Dressing the Italian Working-Class Woman

[silverstah]

I admit, I'm likely in the minority here.  I think we need to form a support group, or something.

*waves* Hi, my name is Catarina, and I prefer to wear working-class historical clothing.

("Hi, Catarina!")

Seriously - I love working-class and middle-class clothing.  Don't get me wrong, I ADORE the look of the noble outfits - they are STUNNING.  But I also love tromping around in the rain and in the mud, sitting on the ground and people-watching, and tend to spill things on myself.  Lots.  So working-class has been my focus.

This outfit is not a copy of any specific painting, but rather based on the 1580's working-class paintings of  Vincenzo Campi – specifically 'The Fruit Seller', 'Kitchen', 'Christ in the House of Maria and Martha' and 'The Fishmongers'. Although working-class paintings were popular in the Netherlands at the time, there were few southern European artists experimenting in the genre – so his work gives us wonderful insight into the working class of Italy. There are a wide variety of color combinations and variations of details in these portraits, so I felt comfortable drawing elements from them all to create something representative of them as a whole.

Although I made the base dress of this outfit back in 2006, various pieces have been in my garb rotation since at least 2003. 

I'm really NOT in the mood to do much work today, so I figured I'd share how I get dressed, from the bottom up.

First - the basics.  Undergarments.

Drawers - These aren't my drawers - but I did mine in the same style.  Basic straight-leg linen drawers.  Mine, admittedly, have an elastic waist for ease of wear.  (Mine also don't have pretty embroidery. *grin*)  Although linen drawers are not necessary, I've found that they keep sweat and chafing to a minimum.  I've also been known to wear wacky cotton bloomers or bike shorts.  Really, it doesn't matter WHAT you wear under there.  Just wear something, ladies.  It's so much  more comfortable.

These lovely Late Sixteenth Century Italian drawers are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  Scanned from Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd, Janet Arnold.  The new Patterns of Fashion 4 has some wonderful photos of all sorts of drawers. 

The next layer is the chemise or shift. I made my shift in the style of a simple square-necked  shift done in white linen. I chose to fit the smock sleeves a bit more closely than the Campi paintings show, simply for ease of wear. As a personal preference, I don't particularly like puffy sleeves.  Patterning of the smock is super-easy - I used the Elizabethan Smock Pattern Generator.  Another excellent walkthrough is Kass McGann's Your First Garb - instead of cutting a scoop neck, cut a square neck. 

After that comes the corded petticoat, also done in white linen with 1/2" cotton cord pin-tucked every ½" about 1/3 of the way up the petticoat. The petticoat is cartridge pleated onto a waistband, and laces through eyelets on the sides. I find that this gives the skirt some body and fullness without being overbearing, and mimics the look of the women in Campi's paintings.  I found the Recipe for a Corded Petticoat invaluable when I made mine. 

Photo: Linen shift and corded petticoat.  Also shown is my Effigy corset in-progress.  Note that the Effigy corset is *not* worn with my working-class Italian outfit. 

Next - the partlet. The partlet is one of those simple little accessories that you really *can* sew together in an afternoon, that really completes the outfit - but it's one that many folks seem to forget about.  Added bonus - when you wear it closed, it really does keep you warm!   I used The Elizabethan Costume Page for the basic pattern, which worked out very nicely.  It has ribbon ties under the arms, and to help the partlet lie smoothly under my dress, I tie the partlet ties to the petticoat.  It keeps everything looking smooth and neat - no shifting!

Photo: Carolina Renaissance Festival, 2006.  Halloween weekend - my 'Belle' costume.

Now we start getting to the fun stuff.

The dress: This dress was an exercise in fabric-stash management. I decided that I had MORE than enough linen in the house to make a full outfit, and worked fully out of stash fabrics.

The gown is constructed out of 5.3oz green linen. I chose linen for a number of reasons. It is sturdy, it washes well, and it holds up over time. We live in a geographic area that can get below freezing in the winter and blistering hot and humid in the summer, so I wanted a fabric that would breathe well and would be adaptable to a variety of weather conditions. As this is a working dress, I wanted to be sure that at the end of the day I could just toss it in the washer and not have to worry about it, as well.

The paintings show women wearing gowns with either front lacing or side-back lacing. Although aesthetically I prefer the side-back lacing, I chose to use front lacing for ease of wear. I used brass lacing rings in a spiral pattern, which achieved just the look I wanted. It is interlined with a layer of heavy linen, and lined in the same green linen as the dress.  The bodice is cut with a slight curve to the front edge, making it fully self-supporting.  Although I did not get photos of the dress in-progress, the pattern came out very similar to Jen Thompson's Italian working-class bodice pattern, as seen here.  It is also very similar to the curved-front method for cutting supportive cotehardies, as seen here. 

When I originally constructed this dress, I had machine-sewn on large, bulky fulled wool guards, as shown here:

After re-examining the paintings, though, I decided that the brown wool guards were simply too large, bulky, and unattractive.  They were replaced this year with much slimmer black linen guards, hand-sewn onto the bodice.  The new linen guards lie much cleaner and flatter, and give an overall more attractive silhouette.  The guards are cut on the bias, to give them a bit of stretch so they curve around the back neckline neatly.

Although others have worn corded corsets or reinforced the bodice of the gown with hemp/cotton cording, I chose to only add a single row of hemp cording at the lacing points. The bodice does wrinkle under the bust, however the same horizontal wrinkles can be seen in the paintings as well. The wrinkles in the paintings make me think that the bodices on these working-class dresses were not heavily boned or reinforced, and I chose to mimic that in my gown as well. The bodice is snugly fit under the bust, which gives me ample bust support without boning. It's amazingly comfortable, and I can do absolutely anything while I wear it!

The skirt is simply rectangular panels sewn together and cartridge pleated onto the bodice. It has a lovely flow when I walk without being overly bulky.

The Sleeves: All of the women in the Campi paintings show basic, straight sleeves that tie onto the bodice with plain cords or decorative ribbons. 'The Fruit Seller's gown shows her wearing the dress without sleeves, but with terribly festive ribbons tied on where the sleeves would attach. This is one of my favourite things about this ensemble – it's so versatile!

I chose to make basic, straight sleeves in a pumpkin-colored heavy linen. They are single layer, and button at the wrist. Lacing rings in the bodice and sleeves give me the option of switching out the ties for colored ribbons if I choose. Currently, the sleeves lace on with black cotton cording tipped with gold-toned aglets. Although none of the Campi paintings show the use of any tips or aglets, I chose to use them to keep the ends of the lacings neat and tidy.

The Accessories: The belt was made by my husband, and is simple leather with a brass buckle. For shoes, I typically wear either black leather 'mary jane' style shoes, or black leather turnshoes.

The white and red coral necklace is a SCA anachronism – this was a gift when I was inducted into Atlantia's Order of the Coral Branch, an A&S Order. The red coral branches just look so pretty with the orange sleeves.

What often gets the most attention about this ensemble is the headgear - which, I will admit, I have no solid historical evidence for.   I purchased the hat from 'The Wheat Goddess' at the Southern California Renaissance Festival.  The 'white bit' underneath is different things at different times.  I have a few large (20" x 20") white linen squares that I will sometimes just wear as a kerchief with my hair braided underneath, and tie the hat on over that.  Other times I get creative with draping kerchiefs in the Flemish style, which is what I did in the photos below:

All together - this ensemble (in it's current form) has taken over three years to pull together, piece by piece.  I've made drastic improvements to the dress, added sleeves, purchased and made accessories, and learned how to drape headgear.  One of the most important lessons I've learned with this particular project is that no ensemble is ever fully complete.  We continue to improve, modify, and change as our tastes and skills evolve. 

To those who are just beginning their journey in sewing - remember, Rome wasn't built in a day, and good clothing isn't built in a day, either.  Keep plugging along, piece by piece.

[operafantomet]

Italian working class galore! Or at least a gallery with various depictions, as well as links to recreated attires.

http://aneafiles.webs.com/renaissancegallery/italianworkingclass.html

[Becky10]

I am with you! My first piece of real garb was a noble gown and ouf, how i dream of a lower status!  I am going to get to work on a bodice and some  skirts soon but after seeing your garb I would LOVE to have something similar! You can never have too much right?!