Introduction
Purchasing a costume
Sewing your own costume
Footwear
Accessorizing
Resources on the Web
Renaissance Faires
Introduction
Good costuming really adds to the atmosphere of the game and increases everyone's enjoyment. Wearing a good costume makes everything seem just a little more "real" and helps keep you and those around you in character.
While some lunatics (like myself) will spend hours before every event sewing a new costume, it's really not that difficult to find or make a decent costume that will hold up through years of events on your own.
Purchasing a costume
The easiest (though most expensive) approach is, of course, purchasing a pre-made costume. Renaissance Faires are excellent places to find fantasy and medieval garb, and there are also plenty of merchants who sell medieval-style clothing in stores or via catalog. You'll find a list of some of these merchants below. Their prices tend to be on the expensive side, however, so this option is not good for everyone.
Theatrical costume shops are another possibility, but their prices also tend to be high and most stores only rent costumes rather than sell them.
Take some time to check out the carts in your local mall. Some of them sell ethnic clothing, and you can sometimes find great shirts among their offerings.
Other great places to look are thrift stores and flea markets. Granted, you are most likely not going to find a ready-to-wear medieval costume, but you may find some cool-looking shirts, vests, pants, or skirts can make great costume pieces that with a little modification. This is especially true for those playing a member of one of the Wanderer families. We all know how tacky their outfits can be. ;)
Don't forget the basics! Solid-colored sweatpants or leggings work fine for LARPing legwear, and a solid-colored T-shirt under a tabard is a simple but workable costume. Black sweatpants, leggings, and shirts are essential costuming for NPCing. You can find these cheaply at any department store, like WalMart or Target.
Finally, keep an eye out for costumers in your area. Amateur costumers tend to charge reasonable rates for their creations, and they often will work with you to get just the look you want. If you're already a member of NERO in any chapter, check the out-of-play advertisements in your local newsletter.
Sewing your own costume
If you've got your own sewing machine, you can try making your own costume. Your first few creations probably won't look as good as purchased clothing, but it's much cheaper this way. And it does get easier as you get the hang of it.
The simplest of costuming doesn't require investment in a pattern. A tabard can easily be sewn by someone with little skill. The standard measurements I use for a tabard are a rectangular piece of cloth 2 yards long x 22.5 inches wide. You'll probably want to experiment with length and width to find a size with which you're comfortable. Fold the cloth in half lengthwise (for a double 1 yard long x 22.5 inches wide piece) and cut an opening in the center of the fold. You can make the opening circular, triangular, or square, whatever your tastes, just make certain it's big enough to fit your head through, but not much bigger than that, or else the tabard will slide off your shoulders. Hem the edges of this opening and the sides and bottom of the rest of the cloth. Viola, a tabard. Once you get the hang of it, you can try sewing two different colors of 12 inches wide x 2 yards long cloth together for a halved tabard. Or, if you're really daring, try quarters. Eighths are for the truly patient or the truly masochistic.
There are some great commercial patterns available for suitable LARPing costumes. You can find them at most fabric or departments stores. Most patterns are available all year long, and close to Halloween, new fantasy-type patterns often become available.
The following are commercial patterns that I have found and used:
| Butterick 3084 | Cloak pattern, with mantle or hood. |
| McCalls 6096 | Fancy men's jacket, shirt, women's formal gown. |
| McCalls 6487 Stitch & Save |
A good wanderer-type pattern, off the shoulder blouse and tiered skirt. |
| McCalls 6720 | Fairly simple cape, breeches, doublet. |
| McCalls 6775 | Good cloak pattern and a simple shirt/gown. |
| McCalls 6618 | A particular favorite of mine, this is a great pattern for a "poofy" shirt, laced up the front, suitable for a man or woman. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued, so to find it you'll have to scrounge through flea markets or your mother's or grandmother's pattern collection. |
| McCalls 6774 | Cloak pattern, with armholes. |
| McCalls 7280 | Very simple robe. |
| McCalls 7990 | Great bodice pattern |
| McCalls 8449 | Happy peasanty women's medieval gown and overdress. |
| McCalls 8450 | Men's doublet, tabard, shirt, and leggings. |
| McCalls 8826 | A new pattern but very cool looking ~ women's 15th century medieval kirtle and overdress. |
| McCalls 8827 | Also new, 15th century men's tunic (with or without sleeves) and leggings. |
| Simplicity 7756 | Women's shirt, underskirt, overdress, and apron. |
| Simplicity 7761 | Men's Renaissance-style tunic (with detachable sleeves), shirt, cape, leggings, and hat. |
| Simplicity 8010 | A kinda cheesy Robin Hood/Snow White/Wicked Witch costume collection, but includes a very simple gown/robe and cloak. |
| Simplicity 9223 | Cloak pattern, more of a cape/wrap. |
| Simplicity 9229 | Gown, shirt, hood, cloak. |
There are also many great specialty patterns for medieval/renaissance/fantasy-style clothing. These patterns are a little bit harder to locate, but you can sometimes find them at Renaissance Faires or get them from costuming merchants. Three great stores are AlterYears, Chivalry Sports, and MoiRandall's.
| AlterYears | |
| Elizabethan Bodice | Laces up the back |
| Nobleman/Woman Shirt | Very nice "poofy" shirt, sized to be very big! |
| Costume Connection | |
| Cavalier | Very Three Musketeers-esque doublet with lace collar, cape, breeches. |
| Early Tudor Woman | A beautiful, simple Tudor gown that's surprisingly easy to make. |
| Renaissance Common Man | This is a great pattern for simple poofy pants (I add cuffs rather than tie them at the bottom; it's just more simple that way!), shirt, and vest. |
| Mediaeval Miscellanea ™ | |
| Period Patterns 21 | Cotehardies and Sideless Surcoats for women. Not for beginners! |
| Period Patterns 23 | Men's cotehardies, knee-, thigh-, and ankle-length. Not for beginners! |
| Period Patterns 41 | Italian Renaissance Gowns. Not for beginners! |
Fabric stores, of course, are the best place to find material with which to make a costume. WalMart often has good fabric at reasonable prices as well. You'll want a soft fabric that breathes well, and be sure to give the fabric a good tug to make sure it won't rip easily. Broadcloth comes in lots of colors and is relatively inexpensive and fairly strong; but I prefer to spend a few extra dollars a yard on softer fabrics.
Remember to buy thread that most closely matches your fabric. You probably want to spend the money and get "real" thread as opposed to cheap bargain thread, which tends to break a lot more easily. (Hey, there's a reason why it's cheap.)
If sewing from a pattern, unfold the tissue-paper pattern very carefully; they do tend to rip easily. You may want to shut the door if you have cats ~ mine just love to jump on my patterns and attempt to shred them. Cut the pattern out and be sure to include all the little triangular notches and such, really, those are important later.
Lay the fabric out flat on the floor or a cutting board and follow the directions for cutting out the pattern pieces. Pin the pattern to the fabric, playing close attention to whether an edge should be placed on a fold, and cut out each piece with a good pair of sharp scissors. Dedicated sewers will have a pair of scissors devoted to cutting fabric only (and they will tend to get very angry when their roommate uses said shears to cut leather and duct-tape).
Follow the directions for sewing the pieces together. Don't be alarmed if you can't understand the directions right away; oftentimes they will be gibberish to you until the third or fourth read-through.
Don't forget trim! Trim really adds to the effect of a cool costume. You can put it on cuffs, necklines, and hemlines to jazz up your outfit. Mmmmm, trim.
I personally always double stitch every seam when I sew a NERO costume. This take a little longer, but it's worth it in the time you'll save on repairs or re-making costumes.
Footwear
In the fall, it's amazingly easy for women to find leather or suede boots at most any shoestore. For men, you're usually stuck with work boots or cowboy boots. Renaissance Fairs and medieval/fantasy clothing merchants, however, often carry very cool looking boots for both men and women, but prices, as always, tend to be high.
One big problem with boots is that they tend to have little to no traction. If you plan on running around a lot (and you should plan on it), try to find boots with thick soles and good traction, or experiment with replacing soles with something more suitable to LARPing. Most shoe repair places can easily and inexpensively replace the soles on your boots - but make sure you bring the boots to be resoled before they're worn out.
Sneakers are, of course, sturdier and more comfortable than boots. Wearing brown or black pairs is much less of a distraction as opposed to glaring white sneakers, and as anyone who has spent much time in this area knows, once you stain white shoes with red Georgia clay, they're stained for life.
Combat boots are also quite sturdy and have good traction. Look for them in Army/Navy stores.
Belts: can be found easily at any department store. Try WalMart or Marshalls. They'll often have brown or black woven leather belts. Renaissance Faires are a good place to find stronger belts of a thicker weave. Be careful choosing any metal link belts; they can break at the most inopportune time! Pouches: McCalls 8827 includes a simple pouch pattern. Or check out Renaissance Faires or merchants for a great selection of leather pouches. Gloves: In theory, you can sew gloves if you find a pattern. I've never tried. You can invest some money in a cool leather pair found at a Ren Faire, or shop around in department stores in the fall to see what their selection is like. I have found several sets of very cool suede gloves in red, purple, green, and black at Marshalls. Gloves are essential when fighting with a shield ~ they cushion your shield hand against the handle! Jewelry: Flea markets are the place to find cool-looking jewelry. Antique stores are great, too, but sometimes are on the expensive side. Try to avoid brining expensive jewelry to events; it could easily become lost during combat or while running around. Hats: Several patterns include instructions for hats:
Here are some other useful Renaissance Faire links:
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Wildlands South and NERO are the trademarks of NERO International Holding Company, Inc.
NERO Game System © Copyright 1987-2001 by NERO International Holding Company, Inc.
Updated: January 21, 2001