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)

PGC2019: Meisterin Christian Baier's Pearl and Garnet Goldhaube

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

Persona period inspiration and use: 

Goldhaubes were the coifs / "hairnets" worn by women of the 16th C Saxon court.  The dowry of Magdalene of Saxony lists a number of haubes, most with pearls and some with metal ornaments, or spangles. At least one of these haubes was noted as having been made by Magdalene’s mother, the Duchess, so this could be a project that a noble woman might make for herself or for a family member or friend.Christian is not fond of hats and headwear, but finds these haubes are generally the least annoying appropriate hair covering.  

This haube is intended to match an under-construction red velvet gown with guards of yellow and white silk brocade.

Design, Materials and Construction: 

These haubes were variously constructed, some appear to be made from embroidered or patterned fabric, some from cords knotted or constructed into a net; illustrations suggest that these were less likely to be made using more traditional hair-netting techniques like sprang, however men in this period wore “hairnets” which do seem to be made more often in those techniques.  Haubes were usually made of gold cords and/or narrow wares, or gold fabrics, often patterned in black; and were usually embellished with pearls, spangles and other ornaments.

Materials: gold metal-thread net fabric, lined with silk, pearls of two colours, garnets, metal thread, and gold cord. The haube is lined with fine bright yellow silk to both ensure the haube more closely tones with the brocade of the gown’s brocade, and to hide “fake” hair used to imitate haristyles of the period. 

Construction: the fabric was embellished with pearls, cords, and semiprecious stones; lined with silk, and attached to a decorative band also decorated with pearls and garnets.

Reference:

• 1526 Nürnberg wedding record:  H. Doege, "Das von Questzische Hochzeistbüchlein, 1526”, Waffen und Kostümkunde, 1922. 
• Schulordnungen, schulbücher, und pädagogische miscellaneen aus den landen deutscher zunge: Im auftrage der Gesellschaft für deutsche erziehungs- und schulgeschichte, Band 34.  Translated here: https://jillwheezul.livejournal.com/tag/magdalena%20of%20saxony
• Goldhaubes in Textiler Hausrat, Kleidung und Textilien von Nurnberg, 1500 – 1650 by Jutta Zander-Seidel, p.119-125.

PGC2019: Baronessa Isabel Maria's Manto

Isabel Maria shares her black linen voile manto, in the category "with scarfs and fans and double change of bravery With amber bracelets bead and all this knavery" as an example of an accessory her persona would have owned and used.

"Both versions of Juan de Alcega’s Libro de Geometria, Pratica, y Traca (1580 and 1589) contain several cutting diagrams for a garment called a manto.  Alcega suggests that such a garment be made of anascote, seda or clarisea.  He also states that the appropriate length is from top of the head to the ankle.  This would appear to suggest it is some kind of all-encompassing veil or modesty wrap.  At this point I asked “how and when was this garment worn in period?”.

Marcelin Defourneaux, in Daily Life in Spain in the Golden Age, describes the wearing of the tapados (or veils) as “cloaks which completely covered them and which were pulled down over their faces, allowing only one eye to peep out.”  He later quotes the Council of Castille saying (during the reign of Philip II) “The custom of women to o veiled has become so excessive that it is now prejudicial to the best interest of the state, for, because of this fashion a father no longer recognises his daughter, not a husband  his wife...” and states that Philip II forbade its use, but without success.  Similarly, he quotes a contemporary writer railing against the practice of folding, and refolding the veil to hide all but the left eye describing it as “a lacivious thing”.

This sounds exactly like the kind of garment any fashionable lady simply must have in her wardrobe.

 

Pattern

Alcega has numerous cutting diagrams showing the most efficient way to cut this garment out of different types and widths of fabric, for example:

Construction

Rather than piecing the garment as shown in Alcega, I was able to cut it out of one length, as my linen voile was sufficiently wide, unlike period fabrics.  I hand stitched a narrow rolled hem around the whole piece and then added a narrow black lace to the hem based on a 1590 image found on Indumentaria y Costumbres en Espana.  While the edging adds interest to the garment, it also makes it easier to control the fabric, as it is a simple matter to tell if you are gripping the edge you want, or something else.

Sadly, I haven't been able to get a picture of me wearing the manto, but here is an image of the finished item.

Verdict

This is a pretty and thoroughly inconvenient garment to wear, but perhaps that will change with practice?

 

Resources

• “Tailor’s Pattern Book 1589” by Juan de Alcega, translated and augmented by Jean Pain and Cecilia Bainton
• “Daily Life in Spain in the Golden Age” by Marcelin Defourneaux
• “Indumentaria y Costumbres en Espana”, entry on “Las Tapadas”.   http://opusincertumhispanicus.blogspot.com/2011/11/las-tapadas.html

 

PGC2019: Meisterin Christian Baier's Double Dolphins Brustfleck

As a companion piece to the "M&M" dress, Meisterin Christian enters a beaded brustfleck as an accessory her persona may have owned, made, used, or gifted in the category “With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery.”

Persona period inspiration and use:

Christian is a woman of the court in early 16th C Saxony.  Clothing of women of this court are recorded in art of the time, most notably (but not exclusively) in the portraits of Lucas Cranach.
The Brustfleck (Breast piece) or Brusttuch (Breast cloth) is the decorated piece that covered the front openings of clothing, over the linen layer, found in many styles, in early to mid 16thC German women’s clothing, including the clothing of Saxony.

Brustflecks for Saxon court gowns of this period are generally made from brocade and are variously decorated with slashing, pearls, and embroidery.  Pearl embroidery could be in geometric or floral/pictorial designs.

Christian has a number of brustflecks, but not a floral/pictorial one.  I’ve been meaning to do one of these for ages, but I’m fairly inexpert at embroidery, and there were times in the past where obtaining small real pearls was difficult and expensive. This brustfleck was made for the M&M dress (one of the illustrated dresses has a floral/pictorial brustfleck, while the other has a geometric design).

Design, Materials and Construction:

Design: the particular design here is copied from the dress of Emilia in Lucas Cranach the Elder’s portrait of Sibylla, Emilia and Sidonia of Saxony, 1535.  This is a fairly common design, with scrolling flowers and two heraldic dolphins.  I am a member of the Order of the Dolphin of Caid, in fact I received two Dolphins, so this design seemed appropriate.

Materials: the Brustfleck is from made from a gold metal thread and black silk brocade (matching that of the dress guards), interlined with linen canvas, and is lined with fine linen.

Construction: the brocade was interlined with canvas.  The design was simplified and modified to fit the size of the brustfleck and the available pearls.  The design was transferred to the fabric, the embroidery is done in several sizes and shapes of freshwater pearls, and outlined in fine gold cord.  The whole was then lined with linen.

Reference:

• A number of brustflecks (and their value) are recorded in wills are included in Textiler Hausrat, Kleidung und Textilien von Nurnberg, 1500 – 1650 by Jutta Zander-Seidel, pages 149-150.
• Portrait of Sibylla, Emilia and Sidonia of Saxony, 1535, Lucas Cranach the Elder.
• Illustration of Maria and Margarete in the Saxony Stammbuch: Das Sächsische Stammbuch 1546, http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/56803/1/cache.off

PGC2019: Master Brian's Spoon

Master Brian's crafty wee spoon and case is entered under two categories: "With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery" as well as "'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and a rich".

My persona's parents were Genoese traders.  Once we left the siege of Caffa in 1345, we traded around western Europe.  Accommodation varied a lot and it was handy to have my own cutlery.

  

PGC2019 Mistress katherine kerr's bracelets

My father spent much of his life in Europe, as a member of the Scots Guard at the French court, then as a hired soldier and engineer-trader in Italy. I found this string of Baltic amber chips in his coffer after he died and had them made into bracelets. 

I had a very long string of Baltic amber chips waiting for a suitable project. I don't play Viking so didn't expect to use them, but a mention of amber bracelets in Shakespeare has inspired me into action. So I have strung on silk groups of the chips interspersed with freshwater pearls; this is a common style for the 16C in both Venice and Scotland. Bracelets were generally worn in matching sets, so I made two for me; an additional one was a tad long so it has been donated to Baronial largesse.