A fellow band member asked me to make a medieval tunic for him. I have not often made medieval clothes for men and know less about them than I know about female garments, but a tunic (also called ‘cotte’) is rather simple.
My colleague wanted a bi-colored tunic, divided in quarters. He choose the colors himself, after which I bought the linnen fabric for him and got started.
When he tried on the outfit (sorry, no pictures of that), I noticed the waistline was a little askew. When wondering out loud what I could have done wrong, he remarked that his body wasn’t entirely straight – one side was about one centimeter longer than the other. Was I able to see that? Well, yes… that’s what I’ve been trained in! And yes, it is relevant to mention! Although I doubt whether tailors compensated for that in medieval times.
That will teach me to not trust clients’ own measurements again. Lesson learned: always measure the client yourself! 😉