As cotehardies grew shorter in the middle of the 14th century and uncovered more of the leg, hose were made longer and more closely fitted. To manage this, the braies also had to be shortened and reduced in bulk. In the 15th century the separate legs of the hose were eventually joined and the undergarment reduced to a mere loincloth. It is the transition between the loose, draped braies of the previous century and their dissapearance under closed hose that I address. (I suspect the tailors and seamsters of the period invented their own solutions to the problem and I offer my experiments as a possible clarification of the surviving evidence.)
I present two technically similar patterns (Figure 3 and Figure 4) that are simple and efficient, and form garments that, when on the body, look like two types of braies seen in 14th and early 15th century illustrations.
Where original garments do not exist, it falls to the maker of garb to decide on the pattern shape that will reproduce most closely the look and function of a garment. I have three basic rules:
I disregard everything I know about drafting patterns for mundane clothing.
The pattern must make use of the loom widths of the period and cut with little of no waste.
The finished garment must be comfortable, convenient and suit the way clothing was worn and cared for in the period. After all, we’re talking about the every-day dress of real people.
I have made several experiments to find a believable cut for a pair of braies to wear with a short cotehardie based on the Charles of Blois pourpoint of the l360’s (Payne) and cloth hose after the Herjolfsnes finds (Norland) (see fig. 1). The finished dimentions work well on me (6’1″, 150lbs). I would, however, recommend trying the patterns in muslin before cutting into your hand-woven linen. My diagrams are based on 22″ wide fabric. This is the width of linen used in the 13th century shirt illustrated in Burnham and is also one half width of the 45″ fabric I use to test patterns. Wider fabric would produce overall larger garments.
Unbleached or white linen would be standard for a washable garment but as cotehardies became ever shorter, the Great Wardrobe accounts of the time give a clue as to what was being done to make the exposure of the breeches less obvious. Listed along with plain linen underpants there is a more expensive version made of coloured wool cloth. I believe they were made to match hose giving, in effect, waist length tights (see fig. 2). In practice, this method provides more freedom of movement than the later one piece style which has to be untied at the back if the wearer is planning to do anything strenuous (like bend over).
Medieval linens were smoothed by being carefully folded and placed in a press. Shirts, shifts and braies, to work with laundry practices of the period, should fold flat. This is one of the most annoying failings of braies styled on the cut of modern trousers.
The other happens when you try to mount a horse.