The
Historical Sew Monthly challenge for the month of August is Patterns--all the varieties of patterned fabrics, and the garments which feature said patterns. A vast subject, as I found when I volunteered to write this inspiration post--I mean I knew it was large, but this is almost ridiculous. I will be doing my best to include things for everyone, and barely touching on the history of individual patterned fabrics.
The challenge says "Make Something in Pattern, the bolder and wilder, the better." While bolder is better, you could go for something more subtle, like a nice damask (such as the green banyan further down the page). This means that plaids and stripes, visibly patterned twills (diamond twill, for instance), paisleys,
various brocades and patterned velvets, and the wide variety of forms of printed fabrics are all distinct possibilities...plus fabrics which have been embroidered all over, quilted together, or crotchet/knit--so long as it has a visible all over pattern!
Bear in mind that a lot of the patterns--especially brocades, patterned velvets, and such--are all expensive materials...hence why the majority of the following examples are upper class. But that doesn't mean those of us who prefer lower class get left out...just may require more searching, is all.
For this post, since I'm not writing a massive article covering the history of all kinds of patterns fabrics (I thought about it...then my mind melted), I will be going chronologically, and trying to cater to everyone. When I began gathering images for this article, I found (and intended to find) far more than I could possible include--the rest are in a pinterest board,
Pattern HSM.
(Gentlemen, I'm trying to behave and not fill this article with brightly coloured waistcoats and banyans--select examples are in the board).
And starting with one of the few, decent images I can find of something from the Iron age--the Huldremose bog find, with a peplos (or bog dress) in an obvious, simple plaid. You continue to see fragments of woven patterned--simple plaids, stripes, and occasionally fancy twills (like the
Thorsjberg trousers) in the archaeological record, but they are usually just that--fragmentary pieces with little remaining of the original garment. A few examples are gathered in
this blog post from another re-enactor.
And so, we move forwards to the middle ages:
There is this horizontally striped, kirtle patterned with either woven in (maybe...) or block printed patterns. Now that I look closer, I think that may be a dude...sometimes it's hard to tell in upper class illuminations. It may also be allegorical, but I'm not going to hold that against him.
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| Altarpiece from the Castle of Santa Coloma de Queralt, ca. 1365. Museu d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona.
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Plaid cottes appear occasionally--typically from Spain. Interestingly, they are often mi-parti (split down the center) with a solid on the other side, and with the plaid cut on the bias.
Conveniently, another blogger put together and shared an article giving a number of examples of
patterned 14th century garments.
A cotte of some form of woven patterned fabric.
And both are wearing patterned cottes; his in a brocade, and hers possibly block printed. There is also this
massive board containing hundreds of examples of medieval and renaissance patterned fabrics.
Or a fur lined cloak/gown of red brocade (possibly with bezants or pearls? to boot!) from the The Devonshire Hunting Tapestry (1425-30).
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| Portrait of a young Lady from Lübeck (c. 1520)" by Jacob van Utrecht |
And as a smaller project, this lady is wearing a
gollar--a short capelet like outergarment to cover and warm the shoulders--in a lovely damask.
Or if you prefer, a full gown in a patterned velvet. Note the massive repeat, which is normal for women's clothing in this period.
And for the guys: A lovely example of a horizontally patterned doublet. But...it's not a woven in pattern. Or at least, I didn't think so--I suppose it could be gold (actual cloth of gold...) striped black velvet, with small applied sections of matching velvet around the collar and buttonholes.
I love this one--I wish I had noted the details (the slashed roll at the top of the collar and around the armscye) when I was working on my striped doublet.
Now this is an interesting piece of court wear; made of wool and embroidered all over in silver thread.
A fashion plate showing the underskirt(?) in a brocade. And with fringe, no less--perfect for sweeping the floor.
Made of
Spitalfields silk.
Spitalfields (link to a thesis on the London silk trade) was (and still is) a London parish historically known for its silk weavers.
One of the earlier examples of "ditto" suits, consisting of a pair of breeches, waistcoat, and frock coat all of the same material.
Part of a heavily boned bodice, of French blue silk brocade with a large repeat.
A
Robe à l'anglaise made of Spitalfields silk, noted as being of
Silk Lampasette, and made in the United States.
And a lovely, double-breasts banyan in green silk, patterned after the fashion of coats of the time.
A printed chintz dressing gown and matching waistcoat from Holland (fwi, the Dutch term appears to be
Herenkamerjas). Note that the printing was done with the pattern in mind, with the pockets, front opening, and hem all decorated in place. The chintz would be cotton, and it is linen lined.
Robe à la française of plaid silk taffeta.
Now here's something interesting. This water colour painting clearly shows a lady's outfit made of multiple prints. There are
more here, if you scroll down.
And for a different pattern--a striped silk Robe à la française from...France. Go figure.
Because for the better part of a hundred years (but not quite yet), bright colours in men's clothing was the delegated duty of the waistcoat, and I am somewhat spoiled for choices of boldly patterned ones, I included only the most eye-bleeding.
Double breasted waistcoat, made of silk, with silk twill trim on the front, hem, and welts/flaps.
And menswear is moving towards more understated colours and patterns, although this one is toeing the line. The jacket is silk lined with cotton, and both waistcoat and breeches are also silk.
White leather shoes, printed with a green check--just in case any of you ladies want to try your hand at shoemaking or modifying something you have in this style.
Along those lines, you also see heavily embroidered and fabric covered shoes from the 1700s and onward, which could be embroidered at home, and sent to the cordwainer to be assembled.
Wool and linen dress reportedly from Fanbyn,
Anundsjö Sweden (or at least woven there).
A fine cotton gown from 1810, covered in printed vinework.
One of the few patchworked examples I have, a Regency era banyan or dressing gown made of printed cottons. I love this garment enough that I wrote
an article on it.
A French redingote in striped cotton. If you look at Regency dresses, they weren't all white--many were boldly coloured, and/or had vertical patterns.
A silk and wool plaid men's frock coat residing in the LACMA--this is one of the garments they
made patterns of.
Day dress of "Warp-printed silk taffeta".
A waistcoat of white wool, with a complicated design. The cloth it is made of was created for the
Eglinton tournament of 1839--a Victorian re-enactment of a medieval Joust (which--spoiler--went terribly due to a violent storm) . Come to think, something based on that tournament would work for the Historicism challenge.
An absolutely stunning silk brocade gown. I love that shade of blue, with the contrasts.
Another brilliantly contrasting fabric, a waistcoat made in (silk) cut and voided velvet with brocading. Look at that pattern matching!
Paisleys are under represented in this article, I know--not sure why. So, if that's your style, I'm going to point you at the
Dreamstress's board gathering hundreds of examples of paisley in all kinds of clothing/accessories.
And then...there's this unusual plaid ensemble from the 1860s (I think it may be a body-sac, the precursor to the modern suit jacket)
Striped satin and moire dress with the classic '60s bell. It's also not uncommon to see '60s dresses in plaid.
Here's something somewhat interesting--especially since there was recently a discussion on the breeching on the Historical Sew Monthly fb group--a boy's dress. It's rather adorable, really.
Wool and silk dressing gown with a paisley pattern. The museum note calls it "a quintessential dressing gown of the period".
Bold plaid and lace dress from Oslo, Norway.
And for a completely different , a silk dress printed with art deco style patterns.
Draped afternoon dress made in printed semi-sheer lame.
And now, I'm moving out of chronological, and into the smaller projects and accessories.
Crotchetted baby boots, with a button closure.
Multi-tiered dress-improver (vulgarly, bustle pad) made of a paisley scarf.
American, plaid silk apron from the Mid-1800s. I see no reason it couldn't be made of a plaid cotton or lighter wool as well.
Dropping back in period to the late 16th century, we have a pair of lady's coifs, covered in an all over pattern of blackwork embroidery. This style of coif was often covered in embroidery, both mono-chrome and more coloured.
A tiny French bag (11.4 x 7.6 cm), crotchetted in silk.
Or for something even quicker, perhaps a pair of garters embroidered in "rococo stitch". It's not completely covered, but the primary portion is.
You also see heavily embroidered braces (suspenders), often made as a gift.
A pair of Swedish knit gloves, with "needle-punched" (nålbunden?) cuffs. What does mönsterbårder mean (in relation to the decoration)?
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| 1790-1800, Manchester Art Gallery (supposedly. I was unable to find the page) |
As mentioned before, low shoes or slippers with simple decorations are a possiblity as well,
If you are /really/ running out of time, you could always make a simple kerchief or shawl of patterned linen (silk and cotton are also options), like this 18th century example.
For another small project, there are hussifs, or needle cases; often, they were made of scraps of patterned and fancy fabrics.
And one of my personal favourites--someday I may make one as a dice bag, simply because I'm a geek; an emboidered velvet gaming purse from 17th century France.
This is by no means even close to a complete list of patterned garments--they were far too popular in most eras for that (and show up even more in the record, since patterned fabrics were expensive and more likely to be preserved in portraits or attics). As always, if you aren't certain whether the idea you have for your entry is suitable, contact myself or one of the other moderators.
SmoothSewing, and I look forwards to seeing what y'all come up with!
©
John Frey, 2016. The Author of this work retains full copyright for this
material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
document for non-commercial private research or educational purposes provided
the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Lovely set of inspiration images!
ReplyDeleteThe Pierpoint Morgan MS image is, indeed, a man. It's an image of 'the three living and the three dead', a story about three noblemen who encounter three dead men whilst out hunting. The corpses admonish the noblemen, telling them to consider the transience of life and to repent.
The Swedish gloves, from the image, definitely have naalbound cuffs. Very interesting!
Not sure if we're supposed to post the links here, but I made a pair of pockets. I'm terribly late to the party but hopefully I'll get a few more challenges in before the year ends!
ReplyDeletehttp://mouseborgdesigns.blogspot.ca/2016/08/toile-pockets.html
Yup, you are. Glad to see you hopefully getting back into it!
Delete(p.s. Check your "Other" folder on Facebook)
I made a 1920s blouse: https://aboutmybuttonbox.wordpress.com/2016/09/01/herbstliche-blumen-autumnal-flowers/
ReplyDeleteIt's hard, when the challenge doesn't really match up with your style preferences. It should be possible to shorten/narrow the sleeves, if you feel you must.
DeleteYes, I probably will alter the sleeves again, but for now I'm just happy, the thing is done!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid I'm quite late, but I did finally finish the project I started in early August for this challenge - a block-print 1790s dress that ended up being entirely hand-sewn: http://aladyswardrobe.com/2016/10/hsm8-pattern-hand-sewn-day-dress/
ReplyDelete