14th Century Mamluk Coat
Pendleton wool lined with cotton. I did some research into period colors (yellow, various reds, dark blue) and fabrics (silk, wool) and how Mamluk culture ties into 14th & 15th C Venetian culture through trade. We don't have a lot of info about their actual garb but there seem to be 2 distinct overgarments--the "Turkish" coat that has a crossover similar to what we see in Mongol & other Eastern cultures, and the straight front coat that was belted with a wide wrap of fabric. For striped fabric, I liked the straight lines better. |
| Detail of neckline showing red lining rolled slightly to front as trim |
1865 Day Dress (European)
100% cotton, sage green and pale yellow check with a woven in pane pattern
My foray into Civil War re-enactment. I wanted ruffles, and a dress that didn't make me look like I was wearing quilting leftovers. My particular love is ballgowns, but it's tough to support a back story that puts a ballgown in a battlefield environment where women were not overly involved. Many MANY hours of fishing pinterest sites for extant examples turned up this likely candidate in the Met archives. A lucky fabric find the next day sealed the deal. This photo was before the neck ruffle was applied. I need to get a photo of me actually wearing it (this one and so many others!)
1530s Gown (Venetian)
Cotton-Poly Brocade & Cotton Velveteen
My SCA character dresses primarily in Italian 1500-1550 and my colors are blue and gold. We had a heraldic symposium and I needed a way to display my personal heraldry. I LOVE excuses that REQUIRE new garb! I took every shortcut in the book to get this one finished in a hurry and the fit shows it, but the end result passes muster (at least for SCA purposes).
Side note, the Eleanora project is drafted off this pattern.
1500 Gown (Venetian)
Cotton-Poly Brocade & Cotton Velveteen
30 years difference from the heraldic gown and practically the same fabrics, so you can see the rapid silhouette change from uncorseted to corseted and the drop to a natural waistline.
This was designed from scratch after researching what I could do differently with the fabric I already had without getting too far from my geographical time-location. Its original intent was a ballgown for an SCA Carnivale event, so I could get away with pleat tape (great stuff, works well with light to medium weight fabrics). This was originally posted on Facebook as a how to so there are a lot of process photos.
