Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: Lo stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza
My Sweety is the best of husbands. 
Well we didn’t make it out to Fort Raleigh after all but my tutorial on Elizabethan Monochromatic Embroidery is now available in the tutorial section of my website.
My Recreating Elizabethan Bodies tutorial is now available in the tutorial section of my website. I got it uploaded over the weekend.
Grettir has also made the class notes for is I.33-Liechtenauer Symposium available online. You can download them here.
This past weekend was Atlantian Crown. I had a fabulous time but, as usual, I brought my camera and didn’t take it out all day. I really need to stop that!
Finally, I spent most of Sunday working on it and I’m now nearly finished with my current Foundations Revealed article. Now I’m hoping that if I really dedicate the rest of the week to it and don’t allow myself to get distracted I can finish it early and possibly be free to day trip Tourney of Friends this weekend. We’ll see how it goes.
Some of you have probably heard that we had some pretty nasty weather here in the Raleigh area on Saturday. Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and the like. Thankfully it was pretty mild at our house. We lost some good sized limbs from our front maple but otherwise everything was fine and there was no damage to the house.
I was actually in downtown Raleigh just before the worst of the storm came through. I was at the Raleigh City Museum attending a historical fashion program earlier in the day and coincidentally left to drive home just before the storm hit. In fact I pulled into my driveway and had just made it in the door when the bottom fell out. I feel very lucky to have made it home easily and that we suffered so little damage.
I did get pictures of some awesome garments at the program that I will be putting up in my gallery this week. The program was wonderful and I’d like to send a special thank you out to Stormi Souter, Amanda Cashwell, and Dannielle Perry for all the work they did to put it together.
For those of you in the Raleigh Area the Raleigh City Museum is hosting a historical fashion event on April 16th focusing on the 18th -20th Centuries. While not my main areas of interest I can’t give up an opportunity to spend time with other historical fashion geeks! Please stop by and say “Hi!”.
From the Website:
Join the Raleigh City Museum on April 16, 2011 to learn all about fashion, fads, and everyday dress from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Two programs will be presented that explore the styles of years past, at 11 am is 1770-1940: American Fashion History, where the evolution of clothing will be explored. How did we get from stiff and formal lines of the well-dressed colonist to the casual jeans and t-shirts worn today, and what came between? Then, at 1:30pm is a program on Mid-19th Century Dress in Detail. Learn what people wore before and during the American Civil War, as well as how their garments were constructed and used in everyday life. Original dresses and bonnets from private North Carolina textile collections will be on display, and costumed interpreters will present living breathing representations of the people who wore these fashions. Interpreters will include experienced costume and textile historians Amanda Cashwell and Stormi Souter of whynotthen.com; leading bonnet expert and author Dannielle Perry of timelytresses.com, and talking about men’s fashions will be Taylor Brantley. Admission is free.
Last night I finished cartridge pleating my venetians onto the waist band. The original ones were gathered but I decided to try cartridge pleating in the hopes that it would help replicate the awesome puffiness seen in the De Ghyen venetians.
Once the waist band was attached I tried them on to double check the fit and the leg length to see if I needed to shorten them at all. Everything looks good so far and I think once I hem them up a 1/2 inch they will be perfect.
I had briefly considered taking a picture of them while I had them on last night but since they were unflatteringly only safety pinned on I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The buttons and hemming should go very quickly though so I should have some new pictures soon.
So it looks like I really might have new pants for Coronation next weekend. Next up is a new doublet although I’m not sure if I will be able to finish that in time. I’d really like to but we’ll just have to see.
Since I posted a tutorial on incorporating pockets into venetians and trunkhose yesterday I thought I would post a bit today about the pants the tutorial is based on.
I had posted recently that the first project of my great wardrobe overhaul was going to be new rapier armor. Since I wanted to base it off of depictions of suits worn by soldiers in De Ghyen’s The Exercise of Armes I spent several hours pouring over my copy of the treatise. While there were several examples of men wearing trunkhose, most appeared to be wearing venetians so I decided to start with a pair of those first. Most of the venetians depicted appeared to have legs that were gathered or pleated into a leg band but a few appeared to be made with a fitted knee similar to the ones depicted in Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion. Since I’ve always like those pants but never made a pair for myself I thought this would be a great opportunity to finally have my own pair.
I decided to make my venetians out of a burgundy wool flannel which I purchased from B. Black and Sons several years ago. The are lined with linen and the pocket bags are also made of linen. Since many of the venetians depicted in The Exercise of Armes and the ones I was basing mine on from Patterns of Fashion also had contrasting trim on the sides I decided to trim mine with pink linen bias tape that I made myself of a remnant I had left over from a previous project. Pictures of the pants currently in progress can be found in my gallery.
A pocket in my new venetians.
One of the things that has always attracted me to late 16th Century menswear is their pockets. There are several examples of trunkhose and a pair of venetians depicted in Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion that include pockets. Until recently though I’d always been a little unsure of adding them to my own trunkhose. Even though I thought they were awesome I had always been afraid that if I tried to add them into my own pants that I’d mess them up and end up with big ugly holes instead of ultra cool pockets.
When I decided recently to redo my wardrobe starting with new rapier armor I decided I need to defeat my fear of making pockets. My new rapier armor would contain the pockets I had always envied in the extant examples.
I started with a pair of venetians patterned after those in Patterns of Fashion. I still need to attach the waist band and hem the legs but I have successfully completed the pockets so I thought I would include a tutorial on the process.
Adding a Pocket to Your Trunkhose or Ventians
This tutorial is based the Venetians depicted on p. 86 and p. 87 of Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion. That pattern was drafted up from the original and a muslin made to ensure a proper fit.
Marking the pocket slit.
1. Mark the pocket slit on your hosen based on your pattern.
Cut open the pocket slit.
2. Cut open the pocket slit. If you have carefully pinned both sides of you pants together to ensure that nothing shifts you may cut both slits at the same time. However, if you are concerned then just cut one at a time.
The linen for the pocket bag.
3. Cut the linen for the pocket bag.
Measuring the pocket slit.
4. Measure the pocket slit.
Transferring the measurements.
5. Transfer the measurements of the pocket slit to the pocket bag.
The pocket slit sewn up.
6. Sew up the pocket bag taking care to leave the opening that will be sewn into the pocket slit.
The pocket pinned into the pocket slit before basting.
7. Baste the top of the bag to the edge of the pants and carefully pin the edges of the pocket slit and the bag opening together.
The pocket sewn closed.
8. Stitch the edges of the pocket slit and bag together using a whip or blind stitch. To reinforce the tops and bottoms of the pocket slit use a button hole stitch there.
A finished pocket.
9. Repeat for the other leg and enjoy your new pockets!
Just a short post this morning but I wanted to let you all know that my 16th and Early 17th Century Cloth stocking tutorial (the one that was published at Foundations Revealed this past May) is going to be available through my website very soon. I want to do a little reformatting first but I’m hoping to have it available before the end of the year.
Looking for a pattern for a new project? Here is a list of 5 patterns from Reconstructing History that I totally love:
- The Geoffrey Nightcap Embroidery Pattern: Created by Laura of Extreme Costuming this nightcap pattern is simple and elegant. A great place to start for a new embroiderer!
- The 1560s-70s Flanders Gown: I’ve been working with this pattern for my own Flanders Gown and I’ve been very pleased with the clarity of the directions and how easy it has gone together.
- The Netherlandish Working Women’s Outfit: Netherlandish working class clothing is always elegant and comfortable.
- The 14th century Grand Assiette Pourpoint: It can be hard to find a pattern for the grand assiette pourpoint and draping a pattern on yourself is difficult. I was really pleased with the quality of RH’s pattern and I’m looking forward to starting mine as soon as my Flanders Gown is finished.
- The Fruitseller or Common Woman’s Dress: I just love the simple elegance of RH’s Italian working women’s dress pattern.
* To see more of Reconstructing History’s many patterns and notions from a wide variety of time periods visit their website.