Working women's Tudor costumes
When we do Kentwell Hall Tudor re- enactments, there is specific dress we must wear. Our costumes are identical to the adult women and are made up of lots of layers of garments. This is a description to what a working class woman would have worn in the 1500s. The kirtle The kirtle is a thick woollen dress which is worn on top of the linen shift. The bodice is laced either at the front or the sides. It must be laced extremely tight in order to support the chest... The colours of the wool were natural colours because to dye cloth they used plants and natural substances such as woad and onion skins. This was because synthetic dyes were only invented in 1856 by William Henry Perkin. The darker or brighter the garment the more expensive it was because there would have to be more of the actual dye included in the process, therefore only the wealthy Tudors could afford colours like black, crimsons e.t.c. The poor would have to put up with colours such as browns, brick reds, greens and ...