Just a Working Girl from Bruegel's World

Hello Beautiful Humans!

In the 16th Century not everyone wore giant ruffs or rigid farthingales? Extreme fashions that capture the public imagination are not practical for most people in many professions. I made this short to remind everyone that we did not just stop farming and working once the 16th century got underway. While clothing may adapt to current fashions, there will always be people working 9 to 5, or longer hours, to make sure our world is functioning. If you are not into extreme fashions look at the middling and lower classes to find clothing that is functional and beautiful. When I made this dress I specifically wanted to choose colors that were typical of the time period I was working from. Red wool kirtles have been popular for many years by the time this style of dress was in fashion. Combining this with a blue linen apron was inspired by a painting detail from Peter Bruegel the Elder depicting peasants at a fair day. I later realized the specific figure with this combination was a child. I hope you enjoy me having a little fun with shorts this week. I will have a full progress, construction, and insights into making this dress up next week.

Bisou Bisou, Maridith

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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 Chapel. J

Two Tone Lucet Cording

Hello Beautiful Humans! Today I have a brief tutorial for you on how I made the lucet lacings for my most recent renaissance dress. It is a craft that is hard to document in the 16th century, where I do most of my work, but I love how quickly this technique works up into fairly strong cording. This two tone technique is much stronger than a typical single strand lucet braid because of the extra cord running through the entire cord. I also love the possibilities for coordinating your laces to your outfits. My laces were made much longer than I needed them for this dress. Looking back I could have cut my lacing in half and been fine, but now I have all this extra if I should ever need it. Long laces also mean I can pre-lace myself into this dress with a spiral lace and then tighten it until I feel comfortable. For this particular style of lucet I used a hardwood lucet fork I purchased from an 18th century reenactor, a skein of DMC 6-strand embroidery floss, and a ball of size 10 cr

Voided Velvet Sleeves from a Thrift Store Scarf

Detachable sleeves are one of my favorite things to make for renaissance dresses, and always seem to be the last thing I think to make when I'm planning my outfits. These sleeves are made from thrift store fabric to mimic one possible way that "cut work sleeves" were made in the period. There are several theories, and my research has made me think that they all may have been in use at different points in time for different specific motifs. To make these sleeves I used a voided velvet scarf I found at my local thrift store and remnants of rayon velvet, silk shantung, and linen. Techniques I cover in the video include basting, hemming stitches, and how to easily sew with velvet. I completed the project using a mix of hand sewing and a modern sewing machine. I love wearing these Italian renaissance dresses at reenactment events or when I attend events for the Society of Creative Anachronism. Groups like this have helped me learn more about how period techniques and mate

The Tudor Revolution

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