The Tudor Revolution

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 ...

On April 15th of this year I had the privilege to be guided by friends in El Paso alion the historic Mission Trail. The history in these buildings reflect the determination of the communities they have serviced for centuries.  They have stood since the late 17th Century and been rebuilt and in one case relocated after a flood. In many ways it was magical for me to see how the traditions of painted church ceilings and grand alters from the previous century were interpreted in the New World. Our guides informed me the ceiling beams & decorations date to the original construction of the respective buildings.  Even more special walking through those buildings that day was all of the support and prayers being said for Notre Dame of Paris. Enjoy some pictures I was allowed to take of the missions and consider stepping back into history a bit on your next trip. Visitor Website for El Paso Mission Trail

Blackwork Embroidery The Honorable Lady Isabelle de Calais V&A Museum T.112-1972 Ca. 1540 England, Silk embroidery on linen shirt About the Embroidery... For the purpose of this class we are going to focus on counted blackwork embroidery, also known as Holbein stitch, Spanish stitch, and other various names. These patterns are worked in a counted pattern, outlining a shape or design and using to contract between your ground fabric and thread color for visual impact. While black was the most popular color for this embroidery style, there are period examples of Red, blue, green, and yellow. Detail from a portrait of Bess of Hardwick by Master John, in Hardwick Hall. Ca 1560 This form of embroidery reached its peak during the 16th century in Europe, but there are earlier and later examples to be found in museum archives. One of the driving forces for these patterns to become so wide spread was the in introduction of the printing press. Full of these desig...

Beads completed and sewn to kirtle In August 2012 I started a project to replace the brass beads on my Anne Boleyn gown with wooden beads covered in metallic threads. Because I did not have a solid timeline I needed to finish these by the beads were put aside for other projects. Now I have the deadline that I needed I have been working steadily to finish covering the beads. New research has also encouraged me to place all of the embellishment on the neckline of a supportive kirtle rather than the edge of my gown as I had done before. This kirtle will also replace the corset I had been wearing under my gown. The first kirtle had varied amounts of success. It was supportive improved the silhouette, but the "cups" of the kirtle were too small for my bust. This version is more accommodating. The kirtle also laces under the arm on both sides to allow for more flexibility and an unbroken neckline under my gown. Progress of embellishing the kirtle. Kirtle bodice is made...

Miniature of Anne Boleyn. While this image has the best detail of any of the French Hood  portraits there is still debate over the portrait being painted within her life time. So do you all remember the dress I made based off of Anne Boleyn's miniature? I chose the miniature because it seamed to have the best detail. Well, I was never fully satisfied with Anne just having gold brass beads on her neckline. They gave the idea of what the gown had, and I was asked to do this on short notice. All of that aside, now I have been allowed the time to go back and do it right. so I plan to. Detail from the beading on Anne Boleyn's Bodice. After some research and digging around I stumbled across a few extent garments from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. amazingly they have thread covered buttons made with gold thread, and on one example they are purely decorative. Any avid costumers out there can imagine the excitement I got from this discovery. Copyrigh...

So now that I have had some distance from my work with the Tudor Project, I want to fairly analyze my work on the Anne Boleyn  portrait reproduction. The Research I wish I'd had 6 more months to do research. In the months since our project completed more research on early Tudor garments has been published by the Tudor Tailor workshop in England. In addition to their new book, The Queen's Servants , I have found illuminations depicting French and Flemish court ladies in full length.  It is my belief that Anne would not have been wearing a hoop skirt as I did last fall. According to the Tudor Tailor shop hoops are not worn in England until the 1540's, putting them well out of what Anne was likely to be wearing. Incase you need further help to visualize the difference, take a glance at these two portraits of Princess Elizabeth. The portrait on the left is from a mural at Hampton Court. On the right there is a portrait which was painted later for King Edward VI,...