PGC2019: Challenge Complete

The (extended) Persona Gubbins Challenge has come to a close. Final entries were accepted up until midnight on October 31st.  

Some statistics about the Challenge entries

Number of individual entrants:     9
Most popular culture of entries:    Norse
Most popular century of entries:   16th
Most popular category:                 Food and Drink
Most popular single entry:            Games box

Artisan Recognition

Every artisan who accepted the challenge and shared their work was awarded a special token at Golden flight 2020.   

Those who completed three projects (from at least two distinct categories) received a small period sewing kit in recognition of their endeavours.  

 Artisans who completed five projects (again from at least two distinct categories) were given a period spice kit as an additional token.

Some of our local Southron Gaard Laurels had generously offered to award small prizes or tokens to the entry of their choice.

We hope that this challenge has inspired you to explore items of material culture related to your persona, so that you are able to 'use' your persona more easily at events.
 

PGC2019: THL Joana de Bairros's 1520s Portuguese silk dress

Category: With silken coats, and caps, and golden rings, with ruffs, and cuffs, and farthingales, and things.  A garment your persona may have worn.

Purpose:  

I bought some beautiful red silk/wool blend and, as there are many red Portuguese dresses in the pictures of the 1520s, I thought that this was a good plan to keep up with the fashions!  I also wanted to try something in keeping with the St Auta altarpiece dresses.  I did not want to make one specific dress but incorporate a number of the features seen in this painting.

Martyrdom of St Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, Master of St Auta

 Materials used:

• 7m silk/wool blend
• Under 1m of cotton/linen canvas and white cotton
• Shot green/grey/gold silk
• Lots of gold and wine coloured trim
• 2 rolls of gold embroidered trim
• Metal eyelets
• Cotton tape for hemming
• Red cord for lacing 

Method:

 

While my other Portuguese dress has a kirtle underneath I wanted this dress to be worn alone for my personal comfort.  While many of the St Auta dresses appeared to open at the front, for aesthetic reasons I preferred to have the openings at the side back which can be seen in extant Italian gowns, especially Eleanor of Toledo’s.  The Portuguese portrait of Queen Catherine as St Catherine is also clearly laced at the back and this dates from the late 1520s/early 1530s.

 

I used the pattern for my previous dress and cut out two front and back bodice pieces out of the cotton canvas as interlining. I then cut out the bodice in a piece of thin cotton batting.  I zigzaged these three pieces together to make an inner support layer. 

 

I cut out a bodice with seam allowance from the red silk and whip stitched this by hand over the canvas layer.  I then whip stitched the cotton lining in place.

 

Angus put the eyelets in for me but I then couched over them by hand so they blended into the silk and for extra reinforcement.

 

I sewed the trim around the neckline.  This trim placement can clearly be seen on the back of the beheaded lady in the red dress at the bottom of the St Auta altarpiece and on Queen Catherine’s dress.  The trim matched the colour of the silk perfectly and while I can’t say it is specifically Portuguese it looks fabulous. 

 

The skirt is four gored panels which are machine sewed together.  This is then box pleated (by hand) to the bodice which is consistent with the Queen Catherine dress. I hemmed the skirt by machining wide cotton bias tape to the bottom. I then folded this inside the skirt and machined in place.  I machined the trim on top of this on the outside of the skirt.  This was because I was running short on time and even as I write this I have had to check multiple times how it was put together so it is not obvious.

 

I wanted to do sleeves like those on one of the St Auta side panels

 

These are fairly full with the opening down the back of the arm secured with ties. It is then tied
on to the bodice.  I was fascinated that these sleeves and one in the centre of the 11000 Virgins painting appear to have a turned back cuff that has a wide fancy trim on it.  The sleeves also appear to be lined in a different colour to the rest of the dress.
 

I found a beautiful gold/grey/green silk in my stash which worked beautifully with the silk and trim so I lined the sleeves in that.  

On the turned back cuff I attached some wide gold-work style trim I found at Spotlight and attached the red/gold trim down the opening of the sleeves and used it on the bodice as loops to tie the sleeves to.
 

I cut a two inch strip out of the sleeve lining silk and then, by hand, whip stitched it closed.  I cut this into lengths and attached an aglet to each end of these lengths to make ties.  These I attached down the length of the sleeve opening when I attached the lining. I tied them together to make the sleeves.  I made some others as ties at the top of the sleeve so it could be attached to the bodice.
 

I made a sash out of the same shot silk and put some of the wide trim (from the sleeve cuff) on the ends of it and added gold fringing. 

 

Verdict:

I love this dress and enjoyed wearing it to the Spring Feast at Gildenwick.  I think in the next version I will alter the cut of the sleeves slightly so the opening is more visible at the back of my arm and the cuff is more parallel to my wrist.  I am enjoying my forays into Portuguese clothing as it is pretty and comfy!  It worked well with my new Portuguese hat too!

 

Useful links: 

• St Auta Altarpiece - https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ret%C3%A1bulo_de_Santa_Auta
• Queen Catherine of Austria as St Catherine https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Catalina_de_Austria,_reina_de_Portugal,_como_Santa_Catalina_(Museo_del_Prado).jpg
  

 

PGC2019: THL Joana de Bairros' Portuguese Hat

Category: With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery.  An accessory your persona may have owned, made, used, or gifted.

 

 Purpose:

There are many hats in the Portuguese paintings of the 1520s, in particular they are seen all over the St Auta Altarpiece where many of the female figures are wearing a relation of  a flat cap.  The hat I particularly liked was in Gregorio Lopes’s Visitation painting as it was well blinged up!  I had already made a version of the pink dress for the Baronial A&S Championship and made a version of the hat but it wasn’t quite right so I wanted to make one that was more in keeping with the portrait.  I spent a long time staring at the image to get a sense of what was happening with this hat and talked to Mistresses Isabel Maria and Cristia about it.  The consensus was that it was a kind of split brim arrangement that was sewed up on to the side of the hat.  Much paper was used to get a sense of how it worked.

 

Materials used:

• A $2 shop pirate hat.  By taking the pirate fabric off it I was left with a ‘felt’ like base
• Black velvet to cover the hat and make the folds on the hat.  I picked velvet as many of the St Auta hats look like they are made from velvet as does the one in the image above.  
• Pearl and gold buttons - I managed to get the same design in two different sizes.  While there aren’t pearls on the hat in the image I like them and the buttons were the most appropriate looking ones I found
• Pearl and gold bead aglets that I made myself using some oval shaped gold beads, plastic pearls and earring pins.  I decided to interpret the spiky bits on the hat as aglets as they are a common feature of 16th century hats.  Using the pearl and gold beads allowed me to match the buttons too!
• A vintage filigree ‘gold’ and pearl brooch
• A very small amount of gold silk to line the split brim
• Black thread and a robust needle
  

Methods used:

• I cut out a round of black velvet a little bigger than the hat base and ran a gathering stitch around the edges of the circle.
• I pulled the gathering stitch so the material fitted over the round of the hat and hand sewed it to the inside of the hat.
• I made a 10cm strip with black velvet on one side and the gold silk on the other.  I sewed this on the machine for ease of use.
• I cut this strip into six panels that were long enough that when pressed flat against the hat reached the top of the brim and folded over the edge of the hat base.  These were sewed inside the hat all the way around the hat with cuts in the edge so they sat flat.
• In the gap between each panel of velvet and silk I sewed three buttons with a big one in the middle and two smaller ones on either side.
• I made the aglets out of earring wires and beads and used my pliers to create loops in the wire.
• I sewed these aglets in fours on either side of the middle button  
• I hand sewed the gold brooch it was on the front side of the hat like in the original image.
  

Verdict:

It is so pretty and much more in keeping with the portrait than my first attempt.  I didn’t count on there being so much bulk inside the hat with the edges of the panels sewing into it so it doesn’t fit quite as comfortably as I would prefer but it still works. 

 

Additional images

•     Check out the St Auta altarpiece here - https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28680322
•     The full version of the Lopes and Leal Visitation painting can be found here - https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visita%C3%A7%C3%A3o_(Greg%C3%B3rio_Lopes_e_Jorge_Leal)