The Realm of Venus Presents...

he talian howcase

SCA and Ren-Fair participant, Textiles Merchant

A Florentine Outfit in the Style of  the 1540s

 I have been costuming since 1992 when I joined a small renaissance faire group. It was a struggle making my own clothing but I loved the results and that was how I caught the costuming bug.

Since that time, I have been involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism, the Northern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire, the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and various historical themed dance balls and events. I have created costumes from the 11th to the 19th centuries and have had fun doing them all. I love the challenge of turning a concept and/or portrait into reality. Each new project causes me to learn or try something new and I love it!

The Inspiration

I have always loved Italian renaissance clothing and this portrait [below left] in particular. So when I bought this green & gold 100% silk brocade, I knew that it had to become this dress. Sadly, I kept putting the project off but this year I decided that the fabric had waited long enough (3 years)! 

I studied the dresses in “Moda a Firenze” to learn about the possible construction of this type of dress. I decided to make the sleeveless “petticoat” style described in the book. It would have 2 side-back lacings and the skirt would be attached and have a small opening at each side-back. One thing I did differently from the painting, however, was to cartridge pleat the skirt. I have always really liked the look of cartridge pleated skirts and since they are seen on other Italian dresses of the time [below right], I decided to pleat my skirt this way.

 

The Bodice

For the bodice, I centered the artichoke pattern on the front as I had seen in this portrait. I also tried to align the pattern on the back in a pleasing manner. But other than that, I did not try to match patterns because my research shows that they didn’t worry about it in period. Then I lined the bodice with a natural colored linen/cotton as seen in Janet Arnold’s “Patterns of Fashion” book. Then I chose to hand stitch the bodice together using green hand-quilting thread in a top stitch. In my earlier sewing projects, I would stitch on the wrong sides then turn & press but I really feel that top stitching is more authentic and more sturdy. I also decided to do bias-cut piping around the neckline as is seen in the portrait. After assembly, I slashed the piping in a small V pattern to get the look that you see. Add some hand-done eyelet holes and the bodice was done. 



Detail of piping

The sleeves were a bit of a challenge for several reasons. Firstly I had intended to make a 2-part, angled sleeve and cut out my lining in that shape. Then I realized that the portrait didn’t show a seam line on the inner part of the sleeve. Drat! So I lined up the 2 pattern pieces at the top and bottom and used this for my outer sleeve pattern and kept the seam at the back of the arm. It worked fabulously! 

Secondly I had to decide how to do the cut-outs. I tried just slitting the opening, folding it back & stitching it but that only worked on a larger opening. These openings were small and shaped like a figure 8. So I decided to stitch a facing over each one, clip, flip, & press. It worked really well and didn’t take as long as I suspected it would. Then I pleated cotton/silk voile onto the sleeve lining to create the false “puffs”. 

The top of the sleeve was created using strips of fabric with piping on them.  More cotton/silk voile behind the strips for the “puffs”. The sleeves were then stitched to the lining and ribbons attached to the armscye and the sleeves were done.

I don’t have the patience to do embroidery so I was really excited to find this embroidered cotton lawn to make into a partlet. I used covered floral wire in white to achieve some stiffness in the collar. It only partially worked and I should have used a heavier wire and stitched it along more seams instead of just along the front edge. I will incorporate that knowledge into my next one.

 
All in all, I am very happy with how this dress came out, especially since I made it in about 2 weeks. I definitely learned some new skills and rose to the challenge that I set myself. Thank you for giving me a chance to share it with you!

(Copyright Information: As author I, Anabella Wake, known in the SCA as Bella Lucia da Verona, hold copyright on all information on these pages. In addition I hold copyright on all images of clothing/costume that I have made. You are allowed to make one facsimile copy for your own use provided that this notice is included on each page. Please ask permission to copy, disseminate and/or distribute my work - I would like to know when and how you are finding this information of use.)