The Costume Team

The Luttrell Psalter clothing has been researched and made especially for the film by Pauline Loven of The Orchard House Wardrobe and a team of volunteers.

Above left to right: Katy-Jayne Lintott, Jo Sullivan, Pauline Loven and Sam Green

The Vexed Question of Colour - would a swineherd really have worn purple?

We took the decision early on in the process of making the film, and in consultation with the museum, to reproduce recognisable images from the Psalter rather than to reinterpret them - we wanted the people in the images to walk off the page. However, we were aware that the illustrator was working with a painter’s palette, not a dyer's one, and would have had a different range of colours available to him - he was also creating a decorative work. With this as a consideration, we strove hard to find textiles in colours that looked believable and achievable for the period, but matched the images. We often resorted to dyeing the fabrics ourselves or dipping them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate to dull the modern dye colours down.

Historic Background

The period over which the Psalter was created - 1325-1340 (approx.) - was a period during which the cut of clothing began to change. Since textiles were first created, clothing was made by first tying, then pinning, then sewing rectangles of fabric together. The value of textiles was such that when they were cut to form a garment they were cut without waste. This was achieved by using simple geometric shapes - rectangles, triangles and squares ingeniously pieced to create fit and fullness.

Above: The women above are wearing one of the simplest of the Luttrell garments. The gowns are loose fitting, but their sleeves fit quite close to the arm. As with all the Psalter images, no seams are shown. As a result of not being able to determine the position of seams, we have had to look to archaeological and other evidence.

The initial interpretation of this dress was to make it without any armhole shaping, much as earlier garments were made, but it simply didn’t sit and fall correctly. By studying all of the available evidence, followed by testing trial garments for the correct fit and drape, we decided that the cut of the garments was probably transitional, each having features of the early cut, but with some fitting around the armhole and sleeve as shown below.

The radical change in the cut of dress in this period begins with the armhole; instead of creating sleeves T-shirt wise, they begin to fit the sleeve closer to the arm and into a shaped armhole. This frees the arm movement and allows the arm to be raised without the garment pulling up. As a result, garments could then be tailored to fit the figure without restricting movement. So, after studying archaeological evidence, tomb monuments (which do often show seams) and comparing them with the Psalter illustrations, we decided to make most of the women’s clothing in this transitional cut - with fitted sleeves into a simply shaped armhole, but with the remainder of the garment formed from the rectangles and gores with some limited shaping (as pictured above).

Higher Status Clothing
No means of fastening is shown on any of the dresses, and indeed most clearly simply slip over the head. However, the dress worn by the lady spinning (below) with the great wheel is a clear exception. Her gown is fitted so closely to her figure that it must include sophisticated tailoring and must be laced closed to achieve such a tight fit.

The spinner is also the highest status figure that we include in the film. Apart from her dress being finely tailored (which is very wasteful of fabric), she has an excess of fabric about the hem of her dress which pools on the floor about her feet. Her fine white linen apron also has the most detailed stitching of all the aprons shown in the Psalter (there are five in all with four different designs). An immaculately fitted garment such as the purple dress above, would have been made for the individual (rather than by her) and fitted to her figure.

Above: Pauline interpreting the cut based on archaeological evidence and the fit and drape of the Psalter illustration.
Below: The spinner from the film.