Those people that choose to portray the aristocracy and wealthy merchants have at their usage lovely fabrics such as silk, velvet, taffeta, damask, brocade, tapestry , fine wool and gabardine in many colours. Those people that are portraying the lower classes should stick to handwoven wools, linens, cottons and leather. The colours of lower class clothing usually was made from vegetable or mineral dyes of the region, usually browns, greens, yellows, reds and combinations and tints of these. Many fabrics were left the natural colours they were woven: grey, beige, black, tan, etc. Leather was usually left it's natural colour .Some richer farmers and craftsmen and their wives would occasionally have a piece of finer material in a more lavish colour such as blue or bright scarlet, but it would only be part of their outfit.
Most fabrics were plain and in one colour, except for VERY rare silks with patterns woven into them. Patterned fabric as we know it today had not been invented. There was an abundance of beautiful needlework, embroidery , blackwork, crewel work, tapestry , quilting, tucks, applique, special buttons, braids, trims, lace, etc. were used for decoration.
It can be quite difficult to find fabric for Faire costumes in modern fabric stores. How many Ben Franklin stores carry homespun wool, anyhow? Never fear, there are modern subsitutes for the 16th century fabrics. Keep an eye out for unbleached muslin, homespun, monk's cloth, crash, denim, kettle cloth, etc. All of these come in natural colour or white, which can be tinted or dyed.
A note on dying fabrics for costumes!! Using natural items to dye cloth is a wonderful idea. Tea, berries, wine, dirt, grass...anything can work. Tea is a wonderful way to impart a weather worn look to white fabric. Use a large stock pot on top of your stove, fill it 1f2 way with water, add MANY tea bags and boil for a few minutes. Remove the tea bags, and turn the heat off under the stock pot. Place the item in the pot, and leave it there overnight, stirring occasionally. When you wake up in the morning, you'll have a lovely tea dyed item.
Now...if you are using modern dye for clothing, please keep the following in mind. RIT dye, and other modern chemical dyes bleed when they are wet. No matter what the instructions say: they bleed. Do NOT wash items dyed with these dyes with other parts of your costume. Keep in mind that this Faire is in Washington! It rains quite a lot, kittens. There is a good chance that RIT dyed items will bleed when rained on. If you use modern dyes, wash all items numerous times before wearing them to try and lessen this effect.
Also be aware of the fact that natural cloth like cotton, linen, muslin and wool will hold a dye better than anything made of satin, polyester, non-cotton lace, nylon, etc. Not only will it not hold a dye well, but the colour it does hold may not be anything like the colour a natural weave will hold. Trust me, this can look really terrible...be careful. Your best bet, if you're not a daring type, is to buy cloth the colour you want it, or to order or purchase clothing from a vendor .
If you're a talented seamstress/tailor, you can consider working in leather, as well. Leather makes fine breeches, bodices, jerkins and pouches. Tandy Leather has a catalouge and website where you can order patterns for leatherworking. http://t1cdirect.tandycrafts.com/
Nobles and rich merchants might wear linen, lawn, fine bleached muslin shift and shifts, their outer garments can be no-wale cordouroy, upholstery damasks and fabrics...these work great for bodices. A note on bodices! Unless you are a talented seamstress, do not attempt to make a boned bodice on your own. Also be very mindful of what you use for boning! Good steel boning is the best bet. Weak metal boning doesn't work for our more bodacious ladies, and plastic and whalebone boning can actually cause grave physical injury if it breaks. I've heard many stories about pierced lungs and stabbed breasts from badly boned bodices. Be careful. There are countless online vendors to purchase bodices from, if you are at all worried, please don't do it yourself.
Keep in mind that you want to attain as natural a look as possible. Fabrics with a high polyester content might look like they'll hang better and be cooler, but in truth, those fabrics retain heat. If you're worried about looking rumpled, keep in mind that starch was quite the thing in the Renaissance, grab your iron and have at. However, if you're a peasant you probably wouldn't have cared about wrinkles.
The best way to get an idea of how your costume should look is to visit the websites of vendors and take a look at their pictures. The Lady and the Fool maintains an excellent website that can give you a great idea of costuming, there are many, many sites you can access through the ~$::u~f ~~s~c~.Merc~~~ ~o.Yi!h .ihe_l:inks ~ge of our website.
Peasant costuming IS the most affordable, and also the most comfortable. Before you sink the money into a middle class or noble costume, you might want to spend at least one season of Faire as a peasant to get the feel of it. Peasant men usually wore a shirt, vest (called a jerkin) and pants, many had belts with pouches, drinking cups, etc. hung from them, and a hat. Almost EVERYONE wore a hat in the 16th century. Peasant women usually wore a blouse called a chemise, a bodice, and two skirts, one right over the other. Women also wore belts and carried pouches, and women always wore a hat or kerchief over their heads. To not wear a hat was to mark yourself as rather a bawdy woman, indeed. Bells and green skirts also are indicative of a woman with rather loose virtue.
Shoes are easy. The Pillaged Village (www.pillagedvillage.com) offers very cheap shoes that work perfectly. Canvas "Kung-Fu" shoes are great, as are cloth Mary Jane shoes, plain suede or leather boots/moccasins work well, too. Irish dancing shoes work well, plain clogs or mules, anything period acceptable. Keep in mind. You will be walking a LOT .Do not wear shoes based on their cuteness factor. You will be in dire pain by the end of the weekend. Last year, I wore some darling clogs. I had blisters on my blisters, kittens. It was miserable. You might want to consider having two pairs of shoes on hand for this very reason. Sore feet does not a happy Faire weekend make. For the peasant ladies, cotton tights are a godsend. Nylon/Lycra tights do not evenly distribute heat, and retain moisture quite a bit, and can turn out to be not only anachronistic, but highly uncomfortable. For those ladies who are more Ruebenesque, and don't want to wear tights, consider bloomers or pantalets, as bare thighs under skirts in summer heat can be a real source of annoyance. Bloomers are wonderful, and totally acceptable.
Makeup for peasants should be at a bare minimum, if worn at all. If you really must have your makeup on, vain girls...please make it look as natural as possible. Hair should be under a hat. At the very least, braid it. Women did NOT wear their hair loosely- down. Not any woman of virtue, at least.
Middle Class costumes are remarkably more expensive than peasant costumes. Women can wear a variety of dresses, farthinggales, bumrolls, fancier chemises and bodices, and more jewelry .Middle Class women can also wear some of the colours the nobility wear, and have much more detail on their costumes. Your costume is also highly dependent on your nationality . Irish women would wear vastly different clothing than say, an Italian noblewoman. The links page on this site can lead you to many websites that can give you a clear idea of exactly how many choices you would have in costuming when portraying a Middle Class character. Noble costumes are highly expensive. Expect to spend at the very least $500.00 if purchasing through a vendor, most of the time, it is considerably more expensive and time consuming to put together a costume of this magnitude. Again, the Links page of this website can lead you to many sites where you can view pictures of costumes like this. Velvets, silks, richly embroidered brocades, etc. are used in noble costumes, and the nobility frequently used white, lead based makeup, and wore a considerable amount of jewelry and many accessories.
Basically, for first time Faire workers and those without bottomless pockets, being a peasant or lower middle class character is the way to go. I have many patterns for bodices, skirts, jerkins, shirts, chemises, hats, etc. These patterns are VERY easy, and anyone with a decent grasp on sewing should have no problem using them. Please let me know if you would like a copy of the patterns, or help in choosing an appropriate fabric.
The biggest worry for those making a costume should be comfort. Do not make a costume you would not be just as comfortable sleeping in as you would be walking in. Faire can be hot, has long hours, and is supposed to be fun. Dress accordingly.