Sempstress

The surviving pattern published in Juan de Alcega’s ‘Libro de Geometria, Practica y Traca’(1589) represents almost everything we know about the farthingale. Most articles on recreating the Alcega farthingale focus on faithfully reproducing the pattern based on fabric widths. Honestly, though, calling this a “pattern” is a bit of an overstatement: the book was more intended as a series of cutting diagrams to help tailors avoid waste. The problem is, Alcega included some rather sharp commentary on on what he considered the proper size for the bottom hoop of the farthingale, but no real information on the size of the intended wearer. Complicating things further, modern bodies aren’t build quite like the popular model of the 16th century. So what’s a costumer to do? How about some trigonometry!

Trust me, this won’t hurt. Read the rest of this entry »

Yet another dry, dusty pile of academic writing… This time, the topic is the corsetry/torso support of the 16th century.  I find the full history of the artificial silhouette totally fascinating, and I’m geeked beyond belief on the actual genesis of the corset.  In the 16th century alone, a bunch of different devices are in play.  Corsets, obviously – who doesn’t know about the Pfaltzgrafin and Effigy corsets by now?  Wardrobe warrants also list stomachers (for Tudor gowns) made of pasteboard covered with tapheta – that’s certainly stiff enough to smooth the front of the torso into the signature tudor inverted, featureless cone.  By the end of the period, warrants talk about busks made of whalebone and wire, quilted with sarconet.  (How does that fit into a channel in a corset?!?  Or does the end of the era, with it’s open-fronted gowns, turn back to the same infrastructure used by the earlier tudor gowns with stiffened stomachers?  I have my theories, obviously….)

So here is…. Everything I know About 16th Century Corsetry, Read the rest of this entry »

This is an excerpt from a research paper I did a while back. The paper itself is 40 pages and covers 4 centuries of support skirts and corsetry. I figure it’s more digestible in smaller chunks. Please note: my regularly scheduled writing style has been suspended in favor of something more palatable to the hardcore academia types. Special thanks go to Stephanie for her proof-reading skills.

And now for Everything I Know About 16th Century Support Skirts… Read the rest of this entry »

This is a (fairly rough) interpretation of a late fifteenth
century italien gown, worn by my younger sister through the faire season last
year. It is probably more Hollywood than factual. The decorated triangle on
the front of the bodice should really be a decorated front panel under an over-gown,
but we cheated (significantly) and applied the decoration directly to the front
of the gown. The front edges of the split skirt are tacked to a piece of fine
gold netting, which prevents them from flapping open in the breeze. (If you
have a gown without a farthingale, and are not concerned with authenticity,
this is not a bad solution and it looks quite nice, especially over a cream
colored undergown like you see here.) The reason we did this is that the undergown
itself is actually just a front panel – my sister was quite specific about not
wanting to die of heat. The gauntlets and armbands lace together so that puffs
of the chemise can come through.

The veil is gold organza edged with a gold point lace. It is
attached to what amounts to a flat french hood, decorated with fake pearls and
green “gems”.

Overall, this one probably gets a D- in authenticity, but it
looked quite nice in sunshine and it made my sister happy. Sometimes, that’s
all that really counts.

The second thumbnail
is a larger picture with the above costume in it. It is me and Lolo, looking
a bit parboiled after a full day at Bristol in August.