More moving of existing files for easier access.
Monday, August 6, 2018
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Drawn-thread apron -gift for Lady Stella
I was involved in the Meridian Largesse Swap this summer, where each of us got a name and some information on that person and their persona and had to make a gift for that person. (I received an enchanting flag fan with a hand-turned handle) The actual exchange was at RUM but my recipient could not attend. Luckily, she is in my Barony, so I gave her the gift tonight at our monthly business meeting.
Lady Stella dresses in both late 15th century Italian and Korean. Since I know very little about Korean culture, I decided to do something for her Italian persona.
Decorative aprons were a big thing in the 16th century, but the earliest I could date one was to 1507.*
Mistress Peryn and the Loggia Vecchio group found me examples of several late 15th century aprons, but they weren't specifically decorative.
The 16th-century aprons often had lace or fancy embroidery, but the 15th-century examples did not appear to include either. But a plain apron did not seem like much of a gift, either.
I had several examples of drawn work going back as early 1320, but on household linen, not clothing.
The earliest example of drawn work on clothing I could find was 1505
Ideally, I wanted more robust documentation, but this was for a gift, not an A&S entry so I decided not to stress (too much) and start on construction.
I chose ramie for the material. There were some informal conversations at the Jamestown conference about ramie being closer to the linen one would find in period than any reasonably available linen. I had some ramie that I had cut into a chiton only to find it was too stiff for my taste. But a little stiffness for an apron could be a good thing. And bonus -all my white linen was in lengths suitable for camicia, so using the ramie was repurposing a failed project and being more efficient with my fabric resources.
Drawing threads to square the ramie was easier than I expected -definitely easier than pulling threads from fabrics-store linen. Since Stella is significantly thinner than I am, I took some width off each side to make the ties from and ended up with a rectangle roughly 35"x45" wide.
I used hem stitch to hem three sides of the rectangle and then got to the fun part of the project. I wanted a pretty but not too elaborate design on the apron. I didn't think it was suitable for the late 15th century and I was also writing 2 classes for RUM so I wanted to be able to finish the apron on time.
The time invested in carefully planning and marking the threads to be removed paid off and there were no "oops" moments where lines didn't match up (thankfully). I drew the threads into an X pattern and used a satin stitch on the corners where the thread lines met.
All in all, it was a pleasant, relatively zen project that was fun to work on that I finished with time to spare before RUM. Better still, Stella seemed quite happy to receive it. Now I need to make a pretty apron for myself!
*Full disclosure: I did not do a lot of in-depth research, just some searches of paintings
**Despite thinking I had sloid provenance on this example, I cannot find a painting by this name or this artist in the Louvre online collection
Lady Stella dresses in both late 15th century Italian and Korean. Since I know very little about Korean culture, I decided to do something for her Italian persona.
Decorative aprons were a big thing in the 16th century, but the earliest I could date one was to 1507.*
Portrait of a Woman (La Muta)
Raphael
c1507
Galleria Nazionale della Marche, Urbino, Italy
Mistress Peryn and the Loggia Vecchio group found me examples of several late 15th century aprons, but they weren't specifically decorative.
Detail from Birth of St John the Baptist
Dominic Ghirlandaio
c1486-1490
Capella Tornabuoni, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Detail from St Martin Sharing His Cloak Fresco (?) by Dominic Ghirlandaio
last quarter of the 15th century
San Martino del Vescova
Piazza San Martino, Via Dante Alighieri
Florence, Italy
This photo of San Martino del Vescovo is courtesy of TripAdvisor
The 16th-century aprons often had lace or fancy embroidery, but the 15th-century examples did not appear to include either. But a plain apron did not seem like much of a gift, either.
I had several examples of drawn work going back as early 1320, but on household linen, not clothing.
The Presentation of the Christ Child in the Temple
Giotto
c. 1320
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Detail from The Circumcision
Master of Saint-Severin (German, Cologne School)
c1490
The Louvre, Paris**
The earliest example of drawn work on clothing I could find was 1505
Detail from Bacchus and Ariadne
Tullio Lombardo
c. 1505-10
Kunsthistoriches Museum, Vienna
Ideally, I wanted more robust documentation, but this was for a gift, not an A&S entry so I decided not to stress (too much) and start on construction.
I chose ramie for the material. There were some informal conversations at the Jamestown conference about ramie being closer to the linen one would find in period than any reasonably available linen. I had some ramie that I had cut into a chiton only to find it was too stiff for my taste. But a little stiffness for an apron could be a good thing. And bonus -all my white linen was in lengths suitable for camicia, so using the ramie was repurposing a failed project and being more efficient with my fabric resources.
Drawing threads to square the ramie was easier than I expected -definitely easier than pulling threads from fabrics-store linen. Since Stella is significantly thinner than I am, I took some width off each side to make the ties from and ended up with a rectangle roughly 35"x45" wide.
I used hem stitch to hem three sides of the rectangle and then got to the fun part of the project. I wanted a pretty but not too elaborate design on the apron. I didn't think it was suitable for the late 15th century and I was also writing 2 classes for RUM so I wanted to be able to finish the apron on time.
I decided on this design
The time invested in carefully planning and marking the threads to be removed paid off and there were no "oops" moments where lines didn't match up (thankfully). I drew the threads into an X pattern and used a satin stitch on the corners where the thread lines met.
The corners warped out of shape a bit, but I think I've figured out how to keep that from happening next time I have drawn work corners. I added a diagonal bar of buttonhole stitches in each corner to stabilize them and the triangle shape became much less noticeable, even to my hyper-critical eye.
The last step was to gather the rectangle onto a long narrow piece for the waistband and ties. I really liked the ramie for an apron, it had a nice body to it. A light coat of spray starch and a good ironing made it look quite nice indeed.
All in all, it was a pleasant, relatively zen project that was fun to work on that I finished with time to spare before RUM. Better still, Stella seemed quite happy to receive it. Now I need to make a pretty apron for myself!
I am hoping that Stella will send me a picture of her wearing it.
Until then, this picture of the apron laid against my gown for contrast will have to do.
*Full disclosure: I did not do a lot of in-depth research, just some searches of paintings
**Despite thinking I had sloid provenance on this example, I cannot find a painting by this name or this artist in the Louvre online collection
Monday, July 30, 2018
Basic Italian Hemstitch
There has been some interest in this class recently so moving it to Google docs for accessibility.
The Two Hour Tarpush
I am finding that Google Docs is a far more convenient way to handle storage for my class handouts than uploading and linking to a domain I am not really using for anything but storage. So I will be moving my handouts to google docs and embedding them in a blog post to make them easier to find. I'll also be updating the links on the Class tab of the nav menu.
Today it's the Two Hour Tarpuş class
Sunday, July 29, 2018
The Ten Day Turkish Coat -Italian style
Royal University Meridies (RUM) was last weekend and I taught Online Resources for the Independent Researcher Parts 1 & 2. Since I needed to write the classes before I could teach them, make a gift for the Largesse Swap and I was also hosting a Silk Road Sewing weekend the weekend before RUM (not to mention working full time and having mundane adult responsibilities), I made the sensible decision to take new garb for RUM off the to-do list.
Then ten days before RUM I start thinking about what garb I was going to wear. In July. In the Deep South. Everyone generally goes Roman in the summer to survive the heat, but I kind of hate my Roman garb (which isn't extremely HA anyway) so... new garb it was going to be.
There's a mostly Venetian fad in the mid-late 16th century in portraits of a pseudo-Ottoman coat worn over a camicia. You can see more examples on my Pinterest board but the most famous is Titian's 1550 "Woman Holding an Apple"
I had some lovely cherry red linen printed with a Renaissance-esque pattern and Mistress Jadi has tested one of her pattern drafting methods for her book on me, so I had a kaftan pattern that fit nicely. Even hand felling seams, I can knock out an unlined kaftan in ten days, no problem.
On the Sewing Party trip to Fine Fabrics (exactly 7 days before RUM), I found some coordinating cherry silk dupioni with a very very low slub and some faux pearl buttons. My plan was to use the silk to create facings on the right side of the garment and at some point in the indeterminate future, I can think about trimming the front and sleeves. Hand sewing the facings on this week is going to be time-consuming, but doable, I thought.
Sunday morning, I see off the houseguests from the Sewing Party and settle into cutting bias strips and beginning the hand sewing. After a little bit of progress, I am liking how things are turning out.
And then Compulsive Elaboration Syndrome hit.
There.
Must.
Be.
Trim.
For.
RUM.
Sunday afternoon, I run out to a local bead store and spend more money than I want to think about on pearls. Only to end up deciding that what I like better are the $1.00 a strand pearls from Fire Mountain Gems that I'd bought for earrings only to find them completely unsuitable. This is not a complete crisis because with real pearls on the front I no longer liked the look of the faux pearl buttons and I decide to use some of the new pearls (which are coin pearls and relatively flat) for buttons.
Somewhere around Wednesday, I decided that I also absolutely needed a row of gold couched at the edge of the facing. Thank heavens Tied to History is local and that she has started carrying goldwork supplies. Mistress Alessandra was kind enough to drop my order off because she was going to be in the neighborhood anyway.
The rest of the week, the drive to RUM and Friday evening, once we've arrived are all fraught with hand sewing facings, trim and button loops. By the time I am too tired to sew another stitch on Friday, it's nowhere near done, but trimmed enough to be wearable.
It was astoundingly comfortable to wear. The only problem was that the button loops had stretched a bit as I made them and frequently slipped off the buttons. It was unlined, so even with a camicia under it, I was still only wearing two layers of linen. And with the wide camicia sleeves, there was some air flow. This style is definitely my new go-to for summer events.
It took this past week to finish getting the rest of the pearls on the facings. I still have the second motif to bead in between each set of pearl flowers but the beads I've ordered for that are shipping from India and the larger coin pearls I bought to resolve the button loop issue are shipping from China so I am on to other projects until the next round of supplies arrive.
Then ten days before RUM I start thinking about what garb I was going to wear. In July. In the Deep South. Everyone generally goes Roman in the summer to survive the heat, but I kind of hate my Roman garb (which isn't extremely HA anyway) so... new garb it was going to be.
There's a mostly Venetian fad in the mid-late 16th century in portraits of a pseudo-Ottoman coat worn over a camicia. You can see more examples on my Pinterest board but the most famous is Titian's 1550 "Woman Holding an Apple"
Woman Holding an Apple
Titian c. 1550
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Looking at the various portraits, they all shared some characteristics:
- Buttons were usually pearl
- There was generally some form of elaborately beaded/ jeweled trim running down the front
- There was not much contrast between trim and garment color -definitely not the striking contrasts that the Ottomans loved
I had some lovely cherry red linen printed with a Renaissance-esque pattern and Mistress Jadi has tested one of her pattern drafting methods for her book on me, so I had a kaftan pattern that fit nicely. Even hand felling seams, I can knock out an unlined kaftan in ten days, no problem.
Ironically, moments after I finish cutting everything out, I found reference to a pattern for a Ropa Turca in Alcega. I don't own a copy of Alcega (darn it) but Mistress Leda does and she was happy to send me the relevant sections in her copy -complete with Master José's notes from figuring out the Bara system.
The Alcega Ropa Turca pattern
This was both good news and bad news. Good news in that if there was a pattern in Alcega, these garments were actually worn and not just the fantasy of Italian painters. Bad news in that the pattern in Alcega has some decided differences from the Ottoman kaftan pattern, which was already cut out. I liked the fabric too much to scrap it, so I managed to convince myself that this one would be fine -I could use the Alcega pattern to make the next one.
On the Sewing Party trip to Fine Fabrics (exactly 7 days before RUM), I found some coordinating cherry silk dupioni with a very very low slub and some faux pearl buttons. My plan was to use the silk to create facings on the right side of the garment and at some point in the indeterminate future, I can think about trimming the front and sleeves. Hand sewing the facings on this week is going to be time-consuming, but doable, I thought.
Sunday morning, I see off the houseguests from the Sewing Party and settle into cutting bias strips and beginning the hand sewing. After a little bit of progress, I am liking how things are turning out.
And then Compulsive Elaboration Syndrome hit.
There.
Must.
Be.
Trim.
For.
RUM.
Sunday afternoon, I run out to a local bead store and spend more money than I want to think about on pearls. Only to end up deciding that what I like better are the $1.00 a strand pearls from Fire Mountain Gems that I'd bought for earrings only to find them completely unsuitable. This is not a complete crisis because with real pearls on the front I no longer liked the look of the faux pearl buttons and I decide to use some of the new pearls (which are coin pearls and relatively flat) for buttons.
Somewhere around Wednesday, I decided that I also absolutely needed a row of gold couched at the edge of the facing. Thank heavens Tied to History is local and that she has started carrying goldwork supplies. Mistress Alessandra was kind enough to drop my order off because she was going to be in the neighborhood anyway.
The rest of the week, the drive to RUM and Friday evening, once we've arrived are all fraught with hand sewing facings, trim and button loops. By the time I am too tired to sew another stitch on Friday, it's nowhere near done, but trimmed enough to be wearable.
It was astoundingly comfortable to wear. The only problem was that the button loops had stretched a bit as I made them and frequently slipped off the buttons. It was unlined, so even with a camicia under it, I was still only wearing two layers of linen. And with the wide camicia sleeves, there was some air flow. This style is definitely my new go-to for summer events.
It took this past week to finish getting the rest of the pearls on the facings. I still have the second motif to bead in between each set of pearl flowers but the beads I've ordered for that are shipping from India and the larger coin pearls I bought to resolve the button loop issue are shipping from China so I am on to other projects until the next round of supplies arrive.
Online Resources Class Parts 1 & 2
I wrote and taught Online Resources Part 1 & 2 at Royal University Meridies on July 21. Both classes seemed to be well received so here are the handouts. If anyone has sources that I have not covered here, I would love to hear about them!
Thursday, July 26, 2018
Sewing Tools 1150-1600
There have been a few people interested in building a period sewing basket recently so I wanted to provide a more convenient link to my 2016 A&S project. I've found a lot of sources since the paper so I also plan on pulling together a source list for the tools sometime in the near future. Watch this space!
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