Hlāford Bran Mydwynter's Laurel Cloak

When my friend Bran was announced as being raised to the Order of the Laurel, I immediately asked to be part of the plans. I admire him as a person so very much and am often stunned by his art. This elevation was so very deserved. Bran asked if I was willing to make his cloak and I jumped on the chance.

We discussed persona-appropriate options. He knew he wanted something like a birrus/byrrus and ultimately that was what we went with. I constructed the garment by hand, including woolen laurel leaves made by Ollam Lanea, and overnighted it to her for its trip to Ymir (which I was sadly unable to attend).

The best laid schemes of mice and men and all that, I suppose.

Despite the overnight guarantee, the package did not arrive until the day after it was supposed to arrive, too late to make it to the elevation. As disappointing as that is, it does give me more time to personalize the garment for Bran with some details that we discussed previously and which I plan to do once I get the birrus back.

The History

A birrus (sometimes spelled "byrrus", sometimes called "birrus brittanicus") is a garment of Celtic origin that we know a fair bit about. In John Peter Wild's work The Clothing of Brittania, Gallia belgica and Germania inferior (1985), he discusses the historical evidence for the clothing the Celtic people wore. For this project, we focused on his discussion of the Celtic Cape, or birrus.

The Chedworth Roman Villa contained a beautiful mosaic floor, which, among many things, pictured a man in what scholars believe to be a birrus. It is a hooded garment that Wild says was only worn by men. I'm not entirely sure what this assertion is based on, but he's very sure of it. As a woman who regularly steals my partner's hoodies, I am skeptical. But that's my modern bias speaking.

According to Wild, the birrus "enveloped the whole body to beneath the knee and had a hood attached which lay almost flat on the back when not in use." (374). As it was the outermost layer of clothing, it was likely as warm and waterproof as they were able to make them. Wild discusses the likely construction of the garment, which I found very helpful. The upshot is that it was likely a half circle with an attached hood.

Mosaic from Chedworth Villa, depicting a man wearing a birrus.

In 2015, a figure was discovered in Chlemsford, England, of a man wearing a birrus. He is, in fact, similarly posed to the man in the mosaic from Chedworth. This site has a nice write-up about it.

This little dude was not available to Wild in his discussions, but its existence appears to reinforce much of Wild's (well informed) speculation. For me, the most valuable thing about the figurine is that we can see the back of the garment. It's the next best thing to an actual extant find. The Chlemsford figurine shows the pointed hood, the long length and the draping along the front and the back. These all support the pattern that Wild proposes in his work.

Metal figurine from Chlemsford, depicting a man wearing a birrus.

Planning

Bran and I decided that we would use colors that coordinate with his preferred aesthetic and which the historical record supports. We chose the Heathered Olive Drab Worsted Wool from Burnley and Trowbridge which reads in person as shades of grey. It's really lovely, but it is also very thin. As Bran has several thinner cloaks, we wanted this one to be more substantial for cooler weather events (like Ymir). He trusted my judgement and I bought an additional lightweight dark brown wool to line it with. This second fabric was a really lovely compliment to the first and used together, created a nice, mid to heavy weight garment. Additionally, the brown fabric had a beautiful selvage which I used to our advantage.

As we discussed the garment, we decided it would make sense to leave the front open for the ceremony. As depicted above, the garment was likely sewn together along the midline, though likely not all the way down. This would require the garment to be passed over Bran's head during the elevation, which seemed like a bad idea. Instead, we decided to leave it open so that it could be draped and I would sew it closed at a later date.

We also discussed the use of laurel leaves or not. Bran wasn't sure he wanted them on the cloak at first but as we talked about it, we discussed possible stealth leaves on the inside of the hood, in shades of brown. Lanea generously gifted a selection of wool leaves, which I used for this purpose.

Additionally, I wanted this to be a reversible garment in case there was ever a time when Bran wanted the leaves a little more forward, or if he wanted more brown than grey for a particular outfit. The last surprise is that I planned to put in pockets when it came back to me for finishing the midline. Bran is a woad artist and little pockets are dead useful.

It was never even a question as to whether or not I would sew this by hand, but it is worth mentioning. This would be as accurate as I could make it, given my time constraints and modern materials.

Construction

As mentioned above, I chose to line the birrus to give it additional weight. This garment was meant to be the top layer of many. It should be warm and as waterproof as possible. Additionally, the drape depicted in representations of it suggests a thicker material, and so, I lined it.

It was a very simple, two cut process to begin the birrus. First I cut the half circle, then I cut the hood.

As the shape of this garment is a semi-circle, it was important to hang it and allow the fibers to relax if they want to. That sounds silly, but this is because of the bias in the fabric. Here is a discussion of this process. Rather than cut both pieces of fabric at the same time, I cut them separately and made sure the brown was slightly larger than the grey so that I could use the extra fabric to bind and finish the edges. I hung the fabric to stretch for 24 hours to allow the bias to fall before I began sewing. However, there was not much in the way of a difference when I came back to it and that concerned me. I have been betrayed by fabric taking too long to releases the bias before (notably when I made a wool lined cloak for Countess Jane Fitzpatrick I of Atlantia, which my friend Meagan fixed for me as I tried not to meltdown). But time was becoming pressing and so I pushed on. When the birrus returns to me, I'm going to pick the hem apart and hang it again, just to make sure there's not more release in there. It's an awful mess if your lining's bias falls out and you've already attached it. The last thing I wanted was to gift Bran a mess.

While the body hung, I began work on the hood. The hood was not cut on the bias and so did not need to hang. Hoods are fairly straightforward. For this particular hood, I knew there needed to be a seam along the top, both from the depictions of the hood and the pattern Wild developed. You can clearly see the seam on the figurine. That line would not be present without a seam there. Again, I cut the brown fabric slightly larger than the gray so that I could fold the pretty selvage edges over to finish them.

The pictured fabric to the right is the brown that I cut the hood from. The pattern used the fabric very well, resulting in very little waste.

After cutting the hood pieces, I laid the laurel leaves out on the brown fabric and decided on a pattern of dark brown and charcoal with a much lighter gray as the end leaf. I pinned them on then attached them using a blanket stitch in brown cotton thread. In the picture below, you can see how the brown fabric is actual several colors, which lends it a really lovely depth that works well with the heathered olive on the other side.

After the leaves were appliqued onto the brown side, I sewed the hood pieces together, then attached them to the outside fabric. Then it was time to attach the brown lining.

Somehow, I did not get pictures of how I used the selvage as trim along the outside fabric. I will do my best to talk it through:

Because I cut the brown fabric slightly bigger than the heathered, I was able to use the selvage edge to bind the edges together. When I bought the brown, I did not know it had a pretty selvage, but when I saw it I knew I wanted to use it.

Just like with the hood, I joined the two fabrics together with a running stitch along the edge, then went back and folded the brown fabric over to cover the edge of the heathered fabric then attached it again with a running stitch. These joins are not weight bearing and should be fine with just a running stitch but out of habit, I still occasionally did a single back-stitch to lock the thread in the event that it eventually breaks.

These pictures show the process of sewing the edge down and the result. You can see in the shadow of the picture with my hand in it the corner where the edge met the hood.

As discussed, finishing the long edge of the birrus required the bias to fall out beforehand. Once I decided to chance it, I had a few options:

I could fold both ends under and sew them together, as pictured on the bottom of the picture to the right, or I could fold the brown fabric over the edge of the heathered to create a bound edge.

The problem with binding the edge like that is that the edge is curved and that's a pain to do and make look right. In fact, I did about half the garment that way but I just wasn't happy with how it was coming out. Even trimmed down, it felt bulky, which made sense as it was effectively four layers of wool as opposed to two on the edge using the selvage.

I took those stitches out and went with folding both edges under and stitching. It was still four layers of wool, but it laid and felt better.

Future Alterations for this Birrus

As I mentioned above, the cloak did not make it to Bran in time. He used a beautiful loaner and the ceremony was lovely. He still has not received this birrus as of March 2025. We discussed options and decided that I would take it back from Lanea and finish the things we had talked about, namely closing the front. I will also let it hang and see if the bias truly has fallen out, hem it to the correct length and add the pockets as we discussed initially. Once that process is finished, I will update this post with pictures and process.

Update 12/8/2025:

In true chaos gremlin fashion, I did not take pictures or update after I altered the birrus. I did, however, get it to Bran at Pennsic and he wore it during his household ceremony. I still do not trust that bias but it is what it is at this point.

Citation:
Wild, John-Peter. The Clothing of Britannia, Gallia Belgica and Germania Inferior (ANRW II, 12, 3 (1985)).

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