he cotehardie

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14th century cotehardie	Close-up of buttons and button holes	Page 169 of "Textiles and Clothing"
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Explanations to the 14th century cotehardie:
The pattern is similar to one found in the book "Die Mode der gotischen Frau" by Olga Sronkova. (see especially on p. 132 the detail from the "Gewand des Hl. Veit" from the Prague Nationalgalerie). Although at this time stripes were worn mostly horziontally instead of vertically, this is both difficult to find and not considered that attractive to our modern senses. The material is a cotton brocade - the modern and affordable alternative to the silk or the moxed weave brocade that would have been used.
The pattern of the coteharie is based on those of the upper nobility, who according to books such as Newton's "Fashion in the Age of the Black Prince" and Norris' "Medieval Costume and Fashion", who would not have normally worn the shorter cotehardies of the courtiers, especially if they were no longer very young.
The buttons, all 51 of them, are hand-sewn from discs of material and stiched onto the edge of the cotehardie, as can been seen on the finds shown in the Textiles and Clothing books. The buttonholes were cut first, the sewn with the buttonhole stitch as shown in T&C. I did not run the thread from button hole to button hole as was done b/c. I was afraid of the thread getting caught and torn. The buttons are placed 1.5 cm apart. The finds from T&C sho that buttons were often placed 1 cm apart, but the buttons are already close to touching each other. Also, we don't have people helping us get dressed and, believe me, your hands and arms get tired after a while!

All outside seams are hand sewn and the cotehardie is fully lined in a cotton-linen blend.