Black Kirtle

Last weekend I went to AROW, Abbey Re-enactors Only Weekend. There were a lot less people there than last year (when it was almost rained out and was wet and humid and miserable), but I still had a good time. This year the weather was beautiful, sunny and warm. I got time to go wandering round to visit other groups, namley the Viking groups who I never get to visit at real events because I’m busy.

Because there were no public it was more of a relaxed event, which was nice in some ways (one encampment was looking through a photo album of an event from 2002, at another I was offered a cup of tea) but meant taking photos was trickier than expected. One encampment I went to were doing crafts and were using a few modern materials. They saw my camera, asked me to wait a few moments and in 10 seconds all the modern stuff dissapeared under tables and beneath aprons. It was like at an event when some re-enactor comes running past going ‘they let the public in early! get everything away!’.

One thing I did make sure of was to get photos of my black kirtle, at last. The linen of the bodice has stretched more than the lining so I’ll need to do some adjustments. I don’t normally wear this belt with this dress, but I needed something to thrust my distaff into. I’m working on a red leather belt for this one.

 

The coif is made from the pattern here.

I’ve worn this before and love it, but this is the first time I’ve worn it with the brim folded back. Previously I’ve worn it with the brim down.

I really wish I had gotten a photo of my new red wool hood, it looks great with this outfit but maybe at the next event where it will be a bit colder.

 

 

 

New Old Orange Kirtle

When I was a teenager I made a back lacing kirtle with a million hand bound eyelets up the back.

I had planned long sleeves, but once I saw this image I decided to skip the sleeves

I never wore it once, because I changed re-enactment groups before I had a chance and my new group only did Italian.

The only person who ever wore this dress was a presenter for a TV show who came to our house to interview my family on our hobby. She saw us all dressed up and wished she had a dress too.

So I decided to convert it to a front laced Italian dress. Unfortunately when I laced the dress up closed I had ‘armpit spillage’ and I knew I’d have to do more work to re-wear the bodice.

So I never wore it.

Now, over ten years later, I am with a group that allows me to do non-Italian clothing. While tidying up I came across the half-finished dress. I remembered originally I had planned on making long sleeves for this kirtle, which meant I still had the fabric

Now I’m on the other side of 30, my body isn’t the same shape- or size- as it was when I was a teenager. And my sewing (and photoshop) skills are better than what they were. So I’ve pulled the bodice off the skirt completely and I’m hoping to have enough fabric to make another bodice from scratch. I aim to make a front lacing bodice and short sleeves. I might need to do some piecing but piecing is period.

It’s like getting a new dress for the work of bodice and sleeves, and I still LOVE the colour.

Oh, and the weekend before my next event is TOTALLY the right time to be starting this project.

 

 

Gamurra construction notes

As I mentioned on my facebook page, I’ve started going through my Cathelina Di Alessandri blog and have been putting up construction notes for all my clothing. For most of the posts this has involved going through my old live journal posts and re-writing them which has been interesting.

But now you can read about how I cut and sew my gamurre skirts here.

You can read about the construction here of my yellow gamurra

You can read about the construction of the jaffa dress here.

You can read about the construction of my red gamura here.

Once I do my blue gamurra and my brown gamurra that will be all the gamurre done!

I have also, FINALLY put the fazzoletto page, which I thought I would share here in full text also.

Fazzoletto

This item, known better by it’s English name partlet among many costumers, is what a modern person might refer to as a ‘dickie’. Among the lower classes it would likely have been linen (or possibly wool) and worn for practical purposes.

The story goes that the upper classes often wore them in response to sumptuary laws that determined their necklines must not be below a certain level. With a fazzoletto they could have their gamurra neckline as low as they liked and used a sheer silk fazzoletto to bring their neckline in line with the rules while flaunting them at the same time.

You can see the fazzoletto worn either under the gamurra or over it in period art but you might need to look close– sometimes they are hard to spot.

This detail from Domenico Ghirlandaio’s 1475-1477 Annunciation of the Death of St. Fina shows lower class women wearing a simple cut of opaque fabric.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s Portrait of Ginevra Benci dated 1474 shows the fazzoletto worn tucked into the bodice.

This portrait by Ghirlandaio suggests that if the fazzoletto was worn over the gamurra bodice it was worn under the outer garment.

Domenico Ghirlandaio’s  Portraitdated 1485 shows the fazzoletto was sometimes held closed with a pin or button.

Agnolo e Donnino del Mazziere’s Portrait of a Young Woman shows a very sheer fazzoletto over the bodice of the gamura.

Domenico Ghirlandaio’s  Portrait of a Lady dated to 1490 also shows a sheer fazzoletto over the bodice.

Sebastiano Mainardi’s  Portrait of a Woman also dated 1490 shows a thicker, but still sheer fazzoletto edged with a decorative stitch.

My pattern is below:

Fazzoletto pattern by Cathelina di Alessandri

It’s not a pattern you can print and use, but hopefully it will help with the general shape.

Fazzoletto by Cathelina di Alessandri

I have only made one fazzoletto which I made in silk, and hemmed it with silk thread using a decorative stitch.

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A 15th Century Coif

I made this as an entry to the Historical Sew Fortnightly

I encourage you follow the link to the pattern as the blog posts includes many reference pictures of this coif style.

 

Challenge #1 2016: Procrastination

What the item is: a 15th century coif

Challenge: Procrastination. I’ve been meaning on making one of these for at least ten years. I’ve been wanting to make this specific pattern for about two, but have been putting it off as it didn’t suit my old living history group’s period. When I changed groups in August last year I decided to make this, and one day when I should have been doing housework I finally did!

Materials: Linen, cotton thread

Pattern: is from here: Seven Star Wheen’s 15th century white hood or coif

Year: mid-late 15th century

Notions: None

How historically accurate is it? Accurate enough to be fit for purpose. Fabric is 100% linen, which it would have been in period however it is just modern commercial linen, thread should have been linen but I use cotton quilting thread which is a bit thicker than normal sewing thread but unlike quality linen thread can be bought at any fabric store on a big real rather than having to order it online. Pattern is theoretical but looks right. It is 100% handsewn using stiches which were in use in the 15th century

Hours to complete: About 5

First worn: Unless on my head as a test in the mirror counts, never. This will be worn in this year’s reenactment season which doesn’t start until May, so in a way this is an UN-procrastination project too! In the photo this is pictured over a hat box because taking a photo on my own had was awkward.

Total cost: Free, because I had the linen left over from making my Camicia last year (another procrastination project, it waited about 7 or 8 year to be made!). $10 if I’d had to buy the materials for it.