[Used] Dark Colored Wool

This fabric has been used. 
For the completed dress, click here.

Cloth Type: 100% Wool
Yardage: 5 yards
Source: purchased at an event
Description:A silky-smooth worsted wool with a great ambiguous color- could be gray, could be brown, might even be a dark green.  I recently compared it to a dark olive green wool and it's a bit darker and slightly more gray.

Intended Use: It was purchased specifically to be made into a kirtle because of its light weight.

This all-purpose color would be a great color for a kirtle to use as an underdress, since it can work well with many colors.  As a supportive kirtle, therefore, a simple cut is suitable.  Good examples of this "generic" kirtle can be found in Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry worn by peasant women over white smocks.  If the main purpose of the dress is to wear under other gowns, it should probably be long-sleeved with buttons at the forearms, but a short sleeve would also work if detached sleeves were also used.  I've recently come to realize, however, that short or 3/4 length sleeves ended up dominating my garb closet, and in the long run don't allow for very much mixing and matching.  I am, therefore, determined to create more long-sleeve garments whenever it seems suitable to do so.  This wool seems well suited to long-sleeves, as the dark tone is a great colder weather color.

[Used] Rust Linen

Cloth Type: 100% Linen
Yardage: 4 yards at 59" wide
Source: Fabric-Store.com
Description: A medium weight cloth, more red-orange than true orange.

Update: This fabric was used for a fitted kirtle that is currently in progress.

At one time, I considered using this for my Garb Quest, but then realized after doing a test linen dress that 4 yards would not be enough.

The color of this linen is very similar to a linen-look dress I already have, but that dress uses a non-period pattern.  That makes it hard to really decide what the best use for this particular fabric is.

Since there's only 4 yards, which is barely enough to get a kirtle out of (using the methods I currently use), I'm pretty limited in what this can actually be used for.  I've been looking at non-dress items that linen might be suitable for, but so far, nothing is catching my eye.  One of these days, I'll be making a 15th century outfit for my husband, and it might be useful then- perhaps for a pair of hose or a chaperone.