Medieval Ladies Garment Gallery

Medieval garments for Ladies are long and flowing and full of drama. Be you innocent princess or wicked witch queen, a flattering medieval gown can be found for you. You may wish to start your journey by perusing this Garment Gallery until you find some ensembles that are to your liking. Then you should assess your skill level (Lazybone, Novice, or Adept) and pick a design of the appropriate level of difficulty. With your design and measurements in hand proceed to the fabric store, for it is time for Choosing Fabrics and Picking Colors.

Basic Garments

The Medieval Lady's attire consists of gown, surcoat, girdle and headpiece.

The gown is a floor length dress, fitted at the torso, with long sleeves and a scooped neckline. It is made from a light to medium non-synthetic fabric (this is the garment that will be against your skin, after all!). The cut of the sleeves can vary depending on the specific style. The sleeves may be narrow and come to a point over the hand or may flare into a dramatic bell which drapes to the floor.

The surcoat goes over the gown and there are several different styles to choose from. The most common is the open-sided surcoat, which it is loser than the gown, open down the sides (it may be either laced or tied with the girdle), and does not have sleeves. A later variation is the tudor surcoat, which is fitted around the breasts, has an empire waistline, and long decorative sleeves.

The girdle is an especially long belt tied low on the hips with the excess falling down the front of the gown. Variations - Eliminate the belt by gathering the skirt of the surcoat into a princess seam then cover the seam with beading or fancy trim.

The headpiece in an indispensable accessory for Medieval Ladies. There are a wide variety of headpieces to choose from, go to the Accessories page for some examples.

English Maiden

This maiden's garb is inspired from drawings of costumes from the 1200's in England. Modified to make the most of the lady's tiny waist, this fitted surcoat/undergown combo is excellent for those of you with narrow frames. Go to the Pattern.

German Maiden

German gowns from the 1300's, with their fitted bodices and low slung girdles, look especially nice on ladies with fuller or hourglass figures. The Germanic influence in this design gives this gown an unusual, yet authentic flavor. Go to the Pattern.

Early Tudor Matron

Near the end of the Medieval period the waistlines rose and a new kind of surcoat appeared. This more substantial garment had a high waistline, long sleeves, and broad lapels, allowing for more ornamentation near the face. Go to the Pattern.

Italian Matron

You may recognize this gown from the image on our Novices page, the green one on the far left. The atmosphere of that particular J.W. Waterhouse piece nearly screams Italian romance. Though the gown in the painting adorns a maiden, it is a very flattering design for any aged lady. Go to the Pattern.

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Please Note : My wedding was in 1998, so since then the companies which made the following patterns stopped making them. I'm leaving this content up just in case someone can get their hands on one of these patterns and wants to follow the modification instructions. Also, the instructions will give you an idea of how to modify similar patterns.

Medieval Costume Patterns from Simplicity

Commerical costume patterns usually produce lesser quality garments that don't fit well or look authentic to the period they're supposedly mimicing. Here are three fairly decent and easy to make patterns from Simplicity.

Simplicity 8725 - Very Medieval Gowns.
Simplicity 8192 - Romantic Gothic dresses.
Simplicity 9058 - Early Tudor gowns.

Modify Contemporary Simplicity Pattern 7782

For those of you that don't want full blown courtly garb, this pattern modifies into a long romantic gown quite easily. It will fit in when surrounded by other more authentic gowns, but is still modern enough that it can be worn on the street without comment. Here are the directions to modify this pattern and take a look at the pattern envelope.

Modify Contemporary McCall's Pattern 8962

The more things change.... This pattern, with only minor modifications, will pass quite splendidly in a medieval gathering. Here are the directions to modify this pattern.