the grommet hole with embroidery thread in a buttonhole stitch.
You can use anything that will work for a lace, but I like leather for the general strength of it. Whatever you use, take two when you go to an event. It will break, get lost, or be needed by someone else, I guarantee.
>
If you don't want to go to the trouble of making a bodice, or want an alternative, I recommend a tunic top.
I wear mine with my chemise and skirt. You can get period and make a T-tunic - there are lots of patterns out there, but I made mine out of a DKNY pattern (the same one that I used for my Ghawazzee coat, bizarrely enough). Basically, in this incarnation, it's a hip length, closed-front shirt with set in sleeves that bell slightly below the wrist, and a scoop neckline. Not too scooped, just enough to get my head through so I don't have to deal with a fastener. Mine is done in brown Roma wool, as I made it while poor. This is also why I wear it over the chemise.
This is something that should be done in as nice a period fabric as you can afford, as it shows. Things that are appropriate weight for this garment are hard to fake. Wool is best, Roma wool is affordable.
If you want to, you can do some embroidery around the cuffs, neck and/or hem. It is, in fact, strongly recommended. Even peasants put decoration on clothing, as much as they could afford, which, obviously, was not much.
No outfit is complete without accessories. Margo Anderson's site, One Tough Costumer, has a 10 or 12 item list of things you should have - well worth looking at. The things I'd consider essential are a belt, belt pouch, shoes, hat, cloak and basket.
The belt and belt pouch, unless you're a leather worker, you will have to buy. Choose well, young costumer. Every man in the SCA is into leatherwork - their version of sewing, so there's lots available. The SCA does have specific restrictions on colors of belts - I would look up your kingdom's rules on the main SCA site or ask someone you are going with. Shoes you should buy, unless you really want to make them, and there are several sites, linked on the SCA page that tell you how. If you buy them, I'd recommend an ankle boot and/or a pair of fisherman's sandals. You could also wear certain types of higher boots, but those are harder to make look period. The ankle boot and the sandals work for most things. If you get into fighting or something, you'll need shoes that grip; at that point, talk to someone in your group.
As to the hat and cloak. Both can be made, at least partially. If I were to wear a long-haired wig, I'd need to wear a cap with my hat; again there are numerous patterns for those. Check Milieux or the Elizabethan Costuming Page. I do wear a straw hat with interchangeable hat bands. If I'm wearing a medieval or lower-class Elizabethan, I have a long satin ribbon on the hat that trails about 3/4 of the way down my back. For fancier dress, I have another satin ribbon that goes around the crown of the hat. At the join where it's sewed together, I put some feathers on, then covered the messy bit with a silver-tone button that looks sort of like a cast metal emblem that might be period. I don't know what kind of feathers they are, but they're about 6"-8" long, and sort of trail back instead of standing stiffly. They're probably rooster tail feathers. There are many patterns for cloaks out there; my only advice would be to not sew the bottom edge together. That makes your job much harder, as you have to make sure the edges match up, etcetera.
Buy a basket. You can get them very cheaply at places like Cost Plus and Pier 1 Imports. Use it. I keep a water bottle (tucked under other stuff to disguise it), a snack or two, my sewing, and sometimes my purse in it. It's my fighting-survival tool. I like to watch the fighters, but I quickly get bored if I have nothing to do during the bits where they're all dead, so I sew. It's a very handy item to have.