General Points
These
Regulations apply to all members of the Regiment taking part in public
performances or presentations relating to the period of the English Civil
Wars and on all formal parades. They set out the standards required for
participation in events and form a basis upon which members of the unit
can frame more specific requirements suitable to their role and image.
The intention is to present an accurate portrayal of soldiers of the Earl
of Manchester's regiment of Foot during the First Civil War (1642-1646).
Even when 'off duty', members should have regard to the impression they
give to public. Avoid mixing modern and period clothes; wear one or the
other. In particular, always wear appropriate headgear and do not discard
doublets or bodices in public.
Fabrics,
Colours and Styles
The materials used for reproduction costume must be limited to those fabrics
available to working people in the century i.e. linen, wool, hemp - or
a mixture of any of these.
Colours should likewise be limited to those obtained from the natural
dyes produced by plant, animal or mineral material that were available
at the time. Dyers were craftsmen and would have had many years as an
apprentice. Colours would fade with wear, the main factors affecting rate
of colour loss being sunlight and water. The better, brighter, deeper
colour were more expensive, e.g. black was the most difficult colour to
produce by dyeing and the most expensive and was therefore usually worn
only by the wealthy. Modern, artificial fibres, colours obtained from
chemical dyes and adaptations of modern clothing are not acceptable.
Washing
of clothing
Only underwear (shirt, under stockings) would have been washed regularly.
Washing involved soaking in detergent made from lye, then beating thre
laundry over a rock in a stream to agitate the dirt out. This is the reason
that all underwear closings were made of cloth buttons or ties. Metal
buttons and hooks, eyes, etc would have been damaged by this process,
and would have also damaged the clothes themselves.