1410s French Horned Headress

Next I braided the hair (and you can see in the pictures that I was not exaggerating how bad I am at hair - every other fiber I can work with but basic braids stretch my abilities somehow!)

I then stitched the hair onto the support structure until it seemed steady. Then I bent some wire from clothes hangers to a rough semi-circle shape and sewed to the midpoint of the linen support and tacked it to both braids. I ended up bending the wire back about two inches from what it is in these pictures as I thought the smaller size better matched a few of the manuscripts I had looked at. I had picked up a Styrofoam head to hold my Butterfly Henin which ended up being a lifesaver as I tried to play with fitting everything - I would highly recommend some form of fake head to use as a base if possible. I picked mine up very cheap at a craft store sale.

I then draped a square veil and pinned it in place both at the sides and the top.

The whole project start to finish was less than two hours and the only material not probably in your stash already is the fake hair extensions (which I got on ebay for about $3). It was a bit weird to make fit, but overall it is a very easy project with only basic sewing skills required.

The end result is a pretty solid option for easily recreating the visual seen in many manuscripts in the early 1400s and I love the way it looks with my 1410s French Gown seen at the top of the page. I wore it all day over my Birgitta cap and it was so comfortable I forgot I was wearing it several times until I almost poked people during hugs (warning, you also need to give yourself a bit extra space in doorways too!). I was also excited that many people thought that it was my real hair!