1480s Florentine

So, a few weeks ago, I was scrolling around on Pinterest and saw this painting (Portrait of a Lady by Domenico Ghirlandaio, painted in the late 1480s), and my first thought was, "I have some linen in that exact color!!!"

I have also lost some weight recently, and most of my (self supporting) garb doesn't fit correctly anymore, so I needed some new things. And of course, it's way more fun to make new dresses than to alter old ones. So, here's my 1480s Ghirlandaio dress.

And here's a detail of the sleeves. The top of my head got cut off in this picture, but it's so cute I decided to use it anyway.

I made a sheer silk partlet to go with this gown, which is pinned in place with straight pins. And my hair is covered with a simple white linen snood. I found the necklace inexpensively at a consignment shop - I still need to get a pendant for it.

I'm very pleased with this dress. The linen is fairly thin, which keeps everything nice and cool in the hot Caidian summer. The only thing I would have done differently on this gown is change the cut of the front opening. I created this pattern for another gown which closes completely in the front (which I have yet to post about), and altered the pattern for this dress by cutting a couple of inches from the front opening to create the gap. Everything looked fine when I initially tried it on and stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes. However, as I wore it longer and moved around, everything shifted. Because the front opening is curved, the gap doesn't stay even - the top and bottom of the opening are too narrow and the middle is too wide. In the pictures, I just have it laced with some satin ribbon from my stash. I'm going to make a matching lucet cord for it and experiment with the lacing technique to see if I can fix it.

I'm planning to do a post later this week showing how I did my hair.