Gallery of Gowns

Here is a gallery of gowns and tunics that I have made over the years. Some people have asked me why I use so much cotton in my garb. The answer is mostly cost and availability. Cotton is certainly acceptable for use in clothing during the SCA period, although not as common as wool and linen. (Cotton linen blends were used a lot for lining and undergarments/lower class garments and there was a big Italian cotton industry pre-Renaissance as well!) Wool and linen are just very hard to find where I live, and are very expensive. If I limited myself to wool and linen, I would be lucky to make a new dress every two to three years. And I would not have developed my sewing skills very much or been able to experiment. In the last two years I have experimented with a variety of bodice construction techniques (including bagging out, sewing to an interlining, hand sewing completed bodice pieces together and binding with bias). I would never have been game to 'play' with construction techniques and patterns if I had been using expensive materials. So I am very grateful to humble cotton!

Here are some of my garb projects over the years:

Woollen baby tunic

  

Infant and child size tunics

Rus style tunic

German style gown, side lacing

Italian gown, side lacing

Italian gown, round neck bodice and side lacing

Italian style gown, square-neck bodice and side lacing

Italian gown, side lacing

Italian gown, side lacing

Short loose coat, pattern adapted from an Elizabethan loose coat

Front lacing Italian style gown, inspired by Portrait of a Woman Holding a Book (Vittore Carpaccio)

https://au.pinterest.com/pin/519251032010143490/

Front lacing Elizabethan gown

Front lacing Italian style gown with puff sleeves

  

Front lacing Italian style gown, inspired by this portrait

https://au.pinterest.com/pin/410672059756177926/

 

Cotton/linen blend Roman tunicas

Front lacing Italian gown

Front lacing Italian gown

A short coat

 

An early attempt at a side lacing Italian gown in linen

Side lacing Italian gown

Side lacing Italian gown

 

An early side lacing Italian gown made out of curtains from the op shop

Simple cotton tunic and undergown

Elizabethan loose coat and undergown

One of my very early efforts: front lacing Elizabethan ''wench'' style garb

Jerkin from Patterns of Fashion made by my Mum, linen skirt, sleeves etc. made by me. Quite early in my SCA experience

Side lacing Italian style gown. Experiments with and against the 'grain' of the fabric

An experiment in chemise construction

Girls' dresses in the Italian style. I have made a couple more that I don't have good photos of. The green one is my latest attempt and is much closer to historic construction techniques. Most of it is sewn by hand. I appreciate that children's clothing takes a lot of wear, so I probably wouldn't completely hand sew kid's garb again.

 

My latest front lacing Italian style gowns, made in 2016. I feel happier with the patterns and have used two different bodice construction techniques.

I have a good range of tie-on sleeves, but a lot of these photos were taken pre-Event, in the heat, before I put my sleeves on.

I haven't listed all the complete disasters or half finished dresses, or included men's garb because I haven't done much of that. I have at least six in various stages of construction that were not working out well or had problems. All great learning experiences. I'm not sure that I will ever love sewing, but I certainly don't hate it like I used to. I am getting better at it, and slightly more confident. Experimenting with different construction techniques, seam treatments, stitches etc. has been a (sometimes excruciating,) very valuable experience. I need to become more conscientious about blogging the dress diaries. (Taking photos is now automatic during the creation process, but writing it up at the end can seem daunting.) Because I don't enjoy sewing and have health issues that restrict my time and energy, I have tried almost every hack and short cut to make it easier. Everyone needs to find what works for them, but I would advise sewers not to cut any corners in regards to durability and wearability. I have learnt the hard way that if you dislike sewing the first time, you are going to hate it a lot more when you need to re-do what you already did shoddily because you were rushing or trying to cut corners. I am always careful to make sure that my pleats are very well secured to stop skirts being ripped off when I inevitably step on them. I take the time to reinforce the  joins in seam openings on skirts etc. I haven't yet had any major problems, and I am very clumsy when tired (which is often!) I also always hand sew trim because I like the way it looks, but also because I can more securely attach gimp braid, picot points etc. so that they don't get torn.

I'm not sure that I will ever not be hesitant to cut into expensive silk, linen or wool, but I am more confident about it than I used to be, and that is thanks to my friend - poor, put-upon and much maligned cotton!

A Brief Introduction to Non-Counted Monochrome Embroidery (Blackwork)

Monochrome Non Counted Embroidery

These are some notes I made as part of an introductory embroidery class I taught at Great Southern Gathering last year.

Blackwork’ was a popular style of embroidery in the later part of the SCA period, although the
term ‘blackwork’ is misleading as it implies that the embroidery was only done in black thread.

Classic black on crisp white is certainly striking and was very popular in the sixteenth century,
but extant monochrome embroideries  in red, green (Carew-Pole nightcap),

blue (1610 waistcoat, V&A: 179-1900), purple and pink (1630s woman’s smock at  http://costume.dm.net/va/smocks.html) still exist.

English smock embroidered in pink silk - V&A museum

Image from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O110103/smock-unknown/

English smock (c.1615) worked in pink silk

Image from: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O78791/smock-unknown/


Linear monochrome embroidery (often worked in double running stitch) was popular throughout Europe during the sixteenth century. In fact, this type of stitchery is so common in Holbein portraits from that time that the double-running stitch is often called ‘Holbein stitch’.



Portrait of Jane Seymour by Hans Holbein, showing beautiful embroidered cuffs

Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Seymour

 Monochrome embroidery (‘blackwork’) is also found in earlier periods in Middle Eastern textiles, and the geometric shapes found in Tudor blackwork echo similar designs and shapes found in Middle Eastern embroideries. This fact may have contributed to the story that Katharine of Aragon brought
monochrome embroidery (‘blackwork’) to England when she arrived to marry Prince Arthur
Tudor in around 1501. It is believed that the occupation of Spanish territories by ‘the Moors’ influenced design and embroidery, and that ‘blackwork’ or ‘Spanyshe worke’ was introduced to England by Princess Katharine. Although references to this story are discussed in ‘Blackwork Embroidery’ by Geddes and McNeill, I have not found any firm documentary evidence that this story is true. I believe that it is just as likely that the Moorish styles were introduced to Europe via mercantile contact with Italy.

Examination of English portraiture from the reign of Henry VII and Henry VIII show a marked increase in blackwork embroidery on clothing during Henry VIII’s reign but we cannot know if this is due to the introduction of a new stitch technique, copying of a fashionable Royal or just a new fashion craze. After Henry’s reign, the Elizabethans took blackwork to a whole new level, with the development of polychrome counted and non-counted blackwork and the introduction of spangles, metal threads and raised elements.

Monochrome embroidery in the sixteenth Century was very popular in England, with portrait examples of blackwork being quite common. It was also popular on the Continent, with portraits from artists as diverse as Anthonis Mor, Hans Holbein, Guillim Scrots, Moroni and Veneto showing sitters with lavishly decorated embroidered garments.

Blackwork (and other colour monochrome work) was popular on chemises and smocks, partlets, collars and cuffs, ruffs, coifs and caps and other linens. It was executed in counted form (usually in running stitch or double running stitch) or in non-counted form, in stitches such as stem, braid, chain, speckling, feather stitch, back stitch, long and short stitch, herringbone stitch and split stitch.

Floral designs were very popular for English embroidery in the sixteenth century, due in part to the proliferation of printed pattern-books and the discovery of the strange flora of foreign lands and the New World. Designs were often copied from pattern-books, as well as bestiaries and herbals.


Blackwork can be done in non-counted form, or in counted form. In counted blackwork, the design is marked out on the background fabric (traditionally linen) by counting threads and working the design over a set number of threads, often filling the interior of the design in with a pattern or repeat. Non-counted blackwork is more free-flowing and involves stitching over a pre-drawn design. I prefer non-counted blackwork because I dislike counted work. Double running-stitch is the most common stitch used for blackwork because it provides an even line that (if done well) is neat and clean on both the front and the back. Non-counted designs can also be filled with counted embroidery for a richer effect. The same techniques can be used with multiple coloured threads also.


 A page from Shorleyker’s pattern book ‘A Scholehouse for the Needle’ (1597), one of many pattern books available in the late 1500s and reprints in the 1600s

Image from- https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d9/af/8b/d9af8b08a95a3359643cec8d509115b7.jpg



Bibliography
Arnold. J (1988) 'Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe unlocked',  Maney,

Anderson, R.M.  (1979) “Hispanic Costume 1480-1530” Hispanic Society of America, New York

Beck, Thomasina (1995) “The Embroiderer's Story: Needlework from the Renaissance to the Present Day”.  Italy: David and Charles

Cavallo, Adolph (1979) “Needlework” Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Smithsonian Institution, USA

Complete Anachronist - Blackwork Embroidery No. #31 May 1987

Complete Anachronist – Wrought with Flowers of Black Silk No. 115 April 2002

Dean, Beryl (1989) “Ecclesiastical Embroidery”, The Bath Press, Avon

Digby, George Wingfield (1963) “Elizabethan Embroidery” Thomas Yoseloff, New York.

Don, S. (1990) “Traditional Embroidered Animals” A David and Charles Craft Book, Birmingham

Geddes, E & McNeill, M. (1976) “Blackwork” Dover, New York

Gostlow, M. (1977) “Blackwork” Dover, New York

King, D. & Levey, S. (1993) “The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Textile Collection: Embroidery in Britain from 1200 to 1750” Canopy Books, New York

Levy, Santina M., (1990), Lace, A History, Victoria and Albert Museum, W.S. Maney and Son Limited, Leeds.

Nourry, C. “Patterns: Embroidery-Early 16th C” An unabridged reprint of four early 16th c. French pattern books. ISBN 1-891656-13-3. available from www.lacis.com


Various reprints
 The Modelbuch, 1537 by Egenolff
 The Needles Excellency
 A booke of curious and strange inventions, called the first part of Needleworkes, William Barley, 1596
 A Schole-house for the Needle, Richard Schorleyker, 1632

 A second booke of flowers, fruicts, beasts, birds and flies exactly drawne, George Humble, 1635(?)

Some stitches Used in Non-counted Monochrome Embroidery/Blackwork

Stem Stitch Stem stitch was often used in the pre-modern period as an outlining stitch. It could also be used as a filling stitch. To Work Stem Stitch - Work from left to right, taking regular small stitches along the line of the design. The thread always emerges on the left side of the previous stitch. This stitch is used for flower stems, outlines, etc. It can also be worked as a filling stitch if worked closely together within a shape until it is completely filled.

Split Stitch

A popular stitch, split stitch was used in many forms of embroidery including Opus Anglicanum and Heraldic Embroidery. It was used for very fine work, often only using a single strand of silk thread or was done using quite thick threads, such as wool. It was used as an outlining stitch or as a filling stitch.

To Work Split Stitch - Bring the needle through at A and, following the line to be covered, take a small back stitch so that the needle comes up through the working thread, as shown in the diagram. Generally, it is easiest to work this as a two step stitch by making a small stitch, then bringing the needle up through the thread at the half way point.

Back Stitch

Bring the thread through on the stitch line and then take a small backward stitch through the fabric. Bring the needle through again a little in front of the first stitch, then take another stitch, inserting the needle at the point where it first came through. In blackwork, a single back stitch is usually worked over two threads on a single-thread even-weave. This stitch is used in both counted and free embroidery.

 Chain Stitch

To Work Chain Stitch - Bring the thread up at the top of the line and hold it down with the left thumb. Insert the needle where it last emerged and bring the point out a short distance away. Pull the thread through, keeping the working thread under the needle point.

Surface Couching

To Work Surface Couching - Lay down the thread to be couched, and with another thread catch it down with small stitches worked over the top.

 From: http://medieval.webcon.net.au/technique_stitches.html