16th C. Loose Gown and Kirtle



centerbottomLady Eachna ni Clonmakate, Artsy Crown, May 27, 2017950000Lady Eachna ni Clonmakate, Artsy Crown, May 27, 2017center75000713232016th C. Loose Gown and KirtleTaken from patterns of fashion, janet arnold95000016th C. Loose Gown and KirtleTaken from patterns of fashion, janet arnoldBackgroundThe term “loose gown” appears several times in the Inventory of the Wardrobe of Robes prepared for Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 (Arnold, 1988) and is a descriptive term for over-gowns worn with kirtles. The Spanish tailors’ books of Alcega and Burguen show that these gowns fall loosely from shoulders to hem at both front and back, with unshaped, gored side seams. CITATION Arn88 \l 1033 (Arnold, 1988) There are many examples of the loose gown and kirtle in portraits, as well as extant examples, from throughout Europe: left-317500 This portrait of Bess of Hardwick (C. 1560) is a good example of a loose gown from the same time period as the one I chose to create. It is lined with soft white fur and fastened down the front with aglets. The “fur is also revealed through aglet-decorated slits on the short upper sleeves and sides of the gown, and it forms a neat collar.” CITATION Ash96 \l 1033 (Ashford, 1996) Portrait Citation: Hans Ecworth. Elizabeth Hardwick (1520-1608), Countess of Shrewsbury, “Bess of Hardwick’. C. 1560. National Trust, Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, Midlands, England. discover/artworks/Elizabeth-hardwick-15201608-countess-of-shrewsbury-bess-of-hardwick-172308#. Web. 15 May 2017. 3400425698500The next portrait is of Bess of Hardwick later in life, probably around the 1590’s, by Rowland Lockey. She passed away in 1608 at the age of 81. As you can see, the portrait portrays an elderly lady in her 70’s or 80’s, wearing a loose gown. Both of these portraits remain at Hardwicke Hall, the great home she built during her lifetime. Portrait Citation: Rowland Lockey. Elizabeth Hardwick (‘Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury (1520-1608). C.1590. National Trust, Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire, Midlands, England. .uk/object/1129102. Web. 15 May 201704445This is a portrait attributed to Catherine Carey, Lady Knollys and was probably painted in 1562 by Steven Van der Meulen. The portrait is currently hanging in the Yale Center for British Art in the Paul Mellon Collection. This is a painting of an obviously pregnant woman wearing a loose gown. The gown is fastened at the top, and hangs open to accommodate her expanding waistline. Portrait Citation: Unknown (probably Steven Van der Meulen). A Portrait of a Woman. C. 1562. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, 1080 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut. Collections.britishart.yale.edu/vufind/Record/1666748. Web 15 May 2017.00This is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, titled “A lady aged thirty called Queen Elizabeth I”, by an unknown artist, 1563. CITATION Arn88 \l 1033 (Arnold, 1988) She is wearing what appears to be a red velvet loose gown trimmed with brown fur, over a kirtle of gold fabric. As ladies of the Court typically follow the fashion of the queen, I’m sure this influenced other ladies to wear loose gowns. As I said earlier, the Inventory of the Wardrobe of Robes of Queen Elizabeth I contained several entries of loose gowns. Portrait Citation: Unknown. A Lady aged Thirty Called Queen Elizabeth I. C. 1563. Gripsholm Slott –Strangas, Sodermanland Sweden. the_late_farthingale_era_fr/minialbum_queen_elizabeth_o/1563-gripshol-portrait-tho.html. Web. 15 May 2017.As loose gowns appear to be very comfortable to wear and do not require a “body” or corset to be worn underneath, I selected the loose gown as my project. I looked through Janet Arnold’s book, Patterns of Fashion 3: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women C. 1560-1620. There were a number of extant examples of loose gowns, and I chose the example which is currently in the collection of the Germanishes Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg (1570-80) as my project. (Arnold, 1985) Another factor in choosing this particular gown is the matching kirtle is included in both the Arnold book and at the museum.The first thing I did when I started this project three years ago, was email the museum in Nurnberg to see if there were additional photos available, or inquire if I could pay for additional high quality photos to be taken. I found that the gown was out for restoration as it was going to be displayed at the end of 2017. However, I recently discovered that the gown is currently being displayed, and I located additional photos on the museum website. The gown is part of an exhibition called “In Fashion” and is the first time an internationally significant collection of clothing from the 16th and 17th centuries has been shown. Around 50 costumes from the period 1560 to 1650 are being exhibited in the context of paintings and graphic art works. The exhibition also features items of clothing from that time period. H CITATION Sch16 \l 1033 (Schousboe, 2016)The article in Medieval News also identified that the loose gown and kirtle were an ensemble of a 16th C. elite dress from Germany CITATION Sch16 \l 1033 (Schousboe, 2016). Past articles I had read regarding this gown indicated that it was probably of English origin, even though it is part of a collection in a museum in Germany. The article in Medieval News went on to explain that the head of the department of textiles and jewelry at Germanishes Nationalmuseum, Nurnberg, Jutta Zander-Seidel, has spent the last 20 years studying fashion of the 16th and 17th C. which was “a time when it more than anything meant the art of creating oneself as opposed to the art of just signaling the ability to shop for something “new”.” CITATION Sch16 \l 1033 (Schousboe, 2016) Her study culminated in the exhibition. Jutta Zander Seidel was the first scholar to identify the gown as being of German origin. New high quality photos were published of the extant gown and kirtle: Materials UsedKirtle31051501363345Front Piece and Sleeves – The front of the original kirtle was covered with an ivory silk satin with fine silver threads in the weft. This was embroidered with black silk thread similar to a buttonhole twist and 3mm metal spangles in bluish grey metal. There were bands of black and white bobbin net lace across the bottom of the dress and sleeves. The sleeves were also covered in the same embroidered ivory satin (Arnold, 1985). The materials I used are as follows: I was unable to find a silk satin that had silver threads in the weft. Therefore, I used an antique piece of ivory silk satin taken from my mother’s wedding gown. The dress is over 65 years old. I have used the fabric from this dress in several other projects. I pieced together the fabric to make the front piece, which was very common in period (Arnold, 1985).I used black Trebizond, which is a 3-ply twisted filament silk thread for the embroidery on the satin. The original spangles were a bluish grey metal. I believe they would have been silver and the bluish grey color is from oxidation of the metal. The spangles I used are silver metal, 3mm (size 14) spangles made by Kreinik. I stitched the spangles onto the silk using silver colored Au Ver A Soie silk thread. I did not make my own bobbin lace netting. I purchased knotted mesh, 5 mesh/inch, from a company called Lacis that sells handmade netting. It was a 100% cotton net in a natural color. I then dyed the net black.The thread I used for the embroidery on the netting was black 12 Ply Splendor silk thread. The original embellishment for the net lace was fine silk thread braided around flat silver plate. I was not able to find a reasonable source for the flat silver. So I used the Splendor thread and scattered more of the 3mm spangles to give it the hints of silver the original had.The appliques on the netting are black silk satin, which is the same fabric as the appliques I used for the dress. I stitched black rayon soutache around the appliques as a border. I would have used the same 1/8” black cording that I used on the gown, but I ran out of the cording and was unable to find more.The decorated net lace and silk front piece were edged in 3/8” black cording. As with the appliques, I was unable to locate more 1/8” cording.Foundation of Kirtle – The original kirtle had a foundation of coarse linen (Arnold, 1985). I used a white 100% linen fabric that is 7.1 ounces per yard. Interlining -- The extant skirt is interlined with pink linen to below knee level, and a narrower strip is placed all the way around the hem to stiffen it (Arnold, 1985). Rather than using two layers of pink linen I used one layer of canvas as interlining to stiffen the hem. Outer Layer -- The gown has a covering of ivory silk (Arnold, 1985). I used an ivory Thai silk. There is a panel of ivory silk covering the back of the kirtle. This appears to be the same silk camlet that has the silver threads in the weft that was used to embroider the front piece. That would have equated to the silk satin I used for the front piece on the gown I made. I saw no purpose in adding another layer of silk, so did not do that. Lining -- The kirtle was lined in ivory silk (Arnold, 1985). I did not have enough of the Thai silk to also use for lining, so I used another piece of ivory satin (polyester) I had in my stash. I was not able to afford to buy more silk. Sleeves – The sleeve foundation is made of very pale pink linen. Instead of pink, I used the same bleached linen as was used in the foundation of the kirtle. It was then lined with an ivory silk (Arnold, 1985). I used the Thai silk for the lining. Edging -- The edges of the original kirtle were bound in double-folded ivory silk taffeta. I ordered an ivory silk taffeta online, which appeared to match the ivory silk of the kirtle perfectly on the screen. However, when it arrived I was disappointed to find it was a darker ivory than the kirtle. I used it anyway, as I felt unless I was able to shop in person, it would be difficult to find a perfectly matching taffeta.Eyelets – To make the eyelets I used a Japanese buttonhole twist silk thread. The lacing is 4mm silk satin ribbon tipped with metal aglets.GownOuter Fabric – The original gown was made of black silk velvet. The woven silk base is still identifiable, but the silk pile is mostly worn. When I began this project, I searched extensively for 100% silk velvet. I posted to a number of Facebook groups including Elizabethan and SCA garb groups. None of the suggestions panned out (short of ordering an entire bolt from China which was cost prohibitive). All I could find was velvet that had a silk backing with a rayon pile, which I did not want to use. The company, Renaissance Fabrics, did occasionally have 100% silk velvet, but they were out of stock at the time. So finally I settled on a cotton velveteen from Renaissance Fabrics. I thought it was a very nice fabric, and being a natural fiber it was closest I could find to the silk velvet. (Arnold, 1985)Lining – The extant dress was lined with a heavy and fairly coarse black linen. This was quite easy to source. I used a black, 100% linen fabric that is 7.1 ounces per yard. (Arnold, 1985)Embellishments – The original dress is heavily embellished with a variety of trims (which is what drew me to this particular gown) (Arnold, 1985). Three stripes of silk satin were stitched along both sides of the front opening, reaching all the way to the hem. Three stripes along the back were staggered along the upper half of the back. Finally, there was one strip that went over the shoulder from the front to the back (also partway down the dress) on each side. I used a 100% silk satin for the stripes.Bordering the silk satin strips were 1/8” cording of silk wrapped around a cotton center. Once again, I had to do a great deal of research to find anything appropriate. I was quite surprised to find that 1/8” cording of any fiber is quite hard to find, and silk cording is impossible. I settled for a rayon 3/8” cording, and stitched it to the six stripes on either side of the front opening. However, I decided I did not like the look, and it 685800617220did not look close enough to the extant piece (much too large and bulky). I finally found a 1/8” cording of rayon and cotton, and replaced the original cording I had stitched to the dress.The extant silk dress had silk strands sewn to the center of the satin strips. Two strands of a silk (one thick and one thin) were twisted together to form a cord. The twisted strands then formed small loops as they were twisted. I used a black rayon soutache cord and twisted it to form the loops.The final embellishment consisted of embroidered medallions of black satin which were glued on to pieces of a stiff paper and stitched onto the dress CITATION Arn85 \l 1033 (Arnold, Patterns of Fashion: The Cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women C. 1560-1620, 1985). Black satin threads were couched around the medallions. Janet Arnold did not specify what type of glue or paper was used. In researching the types of glue used during this time period, I found that there were a great variety made of many different organic items – wheat, cheese, fish, sugar, honey, hide, etc. CITATION Cen33 \l 1033 (Cennini, 1933). In looking through the listing of glues and their characteristics, it makes most sense to use Hide Glue. Many of the glues such as fish and cheese glue smell horrible. Wheat, honey, cheese, fish, sugar, all attract bugs and mold. Hide glue can be reactivated with heat and moisture, and can be used for the appliques without soaking through the fabric. The heavy paper that was used was mostly likely made of linen scraps. Instead, I used a 100% cotton paper. I also used a black silk satin for the medallions, Titebond Genuine Hide Glue, and the same rayon cording as I couched along the stripes. Buttons – The many buttons were another challenge. The original buttons were made by covering wooden bases with black satin and then a netting of black silk cord was knotted in a net over the top. I was unable to find appropriately shaped wooden buttons, so settled on stock metal buttons to be covered with fabric. I experimented with a number of materials for the buttons, such as using a cotton or wool fill underneath the satin to increase the height of the buttons, but they turned out lumpy. I used the black silk satin from the stripes and wove cotton embroidery floss over the top of them in a netting pattern. The extant pieces were, of course, made of silk. However, quite honestly silk thread was out of my reach financially. I did find the floss frays a good bit, so I will look for a different type of thread before making any further buttons. Frogs – I used commercially purchased frogs made of a polyester black cording. There were so many frogs involved in the project that I was concerned that I would not be able to make them consistent. I purchased commercial frogs similar to those on the gown from a high end fabric store (Vogue Fabrics, Chicago). ................
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