A 15th century Italian gown from a vintage sari

A year ago, or so, my friend Caroline and I bought a bunch of used saris on eBay. I made "modern" clothing from one of them, and I still have two left that may become Regency gowns, or possibly something 1920s. But this one, which has silver flowers on green, just like my SCA device, definitely had to become something from within the SCA-period.

I wanted to use the border for the bottom of the skirt, so I had to piece the skirt at the top. I also wanted the silver borders in front of the bodice, which, as you see, is worn slightly open. This took some patterning, but luckily there is so much fabric in a sari, that I had some to play with. The sleeves are made from the pallu, so thay have much more silver in them than the rest of the gown.

The bodice has twio layers of sturdy thrifted linen bed sheet as lining/interlining, and a pice of hemp cord is stitched to the fron edges to keep them straight.

Since the silk is really sheer, way too sheer for this type of gown, I also had to make a new camicia to wear under it. I usually make my camiciae calf lenght, but this oen needed to be long enough so that you didn't see my legs through the skirt. This one is made from thin cotton, but normally they would have been linen,

Under the camicia I have another shift, with a tight bodice from two layers of linen, and laced in the side, to keep my boobs in place.

These photos were taken just before court on Tuesday night at Double Wars, a big camping event in the SCA kingdom of Drachenwald. I also took a close-up of my hair etc, when I was back in my tent.

I braided a scarf-like piece of fabric into my hair, and then tied a silk ribbon with small metal leaves sewn on, that symbolises the Order of the Laurel, and which I made just before Double Wars. It si multi-period, which is nice. The leaves are from a necklace that I got a women's clothes shop.