Venetian Gown, 1560’s
Is there anything better than a Venetian gown? I don’t think so. This is the most comfortable 16th century gown I’ve made to date. And the construction is relatively simple. It started with this amazing fabric:
I was looking around online and saw a really beautiful large scale damask. But I thought, this can’t be silk, the price was amazing. Turns out it was a silk blend, and when it arrived I knew it was something magical. It reminded me so much of the prints on gowns of the ladies in a detail of the fresco Riconciliazione di papa Alessandro III e Federico Barbarossa by Francesco Salviati and workshop:
What I love about this is all the pops of lace. And all the details. The Italians were incredibly good at having tons of detail that never looked like too much. For my plans I decided to make:
Sottana (gown)
Camicia (also known as smock, undershirt)
Sleeves
Girdle belt
Partlet or Bavari
Veil
Drawers (not seen, but a nice element to have)
The first thing I began to do was draft and assemble a mock-up for the bodice. I did this with the canvas that would eventually be the interlining. You can certainly re-cut the interlining, but usually when I get it to something good, I go with it and use it.
For drafting, my favorite source is The Modern Maker. I use the 2nd book of drafting all the time. The fit is so excellent when you figure out the bara. It needs some tweaks here and there, but for the most part, is a wonderful fit and looks so nice. For this project I used the low-necked bodies drafting instructions. I highly suggest you make new bara tapes every time you start a project, to make sure your fit is the best each time. I did not, and so my bodice ends up being a little open on the sides, which is ok, too. But ideally, I should have taken my time and done the work. This darn impatience of mine. In the past I have drafted the low-necked bodies with the curving straps, and rounded top and deep plunging center front. However, I wanted to make something a little closer to what we see in the fresco above. I opted to make the neckline straight, and straighten out the strap as well. In many Italian Renaissance portraits you see the straps either straight or even diagonal out, but I chose to keep it straight, assuming that perhaps the sleeves would pull them down (and I was eventually right). I shortened the V center front as well, but I think it could have been a bit longer, as Venetians have usually very long-looking center fronts. Always learning.
I started by pad stitching a piece of linen canvas to the linen canvas for support at the chest. Next came initial fittings. Which. were. meh. I kept getting this fold under bust. Which, yes, is period. But for Venetian, I was seeing mostly very straight center fronts. So I added my usual felted wool to center front and pad-stitched that. A tad bit better, but still folding. I decided to implement bones center front. Traditionally, this stiffening would have been done with hide glue or a “cardboard” which is apparently not like what we call cardboard right now. I had large plastic zip ties, so I did that. Just two. Center front. That made things much better.
Once I had the fit I liked it was time to wrap it with the fashion fabric. I got a great tip from my friend (and now Laurel) Kit, who suggested cutting my corrected pattern onto vinyl so I could be sure to center the design exactly center. I didn’t have vinyl, but anything transparent will do. I found plain parchment paper (for baking) works in a pinch.
After cutting out the pieces it was time to assemble. I always seem to have issues with my strap seams pulling apart so I opted for stitching with the sewing machine for that bit. The rest was wrapped around the interlining. Using the bara method guves you a pattern with seam allowance included, so I made sure my interlining canvas was trimmed to the exact size of the final garment without seam allowance. Since I altered my canvas, I used that to trace my outside pieces, adding the seam allowance I wanted. For side lacing I opted to add 1 inch on the sides so I had enough space to stitch my eyelets later.
These clips are great for holding the outside fabric in place. You don’t need to make holes in your fabric with pins.
You can use a whip stitch too. I feel this kind of stitch allows you to only pick a little bit of the interlining and I am less likely to go through through the outer fabric. But always use your fingers behind to feel and make sure the needle doesn’t go through as you stitch.
I chose to finish off the neckline and armholes with bias, so no need to cut seam allowance and fold over there. I did a large basting stitch to keep those areas secured together. Then moved onto bias binding.
Here we have all the insides, which will be covered by the lining eventually. By this point I had already stitched the bottom of the bodice up as well.
Next it was time to move on to eyelets and sleeves.
I decided to do something a little different and make linen tubes that would act as faux poofs at the sleeve head. I did this mainly because the ouches (jewels) I was using had no good way to loop a fastening around, and pulling a camicia up and between each ouch would not have looked quite right. This way I could guarantee that my sleeves always looked consistent. For the sleeve itself I made it in two parts: the shorter part with more linen poofs, and the full regular sleeve underneath. Always try your mock ups on over a camicia. The fullness is so different than over just your arm.
There is a section in The Tudor Child where similar puffs are made in a sleeve. So I modeled the process off that.
Unfortunately I took no pictures of my eyelets in progress save this picture of a bone awl I got from Burnley & Trowbridge:
After lacing holes were done it was time to try out some laces. I didn’t have the fancy hand-made ones this time, so I just used a brown poly grosgrain ribbon. I love it when eyelets are done because I can finally try on the bodice! I decided to get all dressed up for that fitting:
You can see my newly finished insertion lace camicia and embroidered partlet, which I will do a separate post for. It all looks great, time to make a skirt!
I followed the bara drafting method for a skirt and then added some extra length on the front panel to gather more at the front. I also shortened that skirt by 3 inches (there is a lot of extra length built into the pattern for lots of pleating but I prefer one pleat). Here I am making a quasi-felled seam. The width of the pattern was wider than the fabric. Which means…piecing! Piecing is period!
I have absolutely no pictures of my pleating process. I usually finish the rough edge with another piece of the fabric or bias (just basted then turned over and ironed flat) then I gather with two hand-made running stitches and pin in place to whip stitch to the base of the bodice. This definitely requires more pictures. I will try to take some in the finished garment.
Next comes the process of adding one pleat to the hem, padding the hem with wool, and finishing the hem with bias.
The final step is lining the bodice with linen. I prefer to line my bodice, I know some don’t, but I like the finished look it gives. And the linen is so soft.
A closer look at the eyelets and the aglets from Tied to History:
Now let’s dress up!
Plus a peek at the drawers underneath! I truly enjoyed making this gown, and it will definitely be in rotation frequently at any events I attend. More blog posts to come shortly on the lace camicia and the drawers. I highly suggest you watch my video below that goes through the undergarments and dressing of this type of gown, and information about Renaissance Venetian clothing as well. It’s a also a great way to see the dress in motion!