Inspirations:
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I love the 'aglets' on the sleeves - they look a lot like pearls! |
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These three portraits are all by Agnolo Bronzino of Medici women - two of Eleanora who died in 1562 from malaria, aged 40, and the third of her daughter, Maria d'Medici. All three show similar dresses with a wide square neck, straight sleeves with a 'folded' puffy top, held onto the bodies with buttons. Similar dresses can also be seen in Bronzino's Portrait of a girl with a book and the extant Medici dress. (I thank Mistress Oonagh for this picture). Both can be seen below. |
Bronzino's portrait of Eleanor d'Toledo and son. |
Bronzino's portrait of Eleanor 1545 |
Bronzino's portrait of Maria d' Medici 1551 |
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Materials: While the portraits show plain materials of both silk? and velvet, the first portrait also showcases the patterned materials that Florence was renowned for. (See Research) I chose a similar symmetrical pattern. I managed to find this material in Spotlight. I like the mushroom colour (not purple hey?) on a light background: |
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The girl with a book (L) has the sleeves tied
in. The extant dress (R) does not have one, but as it may not have survived, may not have been placed with the dress, it can be assumed (from the portrait evidence) that it is highly likely that there was some sort of partlet worn with it. The dress on the right is very similar in style to the extant burial dress of Eleanora that can be found in Patterns of Fashion. It is a dress worn by Eleanora di Toledo 1550-60 from the Museo Nazzionale di Palazzo Reale, Pisa. |
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The extant burial dress of Eleanor can be found at epee.goldsword.com/sfarmer/SCA/paintings/EleanoraBurialDress-300.jpg This picture also confirms the pattern I intend on using. There are also drawings of this dress in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. (below right). Below are pictures of the bodice and skirt in progress. |
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I have now made the shoulder seam towards the back. This
is indicated in the patterns in both Patterns of Fashion
and the extant picture of Eleanora's dress. The skirt
was attatched with knife pleats. I hand sewed the eyelets and staggered them to allow for
lacing one cord tied at one end. This was shown again in
both the extant picture and Janet Arnold. |
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Now onto the sleeves.
For my RESEARCH on Italian Sleeves, CLICK HERE
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My sleeves are based on the '4 panel sleeve' seen in the
extant dress (far right), Eleanor and her Son (
middle R). The sleeve is snug fitting, made from panels
which are decorated. This is consistent with a Florentine
sumptuary law of 1439, limited trim and embroidery to only
be on the sleeves of an outfit. This caused a fashion of the
sleeves being the most decorated part of the outfit.
(Dressing Renaissance Florence and Renaissance
Clothing and the materials of Memory). |
First, the Pattern:
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I drafted up a sleeve pattern and then sectioned it into 4 parts. (L) The panes were made longer than normal sleeve length, as I wanted to do the neat little folding thing at the top that gives the puff. The seam was folded over, ironed and the same to the linen lining. This was blindstitched to the sleeve material. (R and far R). The pearl aglets will be used to catch the panes together in 8 spots for each 'slit'. Making the aglets took approx 7 hours (with a little help from my dear hubby Dafydd.) Total cost: approx: Aus $20 (Buttons could have been $50 - $100+). |
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1. threading the beads on. |
What you need: Below Left shows the finished right sleeve pinned into
place. |
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Left, finally finished...
I was up hand-sewing on the linen lining for the sleeves and the aglets, with silk thread.
The button loops are hand-knitted cords.
As I was running rapidly out of time, I adapted an existing cawle.
Later I will make another...
I sewed on faux pearls and garnets (that were a gift) along the band
and faux pearls on some of the netting.
I will have to finish a netting partlet at another time; for now I have used a simple material one.
The dress itself, though is now finished!
and an updated photo from a recent CGA party, with the new girdle.
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Bibliography:
Humfrey, Peter Painting in Renaissance Venice, Yale University,. Hong Kong 1995 ISBN: 0-300-06247-8
Frick, Carole Collier. Dressing Renaissance Florence.: Families Fortunes & Clothing. John Hopkins University Press. Baltimore. 2002. ISBN: 0-8018-6939-0
Jones, Ann Rosalind & Stallybrass, Peter. Renaissance Clothing and the Materials of Memory. Cambridge University Press. 2003. ISBN: 0-521-78663-0
Marc Carlson - Stitches used in Medieval Clothing: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/cloth/stitches.htm
Arnold, Janet, Patterns of Fashion. Macmillan, 1985. London. ISBN: 0-333-38284-6
Vecellio, Cesare, Vecellio's Renaissance Costume Book, Dover Publications,NY, 1977. ISBN: 0-486-23441-X
goldsword dot com
Web Gallery of Art: http://www.wga.hu/index.html