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Partlet questions

Started by gem, May 19, 2008, 05:58:40 PM

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gem

So the Promenade gown has what appears to be a very simple, collarless partlet:



And I really do think it's a partlet, not a necklace.  See how it's just a bit paler than her skin, and there also appears to be an opening from the neckline of the partlet to the neckline of her gown.

When I first started studying the images, I thought for sure I had seen loads of similar partlets (otherwise, how could I recognize it, right?), but now I'm having trouble tracking down examples.  Right now, the only one I'm finding is in Holbein's Lady With a Squirrel and a Starling.

It looks kind of similar to early Florentine partlets, like the one in Leonardo's Genevra de' Benci, but it's worn like a later English partlet--under the gown.

So... these are my questions:

1. How would this be constructed?  All the patterns and instructions I'm finding online are for later period partlets--either English or Italian or Flemish--with collars. 

2. That's one itty-bitty teeny tiny hem there at the collar and opening.  Would that be a rolled hem?  Is there another option?  I'm wondering what my options are for achieving that black/dark border at the hemline.  I have a Greycat chemise with black edging that was serged--but I don't have a serger (which is also why I'm hoping there's an alternative to a rolled hem).

3. Any other thoughts, suggestions, guidance?

Speak to me, gentles!

Gramercy!




PrincessSara

I've never made a partlet, so I'm mostly useless on construction.  All I can say is that I've seen partlet patterns where it would be possible to omit the collar - ie the collar was a band sewn on instead of an extension of the piece.  If you can find one of those, maybe it would work if you just omitted the collar?

As for the collar and opening, I think it looks like a rolled hem.  I would say use a rolled hem for the opening, then either embroidery, very very thin trim, or a zig-zag finish for the neckline.  If you can embroider, I think a bit of blackwork is your best option.

I hope that's helpful!

Baroness Doune

#2
The necklines of women's smocks tends to mimic the necklines of men's shirts.  So, you might check out men's shirts for the period.

I went looking in my Period Patterns notes for info because I had remembered a smock with a jewel neckline and front slit dating from 1400 on the cover of the underpinnings pattern.  The bibliography mentioned several books I own but the book in which  I was most successful at finding an image quickly was page 180 of Hispanic Costume: 1480-1530 by Ruth Matilda Anderson.
There are three images of collarless partlets:
DUCHESS 1479-1492, from portrait of Maria Lopez de Gurrea, duchess of Luna; later 16th-century copy by Roland de Mois (Madrid. Palace of the Duke of Villahermosa)
QUEEN ca. 1495, from portrait of Isabel I, queen of Castilla and Aragon, attributed to Bartolome Bermejo (Madrid, Royal Palace)
SERVING WOMAN 1526, from figure of St. Marcella in St. Mary Magdalene Preaching, retable of St. Mary Magdalene, by Pere Mates (Gerona. Cathedral Tesoro.)

Pattern:
http://www.margospatterns.com/wwadapt.htm
Leave off the collar and do a rolled hem or whipped hem around the neckline and down the front edge.

In my searching, I came across several examples of the "halter top" neckline on the gowns in the very end of this book:  A Visual History of Costume: The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries by Margaret Scott and the beginning of this book: A Visual History of Costume: The Sixteenth Century by Jane Ashelford.

Orphena

I have done no research to support this idea - but is it possible that instead of being a partlet, it could just be a chemise?

The only partlet I have made was made from Margo's pattern - it turned out well, but it does have a collar.
Luxurious Lady ~ Statuesque Seamstress ~ Winsome Wayfarer
Enjoyer of Elegant Elizabethan Ensembles

Lady Kathleen of Olmsted

#4
http://www.lynnmcmasters.com/





I made a ruffed collar as I do for Men's and Women's Noble shirts. This partlet is made from Embroidered Silk.

This pattern from Lynn McMasters also works well. Easy to follow and can be adapted to what collar for a Ruff one wants. Margo's pattern is also a great one as well.

"As with Art as in Life, nothing succeeds like excess.".....Oscar Wilde

Cilean

I am with Lady Olmstad!

Here is my partlets I made from Lynn McMasters

http://picasaweb.google.com/Cilean/TourneyGarb/photo#5199011648226350914

I really enjoyed the pattern and it was fairly easy to use.

Cilean
Lady Cilean Stirling
"Looking Good is not an Option, It is a Necessity"
My Motto? Never Pay Retail

Anna Iram

#6
Here's an example of something similar Gem


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Anne_stafford.jpg



To my eye your picture looks less like embroidery than beading. I read somewhere, sorry can't find link, a description of neclaces at the time and a comment that artists of the day painted a series of dots to represent the beads. Either would work of course.

This particular example looks like a traditional partlet worn over the chemise and under the gown. The Tudor Tailor has a pattern for a tudor partlet where the neckline could easily be lowered.


http://www.vertetsable.com/demos_partlets.htm