Pondering

[msmcknittington]

Friends who have made 16th-century hanging gowns, I have questions.

I have these five yards or so of burgundy cotton velveteen, and I think it wants to be a hanging gown/loose gown. It will be a loose gown. I need an Elizabethan overcoat, and I think this will be a good, easy project. A get well project, if you will

Comments

[ciorstan]

I know of one extant illustration of a ropa with a visible back yoke outside of Hunnisett's examples in Elizabeth R and her costuming book, and that is discussed here

[tattycat]

Okay, seriously. Come clean. You have a 20billion gigabyte external backup brain, right? Right?

[ciorstan]

I AM OLD.

Erm. I have a photographic memory, almost eidetic, and I can draw photo-real iffn I want.

So, simply put, I just remember where I saw the shit somewheres.

[msmcknittington]

Ciorstan, really. Tatty and I have discussed this, and we're pretty sure you're an android. With massive costume history knowledge!

[ciorstan]

Also, yes, I have a 25 year old apple-green watered taffeta ropa with a back yoke, and the cutting plan was taken from Winters & Savoy (::chokes up a hairball::). There wasn't a better source for the 16th century back then other than Norris, which could not be had for love or money anywhere.

http://ciorstan.livejournal.com/263116.html

It is not lined, and I think it would be a better garment if it were. And even though I've only worn it, like, six times since I made it, it would have a longer wearing-life if I'd lined it.

*sigh*

At any rate, the ones I have in various stages of incompletion are all done with the pleat-it-first-and-cut-out-a-shirt-back method, which I think is the more common and non-Italian way to do it. Moreover, I'm suspicious that the one Italian ropa with the back yoke is SHORT.

[msmcknittington]

Moreover, I'm suspicious that the one Italian ropa with the back yoke is SHORT.

Which part? The yoke being short or the skirt being short? I'm kind of curious about the fact that the gathers don't look to be very full. It looks fairly narrow for an outer garment.

[ciorstan]

The hemline.

One of the bigger shocks of examining a lot of portraits/illustrations is that they consistently show less yardage used than we would expect. This isn't just because of different loom widths-- it's because it's the truth.

IIRC, various clothing inventories, which list the yardage of goods used to make up the stuff worn at court:

http://www.nachtanz.org/SReed/fabuse.html

Our 20th/21st century taste is for fuller garments.

[msmcknittington]

Our 20th/21st century taste is for fuller garments.

Do you think that's Hollywood's influence? Or Victorian excess?

I do think it's a little nuts when people make Elizabethan gowns, and they somehow come out weighing in excess of 15 pounds. It shouldn't hurt to wear historical clothing.