According to Kass McGann at reconstructinghistory.com, there's no evidence that pleating on the léine included pleating on the top of the sleeve. The ones I've seen done that way are very pretty, though. It's hard to tell from the artwork, I guess, because the women are shown with some sort of oversleeve, either a regular wrist-length sleeve, or a "hanging sleeve" that's open at the bottom seam and fastened around the wrist; both kinds of sleeve hide the top of the léine's sleeves.
So, this is part of the reason I'm stumped on the sleeves: the artwork just doesn't show enough of women's léinte for me to figure out how the heck the sleeves end at the wrist. The men's are easier because there are a few examples from period illustrations showing them from shoulder to wrist (or forearm, more precisely). The Irish living history forum has quite a bit of debate on men's léinte, but nothing on women's. I got a wonderful email off-list from one lady who says she left her sleeves full, with no gathering or cuff at the wrist. One poster on the Irish site put it perfectly: "I think the appropriate response to anything cocerning the leine is ARGH!" :) ~ M.
"I have an additional Leine question: on some of these sites, the sleeves are
pleated all the way up the arm--sometimes covered with trim. I've also seen them with drawstrings alone in the same area--both make a very pretty presentation, but I'm wondering if they are documentable in period? I have some gorgeous saffron linen here that I really want to make into a leine, but I'd like it to be as correct as possible." ================== ~ Twinkle, dammit! ~ _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
