A week ago I got a mail if I wanted to be an extra for a child’s tv show in the Netherlands. They would be doing something Carolingian and I did not own anything for that period. The fact that I love this tv show (dutch horrible histories basically) was a very good excuse to make a Carolingian dress. 

It started with some research in the period. I own a very good book about textiles in the Netherlands in the early middle ages. But it did not mention anything about the 8^th century. This is probably since the Netherlands was already Christian in that period. Grave offerings were no longer a thing in that period. Luckily I did find some illuminations of women in Carolingian manuscripts. 

With my knowledge of construction of high medieval period clothing I made a reconstruction of a typical Carolingian dress I could wear over my 13th century dress. It is constructed out of square pieces as is normal in the time period. It consists of a front piece, a back piece, two gores on each side, two square sleeves and two armpit squares. The sleeves, the neckline and the front piece are decorated with a band of a contrasting coloured fabric.

I was able to construct it in two days just in time for the day of filming.