My name is Joy Cain. I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), where I am known as Lady Gillian of Bloodwood. In addition, I am a spinner and a weaver with a passion for art history and historical textiles

Late 1999, a friend, Baroness Mistress Melisande de Marmande, (pictured to the left in the dress) joined a group out of England known as Regia. She was planning to attend a recreation of the Battle of Hastings in October 2000 and needed something that would be really authentic.

How authentic? Blow your socks off authentic.

Being a good apprentice, I said, "Okay."

What followed was a project that took well over 200 hours of spinning, weaving, dyeing and sewing. Not including the hours spent poring over books, spinning and weaving samples and writing the documentation.

I plan to enter this garment in the Middle Kingdom SCA Regional Arts & Science competition. I hope to someday use this to help get into a graduate study program and maybe publish this in a periodical. Until then, I hope this documentation gives you a glimpse into the past.

Joy Cain
January 26, 2001