Tutorial: How to wear 14th Century veils and wimples

Garrison ladies use several types of head covering, including veils, wimples and caps. This blog post will focus on how to put on and wear these styles using step by step photographs.

For information relating to the history and evidence for ladies’ headcoverings, please see this blog post.

You will need:

 

Veil underpinnings. A simple fillet (top), a decorative fillet (next down), a St Birgitta’s Cap (right)

Various veil pins used to secure headcoverings in place, ranging from lower class on the left to higher class on the right, with the final right pin being made of silver.

A basic veil

A basic wimple (for certain headcovering styles)

Fillet: A fillet is a strip of cloth which is pinned around your head and under your hair, holding it back and offering something to secure your veils to. This also makes your hair less likely to fall forward when your veil is on. A fillet needs to be long enough to wrap around your head once, as shown below, plus leave around a 2 inch overlap. A basic fillet should be at least 2 inches wide and long enough to go around your head and pin at the back. Decorative fillets often show more variation due to their decorative elements; this version ties at the back. The basic fillet shown here measures 2.5 x 25 inches.

St Birgitta’s Cap: This is a ladies’ cap, somewhat similar to a man’s coif, designed to encapsulate all of your hair whilst providing a secure foundation to pin the rest of your veils to. The St Birgitta’s cap can be a very useful item of underpinning, especially if you need to cover modern hair colours, piercings, or tattoos. There is a very detailed description of how to make them in Medieval Clothing and Textiles 4 by Netherton and Owen-Crocker, and fellow medieval re-enactor Katafalk provides an easy-to-follow tutorial here.

Veil Pins: These can be made of various different materials including brass, steel, silver, or gold. They should be a minimum of 1.5 inches long and a maximum of 2.5 inches long to secure veils effectively. 3-4 of these are necessary for most headcovering styles.

Veil: Your veil should be wide enough to cover your hair from the top of your forehead to approximately to the top of your bra band, though this can vary depending on the amount of hair you have and your height; the important thing is to ensure that all of your hair is covered. The basic veil shown here measures 24 x 29.5 inches.

Wimple: Your wimple should be long enough to go from the crown of your head, under your chin, and return to the crown of your head and cross over with approximately a 2 inch overlap. The basic wimple shown here measures 13 x 32 inches.

Underpinnings

Veil styles, from the simplistic to the complex, often benefit from having something underneath to secure them to. Here, we show two options commonly worn by Garrison ladies: the fillet and the St Birgitta’s Cap.

Fillet: The short strip shown in the underpinnings photograph.

Front view of fillet

Back view of fillet.

To put on a fillet, wrap it around your head in front of your hair and cross the ends over at the back, leaving around a 2 inch overlap, and pin together.

St Birgitta’s Cap: The small cap shown in the underpinnings photograph. To put on a St Birgitta’s Cap, follow the directions below.

To begin, put your hair in some type of bun. This is necessary as the cap requires a bun to attach the straps to

Place the cap over your head, covering your hair.

Cross the two straps over at the back, under the bun

Bring them to the front of your head.

Cross them over again at the front.

Bring the straps to the back of your head again

There should be a small loop remaining, loop this over your bun.

The straps should now sit as shown.

It is often a good idea to tidy the back at this point so your hair cannot be seen. Cap as seen from the back

Cap as seen from the front

 

If you have long hair, you need to ensure that it is contained under more conservative veil styles. Loose hair under veils is not shown in period manuscripts and hair is almost exclusively shown as dressed even when uncovered. We in the Garrison strongly recommend placing it in some sort of bun or plait, or having a go at a medieval style.

Simple Veils

A simple veil is a younger woman’s style and is less conservative because it doesn’t cover the neck as a wimple does. When re-enacting, the style is advantageous because it is cooler, shows off your neck, and has the potential for authentic hairstyles including cornettes and ramshorns. It is less helpful in covering up inauthentic tattoos and piercings, however, and does not offer as much protection from the sun. This is how to put on a simple veil securely.

Begin by putting on some sort of underpinning, either a fillet, as shown here, or a St Birgitta’s cap. Find the centre point of your veil’s longest side.

Place the centre point just found into the middle of your fillet.

Pin each side at the point shown. To pin, put your thumb between your underpinning and your skin, then insert the pin through the folded section of the veil, through the fillet/coif and then back out through all the layers. Having your thumb there makes it easier to aim, plus stops you from stabbing yourself.

A simple veil from the front

A simple veil from the back. Note that no hair is visible under the veil. If you have long hair, find some way of securing it so that it does not show.

Wimple and Veil Combination

A wimple is a cloth which covers your neck and is usually worn in conjunction with a veil to cover your hair. It is a more conservative style because it covers up more, and is advantageous to re-enactors because it is very effective at covering up inauthentic hair colour, tattoos, or piercings, and offers a great deal of protection from the sun. It is also possible to use the combination in conjunction to authentic hairstyles such as ramshorns and cornettes. This is a guide to how to put on a wimple and veil securely.

Start with a fillet pinned as above. (Please forgive fluffiness of hair here.)

Take your wimple cloth, hold it so the long edge is horizontal and place your chin on the mid point.

Wrap the ends of the wimple up to the crown of your head. Open your mouth when doing this to ensure that you will be able to talk and eat when it is all on! Pin into place.

Take your veil and find the midpoint of the long edge.

Place this in the centre of your forehead.

Pin each side around the level of your temples, going through your veil, wimple and fillet and out the other side.

Front view of wimple and veil combination. (Note that fluffy hair is now covered and the style looks neat. Veils cover a multitude of sins)

Back view of wimple and veil combination. Note that no hair is visible under the veil. If you have long hair, find some way of securing it so that it does not show.

Wrapped Veil Style

A wrapped veil style is a thoroughly versatile style because it is only made from one, long piece of cloth, and it is possible to vary how conservative you make it based on how far back you place it on your head. This style is advantageous because it provides a great deal of coverage using minimal cloth

Begin with the hair dressed, here this lady is showing the authentic ramshorns style

Take one corner of the long edge of your veil, put your finger on the temple, and place over your head.

Wrap the veil under your chin and over the top of your head, pinning the bottom layer to the top layer at your temple.

Front view of the wrapped style.

Side view of the wrapped style.

Back view of the wrapped style.

Married Women’s and Widow’s Veil

A widow’s veil is a highly conservative style of veil which covers the jawline as well as the hair and neck.

Begin with an underpinning of your choice, such as the fillet shown here, and find the centre of the longest side of your veil.

Place the centre point of your veil high on the chin, just under your lips.

WRAP THE ENDS OF THE WIMPLE UP TO THE CROWN OF YOUR HEAD. OPEN YOUR MOUTH WHEN DOING THIS TO ENSURE THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO talk and eat when it’s all on.

Ensure the two ends of the wimple overlap

Pin these ends in place.

Front view of wimple.

Find the centre point of the longest side of your veil.

Place this in the centre of your forehead.

Pin through the veil, wimple, fillet, and back through all the layers at the point shown; do this on either side of your head.

Front view of widow’s veil

High-class veils

Higher-class ladies could be less conservative in their veiling. They could also often afford more expensive and complex versions of the above styles.

Wrapped veil: This style is very similar to the wrapped style above, but there are some variations in pinning and the veil is made from a linen/silk mix cloth of a very loose weave. This allows some hair to be seen underneath it while still technically covering the hair. It is also set further back on the head, showing some hair at the front.

Front view of the wrapped high-class veil.

Side view of the wrapped high-class veil. Note: when pinning this veil, because it is set further back on the head, the pins must go through the ramshorns, as well as the cloth itself.

Back view of the wrapped high-class veil.

Frilled veil: This style is a variation on the simple veil style, though it is here worn with a wimple in addition to this. A longer frill may also be worn with a wrapped veil. Note: this style is also known as the goffered or nebule veil.

The frill is pinned to the long edge of a regular veil. The veil is then attached in the same way as in the ‘simple veil’ tutorial above.

Front view of frilled veil.

Side view of frilled veil.

High-class simple veil: This veil is another variation on the simple veil, but is made from silk/linen mix fabric and is pinned much further back on the head, showing far more hair.

Front view of the veil. Note the dressed hair and the amount of hair showing at the front of the veil.

Side view.

Back view.

High class silk veil with decorative fillet:

This is the highest class headcovering style shown here because of the pearl decoration on the fillet and the silk of the veil.

A plaited style like this one looks good and is very authentic for this type of veil style, though it can be worn without it. (Again, please forgive fluffy hair.)

Place the fillet over your plaits and at the top of your forehead.

Tie or pin it at the back.

Front view of tied fillet.

This veil is a semicircular silk style.

Find the centre point of the longest side of the veil.

Place it over your head with the two sides hanging evenly at the front. Note that the veil is placed back on the head as more hair may be shown with higher class veils.

Pin on either side of the veil at the point shown, going through the veil, the fillet, and the veil again.

Front view

Side view

Back view

Hoods and Hats

A variety of hoods and hats may be worn in addition to veils, but are always worn in conjunction with them as per these images:

A lady in a hood. Note that the veils can be seen underneath the hood.

A lady in a high-class open hood with turn backs, showing rabbit fur lining, worn in conjunction with high-class veils.

A lady wearing a felt pilgrim’s hat, in conjunction with a conservative widow’s veil.

A lady in a straw hat, front view.

A lady in a straw hat, back view.

Common Veiling Errors

There are certain common veiling errors which may be observed among re-enactors:

Visible hair at the back of the veils is a common re-enactor error. Loose hair under veils is not shown in period manuscripts and hair is almost exclusively shown as dressed even when uncovered.

Inauthentic piercings not covered by veils are a common error. There is little to no evidence for earrings in Britain in the fourteenth century.

This style of coif is a men’s garment and there is no evidence that it was ever worn by women instead of veiling.

 

Thank you for reading, and we hope you found everything useful! This post is brought to you by Munchkin, who, as you can see, clearly helped.