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A partlet of linen broidered in silke of
sondry colors and pearls, with bone lace of venetian gold
I have for some time, been eyeing off the Portrait
of Maria di Medici by Alessandro Allori (1555-1557). I was lucky enough
to obtain a detailed copy of this portrait (thanks Oonagh) giving much
clearer details of the partlet. Following is the diary of the partlet.
For initial research click HERE.
October,
2004.
I have left over linen, from my hand-sewn linen camicia, which I
intend on making my partlet with. The three main parts of this
partlet are: the partlet itself, which is gathered into the standup,
embroidered collar, and the ruff which is decorated in the gold lace
and pearls.
Next step is making the pattern.
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November,
2004.
I have finally finished the bobbin lace for the partlet (R). After
searching Innilgard for embroidery silks, finally a local store is now
stocking Madeira silk. Huzzah! Matching the colours was not easy. I
only have a few pictures of Maria di Medici, so I tried to match as
best as I could (Far R).
I have made a pattern for the
partlet and cut it out of linen left over from my hand made camicia (I
love stash!). Now to find time to sew it.
For details of the bobbin lace,
click HERE.
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December, 2004: The Pattern:
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neck back and frills with embroidery patterns drawn on
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The Embroidery and beading.
The embroidery is being done in Madeira silk (now there is a place in
Innilgard where I can buy it - huzzah)
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neck fronts
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neck back.
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The ruff - ready to embroider -sewn to the frame with linen
thread.
January, 2005.
I have finished the ruff embroidery (I hope I have done it long
enough to gather the amount I want.... this took approx. 56 hours to
do.) over a two week period - argh!
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the finished ruff. Silk embroidery on linen. the edges
were sewn over a cord and the lot was sewn, with linen thread, to the
frame.
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Close up of the split stitch silk embroidery.
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Sewing the collar.
I started hand-sewing the collar, with linen thread. I did not want
to damage the bead work by machine sewing.... and I find the hand
sewing strangely cathartic.
I trimmed the seam, folded it over and sewed it down with 2-3 mm
stitches. (See An exercise in
Authenticity) Linen thread was used.
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L: the back of the seams.
R: the seams from the front.
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The
embroidered collar pieces sewn together.
I decided to add some small amethysts to the pattern. I just had to
have some purple .... somewhere!
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Jan 12th , 2005.
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I have now sewn the ruff to the collar. Again all is
handstitched. R:
is the back, sewing the stiching. Running stitch was sewn as top
stitching for the seams, to help strengthen them.
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Next, I sewed the body of the partlet together. I used
backsttiched seams to increase strength. Again, they were flat-felled
with running stitch for top stitching. The edges were turned under
wtih an approx. 5mm hem (armholes and bottom) and sewn with running
stitch.
I then joined the collar to the body of the partlet, with back
stitch, for strength.
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front of partlet so far
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back, showing topstitching and how the collar sits.
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The full partlet so far. ...
To finish, I need to embroider down the front opening, attatch
the
lace, pearls and ties.
January 16th, 2005
Embroidery down the front of the partlet - I decided to use Holbein
Stitch so it would be passably reversible. Mostly it will be viewed
from the 'inside' so I embroidered it from this side. I used the
method explained in Practicle Skills in Bobbin Lace by Brigit
M. Cook.
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Left: The lace attatched to the collar. Below L: Close
up of the lace attatchment.
Above R: To finish, I attatched some pearls in a similar
pattern to the original portrait. I am still to learn how to attach
gems, pearls and spangles to lace.
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The proper way to attatch pearls to the lace would have been
to put them in when making it. Alas, I have not graduated this far in
my lace making as yet, so I sewed them on later with some gold
metallic thread.
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A comparison. Left, the original portrait of Maria di
Medici by Alessandro Allori (1555-1557), possibly the latest in period
I prefer to go...
When pinned to a high-necked collar, the collar will sit
beautifully!
I am glad I hand sewed this one. Finishing the seams in this way
reaally gove the collar body!
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The final partlet being worn,
Thank you to Mistress Oonagh for supplying a better copy of
the portrait which inspired me to 'get off my butt' and do it!
Bibliography
- Levey, Santina & Payne,
Patricia Le Pompe: Patterns for
Venetian Bobbin Lace, Ruth Bean,
Bedford. 1983. ISBN: 0 903585 16 2
- Shepherd, Rosemary. Introduction to Bobbin Lacemaking. Lacis Publications, Berkley, 1995. ISBN: 0 9168896
65 X
- Ricci, Elisa. Italian Lace Designs: 243 Classic Examples. Dover, NY, 1993. ISBN: 0 486 27588 4
- Lace, Bookking International. Paris, 1995. (no ISBN
available).
- Digital Archive of Books: http://www.cs.arizona.edu/patterns/weaving/books.html
- Cook, Brigit M. Practicle Skills in bobbin lace. Dover Publications, NY. 1997 (reprint). ISBN:
0-486-25561-1
- Various contemporary paintings.
- Festive Attyre:
http://homepage.mac.com/festive_attyre/research/diary/images/pinkdoublet.jpg
All intellectual
content, photos and layout are copyright to La Signora Onorata Katerina
da Brescia (K Carlisle), except those original renaissance artworks and
extant articles whose copyright remains with the current owner.
If you would like to use something from
this site, please contact me, and cite this website reference.
(c) K.Carlisle. 2005
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