Belted Plaid construction.

[Steve Ashton]

I think you may be thinking just a bit wrong.

If one single length of fabric is halved and joined to make one wide piece then the long finished selvedge edge would be joined to the other long finished selvedge edge. You would then hem the short ends where the fabric is cut.

However weaving of wide lengths of fabric was possible well before the time we associate with the Belted Plaid. Some could have been made from one length of wide fabric.

The truth is that we simply do not know for sure what the belted plaid was. There is no historical evidence. Yes, there are examples of joined pieces of fabric but they are usually light weight fabric used for curtains and other decorative purposes.

It is pretty certain that those in the Ren Faires or SCA who hand pleat a length of modern fabric out on the ground and then lay down on it are not using historically documented methods.

We do know that wide boiled woolen blankets were woven and available as far back as the 1400's.
We also have evidence that the Irish Brat was worn long before the kilt and painting/drawings of the time show something more akin to a blanket than a kilt and are very similar to those early woodcuts accepted as being the belted plaid.

Another garment with a long documented history is a Match Coat. It is my belief that this match coat is probably more accurate a representation of what a belted plaid was that what you see at the Ren Faire.

Take a look at this explanation of the match coat. http://wildeweavery.com/images/match...atchcoat05.gif



What always amuses me about those guys hand pleating modern fabric on the ground - is that while they are spending all that time demonstrating they are telling the crowd how practical the garment was. The say that people would wrap themselves in this length of single or double width fabric to sleep and then pleat it up to wear. I always want to ask them "What is the first thing you need to do when you wake up? Are you trying to tell me that you go through all this trouble before visiting the latrine?"

It makes far more sense to me that you would sleep in your wool blanket. Then, in the morning, wrap the blanket around your shoulders just as you see the N. American Indians portrayed, and go do your business.