Summer Wardrobe

[Travellar]

One discussion held over this last event was about how many changes of clothes, and how many outfits people bring. The two ladies I was discussing this with started with comments about feeling grubby after the first day, but it was when they pointed out how much warmer it's going to get that I realized I need to make new clothes.

Firepaw, (my Barbarian) spends entirely too much time crashing straight through brush and thorns to go about in nothing more than a loincloth. But I'm trying to figure out just what a marauding barbarian is going to wear in warm weather. Theoreticly, I should wear at least some token pieces of fur to indicate my nature, but I doubt that'll need to be more than some tassels.

Anyone know how to make long pants from heavy cloth, that are still really cool? I'm thinking the first thing I'll need to do is loosen up the pattern a bit. And maybe put in some slits for air to move.

[Talen]

The key is always being able to "breathe"- if air can circulate properly, you stay cooler. Believe it or not, layers work. Something thin and loose under a heavier cloth (for the aforementioned thorny bits poking you) so you don't have a layer of thick cloth stuck to your sweaty hide insulating it from losing heat. I do wear two layers just to help keep ticks and such off (along with repellant, apply again if you get soaked). Leave stuff like your cuffs and chest open a bit, obviously.

If it has no problems getting wet, all the better. One of the advantages of not being totally civilized is it's perfectly fine to find a tap, soak yourself in cold water, and enjoy the sweet bliss of your overheating sweaty self becoming a comfy (and relatively clean) human being.

[DrT]

i'd got for something based n the principle of the hakama (aikido pants)

basically wrap around pants, completely open on the sides. I made one for my wife that turn out good. VERY easy to make without a pattern.
Check the asian type skirt/pants

[sableagle]

I agree on layers and vents.

If you want protection and ventilation together, the rich warrior version is scale mail, with overlapping armour scales on a breathable fabric base. I want to make myself a set of that but I suspect it won't fold into hold baggage very well and I'm not sure wearing it onto a plane would be a diplomatic triumph.

The barbarian version is probably a tight-woven fabric like serge de nim made into loose-fitting trousers with vents up the outsides of the legs and slightly looser over-trousers with the vents on the front and back or inside ... or vice versa, inner vents front and back, outer vents to sides.

It should be relatively simple to sew, as you're not aiming for a close fit. A tubular top with a cord in it to hold them up, loose over the hips and loose down the legs, with a ladder of square holes for the inner vents and the same or laces for the outer should do it. Laces aren't good to sit on and both laces and holes do snag on branches, though.

[Tipouf]

definitely want something that shows off leg...
not just because male barbarian leg is sex to see in a fight....
but mainly because on the air flow

the pants the doc made me where easy, made a pattern based off a pair i bought on vacation...

make a front, make a back sew them on the inner seam for crotch protection
the outer hips are exposed and the whole thing has ties at the hips... the front ends up tieing in the back and the back comes round to the front

hmmm should post a pic of me in those...

[Travellar]

The thread on the VALOR forum diverged into a discussion of strange things people have seen. Mostly regarding people running about in thier boxers and flip-flops in the early morning hours.

this has forced me to reconsider my earlier stance on loincloths. If I make a loincloth to sleep in, then I can truely terrify anything I'm chasing about! Of course, the way the armor mod works, it's 5 points of armor just to be in costume, so I get 5 points of armor out of it! :neener:

[Tipouf]

The thread on the VALOR forum diverged into a discussion of strange things people have seen. Mostly regarding people running about in thier boxers and flip-flops in the early morning hours.

this has forced me to reconsider my earlier stance on loincloths. If I make a loincloth to sleep in, then I can truely terrify anything I'm chasing about! Of course, the way the armor mod works, it's 5 points of armor just to be in costume, so I get 5 points of armor out of it! :neener:

ok so you need multiple loincloths...
one to sleep in.... mmmm comfy
one to drink in ....ooo pretty
and a few to fight in.... yay easy to clean

but you should also get some special foot ware too
a loin cloth and flip flops just isn't a pretty site

[sableagle]

Loin cloth and thigh-high strappy patent leather boots?

[Travellar]

I don't plan on doing much adventuring in just a loincloth. Drinking and fighting are things I can actually put clothes on for.

[Landsknecht]

IN Summer you deffinately want to avoid man made fabric.
Cotton is fine except once it gets wet it doesn't breath anymore.
Now LINEN on the otherhand is the active fighters friend.
Available in a multitude of colors and weights it breaths and when wet is actually STRONGER than when it's dry.

There are many sites online that one can find good linen at a reasonable price regularly. Be wary of "Linen Look" fabrics. But even those are better than polyester! :dp:Bleah!

[Seolta]

I'd suggest wrap-pants, maybe do some barbarianesque bracers, or bands of fur around the upper arm, and if you feel compelled to wear something on your torso, try either an open vest or a tabard (sans shirt underneath, so air moves in on the sides). If you go the vest route, I'd recommend a coarse cotton or linen, and rather than a print see if you can't find something with a yarn-dyed pattern(colored threads woven together, instead of plain thread with something stamped on top after it's woven) you can decorate it with beadwork, bits of fur and feather, claws, embroidery, painted patterns, whatever.

[Travellar]

wrap pants are doable, although the patterns I've seen I really don't care for.

bracers, fur bands, and open chest aren't very practical at all. I wear a chainmail hauberk, and I don't think Firepaw can be talked out of it. (nor the leather battle harness he wears over it.)

I guess the only real question is what do I wear below the hips. New pants are clearly in order, and boots to follow.

[Talen]

http://www.thornyrose.com/images/Viking%20pants%20web.jpg

Might try a pair of those, in linen. Raw silk works too, come to think. Linen's cheaper.

[freiman]

Landesknecht has it right.

Natural fabrics are your best friend for staying cool.

I Think that the wrap pants would look really cool, but I don't know how to make them. Here's a website that shows how to make a basic tunic and pants, if that is the sort of thing you are interested in.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bill/handbook/tunic.html

Two other things. First, if you keep your head cool, the rest of you stays a lot more comfortable.

Second, and this is wierd, if you have a wet tunic on under mail, and the mail is out of the sun, it somehow acts like an air conditioner, keeping you cool, and sometimes cold on days into the eighties and nineties.

f

[Travellar]

Thanks for that tip, I do wear a tunic under chainmail, so it's easy to do!