Sometimes, people are like me – I can’t make something decent looking without some kind of pattern. You should see my sideless surcotes… And I had help with those…
Now, if you’ve got Margo Anderson, Lynn McMasters, Period Patterns, Reconstructing History Patterns, AlterYears patterns, patterns sold at http://www.patternsoftime.com (there’s some good ones here I can’t find the actual manufacturer’s name) or Mantua Maker Patterns, You’re in pretty good shape. Most of their patterns are really good ones, and mostly historically accurate.
For those out there that are like me and mostly broke so you can’t afford the really good patterns, or just starting out making garb and eventually want to draft your own, here’s a bit of pattern critique for you, and ways of making the pattern at least moderately historically accurate if it’s not close already. These patterns are all from Burda, Simplicity, McCalls, or Butterick.