SCA: Green 1490s Florentine Outfit - for Candlemas 2024

1490s Florentine Italian
for Candlemas 2024

In the beginning, I honestly had no thoughts about what to wear to Candlemas in February - I figured I would just go Viking, like I always do.  But then I went to the event webpage and saw this: 

"The year is 1494 and the wealthiest bride in Europe is about to become the queen of Germany and future Empress of Rome.  Come re-live the wedding of Bianca Maria Sforza of Milan and King Maximilian I of Austria and Germany." 

1490s Italian? I'm in.  The Sforza wedding was said to be one of the most amazing spectacles in years, by several people who wrote about it later: a pageant of high fashion and pomp the likes of which the writers had never seen.  Candlemas this year is intended to be a huge costume extravaganza, and everyone will be wearing their finest Italian and German garb - there's even a costume contest!   Time for a new fancy outfit, I thought.

My first thought was to make some minor alterations to the red velvet Florentine-ish outfit I wore to Baronial in 2022 (the trim is wrong, the sleeves are too big, and the whole thing needs small adjustments here and there), but I wanted something new.  And so of course, I started with something  old.  

Gamurra

I started with my black silk noil gamurra, which I made in 2014 and which has undergone many transformations in the past nearly ten years, mostly in the form of various decorative stitching and trims being applied and removed to change the look.  

I did the same this time, applying a gold and black braided trim to the neckline and front edges, and attaching some gold (brass) lacing rings to the front opening (yes, on top of the hand-sewn eyelets that were already there. The eyelets are very small, and they don't show under the rings when the dress is laced at all).  

Giornea

before - Burgundian dress

For the giornea,  I made over an old Burgundian dress that I had made in 2013 and had never worn - I just never got around to making an underdress or headgear to wear with it, so it just sat ignored  in my closet all these years. The outline was already nearly perfect, though. The dress is voluminous (much fuller than it looks in this picture), but the sleeves were too tight at the top, which made the shoulders fit weird.  Fortunately, I didn't need the sleeves.  

I removed the sleeves and all of the faux fur trim, cut the armscyes a bit deeper, removed the collar and opened up the center front seam all the way to the hemline.  

I also stitched a length of gold braided trim along the neck opening/center front.   I didn't want to dress this giornea up TOO much, because the sleeves and the trim on the gamurra were more than enough decoration for this outfit, but it did need something so that the edges weren't just plain. 

closeup of the front

Giorneae were usually open either at the front or sides or both, to allow the gamurra underneath to show through - mine is only open up the front, and is belted all the way around with a long, black, double-faced satin ribbon sash.  My giornea was inspired by several Renaissance paintings, like these two (both fragments of frescos by Domenico Ghirlandaio): 

fragment from the "Birth of St.
John the Baptist" fresco

fragment from the "Visitation" fresco

Sleeves 

While 90% of this dress was basically free - I made over old costume pieces and used materials from my stash for almost all of it - I did actually splurge on fabric for the sleeves. This is a silk damask in aqua and gold (sort of a shiny tan, really) from Rennaisance Fabrics - it’s so soft and pretty, I just love it!   

Since the fabric was fairly dressy, I opted for a plainer sleeve design, closed at the upper arm and open on the lower arm, and laced open to allow my linen camicia to poof out through the lacings.  

I stitched eyelets along the open forearm edges and on the sleeve heads where the sleeves attach to the gamurra in a tan/brown thread which matches the "gold" parts of the fabric's design. 

I took my inspiration from images like these: 

another fragment from the
"Visitation" fresco by Ghirlandaio

I'll talk about the accessories, and my hair, tomorrow. For now, although I won't be the fanciest nor the richest-looking person at the Candlemas event in my made-over dress, I'm proud of this outfit and I can't wait to wear it.  I just hope it's not too hot, and that it holds up to dancing.  

Bonus:  my Project Cat, Rabi, asleep on an Ikea pillow underneath my work table: 

Can't Stay Away For Too Long

In the past month-or-so since war, I've taken some time off.  I've sewn mundane garments.  I've cleaned up the house.  I've been spray painting shelves, moving furniture around the house, helping to plan surprise birthday parties, learning to cook new things, and spending a LOT of time in the garden.

And yes, I've been gearing up to hit the SCA sewing.  The longer I put it off, the more excited I am about it!  And it's about time to get down to business.  I have a mountain of alterations and new projects for clients - some regular and some new.  There'll be a lot to show you in the next few months.

The first thing on my schedule was to refit a few things from my Italian wardrobe.

To Wit: 

I started by replacing the neckline on my old, white, cotton camicia with a drawstring neckline instead of the flat one it had (because it was ripped on one side, and stained, I think with coffee).

Next, I dug out my old, brown, linen gamurra for some repairs and alterations:

• re-attached one of the ribbons at the shoulders that tie the sleeves onto the dress
• re-attached a couple of button loops on the sleeves that had torn loose; and reinforced the rest of them to prevent that happening in the future
• changed the sleeve buttons
• replaced the hand-stitched lacing rings on the front of the gamurra with a strip of eye tape (the eye side of hook-and-eye tape by the yard) for a more even and professional-looking front closure on the dress
• Removed the skirt, which had always been a couple of inches too long, and rather than shortening it, shortened the bodice on the dress to move the look from a more mid-1400s natural waistline to a midriff-length high waistline seen in paintings of the 1480s-90s, which is the look I prefer (I intended this dress to have a higher waistline to begin with - which was why the skirt was too long - but I'm very long-waisted, and in the habit of adding length to the waistline of anything I sew, sometimes without thinking about it.  I realized recently that this was actually why that dress never fit me correctly in the bust!)  

Finished, front and back with sleeves

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Before - April 2013. The front was sloppy, the bodice
lumpy because it was too long, and the sleeves were
too loose (I fixed that last fall but forgot to mention it). 

L-R:   opening up the brown linen shell,  opening up the lining and interlining and sizing the piece I removed from the lower
edge of the bodice, finished insert - and noticing that I twisted the front when I put it back together, resulting in a twisted
strap - I had to take the strap apart and flip it and sew it back together, LOL.  Oops.  

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Not my favorite part of making a gamurra.  However, since it was essentially
pre-pleated from just having been removed from the dress, it was far
easier than pleating "from scratch."  

Eye tape inside the front opening of the dress, and 1/8"
cotton twill tape lacing.  Also the new drawstring casing
on the camicia.

Allons Bourguignonne! O no?

Remember that red velvet Burgundian I inherited?

yes, this one. 

Well, in December, I got it all torn apart and ready to be made over.  I took the sleeves off to alter them, lowered and widened the neckline in the front, removed the collar and cuffs and even cut out a new collar and cuffs from some white faux fur I had lying around.

Carlo Crivelli1470

And then one day a couple of weeks ago, it went all Italian on me.

I blame the painting at right.  Many moons ago, I loved it for the amazing detail and pattern on the sleeves (click to visit pinterest, and a larger image).  Every time I ran across this painting, I thought mournfully of the pomegranate sleeves that were never to be.

Then I happened across it again while I was idly and half-heartedly sketching out some changes to the red velvet Burgundian...and I thought....wait...

It was already torn apart.  I made an Excel spreadsheet comparing the changes and amount of work needed to finish it as a Burgundian or turn it into an Italian gamurra (because I'm a dork like that), and realized that not only would it be LESS work than the Burgundian, I wouldn't need to also build a hat at the last minute before the tournament last weekend, but I also had some fantastic jewelry already made that I can wear with it!

And, of course, the pomegranate sleeves - which I did eventually cut out and sew together, but I had never finished them (I couldn't find the right buttons).

Permettetemi di presentarvi Maddelina della Sarta.  

I love this so much. :) 

So what'd I do?  I removed the sleeves from the Burgundian, and faced the arm holes and neckline with red linen.  I cut the top of the bodice , took in the sides and the back to fit. then pleated the top edge of the skirt and stuck it back on.  I also made a privacy panel to pin inside the front under the lacings, to make it look like there are more layers going on here than there really are.  

So how many layers are going on here?  In this picture the only thing underneath it is my fitted chemise.  I have that fluffy camicia that I made somewhere - but I'll be damned if I can find it lately.  I'm hoping it turns up before this weekend, since I was planning to wear this at court!

The silver lacing rings on the front are plain ol' aluminum "chain maille" rings from the jewelry section at the hobby store (because they were cheap and not crappy-looking);  after I took the picture I replaced the black ribbon on the front with silver, and tied the sleeves on with silver ribbons to match.  Here I am at the event over the weekend, Bjornsborg's Tournament of the Smitten Heart:

with my pointy almost-period tent in the background, with silver lacings
and sleeve ties instead, and all my pins and favors from the event. :) 

I had so much fun wearing this, and it was so comfortable, and I felt so nice wearing it, and got soooo many compliments, that I've decided that Italian Ren is my new love.  I can't wait to make some from the ground up!

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