Strawberry Hill and my updated Gable Hoods

Strawberry Hill Miniature

Before moving to Oklahoma I had fallen in love with this miniature believed to be Anne Boleyn in the Strawberry Hill Galleries. As I studied the miniature and compared the look to my previous Gable Hood I decided this was clearly an earlier and more conservative version of the hood. Instead of looking to Holbein and Jane Seymour for more understanding on the construction I looked backward to the styles worn by Katherine of Aragon. Even if this miniature is not Anne, the elongated shape of the hood and wider curtain style veil off the back suggest she was attending court and was sporting a style Katherine of Aragon can been seen wearing in many portraits from the mid to late 1520's.

Katherine of Aragon by Wenceslaus Hollar

My reading and research lead me to a book called The Queen's Servants. It is a sequel to the Tudor Tailor and focuses on fashions earlier during Katherine of Aragon's reign as queen. The updated hood research for hats known in the 16th century as English Bonnets, has a coif, paste, frontlets, and veil. Where they recommended sewing the gable hoods of the 1530's into a solid at in the Tudor Tailor, these English Bonnets are held together with dressing pins. A few practical advantages of the pin construction, you can disassemble the had for easy transport and cleaning, or switch out the upper pieces to match your outfit.

These photos are of me wearing the hood with my natural hair. By modern standards I have long hair, but not with much body. I believe the hood will sit better if I add a supplemental false braid to help create a better foundation and raise the hat 1 inch off my collar bone without needing to be trimmed. I am working on encasing these braids in the yellow striped material seen in the painting as a possible reincarnation of the braid cases and nets seen in earlier centuries.

Photo by Melissa Jones 2016.

Comments

Pockets in the 16th Century?

So if you are new to my blog, Hello! I took July off to focus on work and realities of covid life. Thanks for hanging in there. This week we are doing to cover 16th Soccocia and their role toward the origin of pockets. People need a place to carry and keep their small items as they walk around. In the middle ages you might have a pilgrim satchel or a belt pouch. Some women in the middle ages had the brilliant idea to stop wearing their money purses outside of their over gowns and instead would wear them between their kirtle/sottona layer and over gowns. This arrangement still gave you access to the purse, but made it harder for thieves to cut your purse strings and run. Fast forward to the 16th century and we find the heirs to this practice in socaccia. We have some visual evidence of these in mid to late 16th century art out of Italy. This is a detail of Alessandro Allori's, Woman at her toilet, ca 1575-78. Currently in Florence, Church of Santa Maria Novella, Gaddi ...

Making my Viking Apron Dress

This Week's vlog is the follow up to my Viking Age Tunic dress which I posted last week. When discussing the clothing of Birka and other Norse cultures, a woolen dress is an iconic look which is functional while tending a fire or many other activities. My apron dress is inspired by the finds out of Birka. The wool I used was a light weight suiting with a 2:2 twill weave. The long seams of this dress were finished with a machine for speed, and all of the seam finishings were hand sewn. I used a woolen finishing technique I learned about while flipping through Woven into the Earth by Else Ostergard. The technique involves using wool yarn and a couching stich of sorts to encase the raw edges of the wool. The end result is a low profile and durable seam around the neck and hem of my apron dress. I love that all of the hand sewn elements of this dress start to create a decorative finish on the outside of the dress and the only extra embellishment I added was a herringbone stitch over...

Costumes in Wolf Hall

Many of us who love historical costume were completely smitten with the production shots we saw before Wolf Hall aired earlier this year. Now the series is available for sale through PBS, BBC, and even national retailers like Target. With the popularity of this series I want to take a moment and give those new to Tudor fashions a few notes before you take everything in the series as gospel. This is one of the most accurately costumed historical dramas that I have seen in years. The color palate, cuts, underwear, and fabrics are impeccable. But don't forget to do your own research into the clothing as you make your own ensembles. Odd Piece #1: French Hoods I appreciate the costume designer here for acknowledging French hoods need veils. I doubt though that you will find a single portrait from the 1520's or 30's in England or France that uses fine silk chiffon. Typically you will see a solid black veil on the French and English hoods. Medals done in profile from the time...

The Tudor Revolution

Search This Blog