Striped Chemise - Part 2

Disclaimer

While I do not claim to be ANY sort of expert when it comes to sewing or creating period garb, due to the complete lack of directions and detailed information regarding the creation of Spanish garb, I want to chronicle what I do. Suggestions, tips or tricks that you have are more than welcome -- feel free to leave a comment.

Today's adventure....

Despite wanting to be further along on this project by now, work things have conspired against me. That said, the original chemise has been taken apart and I have marked the sleeves for applying the black ribbon.

First, I folded the sleeve in half (lengthwise) and ironed it. Then I folded the already halved sleeve in half again and ironed the fold to a crisp edge. I continued this 'halving' of the sleeve until I had made 4 folds. Upon opening the sleeve I had 13 ironed 'lines' (see picture on right). Since Anderson (1979) notes that the most stripes seen on a sleeve was 11, I decided to turn every other ironed line into a 'stripe' line. (see picture to right, click to enlarge)

Once the ironing was done, I turned the sleeve wrong-side up. Using a blue wash-out pen (available at most fabric stores) I placed small dots every 1/2 inch along the length of every other ironed line. This put the resulting dotted lines approximately 3-4 inches apart. (see picture on right, click to enlarge)

By marking the dots on what is effectively the 'inside' of the shirt sleeve, when I turn it over to the 'right' side to apply the ribbons, I will be able to cover the dots on the outside. The beauty of this is if the dots (by some misfortune) do not wash out, they will be covered by ribbon and not show on the outside of the shirt.

Random notes

In taking apart the original chemise I noticed several stains on the sleeves. Originally I was a bit bummed about that and considered scrapping the project until I could afford some new cotton, but then I had an epiphany. In period, a stain would not immediately result in scrapping the material. So I've decided to put the striped chemise back together, applying stripes over the stains if they happen to be over one of the marked dots. While the ribbons won't cover all of the staining (there is one rather large-ish one) it will mimimize them somewhat. Also, I'm going to replace the sleeves on the chemise so that the worst stain is on the back of the arm -- a little creative license. :)

Striped Chemise - Part 1

When I got started in the SCA with St. Florian, I was lucky enough to have someone give me a simple chemise. For years this chemise has been my constant companion at events. That said, after recently doing further research regarding chemise construction in period (15th-16th C.), I have become somewhat disenchanted with my current chemise as it is not accurate.

Problems:

1. Gathered neckline with a drawstring closure/adjustment.
   


2. Gathering casing was sewn on the outside of the neckline rather than the inside.



3. No undersleeve or neckline gores for ease of movement.
   

The Plan:

I plan to convert this chemise (upper picture) into a snazzy striped chemise (see the detail picture at left from "Banquet of Herod" by Benabarre).

Striped chemises are documentable in Spain from 1470 - 1507. That said, most of the paintings depicting striped chemises in a Spanish context are seen between 1470 and 1480. Anderson (1979, p. 187) notes that the number the body, back and sleeves may all have stripes, with sleeves having between 4 and 11 depending upon the width of the stripe or 'tira' (if it is an embroidered panel). Furthermore, the colors used vary, with red, gold and black appearing most often. Anderson does document one example that has embroidered tiras in a wine-red color on the sleeves, in addition to plain rows of blue-green and additional plain stripes in wine-red on the shoulders and body (p. 187).

I find it interesting that the period in which striped chemises were seen corresponds to the time period during which stripes (vergardes or verguardes) gained popularity as trim on dresses. Additionally, many of the pictures of fabric striped chemises, as opposed to blackworked tiras/stripes, appear mostly on 'attendants' (see detail picture to the right-above from "Lady and Hare" by Borgona). You can just make out the blackworked panel/stripe through the opening in her outer sleeve, as well as along the cuff. This picture actually illustrates the double-sided nature of blackwork (it looks the same on the 'right' side, as it does on the 'wrong' side.

Also of note is the fact that the dress from the "Banquet of Herod" (above left) depicts a dress in which the farthingale is incorporated into the actual skirt, rather than being an underdress. From the early 1500's onward, farthingales were relegated to the domain of 'underpinnings'. Last weekend I scored some lovely navy blue brocade with gold contrast material. Eventually I plan to make the dress seen in the Benabarre painting - complete with striped chemise, outside lacing sleeves and visible farthingale.

In the meantime, I'm working on the chemise.

1. Take the existing chemise entirely apart.


2. Add snazzy black stripes to the sleeves with black satin ribbon.


3. Pleat the neckline properly and add black binding.


4. Add black binding to the wrists.

A bit of background on my SCA persona and my SCA interests

I've been involved in the SCA off and on for close to 20 years now (omg...has it REALLY been that long?). Originally, my interest was purely for socializing and playing 'dress-ups'. I shudder to think of my first garb, which I was so very proud of and now makes me CRINGE just thinking about it.

Made by hand in my dorm room, I used a McCalls pattern called 'Maid Marion'. The material was dark green poly-cotton, which had not been washed prior to sewing. While that is bad, the outfit itself is worse -- a straight skirt with elastic waistband and the equivalent of a green pirate shirt with a flounce around the neckline, which could be worn on or off the shoulder. In this get-up I trotted off to my first event feeling very stylish. Once I got there however, I saw that others wore clothing that did NOT look like a cheap Halloween costume, so I ended up spending the rest of the day hiding in my friends cloak to 'hide my shame'.

Since then, my love of doing research (I have a PhD...call me a glutton for punishment) has extended to my SCA hobby. In Australia, my husband and I had the particular good fortune to fall into the Barony of St. Florian-de-la-Riviere, where we were encouraged to do research before creating our garb or developing a persona (long story - check out http://www.sca.org/ for more information). Under the careful tuteledge of Mistress Constanzia Moralez y Zamora, Raphael (my husband Ken) and I made some of our first researched and correctly made (and fitted!) garb. Finally we didn't have costumes, we had CLOTHING....who knew there was such a distinction?!

A bit about my persona

Initially I planned to have a celtic persona, but my love of research and accuracy won out. Sadly, there is very little concrete evidence regarding the clothing and lifestyle of the Irish or Scotts during my preferred time period (1480-1540). Given that Constanzia was so knowlegable about Spanish clothing and lifestyle, I opted to develop a Spanish persona.

My current SCA name is Esperanza Sanchez de Calatrava. I don't have a fully fledged 'persona' story like some SCAdians do. I don't claim to be a 'noble', in fact most of my current garb is more 'workaday' wear -- simple costumes made of cotton drill and muslin (at the time I couldn't afford linen which would have been more period). For instance, the dress to the right is a light sage green drill, with a lined bodice (canvas and drill), a simple cotton chemise and tie on sleeves.

This has been my 'fancy' dress for several years now, as the neckline has some black gimp accented with pearl beads and the sleeves are lined in black linen with fancy pearl and goldtone button closures. As a basic dress it works, but there are accuracy issues that I want to correct. First, the bodice needs more appropriate boning. No, I'm not talking about using 'whalebone'. Rather I need to add more boning to avoid the unsightly 'wrinkle' just under the bust. The second change I intend to make, is to add more appropriate sleeves. Spanish sleeves never opened where I have the openings. I also plan to make a farthingale (a 16th century 'hoop skirt') to give my outfit the right structure.

Since the time the picture above was taken, I have raised the waistline of the dress about 2 inches, as it was cutting me in half when I sat down. Having tried the dress out with the raised waistline, I'm not particularly impressed with the way it looks. I think the best bet is to keep the 'regular' waistline of the dresses, but create a long line, Elizabethan style corset, using somewhat flexible boning. As seen in some drawings/paintings of the time period, some of the dresses had a distinctly rounded, yet supported bodice (right: close up detail of a female listener from 'St. Felix Preaching', by Joan de Burgunya, 1520).

With this dress I plan to raise the hem approximately 4-6 inches and add a black (velveteen or linen) guard (vergarde) around the hem. With the material taken from the hem I plan to make some small cap, 'strip sleeves' with contrasting black trim like the sleeve shown in the picture to the right (picture a close-up of one of Mistress Constanzia's latest fashions).

Since I will be raising the skirt hem significantly, particularly as the farthingale will hold the skirt out further, I will clearly need to add something beneath it -- to show legs (even covered ankles and calves) would have been scandalous during the time period! To that end, I plan to make a new, colored underskirt/petticoat. I'm thinking of gold, with black pomegranate (apparently a symbol of Spain during the time period) or cinqefoils (a type of heraldic flower with 5 petals) appliqued around the hem.

While this is a great plan, it is a project for another day -- first things first, I need to FINALLY make myself the proper 'underpinnings' -- a farthingale and some form of corsetry.