Dawn costumes

Look and Feel

"Dawn is the land of valour; the classical images of gleaming plate, of brightly coloured banners and traditional heraldic devices provide the imagery for the nation. Where the Marches is gritty and down to earth, Dawn is the opposite, almost block primary colours. There is a sumptuous nature to the materials and tones used, idealistic in design instead of practical. Arthurian, pre-Raphaelite and the Gothic revival movements all provide strong themes and forms to the nation.

There is a touch of tragic flaw to the people here though also, with elements of Shakespeares tragedies threaded through their lives, leaving shadow in contrast to all the glorious polished armour."

Clothing in Dawn should make a statement. Shapes, colours and fabrics are chosen to stand out - vivid, luxurious and elegant. It can seem like a daunting prospect, involving expensive fabrics and advanced skills - but actually, the clean lines and textures of Dawnish costume lend themselves extremely well to inexpensive and rewarding costuming.

Fabrics

A guide to fabrics for kitmaking

Natural Fabrics

Natural fabrics include silk, linen, cotton and wool. We're not re-enactors, so authenticity isn't a major consideration, but in my opinion these fabrics look better, are more comfortable and will wear better than their synthetic counterparts. Often they're no more expensive, and with careful shopping they can actually be cheaper.

Silk

For beautiful costume, there really is nothing to equal it. Advantages - vast range of available colours, comfortable, easy to work with, wears wonderfully. Disadvantages - can be expensive if you don't shop carefully. Often not machine washable.

For dawnish gowns and surcotes, you're usually looking for silk dupion, a slightly roughly woven fabric which is widely available. You shouldn't pay more than about £10 per metre, which makes your surcote surprisingly affordable at £20-30. Silk taffeta is generally more expensive, but you may prefer its smoother look to the slightly "slubby" dupion. Silk satin is almost exclusively a bridal fabric, and as such commands a premium. However, if you're lucky enough to find heavy silk satin on sale, it makes the ultimate in a luxurious statement.

Commonly called "raw" silks, silk matka and silk noil are rough textiles woven from the outer husk of the silk cocoon. They look a lot like coarse linen, but are wonderfully comfortable, machine washable and take dye perfectly. For a wandering minstrel's robe, a pious knight's cloak and surcote or a low status yeoman they're perfect, and are often cheaper than smoother silks.

Linen

Linen is the most historical of the commonly available fabrics. Advantages - authentic, wears nicely, easy to sew, available in a variety of weights, generally not too expensive (£4-12 per metre), available in lots of colours, takes machine dye very wel. Disadvantages - very "crushy", needs pressing, needs pre-washed before sewing. You can get linen blends, where the fibres are mixed with other materials - linen/cotton blend is perfect and combines the advantages of both. Sometimes a polyester/linen blend looks just like the real thing but crushes less.

Cotton

Not actually historically accurate for much of the western world until the renaissance, but a great cheap fabric for kit. Advantages - availalble in a huge range of colours, weights and textures, cheap, wears well, comforatable, cool in summer. Disadvantages - can look cheap and flimsy. Choose your cotton wisely!

Avoid: cheap polycotton sheeting for anything other than lining. It doesn't wear well, it can be a bit hot and it looks like what it is!

Wool

Decent wool is great. Fine wool would make a beautiful gown; heavier wools are perfect for winter surcotes, houpellandes and cloaks. Wool melton is a thickly woven fabric which has been treated so it doesn't fray - it's best for heavy garments. You can get blends with polyester which are usually ok, but worth trying a sample first to make sure they're not too plasticky. Lightweight silk/wool blends are wonderful if you can get your hands on them.

Similar nations

Compare it to other nations with overlaps and discuss how to differentiate

Research

Historical/cultural inspiration (and how the nation differs/adheres to it), films, books, tv, google search terms

In detail

Breakdown of each garment worn, typical layers and fabrics for each

links to patterns, shops, traders etc.

Good substitutions for each garment

Specifics

Costuming high, middle and low status character

Men/Women/children in each category?

What you can achieve at different price brackets? (thinking of doing something along the lines of the Odyssey £30 kit challenge maybe Daisy and Jude!)

Hats and outerwear

Examples, materials, patterns etc.

Bibliography

Both an online “would you like to know more!” and a guide to the amazing books you can get on amazon.

Nation specific garment

Possibly – if we can think of something suitable for each nation!