Category Arts

How many tries?

Jennifer Kanter

Started drafting a custom pattern for 16th century pair of bodies, using the bara method.

My tip to anybody doing this: Read the instructions. Then read them again. Making the tapes isn’t hard. No math whatsoever. Just wrap a ribbon around the body, mark it, and fold the ribbon to add more marks per the instructions. It IS however, a very precise process, and it’s easy to make the fold wrong. Ask me how I know…

My first set of bara tapes. Notice these are all hot pink.

The bara method was fairly straightforward once I got the hang of it. Make a starting point on blank paper. Measure out from that point with the specified tape and mark that point. Connect as directed. Repeat. Draft 1 came out like this. I’m a little skeptical because it’s not shaped precisely like the drawing. I suspect alterations will be needed bc of my fluffy fun-sized stature.

Draft 1: Very wide. Very skinny. Very Demure.

After sleeping on it I decided to check my tapes and draft. And then got a message from Mistress Sibilla, expert at this method, noting where it was shaped wrong. So I checked the draft (tapes used correctly) and then checked the tapes themselves. Oops. 2 out of 4 tapes redrawn and on to draft 2.

Draft 2: Much better now that I have my tapes done right

With draft 2 looking more promising, I made a muslin. Meh?

That’s a lot of extra fabric…
After some pinning (thanks, Brian!), it was better, but still not right

I’m going to redraw it from scratch and try again tomorrow. Maybe after making a new chest tape with the girls on lockdown in a good sports bra. Third time is the charm?

Maybe for Ex Opus?

Jennifer Kanter

Two things on deck at the moment…

  1. The construction of a embroidery slate
  2. Drafting a bodies pattern using the Bara method

The Slate

Eleonora’s 16th century gowns often included decorative goldwork embroidery. While making enough for the entire dress sounds dauntingly time-consuming and $$$$ expensive $$$$, making a sample to show I understand the process seems reasonable. To this end, the project that begets more projects has birthed a woodworking exercise: the creation of a period-appropriate embroidery frame.

Images of the embroidery from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 3

After reading up a little on the history of embroidery frames and looking at medieval book and manuscript images as well as modernly available slates, I decided to make one. (Again, a cost-saving measure for an item that seems relatively straightforward to construct.)

So $15 a the hardware store later, I’ve begun making the frame to go with my goldwork project.

Rounding corners & marking for cuts and holes

The Bodies Pattern

The dress project that begets more projects also seemed like it needed some foundation garments. Ladies of the era would have needed a chemise and either pair of bodies or pair of stays underneath. Eleonora herself was found to have many bodies (padded/stiffened bodices) in her inventories, but few stays (bodies reinforced with long slim stiff materials like baleen, reeds, or metal rods). Janet Arnold documented the front-close velvet bodies found under Eleonora’s burial gown in Patterns of Fashion 3.

Guess I need underwear :sigh:

So step one in making the gown is to make the bodies, so the gown can be correctly fitted over the correct foundation garment. Tonight I began that process by flipping back to good old Master Jose and the bara method he details in Modern Maker 2: Pattern Manual 1580-1640. (Yes that’s slightly later than Eleonora’s dress, but it’s a reasonable stretch given that this is based on some of the earliest extant European tailoring manuals and the women’s dress styles are not drastically different in their base construction.)

Tapes being made to begin patterning the bodies using the bara method for the first time

So pattern drafting has begun. Hopefully, I’ll get far enough on one of these to enter it in the Ex Opus regional artsci faire at Market Day. Wish me luck!

In case you weren’t sure how sketchy my attention span can be…

Jennifer Kanter

!! SQUIRREL !!

Brian wearing the doublet at Defender of the Queen’s Heart in February

Actually, BRIAN. But whatever

If you recall, back in January, I was telling you all about the process of making a doublet for Brian to wear on the field at Defender of the Queen’s Heart on the day of his elevation to the Order of Defense. Sure enough, I did get done (buttons added in the wee hours of the night before, as is SCA tradition). I’m proud to say that it a) successfully fits, b) held up to being worn during rapier combat, and c) was all handsewn except for the buttonholes. Sadly, after working a few buttonholes on some scrap for practice, I determined that my proficiency and speed were not nearly up for getting that many buttonholes done (and done well) before the event. So practical compromise it was, with the magic buttonhole machine to the rescue =)

My brain squirrels being what they are, however, the last few weeks of the process did not get documented or blogged in any way, and neither has any of the other bits and pieces I’ve worked on over the last several months.

Eleanor of Toledo’s funeral gown, shown in the Galleria del Costume of the Pitti Palace.
September 2016 by Kaho Mitsuki on Wikimedia Commons

I can say, however, that much of the artistic bits I’ve done during that time has been things that move my Eleonora di Toledo-inspired dress forward in some way. Including continued research on her burial dress and the similarly constructed Red Dress of Pisa.

PETTICOAT WITH SLEEVES, SILK VELVET WITH APPLIED ORNAMENTATION, C. 1560, Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale di Pisa

And then there were the side quests into related topics that feed into the construction of my dress inspired by them… like gold work embroidery, medieval embroidery frames, and the appropriate foundation garments. Which leads me to learning a shiny new skill…

Next up on Jen’s roller coaster of crafting mayhem:

Closeup of the goldwork embroidery embellishing the burial dress. From Janet Arnold’s archive images taken during conservation

Finally. What looks like progress

Jennifer Kanter

Now begins the part where this starts looking like a garment. After basting the exterior fabric to the padded interlining, I did some structural work and started joining the body panels.

Basting stitches hold the exterior fabric in place until these panels are sewn at the seams.

The invisible work in this process comes at the ironing board, where the exterior fabric has been carefully steamed and stretched to make it fit the interlining (remember where we added gussets to increase the underarm curve and add shape?). You can see a little bit of a ripple in the photo where that extra inch of give was added. That bit will help the garment hold that curve and give some ease around the chest at the underarm without extra bulk.

Interior of the 2 back panels, now joined, with the seam pressed open and felled with pick stitches.

In addition, Brian and I settled on some trim for the exterior. Since this is to be a fighting jacket, I’m not very excited about investing a lot of time in making braid or another handmade trim for this one. The efficient and cost-effective option involves commercial trim from Joann, a simple white woven braid. Close enough to be similar to the bias ribbon, tablet bands or braided trim that might be found on period examples, but without the time investment. I’ll save that for “dress” clothing.

When you start loading needles 10 at a time

Jennifer Kanter

For anyone not familiar with pad stitching, its a method for shaping and giving structure to a garment by creating a network of tiny stitches to join a lining to a stiffer fabric while building in a slight contour as the fabrics bend across each other.

Master Jose’s video on pad stitching

It’s a) time consuming and b) takes lots of thread. Know how I know? Because I started loading needles 10 at a time so I wouldn’t have to break the sewing groove as often. Also, I may need to buy more thread =)

But with 47 days to go, I have now pad stitched all 4 body panels, basted interlining to all 3 skirt panels, both shoulder wings and 4 collar pieces, hemmed the skirt panels, and joined and felled the collar pieces.

I’ve also listened to 2 books and 2 tv series. (Both Good Girls Revolt and Transatlantic were both a decent way to pass an evening pad stitching and sent me down some historical rabbit-holes online.)

Overall, not bad for a week’s worth of stitching. Next up, attaching the body fabric to those pad-stitched interlinings.

A Stitch In Time

Jennifer Kanter
Basting while I watch experts for more construction tips

This weekend is all about basting. I’ve begun the construction of Brian’s doublet by basting the interlining layer to the exterior wool instead of pinning, per The Modern Maker.

Brian wants to be able to wear this doublet during rapier combat without maile underneath. As I have concerns that the weight of these layers will not pass the rapier punch test as is, I’ve begun considering options for adapting if that is the case. While rewatching the Stitch in Time episode in which the Tudor Tailor’s Ninya Mikhaila recreated the Black Prince’s padded jupon last night, I determined that it’s not possible to pad this one to increase its resistance, as Ninya estimated that padding and quilting requires an additional 10% increase in the size of the pattern piece. A quick discussion today with Arianna suggests that if needed, I’ll be adding an extra layer of interlining if that remains a concern once I’ve pad stitched the body pieces. If needed, I can also reinforce the shirt, but I hope to not need to add a special shirt to complicate his dressing. I will test some fabric remnants soon with Mistress Arianna so I can decide what needs happen.

Today was spent helping friends work on clothing for their upcoming reign, and while there, I was discussing my pending dress project with Mistress Guiliana and Mistress Arianna. Both were encouraging, and Arianna sent me home with a booklet to read on constructing the sotanna. The booklet is made by Margo Anderson to accompany her Italian Renaissance Lady’s Wardrobe Pattern, and while a modern source, reviewing it should help me confirm some of my understanding of how the pieces of this garment are meant to come together. The section on sleeve poof construction options looks particularly useful as I begin planning the decorative elements to be incorporated into my gown.

Cutting day. And lesson learned #1

Jennifer Kanter
Cutting begins. Looks pretty normal, right? Only if you’re a 21st century sewist. Le sigh.

I’m clever. I read the book before I started, so I should be familiar with the process Master Jose outlined. I have pattern pieces, drafted by a master, clearly labelled with instructions like “Cut 2 self, 2 canvas, 2 lining.” Slow and steady and this should be an easy night, right?

Not if you forget that you’re supposed to be a 16th century tailor instead of a 21st century seamstress who’s used to modern efficiencies like rotary cutters and cutting all the layers as one stack. See that picture? There’s 3 fabrics stacked there: the wool main fabric, the linen canvas interlining, and the linen lining. All stacked up neat and cut to the same size with the magic pizza cutter. Which medieval tailors didn’t have. They would’ve cut each layer separately with tailor shears for accuracy. But also because THEIR PROCESS IS DIFFERENT.

I forgot that and overlooked one very important point in the cutting instructions: the bit where it tells me that when cutting the interlining canvas to “cut around the shape, leaving approximately 1/2” around all edges.”* <Head desk> See that nice stack of fabrics? Guess who has interlinings that are exactly the same size as the exterior, so all 1” smaller than they need to be?**

Back to work! Lesson learned about keeping my head in the 16th century workspace and not default to lazy modern sewing habits.

* Gnagy Mathew. The Modern Maker. 2014. p41

** Why is the interlining bigger? Great question! “You will notice as you are cutting around the exterior pieces that the canvas pieces will end up just a tiny bit larger than the exterior fabric pieces. Don’t worry about this; this is desirable and should be intentional. You want to be able to lightly stretch the exterior pieces onto the canvas to hold them taut during wear.” Ibid, p40

But I hated my class on Renaissance Florence…

Jennifer Kanter

Of all the places, what’s my inspiration for a 16th Century dress? Florence! More specifically, the closet of Eleanor of Toledo. After a whole college semester complaining about how much I hated the Medicis and their convoluted intrigues, I’d never have dreamed I’d willingly go back to studying that period.

But it turns out that everything I disliked about the idea of wearing Elizabethan clothing with it’s stiff bodices, fussy farthingales, and starched collars gets set on its ear in Florence. It seems that when she married into the Medici clan in 1539, Eleanor brought her easier moda alla spagnola to court and maintained aspects of that style dress for decades.* And while the clothing in her portraits was by no means casual, the style doesn’t give me the impression I’ll feel confined, as so much of the fashion in portraits from the Elizabethan Court does. Most notably, the long pointed waistline on the Elizabethan bodice and the farthingdale didn’t catch on in the same way through Florence yet in that period. Yay!

And as a wonderful coincidence, not only are there extant tailor manuals from late 16th C & early 17th C in Spain**, the doublet that Brian loves was patterned by Duchess Sibilla Daine, whose Laurel was Master Jose de Madrid***, who literally wrote the book on working from those Spanish manuals. I intend to work from her pattern, drafted in 2021 for his Pelican elevation garments, to make the arming doublet he’s requested for his elevation to the Order of Defense. I feel reasonably assured that following Master Jose’s guidance to create Brian’s coat will help prepare me for the new tailoring skills I’ll need to build a fitted bodice for myself based from those Spanish manuals.

*COX-REARICK, JANET. “Power-Dressing at the Courts of Cosimo de’ Medici and François I: The ‘Moda Alla Spagnola’ of Spanish Consorts Eléonore d’Autriche and Eleonora Di Toledo.” Artibus et Historiae, vol. 30, no. 60, 2009, pp. 39–69. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25702881. Accessed 23 Dec. 2023.

** Alderondo, Abner. “A Master Tailor’s Manual.” Folger Shakespeare Library, 10 Jan. 2023, www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/a-master-tailors-manual/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2023

** Master Jose de Madrid is better known as Mathew Gnagy, a fashion professional who publishes instructional materials as The Modern Maker (https://www.themodernmaker.co/)

And so it begins

Jennifer Kanter

Welcome to a new century! I concede. With a MoD elevation in the house in 2 months and 2 days (YAY BRIAN!), I need to actually sew 16th C like I mean it. Add in a bittersweet store-closing sale at Jay’s Fabrics, and suddenly silk and wool is coincidentally not only affordable enough that Brian gets new garb, *I* am getting a 16th C dress. After 23 years of resisting (literal) peer pressure to make something fancy. So okey dokey. Let’s do this.

The Modern Maker: Men’s 17th Century Doublets

Browsing the order of construction for Brian’s new MoD doublet before I ever pick up the scissors. Because spending my sca early years wearing baggy tunics with “Flashdance” necklines taught me something.