Smocking and Cartridge Pleating

Smocking was NOT another skill that I had really thought about picking up. Even though I knew that some Italian camicie may have been reverse smocked in order to achieve the tiny perfect pleats that you can see in the details of the artwork, and even though I really wanted an authentically made camicia, I just wasn't compelled to go learn smocking.

Then I started looking at partlets, particularly Italian partlets.

Take for instance the lovely partlet that can be seen in two different portraits of Isotta Brembatti:

I don't know if she just really liked the partlet, or it was the only good one she had, or it was by sheer chance that she wore it in two different portraits so many years apart, but either way if you really look at the details of the partlet, you can see that it appears to be loosely pleated with four rows of trim or embroidery on the inside. 

In the upper portrait these lines of pink trim have a zigzag effect, which is reminiscent of the look that you get with ric-rac (mmm...I'm thinking not so likely) or with a basic cable stitch...and now I'm hooked.  I've got to go learn how to smock. It may not have been how that partlet was done or even the one below, but it is certainly plausible and I'm going to give it a try.

Another gorgeous partlet that appears to be smocked with additional embellishment.  

Saccoccia

As a woman I'm not sure that I could function out in the world without my purse.  I don't know about most of you, but I need most of the stuff that I carry inside mine.  Usually there is my wallet with my money and cards, then medications I can't live without like my epi-pen, inhaler, and Ibuprofen, next you would find cosmetics, such as lip gloss, clear polish and lotion, oh then, there is a little case with bandages in it, because I have kids and you know you always need a bandage in the craziest of places, and for me my sewing kit, and a notebook to take notes in, oh, and my calendar, the phone....  You know exactly what I mean!

When I head out to SCA events I run into the problem of how I am going to carry around the stuff I need access to during the day, granted the list becomes a lot smaller, but there are some things that have to go with me, everywhere...like the inhaler.
 
So what did the regular Renaissance girl need in her bag to carry around with her?  Well, we aren't really sure, we know that money was probably carried in their pouches, maybe food and sewing supplies, but whatever it was, they still had stuff to carry and needed somewhere to put it.  The answer we usually find is "pouch" or "basket".

Now pouches came in more than a few varieties as we know from the artwork, but I'm most interested in the pocket variety that can be found in the museum collections, art, and wardrobe accounts.

These pouches all have center front openings and hang from a belt or the waist area, much like a portable....wait for it.....pocket!!!!!  We know that pockets were used extensively in the 17th and 18th Centuries before reticules (small purses) came into vogue with the Victorian Era.  The V&A has an extensive collection of pockets as does VADS.   However we don't know much about the pocket/pouches found in pre-1600 sources.

Italy 

In Italy, the evidence for these types of pockets is shown in the paintings.  Allesandro Allori, painted scenes of a woman on wash day, as show in the first portrait.  The following two portraits are also be Allori, and show two different women with pockets.  In the first paining, one can see that she is not fully dressed, but a pouch/pocket is secured at her waist.

In this painting, the pouch is accompanied with a needle case, and it makes me want to think that perhaps she has other needlework implements tucked away inside the pouch.

A Woman at her Toilet. 1575-78

In the final portrait, the pouch appears to be attached to a thin belt or string around her waist possibly the same thing that is holding up her apron.

Birth of the Virgin

What all three of these pouches have in common is that they open with a center front slip, are suspended from a belt or string, and are embellished.  The first pouch appears to be worn over the underthings and likely under the sottana, while the second two appear to be worn over the sottana (underdress, worn commonly as the "outer" wear in the home, and covered with the "overdress" when going out)

Spain

There are three extant pieces dated from middle to end of the 1500's such as these from El Museo del Traje, Spain have similar construction and design:

All three of these pouches/pockets appear to be made in a style similar to those of those from the Florentine paintings.  They all have center front openings, are richly embellished, and appear to be suspended from a belt when worn (The museum identifies them as pockets).

At least as far as Spanish and Florentine fashion in the late 1500's, I think it is acceptable to say that the pocket pouch was at least one method for a woman to carry her valuables.

England

It is a bit trickier here when we bring England into the discussion.  As far as I am aware there are not any paintings of women from England that specifically show one of these style pockets.  However there are some interesting references to pockets in the Warrants and Wardrobe Inventories of Queen Elizabeth.

In some cases it is quite clear that the writer meant for pocket to mean a packet, as in a packet of cloth.  However in other instances the author(s) write in such a way as to imply that the pocket was part of the clothing as in these two notations from the site, ElizabethanCostume.net, which has a collection of transcribed notations from many period sources.

Example 1

1584: Wardrobe Warrant for September 27th, ER 26 (1584)	Pg/Fol.: fol 199 v
Item for making of sixe payer of Pockettes of taphata of our greate Guarderobe

Example 2

1590: Warrant for the Robes, May 18th, ER 32 (1590)	Pg/Fol.: 133
Item for makinge of xii paire of pockets of Taffata of our greate warderobe

After reading each and every one of the 146 citations my search produced, I surmised, that while sometimes it was meant as a "packet" or package, in most cases, it was a list of pockets to be made or worn with certain garments.  While a number of the references were for men's pockets, the majority were for pockets that were to accompany women's gowns.  We have no way of knowing if these "pockets" were made in the same manner as the pockets from Spain or Florence, so while it is awesome to find the citations it is still slightly disappointing to me that I have nothing visual to confirm my suspicions.

Check back in a few weeks for pictures of various pockets I've been making, with instructions to follow!

Medieval Diamond Piecework

Some of you may remember a previous post I made about the earliest known piece of decorative patchwork found in Europe, the link is here, well I finally got around to drafting out a test pattern.

I started by drafting the pattern into Electric Quilt (I still have version 4, yeah I know I'm due an upgrade, but it still does most of what I want it to do).  There was a similar block already in the library so I only had to do a little bit of tweaking.

**I did not decide to put the nine patches into my test squares, so yes, that is different from the original.

After I drafted the block, I printed out a 4" pattern and decided that I wasn't quite that nuts,so I reprinted a 6" pattern of which I was satisfied.

 After some trial and error, I finally figured out that this pattern does not have symmetrical pieces.  I'm not sure if you can tell by the photo,but sides A and B on the rhombus are of slightly different measurements, as are the two ends of the diamonds, that is why there are lines drawn on all of the shapes.  For any future uses of this pattern, I will be drawing these on each and every template.

 The next photo shows one diamond that I completed.  Notice that I don't try to "hide" the seam allowance behind the points of the diamonds, I simply flip them out of my way as I stitch.

I whip stitch the diamonds together in pairs, then I create two halves, and then sew those together to make a complete unit.

 Next is to add in those funky shaped rhombuses (I looked it up you can use either rhombuses or rhombi - who knew?)  and the isosceles triangles.  I hadn't figured out with this poor little guy that the diamonds and the rhombuses weren't symmetrical yet, so he is a little wonky.

When you go to put the octagons together there is a square that sits in between each unit.  For some reason I can't find my test sample anywhere,so there is a good chance that I left it behind at the SCA event I was showing it at last month or at the other house.

While doing this, I did determine that, even though it is fairly involved keeping track of which piece needs to go in which place it was a fun English Paper Piecing project.  I do plan on making a bed sized version just to have for my own home use, probably scrappy using up the many tubs of scraps hanging around the house, but for now, I've got to finish my "Elena's Flower Garden".  I'm on the last border, so perhaps it won't take long.

The Italian Camicia

Of the many projects that are going on in my sewing room, a commissioned camicia has been one of the most recent.  The garment is based on the following extant camicia that is in the Museo del Tessuto, Prato:

Construction

I have drafted the bodice of the garment in the same style as the camicia above.  I have used full sleeves that I will not be gathering at the wrist in the same manner as the extant camicia.

I'm not a smocker, and I like the look of the Eleanor of Toledo portrait with the camicia showing at the sleeve in full ruffles so I'm leaving it ungathered at the sleeve hem.

Eleanor de Toledo by Bronzino

Embroidery

Now while I would attempt all of the embroidery on the seam lines if it were for me and if I had 10 years to have this thing finished but I don't, so the plan was that the hand embroidery that I have chosen will be around the neckline only.  I have considered doing some machine embroidery along the seam lines but I'm thinking that I may do only the handwork at the neck.

One disadvantage of this project is that I did not choose the materials and the linen provided is of a slightly thicker texture than I would have chosen for myself.  But for the person it is being made for, the thicker linen is a better choice at the moment for a wide variety of reasons.

I have chosen to actually do "black" blackwork with some royal blue accents.  I am not re-creating the pattern in the extant camicia but am using a pattern from the Blackwork Embroidery Archives.as a base with my accents added into the "voided" area between the pomegranates. 

My Musings

When the project is completed, I will post plenty of pictures, but until then I'll have to keep you guessing as to what my project looks like and as to why I've made some of the design choices that I have made.

Updated:  I did decide to put a cuff at the sleeve edge...sort of....there is still ruffling that shows at the edge of the sleeve. 

Camicia Images from: © Roberta Orsi Landini and Bruna Niccoli, Moda A Firenze 1540 - 1580: Lo stile de Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza.  Florence, Edizione Polistampa, 2005.

English Paper Piecing and the Impruneta Project

So my latest project for the Society for Creative Anachronism is going to be my own rendition of a decorative pillow that was found in the grave of a very medieval bishop in Italy.  

Bishop Agli was a parish priest in the small town of Impruneta from 1439 until 1477.   His sealed tomb was opened at the end of World War II, where a small pillow, roughly 12" in size, was found underneath the Bishop's head.  What is most remarkable about the pillow is that both the front and back faces are pieced.  Other than a few extant clothing pieces, small relic bag from a Buddhist Cave (dated 600-900 CE) and  the jupon of Edward The Black Prince, we can only look at the paintings and frescoes of the era and wonder if the patchwork clothing and wall cloths that we see depicted are in fact evidence of piecework or interesting weaving techniques.

It is hard in some of these portraits to not immediately scream "Evidence! Evidence!", but we cannot know for certain how the rendered textiles were manufactured.  The Impruneta Cushion and a wall cloth found in a well shaft of a castle in Budapest that dates to roughly 1301-1387,  both shed some light that piecework was not entirely unknown and provided some evidence that some of the textiles we see in the pictorial evidence may in fact have been manufactured using piecework. An excellent article based upon the conservation of the wall cloth is available at the International Centre for the study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, and it does show that not only was the cloth pieced, it was also quilted.  While most research tells you that all quilting prior to the Victorian era was whole cloth quilting, these two textiles gives us a window into a time, where piecework may have been more available than we have previously believed.

The Impruneta Pillow has a pieced top done in a variety of silk fabrics (velvet, lampas, brocades, satins and plain silks) and the back is pieced in wool squares in green, blue,red, black, and pale yellow.  The piecing on the front side is a variation of the following block Rolling Star quilt Block  
while the back is done on point in the modern design we know as The Trip Around the World.

In the Impruneta cushion the solid squares or the Rolling Star Block in the design are finished off as octagons. Then Nine of these octagons are pieced together to make the face of the pillow.

The back of the pillow of which I have not been able to find a photograph on the internet is described as having been pieced together in what modern quilters would call the Trip Around the World Pattern.  Lisa Evans in her paper Survivor or Sole Anomaly, gives a very detailed description of the size of the diamonds, and how the colors radiate out from the center.

In turn I'd like to make my own rendition of the pillow.  I quite simply cannot see as I used to do, and the smallest of the pieces on the front of the pillow is about the size of half of pinky fingernail, so it means that I will be blowing it up some so that I can manage the pieces.  I also want to do the front and back as separate wall-hangings, simply so that I can display them better at events and for use in my own home.  While I don't think that medieval castles had "wall-hangings" of piecework on them as such is shown in the pillow, I don't wish to spend hundreds of hours on a project that will be thrown in my floor and wallowed on by my boys.

I started with this block that I made in EQ and  I made my templates and gave it ago.  I got the first star set made and decided that I had gone WAY too big.

So now I'm back at it again this time with smaller templates.  Will see this weekend how it goes, and if it goes well, I'll post a tutorial next week.

Cathy