Tempus' Sewing & Garb Accessories Weeb Site:
		Hoods

Hoods were an often worn garment. They were decorated and decorative, and they protected from the elements. in a time when everyone wore hats this versitile garment could be made into a hat, and if the lirepipe is very long you can fation the hood into a turbin like hat.
A hood pattern. This design is the best I have used, becuse of the rectangular shap of the head part it sites well when worn on the head. It stays on the head and protects well form the elements because of the deepper face oppening. I often fold the face oppening back to to eleviatte the tunel apeerence and to give the oppening more rigid shape.
Another hood pattern with a dagged edge. If you want to wear your hood around your neck this pattern is a littl better that the previous as it will have less fabric at the back of your neck.

Hoods The hood has long been a traditional and practical means of keeping the head and shoulders dry and warm in inclement weather. Most of the ancient civilizations wore such hoods, either separately or attached to a cloak as, for example, the Roman cucullus (see ancient Rorne), which was handed down for medieval monastic use. In northern Europe especially, the hood continued in common use throughout the Middle Ages. At first it was simply a headeovering buttoned or laced at the throat. Soon it was extended to include a shoulder cape and this in turn became part of the fashion of the day being a subject for parti-colouring, dagged edges and heraldic designs.

In the fourteenth century the point on top began to lengthen into a padded sausage which hung down the wearer's back (see Liripipe). In the later years of the century, new ways of wearing the hood were experimented with. The common method was to place the face opening upon the head itself and to arrange the folds of the shoulder cape over the edge and to drape down the back, front or sides as the wearer wished and the lirlpipe hung loose on the other side. By the 1420s a more formal arrangement evolved. The chaperon, the name given to the hood and shoulder cape combined, was re-designed so that it was no longer necessary to re-drape the material each time that it was donned. Now the part set upon the head was made up into a padded roll, a bourrelet (see Bourrelet) or, as it was later termed, a roundlet. The shoulder cape was sewn to the inside of the bourrelet on one side and the liripipe to the other. The new style lasted for many years. A jewelled brooch generally deco- rated one side of the bourrelet, which was covered by velvet or other rich fabric. in the fifteenth century hats largely superseded hoods as fashionable headcovering.

Women also worehoods, usuallyattached to capes for travelling purposes. During the first half of the sixteenth century various styles of hood became fashionable head- coverings. At first the design was simple, a velvet cap with hanging ends and back, worn over a white coif. The sides were flaps called lappets falling upon the shoulders and the back was a semi-circular piece of material hanging in folds and termed the fall. Most hoods were of black velvet lined with colour. Early in the century the hood then evolved into dif- ferent forms. In England this was the gable hood, which was pyramidal in form and was alternatively referred to as a kennel or pyramidal hood. The head-dress was worn over a white coif and had a metal, jewelled frontlet to keep the shape and a velvet fall hung behind. Embroidered velvet lap- pets lay on the shoulders in front and the hair above the forehead was often encased in a coloured striped silk cap which showed in front under the gable form. By about 1515-20 one or both lappets were pinned up at the sides. In the 1530s the English gable was gradually ousted in fashion in favour of the French horseshoe shape. This was set a little further back on the head to display the hair parted in the centre. There were one, or even two, metal jewelled frontiers, termed biliments, and these were separated by silk or satin bands between. The colf ,showed in front of the metal band. The velvet hood then hung in folds or a tubular shape behind the head.

In the 1550s, especially in England, the horseshoe form became flattened on top to give a different shape. During the sixteenth century part of the hanging section of the French hood was sometimes brought forward to shade the complexion from the sun. This formed a rectangular peak or projection over the face and was called a bongrace. Hoods were worn in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by ladies for out-of-doors and for travelling. These could be worn alone, tied at the throat with hanging ends or were attached to a shoulder cape or longer cloak. The long hood had two long streamers to tie under the chin, the short or pug hood was tied by narrow ribbons and its back was designed with folds radiating from a central point to provide the necessary fullness. The capu- chin (capuchon) was lined with a contrasting colour and was attached to a deep cape. A fashionable hood worn in the American colonies in the later seventeenth century was called a rayonne. It was made of black corded silk lined with colour and the front edge was turned back to display this.

Patterns    

		© Ragnar Torfason 2006 March 28