Thursday, April 9, 2009

Breid... Not Something I Wear Everyday

Friends of ours were married in September 2007 and they had a Renaissance themed ceremony. All of the clothes FH and I had were too heavy for the heat so I put together a few things. Here is my "head gear" while I'm in Ren-mode.

This is a breid, which was worn as a head covering by married women in Scotland during the 18th century.The stitching is blackwork that I did in blue. The edges are were all sewn closed by hand.
Here's a shot of the reverse side so the fiber folks can see the back.
FH and I tend to go as Scots for Ren activities since he favors kilts in warm weather. It suits his family surname and both sides of the family tree.

His great kilt is currently 9 yards of double wide (60") wool flannel. We are planning on trimming it down by a few yards as it's much longer than it truly needs to be. This suits me fine as then I will have a warm shawl for winter.

Working together we can pleat the fabric, roll him into it, and buckle his belt in about five minutes. The only pictures of him in the great kilt were taken with a film camera, so I don't have pictures handy. I will remedy this the next time he puts it on.

6 comments:

Michelle said...

That last paragraph tells me there is a whole lot more to donning a kilt than I ever imagined!

FH said...

Michelle:

It depends on the kilt actually. Kat was referring to my great kilt. A great kilt is several yards of fabric pleated, wrapped around a body, and held on with a belt.

The lower half (below the belt) is pleated everywhere except the front (where you have the apron area). The upper half is somehow arranged (depending on the weather) so that a pin holds it up and over the shoulder, or both shoulders.

The advantage of such a kilt is that it's easy to make (just fabric), and versatile. The upper half can be wrapped around the waist, giving large pockets and keeping the wearer cool on warm days. The upper half can also be wrapped around the upper body to keep the wearer warm and dry on a cold and wet day.

More details on great kilt wear here.

My other kilt is a Utilikilt. Much easier to clean, get into, out of, a better every-day garment.

-FH

Caseymini said...

Kat, how is the breid worn? Can we see you in it? Please?

Tallulah Belle said...

Beautiful....love the photo of you wearing it.

I like to see a man in a kilt. perhaps because I am in love with Scotland.

You know over in the Uk we don't have Renaissance fayres like you do over here :-)

Mary said...

Minikat, I wish I could embroider as neat as you. This is a lovely pattern indeed!
Mini hugs,
Mary

Alice said...

Lovely! I have not tried blackwork (yet).

A number of years ago, a guy I worked with was telling me about how a kilt was worn. I never saw him in it.