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After more research, I realized that the Florentine painting that I mentioned at the beginning of this project (seen here) would probably have an attached black overskirt since it is such a formal style, but it is still interesting to see the low-necked gamurra with contrasting guards being worn beneath. It was much more common to see two full doublet bodices worn on top of each other in Florentine fashions, so I was happy to find such a clear example of a doublet-style bodice being worn with an undergown similar to the style of dress that I made for the first part of this project.
The pattern for my mock-up is based on the 1585 woman's doublet diagram in figure 43 of Janet Arnold's
Patterns of Fashion. I had to adjust the size quite a bit to fit my much larger frame, but the
pattern pieces ended up looking basically the same as the original. (I'll try to upload my pattern
with the next update) I tried making the large shoulder
rolls, but did not like how they looked, so I opted for a double row of tabs instead. This is a style
that can be seen in many Florentine giupponi including this one
worn by a Medici daughter
in a 1570 painting by Bronzino. I also decided to leave off the skirts since most Italian doublets
had a plain waist or narrow tabs, and I especially liked the look of
this Tuscan giuppone with a plain waistline illustrated in Vecellio's Habiti anitichi
et moderni.
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The final version will be made from a dark chocolate-brown wool that is actually very similar to t he color seen in these first pictures, and I will use the same velvet that I used for the guards on the gamurra to create a pattern on the body of the doublet. At the moment, I am planning on lining the doublet with red silk which will also show through slashes in the wool, and it will be buttoned up the front with thread-covered buttons. I haven't decided exactly how I am going to embellish the surface of the fabric, but I've been playing with different versions using Photoshop, and you can see my two favorites in this picture. I think I'm leaning towards the one on the left, but I'm really having a hard time making up my mind, so feel free to email me with your vote if you have a favorite! If I have enough of the wool left over, I also might make some tight, laced-in sleeves just to be a little more "correct"... although I'm a bit doubtful that it will ever be cool enough to wear them here in Texas.
Well, after a much-needed break I finally got back to work on the doublet again.
I loved getting all of the votes on which embellishment style to go with, but unfortunately, the
final tally was split right down the middle, so I still had to make the decision on my own in the end. I played
around with both styles (and about half a dozen others) for an entire day last weekend and never
could make up my mind, so I put it away for a week to stew. When I drug it out again, this was how I had left
it pinned on, so I just said "to hell with it!" and went with that! I'm still not sure if I made
the best choice, but there are lots of examples of Italian doublets with vertical stripes, so at least
it works in that respect.
I'm feeling especially lazy with my sewing lately, so the guards were all sewn on with the machine, and to be honest, they look a little sloppy under close inspection... but velvet hides a world of sins. Working with the velvet was a total dream this time - the wool kept it from slipping around, and I was able to sew all of the guards on without backing them or even basting them in place. And let me tell you, I was very grateful for that after the horrible experience I had with this stuff before.
After the guards were sewn down, I then marked off where the slashes would go and cut them with an exacto knife on a cutting board. The wool had been fulled by washing it in very hot water before cutting out the pattern pieces, so the slashes do not need to be sealed in any way. I had planned on using the red lining silk to show through the slashes, but it is a bit too dark to show up well, so I think I'll go shopping again to find something else. I still need to make the shoulder tabs and neckband, but otherwise, the body of the doublet should go together fairly quickly now that the surface embellishment is finished.
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| fig. 2 |
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| fig. 4 |
I have been looking at period construction techniques a lot more lately after reading about the work in progress gown shown on the Renaissance Tailor site. By the way... isn't that gown amazing!?!?! So anyway, I went back and re-read Patterns of Fashion from cover to cover paying special attention to the construction notes accompanying the diagrams. It's pretty hard to sort out exactly how these things were put together, but here's my take on the assembly method.
The most important part deals with how the layers are treated. My doublet ended up being four layers thick: wool for the outer fabric, a berry-colored interlining to show through the slashes, another interlining of denim for support and stability, and a red silk lining on the inside. To join the front and back pieces, I first took the back section and stacked all four layers up and treated it as a single unit. Then I stacked the wool and two interlining layers for the side pieces and treated them as single units as well. These were then placed right-sides together and sewn up the side and shoulder seams. The seams were pressed open on the inside, trimmed, and the loose edges were whip-stitched down. (fig. 1)
Next, you are supposed to add the lining to the front and just whip-stitch it in place, but I am being bad and using the sewing machine wherever I can get away with it. ;-) I realized that I could easily cheat on the front edges if I place the lining silk on top of the front pieces, sew all four layers together along the edge (fig. 2), and then just trim down the excess and turn the silk to the inside. That saved a ton of hand-sewing and ended up looking very nice. I also made use of one of the tips given at the Sempstress Tip-of-the-week page, and ran a line of stitches about 1/8 of an inch in from the front edge to keep it permanently crisp and to make it a little stiffer.
With the front lining now flipped to the inside, I then turned in the side and shoulder edges a little bit, and I basted it down at the seam-lines. (fig. 3) If I had been smart, I could have just made the front lining pieces a little larger at these points, and this would have covered the seams and I would be done with the body assembly. Since I'm not smart, I didn't think to do this, so I had to cover the edges with a little strip of silk binding. (fig. 4) But still... no big deal, and there are examples of binding used like this to neaten seams in PoF.
Next, I fully assembled the collar as a separate piece and carefully lined up the stripes. This was sewn in place, and the seam was clipped and both edges were pressed downward. Another strip of silk binding conceals this join on the inside. I am not entirely thrilled with the way the collar went in, mainly because this seam is so bulky. The denim works well as an interlining in some respects, but it makes the seams really thick. But it feels fine when I'm wearing it, and my high-necked shirt covers most of this up anyway.
I still have to add the shoulder tabs, bind the bottom edge, and make buttons, but here's a quick peek at the front and back so you can see how it is looking so far. Please excuse the bad lighting--I'll try to take some better pictures outside soon. In these pictures, I am wearing it just with a skirt and shirt, and it's sturdy enough that I think it could still look nice without even wearing a corset or kirtle underneath. Oh, and one more little tidbit that I forgot to mention: in order to see the red through the slashes a little better, I stretched the wool fabric and sewed it to the interlining that way to pull the slashes open a bit more.
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I finally got some momentum going this past weekend and finished up the doublet. The other shoulder tabs went on like a dream, and the buttons were really easy to make as well. I did a simple thread-covered style with pearl cotton embroidery thread and a 12mm wooden bead as the base (although I did have to dye the thread to match). I liked the little tufted do-dads on the shoulder rolls of the surviving woman's doublet in PoF, and it looks like tufted buttons might have been used on the Tuscan doublet that I mentioned earlier, so I made my buttons in a similar style. The only real problem was with the buttonholes. Basically, I'm a hand-sewing idiot and everything I tried looked like crap. I finally gave up and did them by machine, but I think I will eventually go over them again by hand to make them look a little better... uh, maybe. I also noticed that there was some buckling when I wore the doublet without my corded kirtle, so I may add a few bones in the front so I can wear it with no other support garments if I feel like it. I still need to make a hat and a purse to call the outfit complete, but that's the general idea at least. I really wish you could see more of the details in the pictures--the effect is much better in real life, and I think this may be my new favorite costume!
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I decided to tack on a little note about the accessories I made for this outfit, even though they are not especially Florentine in nature. It seems that the Italians were not too fond of wearing hats during this period, but I really wanted something more exciting than a veil, so I borrowed a style from the English and made an escoffion. I created the basic shape with a wire frame, then covered it with buckram and some thin cotton batting. The outer layer is made from a piece of scrap velvet and the ribbon is something I picked up after Christmas last year for .99¢ a spool. I had a hard time finding beads that I liked, but I eventually found a nice little style at a bead shop in Dallas. The only problem was that they cost .50¢ apiece, which I thought was complete highway robbery! So I ended up buying just one bead (you should have seen the look I got from the cashier!) and made a mold and copies out of polymer clay. They are a little sloppy looking up close, but I figured that nobody will ever be looking that closely at a few tiny beads on my hat.
I am also wearing a miniature portrait that I painted with acrylic paint on a polymer clay disk. You can see an actual size scan of it here. The frame was something that I found on ebay for $5. This was a very quick painting and it isn't historically accurate by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a good costume piece and I don't have to worry about it getting messed up from bad weather or anything like that.
After taking somewhere around 50 pictures today, I finally ended up with a few new photos out the complete outfit that I actually liked. (but I also finally figured out how to use the different setting on my digital camera, so maybe I'll do better for now on!) You can see the pictures on my new gallery page, and hopefully I'll have some more to add after faire season gets started.
Well what do you know! I stumbled across some evidence for an escoffion style of hat being worn in Italy
today! In this illustration from the
late 1500's, Jost Amman shows a Mantuan woman wearing a hat that seems to be shaped very similar to mine!
Woohoo! Don't you just love it when you find documentation after you've already made something! ;-)
