Ten feet of lace

I’ve been feeling badly that I haven’t posted a finished picture of the Entari gown and the kaftan roba.

The reason is, I’m not done yet. Why, you ask, reasonably, has it taken me six months or more to make a simple square-construction outfit? Well, in fact the outfit was made right away, took only a few days – heck, only a few hours to construct. Even with all the buttons on the gown, it was pretty quick. But then I needed to make the roba pretty. I started couching gold thread, but it was just too delicate on the big brocade, and I decided I needed something with more body. A nice wide bobbin lace would be just the thing, I thought.

Except my skill with bobbin lace was adequate, at best. I’ve done a few narrow tapes for edging shirts, but nothing very complicated, and my few attempts to try more complex laces – did not go well. So first I had to practice (hell, learn) working with many bobbins. I started with a simple insert lace for a chemise, then a slightly wider lace for the neckline. That went not too badly. I did an edging for a partlet that went really well, looked just like the picture. Emboldened, I went on to make a crazy amount of tape for a cloak for my husband, which turned out very well indeed, I am proud to say:

So finally I felt confident enough to tackle the pattern I wanted. And I worked on it. And worked on it. And I’m still working on it. It is coming out pretty well, and more importantly at this point it is almost finished. I have almost ten feet as of this morning; I need ten and a half. Maybe just a titch more, so I can centre it properly. The end is nigh!

The patterns I’ve been using are from Le Pompe II, published in 1562(?) and generously available online here.

Here is my lace so far:

Soon, my pretties! Soon!

 

Partlet part II

Went with a dirt simple shape for this one, it hasn’t even got shoulder seams. Many do, but not all, and I didn’t want the seams interfering with the (very simple) embroidery:

It is based of this one, which is late 16th century but Spanish. Again, a very simple shape. As you can see I’ve altered the neckline slightly, as the Italian ones tend to have a V-shaped neckline, especially mid-century.

I’ve also left it completely open in front, I will add ties to fasten it, but that leaves me the option of opening it very wide. Paintings show them either way, if closed the lace goes all the way around the edge of the neckline and sticks up over the chemise lace.

The collar is tightly gathered, which gives it stiffness not requiring starch. You can smock it prettily on the inside and/or the outside, I figured decorative stitching would just distract, so I’ve got white linen smocking just to hold the pleats on the inner neck. I applied the lace before gathering, so it would be gathered too, but the lace going down the front of the collar and neck will be flat.

Today I’ve soaked off the stabilizer so the partlet is hanging to dry while I finish making the lace. The lace is bobbin lace from Le Pompe Opera Nova 1557 I picked it because it has a pattern that I thought matched the stars, it’s very pointy.

I’ve made seven feet of lace so far, it’ll probably take about ten to finish all the edges.