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This sixteenth century Irish Bard's Leine and Ionar (linen shirt and wool jacket) was designed for my friend, the Irish Poet Liam UiCearbhail (pronounced "o-carol") for his handfasting ceremony in 2001.

This was an attempt at reconstructing a garment from a series of woodcuts, to provide a unique garment fit for a high ranking Irish Bard. It was Liam who encouraged me to stretch my creative wings, considering we had never seen anything like this in designs of Irish garments at any California Renaissance faire.

Please note that I will use the terms leine & shirt interchangably, and same for ionar & jacket.

The Woodcuts

The Construction

Conclusion & After Creation Notes

Bibliography and Internet Sources:

1. Dunlevy, Mairead: Dress in Ireland, 1989 Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-8419-1269-8
2. McClintock, H.F.: Old Irish & Highland Dress, and that of the Isle of Man, 1950 Dundalgan Press Ltd.
3. Reconstructing History, http://www.reconstructinghistory.com. Especially under the Irish subsection.
4. The Image of Irelande, by John Derrick (London, 1581) - Plates. http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/about/bgallery/Gallery/researchcoll/ireland.html.
   This is a new site, that I didn't have access to when creating the garments. However, several of the plates here were reproduced in the two books mentioned above, including the ones I show in the woodcuts page.

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