Elizabethan Era Core Dump
So as previously mentioned I have been re-bitten by the Late Period bug, and this time I have PLANS. I have decided to narrow my focus down to approximately 1560-1575. The primary mode of dress for Magdalena will be Venetian (as that is where she is from) but because she is living in England she will also have a lot of English clothing as well. I would like to do at least one Florentine style outfit, probably focusing on something out of a Medici portrait (while this is a bit early for me, this 1551 Bronzino portrait of Maria De Medici is one of my favorite portraits of that entire era).
1st project: A simple kirtle.
This kirtle by Sarah Goodman and this one by Drea Leed are pretty good approximations of what I'm looking to do. I would however like to add guards to the design (wide-ish decorative stripes on the bodice and skirt like these).
For now I would like to make a biggens cap to go with it, based on a pattern by Lynn Mcmasters I got at War.
Together this outfit will be a somewhat middle class look, but with tweaks and additions in the future I think I can get something quite upper class looking out of it.
My favored fabric for this pattern is a dark silver colored cotton figured satin (penny for scale, the pattern is actually a series of tiny satin finish diamonds on a matte background), my only issue with using this fabric is that it goes REALLY well with the pewter silk I got at war. I have 9 yards of it and I think it's either 54" or 60" wide, so I have PLENTY to work with, but I'm not sure I want to limit myself on what I can do with that silk. Then again there's also 10 yards of the pewter silk, and 4 yards of a white silk satin I'm also planning to use with it, so I don't really know what the hell I would need 23 yards of fabric for. My secondary choices are a lime green diamond patterned cotton brocade (penny for scale) which I have 10 yards of or a 54" or 60" wide heavy cotton dark gold geometrical brocade (penny for scale) of which I have 4 yards. The guards will be made of a heavy black crepe-backed cotton satin.
I haven't decided whether I want to make this to go over my corset or if I want to just make it boned in its own right.
Full listing of all posts relating to this project here
2nd project: A Venetian style camicia (or chemise).
I'm waiting on 4 yds of hankie weight linen for this one. The construction will be as discussed here at The Realm of Venus (a great resource for those interested in Courtesan personas). It will end up looking somewhat like this one by Jen Thompson but with a very broad neckline. I still have not yet decided on whether I wish to cuff the sleeves or not, the portraits of upper class Venetian women tend to have very full sleeves with either a lace cuff or small ruff (either of which would have been a separate item of clothing) so it's hard to see how the actual camicia sleeve is finished. There are several portraits of women (particularly musicians and courtesans) with no over sleeve so that you can see that the sleeve is uncuffed but tied up and out of the way, so I think that is how I will probably approach the style. I'm fairly sure I have a bit of white period style lace, if so I will be adding that to the collar and cuffs.
3rd project:A Veronese style Gown.
The main inspiration for this will be this 1560 portrait by Paolo Caliari (called Veronese). There are several images showing this style here, which is typified by the split bodice with ladder lacing, very wide neckline, and a full but unsupported skirt. I have a 60" midnight blue cotton velvet I'd love to use for this, but I only have three yards, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I might use the dark gold brocade if I don't use it for the kirtle. Again I am not sure whether I will be making this to go over my pre-existing corset or boning it sufficiently to support itself.
Full listing of all posts relating to this project here.
4th project: (in progress) Small Accessories AKA the finer details. Top of the list currently is to finish my girdle belt(done). After that (in no particular order other then LLLoL projects taking precedence) sleeve ruffs for the LLLoL, a Venetian partlet for the LLLoL (see future project 1), a pendant for the LLLoL a fan (have acquired silk paddle fans for this very purpose already), pearl jewelry with some pewter coloured freshwater pearls I picked up at Pennsic 36.
5th project: (in progress) Kirtle Redux After something like 4 years it's high time that I make another kirtle using what I have learned. This will be a sort of mid point between the blue kirtle (which was only supposed to be a test run anyway) and the LLLoL. I'm hoping to do the finishing details by hand, but the grunt work will be done via machine. Depending on how long this takes I may even make a few of these as I have several appropriate fabrics stashed up now.
Future Project: A silk partlet.
I have 3 yards extremely fine white silk (I think it's chiffon) and one yard of another kind of silk (I think habotai, the same stuff as my white silk flags). I actually need a couple of different styles of partlet. I need a vary simple Venetian style like this one from a 1560's portrait by Tiziano Vecellio (called Titian), and a more English style partlet such as this one from an unknown artist in 1569 which I will probably make from this pattern (which is very similar to this partlet on a 1559 portrait by Sofanbisa Anguissola). I also have some "cloth of gold" which is cross woven with purple silk and some sort of gold colored metal threads. It would make a completely stunning partlet, but I'd have to think long and hard before cutting into it.
Future project: A case of ruffs.
I'm damn picky about my ruffs and primarily like the fairly short unstarched style of the late 1560s such as in this c 1565 portrait by Hans Eworth or this c 1571 portrait by Francois Clouet. None of this accordian pleating bullshit, that stuff looks like crap and really has very little to do with the way ruffs were actually made. A proper ruff is made with stacked box pleats sewn flat into the TOP of a collar. Here is a very narrow ruff I made several years ago to test out the construction technique and here is my second ruff, a black double ruff tied with hematite and glass beads (unfortunately very difficult to photograph, especially when your camera sucks). Based on the look of these two ruffs I definitely need to make my ruffs fuller, but I think they were both very good starts. Obviously (based on what I've made so far) I prefer beaded ruffs such as the one in this c 1570 portrait of Frances Sydney and this c 1570 engraving of Elizabeth 1 by Remigius Hogenberg. I completely adore this modern treatment of the double ruff by Suzy Clark which echoes ruffs like this one from an unknown artist in 1569.
Future project: A woman's Doublet.
Eventually (hopefully sooner then later) I hope to make a women's doublet to go over the kirtle, which will end up looking somewhat like This outfit by Sempstress (I rather like the slight train she put on her kirtle), this outfit by Jennifer Thompson, this one by Drea Leed, or this outfit by Elizabeth Elmwell . I haven't really decided which way I want to go with that yet, and a lot of that will have to do with what underlayers I have finished up to that point.
Future Project: The pewter silk.
As previously mentioned I have 10 yards of striped pewter silk (the background color is not quite that dark, more like a dark titanium or pewter color), 4 yards of white silk satin (charmeuse I think actually), and 9 yards of dark silver figured satin (here are all three fabrics together). This whole thing really just screams Elizabethan Courts to me. Perhaps something with this sort of silhouette (1569 Hans Eworth - Detail from Elizabeth & The Three Goddesses) but without so many bows methinks. I'll probably tend towards a sort of severe Spanish feel with it.
Future Project: A good hat/Hair Camouflage.
Picking your persona with an eye to the fact that you have and liked showing off your butt length hair at the time makes things considerably more difficult when you opt for a pixie cut which you occasionally dye Crayola colours. The once embraced Venetian antipathy towards hats does not make my life easy, so at some point I have to come up with some manner of wig/hair piece to hide my thoroughly modern hair.
Failing that, nothing finishes the feel of an Elizabethan ensemble like a good hat. Me, I'm particularly partial to two styles; the Italian Bonnet and the Arched Brim Hat. Happily I have patterns for both. I suspect I will also have to make some manner of caul with some fake braids to finish the look.
Future Project: Gloves
I dig gloves. A LOT.
After hats, this is the biggest thing I look for in a FINISHED look. This picture to me typifies a finished look, and so much of what says it is those gloves.
While I do want to find a pair of plain white gauntlet style gloves, eventually I do want to make a couple of outfit-specific pairs. It's likely I will just add a cuff to a shorted glove though as I have little desire to learn glovemaking, smacks too much of work to me.
Future project: Blackwork
Blackwork embroidery is just beautiful stuff and it's relative simplicity calls to me. I've done modern embroidery, and I'm not bad at it at all, but after a while it bores me so I never finish anything. Then again I've only ever tried with cheesy wall hangings so perhaps embroidering something I find interesting would be different... but I digress. The upshot is, I'd like to try my hand at blackwork.
Future project: Loose Gown There are a couple of different styles of this and I haven't quite decided on exactly what I want to do, but what I DO know is that I have a nice sized chunk of jet black fake curly lamb that I want to use to do the accents on it.
Running around the house in jeans, a babydoll shirt, and an Elizabethan corset is a strange thing indeed. I let out the bust of my corset about an inch and I'm seeing how comfortable it is. So far it's doing really well, I wore it for 5 hours straight before I started to get at all antsy about it. Though I REALLY had to eat something as I was getting really lightheaded. Considering it was only a couple of hours since I had eaten last I'm blaming the corset for that one.
1st project: A simple kirtle.
This kirtle by Sarah Goodman and this one by Drea Leed are pretty good approximations of what I'm looking to do. I would however like to add guards to the design (wide-ish decorative stripes on the bodice and skirt like these).
For now I would like to make a biggens cap to go with it, based on a pattern by Lynn Mcmasters I got at War.
Together this outfit will be a somewhat middle class look, but with tweaks and additions in the future I think I can get something quite upper class looking out of it.
My favored fabric for this pattern is a dark silver colored cotton figured satin (penny for scale, the pattern is actually a series of tiny satin finish diamonds on a matte background), my only issue with using this fabric is that it goes REALLY well with the pewter silk I got at war. I have 9 yards of it and I think it's either 54" or 60" wide, so I have PLENTY to work with, but I'm not sure I want to limit myself on what I can do with that silk. Then again there's also 10 yards of the pewter silk, and 4 yards of a white silk satin I'm also planning to use with it, so I don't really know what the hell I would need 23 yards of fabric for. My secondary choices are a lime green diamond patterned cotton brocade (penny for scale) which I have 10 yards of or a 54" or 60" wide heavy cotton dark gold geometrical brocade (penny for scale) of which I have 4 yards. The guards will be made of a heavy black crepe-backed cotton satin.
I haven't decided whether I want to make this to go over my corset or if I want to just make it boned in its own right.
Full listing of all posts relating to this project here
2nd project: A Venetian style camicia (or chemise).
I'm waiting on 4 yds of hankie weight linen for this one. The construction will be as discussed here at The Realm of Venus (a great resource for those interested in Courtesan personas). It will end up looking somewhat like this one by Jen Thompson but with a very broad neckline. I still have not yet decided on whether I wish to cuff the sleeves or not, the portraits of upper class Venetian women tend to have very full sleeves with either a lace cuff or small ruff (either of which would have been a separate item of clothing) so it's hard to see how the actual camicia sleeve is finished. There are several portraits of women (particularly musicians and courtesans) with no over sleeve so that you can see that the sleeve is uncuffed but tied up and out of the way, so I think that is how I will probably approach the style. I'm fairly sure I have a bit of white period style lace, if so I will be adding that to the collar and cuffs.
3rd project:A Veronese style Gown.
The main inspiration for this will be this 1560 portrait by Paolo Caliari (called Veronese). There are several images showing this style here, which is typified by the split bodice with ladder lacing, very wide neckline, and a full but unsupported skirt. I have a 60" midnight blue cotton velvet I'd love to use for this, but I only have three yards, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. I might use the dark gold brocade if I don't use it for the kirtle. Again I am not sure whether I will be making this to go over my pre-existing corset or boning it sufficiently to support itself.
Full listing of all posts relating to this project here.
4th project: (in progress) Small Accessories AKA the finer details. Top of the list currently is to finish my girdle belt(done). After that (in no particular order other then LLLoL projects taking precedence) sleeve ruffs for the LLLoL, a Venetian partlet for the LLLoL (see future project 1), a pendant for the LLLoL a fan (have acquired silk paddle fans for this very purpose already), pearl jewelry with some pewter coloured freshwater pearls I picked up at Pennsic 36.
5th project: (in progress) Kirtle Redux After something like 4 years it's high time that I make another kirtle using what I have learned. This will be a sort of mid point between the blue kirtle (which was only supposed to be a test run anyway) and the LLLoL. I'm hoping to do the finishing details by hand, but the grunt work will be done via machine. Depending on how long this takes I may even make a few of these as I have several appropriate fabrics stashed up now.
Future Project: A silk partlet.
I have 3 yards extremely fine white silk (I think it's chiffon) and one yard of another kind of silk (I think habotai, the same stuff as my white silk flags). I actually need a couple of different styles of partlet. I need a vary simple Venetian style like this one from a 1560's portrait by Tiziano Vecellio (called Titian), and a more English style partlet such as this one from an unknown artist in 1569 which I will probably make from this pattern (which is very similar to this partlet on a 1559 portrait by Sofanbisa Anguissola). I also have some "cloth of gold" which is cross woven with purple silk and some sort of gold colored metal threads. It would make a completely stunning partlet, but I'd have to think long and hard before cutting into it.
Future project: A case of ruffs.
I'm damn picky about my ruffs and primarily like the fairly short unstarched style of the late 1560s such as in this c 1565 portrait by Hans Eworth or this c 1571 portrait by Francois Clouet. None of this accordian pleating bullshit, that stuff looks like crap and really has very little to do with the way ruffs were actually made. A proper ruff is made with stacked box pleats sewn flat into the TOP of a collar. Here is a very narrow ruff I made several years ago to test out the construction technique and here is my second ruff, a black double ruff tied with hematite and glass beads (unfortunately very difficult to photograph, especially when your camera sucks). Based on the look of these two ruffs I definitely need to make my ruffs fuller, but I think they were both very good starts. Obviously (based on what I've made so far) I prefer beaded ruffs such as the one in this c 1570 portrait of Frances Sydney and this c 1570 engraving of Elizabeth 1 by Remigius Hogenberg. I completely adore this modern treatment of the double ruff by Suzy Clark which echoes ruffs like this one from an unknown artist in 1569.
Future project: A woman's Doublet.
Eventually (hopefully sooner then later) I hope to make a women's doublet to go over the kirtle, which will end up looking somewhat like This outfit by Sempstress (I rather like the slight train she put on her kirtle), this outfit by Jennifer Thompson, this one by Drea Leed, or this outfit by Elizabeth Elmwell . I haven't really decided which way I want to go with that yet, and a lot of that will have to do with what underlayers I have finished up to that point.
Future Project: The pewter silk.
As previously mentioned I have 10 yards of striped pewter silk (the background color is not quite that dark, more like a dark titanium or pewter color), 4 yards of white silk satin (charmeuse I think actually), and 9 yards of dark silver figured satin (here are all three fabrics together). This whole thing really just screams Elizabethan Courts to me. Perhaps something with this sort of silhouette (1569 Hans Eworth - Detail from Elizabeth & The Three Goddesses) but without so many bows methinks. I'll probably tend towards a sort of severe Spanish feel with it.
Future Project: A good hat/Hair Camouflage.
Picking your persona with an eye to the fact that you have and liked showing off your butt length hair at the time makes things considerably more difficult when you opt for a pixie cut which you occasionally dye Crayola colours. The once embraced Venetian antipathy towards hats does not make my life easy, so at some point I have to come up with some manner of wig/hair piece to hide my thoroughly modern hair.
Failing that, nothing finishes the feel of an Elizabethan ensemble like a good hat. Me, I'm particularly partial to two styles; the Italian Bonnet and the Arched Brim Hat. Happily I have patterns for both. I suspect I will also have to make some manner of caul with some fake braids to finish the look.
Future Project: Gloves
I dig gloves. A LOT.
After hats, this is the biggest thing I look for in a FINISHED look. This picture to me typifies a finished look, and so much of what says it is those gloves.
While I do want to find a pair of plain white gauntlet style gloves, eventually I do want to make a couple of outfit-specific pairs. It's likely I will just add a cuff to a shorted glove though as I have little desire to learn glovemaking, smacks too much of work to me.
Future project: Blackwork
Blackwork embroidery is just beautiful stuff and it's relative simplicity calls to me. I've done modern embroidery, and I'm not bad at it at all, but after a while it bores me so I never finish anything. Then again I've only ever tried with cheesy wall hangings so perhaps embroidering something I find interesting would be different... but I digress. The upshot is, I'd like to try my hand at blackwork.
Future project: Loose Gown There are a couple of different styles of this and I haven't quite decided on exactly what I want to do, but what I DO know is that I have a nice sized chunk of jet black fake curly lamb that I want to use to do the accents on it.
Running around the house in jeans, a babydoll shirt, and an Elizabethan corset is a strange thing indeed. I let out the bust of my corset about an inch and I'm seeing how comfortable it is. So far it's doing really well, I wore it for 5 hours straight before I started to get at all antsy about it. Though I REALLY had to eat something as I was getting really lightheaded. Considering it was only a couple of hours since I had eaten last I'm blaming the corset for that one.