Skip to main content

Turning Heads with The Realm of Venus

Venetian Woman in Mourning from Cesare Vecellio's Habiti Antichi Et Moderni.
Today Concluded another challenge from Bella at The Realm of Venus. This year's mini challenge was entitled: Turning Heads. Our theme was hair styles, hair jewelry, earrings, hats, cauls, make up, etc. As with all of your challenges I walk in with large dreams of projects to be done, and then scale them down as time allows. For more info on the challenge and to see how everyone's results are coming along please visit Bella's page for the results:
http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/challenges/IRCMC-Feb2015/IRCMC-Feb2015.htm

Giovanni Cariani, c1560s (?): Portrait of a Lady. Private Collections
My first piece is a pair of earrings made of gold filled items from the jewelry store. I was inspired by the dangling earrings seen in Venice between 1550 and 1570. The original "pendent" pieces of the earrings had some very non period elements which I snapped off and filed down. The dangling pieces are etched gold spacer beads on eye pins. I chose French ear wires to more closely duplicate the look of the period ear wires. 






My second piece is a pearl necklace. Venetian women loved their pearls. Many Venetian brides are painted with a short string of large pearls wrapped around their necks. This necklace is strung on beading silk cord and knotted on each pearl. I used 8-9 mm freshwater pearls and expect the period string will eventually stretch out or break. The knots between each pearl with prevent me from loosing too many. The hook closure I made by hand using gold filled wire and was inspired by hook and eye closures on clothing from the period.


Rolled hem and lace attachment
Piece number 3 took the most time out of all 3 items for your turning heads challenge. This veils is a rectangle of silk chiffon 138 cm by 146 cm. I used a rolled hem on the veil as seen in Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450. I used a fine steel sewing needle and silk thread to finish the edge. The lace is a machine made bobbin lace similar to those available at the time, but slightly wider than the normal lace used on veils. I applied the lace to the hem by floating silk sewing thread through the existing hem and stitching down the lace every centimeter. While this stitch is not discussed by Crowfoot, it was an effective solution which prevented exposing longer stitches to unnecessary abuse with long term wear. I secured the lace every 3 inches with a knot to prevent it from ripping off if caught on something. 
Veils are an essential piece of outerwear for a well born Venetian woman. Vecellio discusses the different ways veils are worn at length in his work Habiti Antichi Et Moderni. Typically in Venice, white veils were worn by young unmarried women and brides. Black veils are worn mostly by mature women and women in mourning.


A Courtesan and a respectable Venetian Woman. by Lucas D'Heere.



Bibliography
Crowfoot, Elisabeth, Frances Pritchard, and Kay Staniland. "Sewing Techniques and Tailoring." Textiles and Clothing, C.1150-c.1450. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: Boydell, 2012. 151-58. Print.

D'Heere, Lucas. Théâtre de tous les peuples et nations de la terre avec leurs habits et ornemens divers, tant anciens que modernes, diligemment depeints au naturel. Ghent University.
http://lib.ugent.be/catalog?q=rug01%3A000794288

Vecellio, Cesare, Margaret F. Rosenthal, and Ann Rosalind. Jones. The Clothing of the Renaissance World: Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas: Cesare Vecellio's Habiti Antichi Et Moderni. London: Thames & Hudson, 2008. Print.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
1 comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more