For the 14th c. I would go with a gabardine or worsted twill, actually, unless you can find a lightweight woolen. Layers, rather than one heavy garment, are the way to go here (and accurate for the period!).
For Fashion Fabrics Club, keywords are "100% wool" and then "suiting", "gabardine", "worsted", "twill", and perhaps "flannel". Skip the tricotine--that way lies madness and tears. On fabric.com, look for wool gabardine and wool suiting. Those are my two favorite fabric sites.
For fulling, well, it depends on the fabric. Some are treated and some aren't, and that part isn't always obvious until you've washed it. I find that woolens are more likely to full than worsteds, in my experience.
Jen/pixel On Fri, 28 Sep 2007, Beteena Paradise wrote:
I've never had to make garb for a cool climate before, but now that we live in England, I think switching to wool might be a good idea. :) Especially as it was 42 F yesterday morning. Brr! I'd like to make some roughly 14th c stuff... gothic fitted dress for me and a cotehardie or cotte for my husband. I'd also like to do some German (similar to the those portrayed in Cranach paintings) as well. The problem is that I am not sure which modern fabrics to choose. If I were to look somewhere like fashionfabricsclub.com, on what types of fabrics should I concentrate? Or what types should I avoid? I'm also interested in what types of modern wool fabrics would full well. I know that worsteds don't full and that I should look for woolens, but which are best? Flannel? Is melton/coating too thick? I'm thinking about making complex dagged hoods and/or bodices/doublets which are heavily slashed/pinked. Thanks! Teena
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