This sottana started it's life as the kirtle for my 16th century pink gown from Lyon, made in 2008. Which of course is very fitting, since the sottana before Eleonora di Toledo started using them on their own very much was a kirtle, worn under another gown (1). Since I wanted to be ableto wear it on its own on hot days son in 2009 I also made a pair of sleeves and trimmed the kirtle and sleeves with silver braid.
The kirtle itself is made from silk taffeta, changeable in navy and forest green. Changeable taffeta is known at least from the 14th century (2).
It is laced on the side-back, like the preserved gown from the 1560s belonging to Eleonora di Toledo, and also on several paintings from the period. The skirt is cut from straight pieces and gores, so that it is wider at the bottom than at the top, and pleated to the waist, with most of the pleats in the back; something that is also seen on Eleonora's gown.
To make the skirt stand out a little by itself I used a method influenced by Eleonora di Toledo's preserved gown (3), and reinforced the hem with a strip of felted wool and another strip of silk (dupioni, because I didn't have enough of the taffeta).
First a ca. 5 cm wide strip of pink wool flannel was sewn to the edge of the skirt (by machine) and then the upper edge of the woollen strip was sewn to the kirtle by hand.
Then an appox. 8 cm wide strip of silk dupioni was sewn to the lower edge (yes, I could have sewn it at the same time as the pink flannel, but I didn't want it to interfere when I sewed the upper edge of the pink strip).
The seam allowances from taffeta, wool and dupioni were then pressed upwards and whipstitched in place. I then folded the strip of dupioni so that the fold was ca. 1cm below the other layers and ironed it.
A row of running stitches at the edge of the other fabrics secured the fold and the upper edge of the strip of dupioni was then turned under and whipstitched in place. Then, finally, small cuts were made in the folded silk dupioni. The seam allowances are whipstitched in place. The upper edge of the wool is sewn with running stitches. The fold is fixed in place with a row of running stitches. Finally small cuts are made in the protruding folded fabric.
For more photos of this method, have a look at my "reconstruction" of Eleonora's gown, over here.
Under the sottana I am, historically incorrectly, wearing my Effigy stays. If I ha made it now I would have put the stiffening, and much less of it, in the bodice, but since it was made for another costume originally it is as it is. I also wear a petticoat in three of the phoptos, but not on the photo in front of the pavillion.
Footnotes
1. Orsi Landini, Roberta och Niccola Bruni: Moda a Firenze 1540-1580. Lo stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza, Florence 2005
2. Crowfoot, Elisabeth, Frances Pritchard och Kay Staniland: Textiles and clothing 1150-1450. Medieval finds from excavations in London:4, Woodbridge, Suffolk 1992 & 2001, s 90)
3. Arnold, Janet: Patterns of fashion. The cut and construction of clothes for men and women c. 1560-1620, London 1985, pp 102-107 & 109 -110; Orsi Landini, Roberta och Niccola Bruni: Moda a Firenze 1540-1580. Lo stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza, Florence 2005, p 69-74
Well done! I love the color.
SvaraRadera