Two things on deck at the moment…

1. The construction of a embroidery slate
2. Drafting a bodies pattern using the Bara method

The Slate

Eleonora’s 16th century gowns often included decorative goldwork embroidery. While making enough for the entire dress sounds dauntingly time-consuming and $$$$ expensive $$$$, making a sample to show I understand the process seems reasonable. To this end, the project that begets more projects has birthed a woodworking exercise: the creation of a period-appropriate embroidery frame.

After reading up a little on the history of embroidery frames and looking at medieval book and manuscript images as well as modernly available slates, I decided to make one. (Again, a cost-saving measure for an item that seems relatively straightforward to construct.)

So $15 a the hardware store later, I’ve begun making the frame to go with my goldwork project.

The Bodies Pattern

The dress project that begets more projects also seemed like it needed some foundation garments. Ladies of the era would have needed a chemise and either pair of bodies or pair of stays underneath. Eleonora herself was found to have many bodies (padded/stiffened bodices) in her inventories, but few stays (bodies reinforced with long slim stiff materials like baleen, reeds, or metal rods). Janet Arnold documented the front-close velvet bodies found under Eleonora’s burial gown in Patterns of Fashion 3.

So step one in making the gown is to make the bodies, so the gown can be correctly fitted over the correct foundation garment. Tonight I began that process by flipping back to good old Master Jose and the bara method he details in Modern Maker 2: Pattern Manual 1580-1640. (Yes that’s slightly later than Eleonora’s dress, but it’s a reasonable stretch given that this is based on some of the earliest extant European tailoring manuals and the women’s dress styles are not drastically different in their base construction.)

So pattern drafting has begun. Hopefully, I’ll get far enough on one of these to enter it in the Ex Opus regional artsci faire at Market Day. Wish me luck!