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16th Century Italian Loose Gown

By: Catherine Griffith (SCA: Baroness Catherine Grace Fitzlewis QC)

I found some fabric at G-street Fabrics that spoke to me as a loose gown; unfortunately it also spoke of $50 a yard, which is a little cost prohibitive for me to say the least. I went to visit my mother in Tucson and went to Hancock Fabrics in order to buy some fabric to make her an awning, and surprise; there was my fabric, for $19.99 a yard, and it was on sale for 50% off, $10 a yard!!!!! It is natural oatmeal colored linen that is flocked with a black velvet large scale graphic design.

Now I know what you are saying, flocking? Well there is evidence that flocking is period. And frankly the rather rough linen is a little iffy too, but I found it bold, symmetrical, graphic, and did I mention it spoke to me? I feel that the fabric reproduces the look of velvet applied to another surface, a very period practice in the 16th century, as well as giving a fairly accurate few feet away look at what someone in period would have looked like in something this sumptuous. And short of the fiber content of the flocked portion, linen is period, and quite honestly I love it!!!

 

The pattern that I used for my loose gown was one from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion, c1560-1620. The original garment is in the Victoria and Albert museum, and the piece has been dated to c. 1600. I altered my version a little to reflect some earlier effects in order to align it to a slightly earlier time frame. I made my example to the measurements of the original only making slight alterations for my greater height and girth. The original gown is made of slashed Italian silk that is, more likely then not, a remake from another article of clothing. There are a few seams that show clear piecing that I left out, as it seams silly to cut up perfectly good fabric in order to recreate a seam that was potentially the result of making due with what was left over from another item of clothing. I used the exact same finished width for the back panel of my gown, only I eliminated the center back seam. I know that the center back seam would have been there as a result of limited fabric width in period, but I couldn’t justify cutting my fabric width in order to sew it right back together again, especially for a seam that the garment originator attempted to conceal in the first place by placing it off center in a fold.

Janet Arnold's line drawing of dress, and extant piece in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London

The foundation yoke in the original is made of ivory fustian, with a linen warp and cotton weft, covered in yellow coarse linen. I cannot tell you what the warp or weft threads are but I did use a linen cotton blend fabric as an interlining, along with some soft cotton batting, covered in a black linen fabric. I pad stitched all of the lairs together by hand in as was done in the original.

my version, and Janet Arnold's line drawing of the original

I gored this piece with the same 2 gores and dimensions as the extant piece. The changes I made were to the collar and the shoulder tabs; I also have added sleeves to mine, which are not seen in the original. The extant piece is designed to be worn with a standing ruff, and has ties that come around the front to help support it. I hate things being around my throat and will not be wearing this with a standing ruff, which were not popular in Florence anyway, and as such I extended the collar around the front more and slightly altered the shape, it stands on its own now and is now more reflective of collar shapes on some garments from c1560-90.

Most of the European loose gowns of the mid 16th century closed in front, the late 16th century, early 17th century brought on a change in which the all loose gowns hung permanently open with a different collar. But the change started to be seen in Italian paintings around the 1560-70’s.

Lady with a Dog, Emilia di Spilimbergo, & Lavinia Vecellio, c. 1560-1585.

The shoulder tabs have been replaced with short sleeves similar to the 4 piece sleeve like the ones in the Lavinia Vecellio painting above, and then I added a full under sleeve that is removable. I trimmed this piece with black velvet ribbon and finished all visible details by hand.

The first time I put this on I was amazed at how it felt, it was heavy and draped beautifully, but what surprised me was how the yoke completely holds it in place, one would look a loose gown with out knowing the inner workings and assume that they were fiddly and wanted to pull back off the shoulders. Instead it is firmly and comfortably held where it should be, and it almost makes you want to act differently, more regally when worn I more fully understood this comment by Ann Rosalind Jones.

"Every culture has some connection between the way people live and the clothes they wear. In medieval culture, clothes declared one's status and role in society just by looking at someone you could discern if they were married, widowed, a peasant, or a lord. People read each other's clothing and knew, for instance, if someone was dressed in certain colors, they were a page in the household of a certain noble. In a way, it was the equivalent of a uniform. And clothing was not just external. When a nun gets up in the morning and puts on a nun habit, she is going through a ritual that tells her who she is."