Elizabethan Dress - A Guide to European to Styles

Women's clothing begins with their underwear, which is a chemise or smock. The chemise is nightgown-like undergarment, usually of white linen. It may show slightly above the bodice or through the sleeves, but it is underclothing and therefore normally hidden.. It is typically worn with a partlet -- a garment gathered to a neckband that filled in the part of a woman’s chest above the bodice. The comon style of chemise is with a drawstring neck and wrists. Italian women used a smocked style of chemise, where the gament is gathered to a solid band, but the average woman's chemise was very ancient in design, being made tunic-like of square, ungathered pieces.Working women are often  depicted without oversleeves or jacket, with their chemise sleeves rolled up. For upper class women, this chemise may be of very fine linen, and beautifully worked with embroidery that no one but the lady, her maids, and her bedfellows ever saw.
What happens after the chemise is a question of social class. For lower class women, the next garment may be a kirtle, a one-piece, sleeveless dress, and over this a gown or overdress, which has a bodice attached to a skirt. The gown opens up the front and is laced together. Sleeves may then be attached by pins (even the poorest women would be expected to have a little "pin money" for those so-necessary pins to keep her clothes together.). Although this is a style of the 1560s and 1570s, lower class people's clothing changed much more slowly than upper class fashion

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.Over her chemise an upper class woman would probably be wearing a "pair of bodies" (corset) and a variable number of petticoats.  The corset is  boned in order to give the proper flat-chested, long-waisted look without wrinkles. The boning was done with caning or rushes (modern substitutes are of plastic or metal). Over the corset and petticoats and upper class woman would wear a gown. This is one piece, with skirts sewn to the bodice, as for the peasant overdress, but it does not usually  lace up the front. Instead, it is more likely to fasten almost invisibly up the back side. The bodice has "princess seams" shaping its back, and the opening is often along one of these seams. It may be open down the front of the skirt to show petticoats or a special "forepart" underneath.
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The skirts of gowns are very full, with multiple petticoats underneath and often padded out at the hips with a bum roll. The gown may also be hiked up and tucked in the waist to show the petticoats. Working women wore their skirts above their ankles, and often as high as mid-calf. They couldn't afford to be tripping on them around the hearth!

Queen Elizabeth

The 1590s saw the arrival of the drum farthingale for upper class women, which looks like a platter around the woman’s hips, with the skirt falling straight to the floor from the edge of it. Often a flounce was pinned around the edge of the "platter" (this flounce seems more English than French). How this was constructed is debatable, but it may have been an overgrown bumroll. The more traditional cone-like farthingale was still worn in Spanish-influenced territories (including the Imperial states) but it was out of fashion in France. For an extreme version of a truly royal gown wth a drum farthingale, see the portrait of Queen Elizabeth..  This woman is clearly wearing a bumroll, not an elaborate contraption.

Catherine of Austria

Women from the middle to upper classes also sometimes wore loose overgowns, rather like a long robe, with no waist or belt, over a kirtle. This would have been a rather comfortable and warm style in the winter (men
also wore the same type of overgown, usually at home or as a magisterial robe). This portrait of Catherine of Austria is an excellent example.
Women wore ruffs like men, both with and without partlets (it was a maiden’s privilege not to cover this area, and Elizabeth of England made a point of it). They did not wear the falling collar as much as men at this time, but upper-class did wear a dramatic, stiff, fan-like collar wired to the side and back edges of the bodice, sometimes with veils flowing out behind. This picture of Marguerite of Valois from the 1580s demonstrates the style.

Marguerite of Valois

Women wore caps of various kinds. The "Mary Stuart" style, with a heart-shaped outline around the face, is still worn. Wearing the hair brushed up over pads to make a kind of beehive is a trendy aristocratic style -- a more modest version of the same is also worn. Close curls are still worn also, with the long hair gathered into a bun in the back that was usually covered with a small cap or net of some kind. Women also wear men’s style hats over their caps -- a scandalous fashion development according to some. A woman rarely has her hair completely uncovered, and an older or widowed woman would be likely to be even more covered. A working woman would probably have a kerchief or headcloth. A common style is to braid the hair and wrap it circularly around the back, then cover the braids with a small cap or cloth that might be woven into the braids.
A woman wore knee-high stockings under her skirts, held up with simple garters. She might also wear knee-length drawers for comfort and warmth (these are crotchless, for convenience). The custom of wearing drawers seems to originate from Italy and was not necessarily widespread elsewhere.
A gentlewoman traveling out of doors commonly wore a mask -- a full-face number, often made of black velvet, to protect her delicate complexion from the elements. She would also wear a traveling cloak.
A working woman wore an apron. This might be nothing more than a piece of cloth tucked into the waistband of her skirt -- maybe with the upper piece of it pinned to her bodice. Like her brothers, a working woman’s wardrobe was not much subject to change.

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Louis XV Style Movement.

Bernard van Risenburgh

Masterpieces were created under Louis XV. It was a period of extraordinary creativity. Curved lines and asymmetry became the rule. New pieces of furniture were produced to perfection. Foreign masters came to Paris to work at the Court such as Bernard van Risenburgh or B.V.R.B., Vandercruse known as Lacroix whose stamp was P.V.L.C.



Vandercruse Lacroix



During this time the fashion for Chinese lacquer had begun to have great influence on European styles. There wer many type of popular decoration. Typical examples of these would be that of flora and fauna combined with chinoiseries and feminine faces, flowers and moulding work. The wood was often painted or in gold leaf. Considerable bronze ornamentation was an essential part of some items. Flower marquetry was very fine during this age.



Some chairmakers of note include; Nicolas Heurtaut and Tilliar, Famous stamps abounded: Godreaux, Oeben, Criaerd, Dubois, Foliot, Lieutaud, N.Petit, Migeon, Joubert and Roussel.



Veneers in Paris was led by the like of Vernis Martin. The vital official stamp "JME" appeared on furniture in 1743 followed by the crowned "C" in 1745 on the gilded bronzes.

Caffieri was the great bronze craftsman to the period.



The provinces kept up with the movement: Nogaret in Lyons, Hache in Grenoble.

Furniture : in addition to cupboards, bookcases, often decorated "sans traverses", new items appeared : chiffoniers, writing desks with flaps, card tables, roll-top desks, ladies' furniture : dressing tables, chairs with short armrests, desks, escritoires. Wooden paneling could be seen.

Materials: most precious woods imported, gilt wood, bronzes.

For an opportunity to own your own peice of Louis XV furniture visit www.justpipit.co.uk

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Identifying Antique Furniture

• You can often date a piece by studying nails and screws.



Nails



1.  Furniture predating 1790 will include "rose-head nails," that were hand-forged by blacksmiths. These nails can be identified by their irregular, rose-shaped heads.
2. "Square-head nails," employed from 1790 to 1830, were machine cut and finished off by a blacksmith who squared the heads. 
3. From 1830 to 1890 cabinetmakers used headless "machine-cut nails, that are tapered and rectilinear in shape. 
4. Modern "brad" and "penny" nails were introduced around 1890. 
5. Screws were occasionally used in furniture pre-dating the beginning of the machine era (Circa 1830).  Blacksmith forged examples can be identified by inspecting for thin and slightly off-centered slots and off-round heads.
    

• The "circular saw" invented in the 18th century, did not come into wide usage until after 1830.  Thus, boards displaying "circular saw marks" will not be found on furniture pre-dating the "Empire Period" (1830-1850). Unfinished pre-1830 boards cut from vertical motion "ripsaws" will often display small, somewhat parallel, saw lines.
   
• Before the introduction of power driven woodworking machinery in the mid 19th century, lumber was worked by hand. After hand-sawing, cabinet makers dressed their boards with a jack plane and draw knives. On authentic furnishings pre-dating the "Victorian Period," (1850-1910) unfinished non-visible "secondary" surfaces like backboards and drawer bottoms will show evidence of "hand-planing" by feeling for subtle undulating rows in the wood.
   
• Small wooden pins known as dowels can be helpful in authenticating age.  Machine era pins will be perfectly circular and flush to the surface.  Antique dowels are non-round and will protrude slightly from the surface because of shrinkage in the wood they are securing. 

Dowels

 

• Wood shrinks in a direction opposite the grain.  The degree is determined by softness of the lumber, age, and environment.  Therefore, authentic antique furniture can be discerned by inspecting for evidence of: gapping between boards, shrinkage cracking, buckling veneer, protruding pegs and breadboard ends, and legs extending slightly beyond the frame or "skirt." Early circular tabletops will measure somewhat oval, 1/8" to 1/2" longer in the direction of the grain.
   
• Outline and thickness on early hand-wrought iron and brass hinges will be non-uniform.
   
• The top rail on early 19th century chairs will be joined with non-round tenons that can be viewed by slightly pulling the yoke from the stile. Circular dowels are evidence of  "non-period" chairs.
   
• Visible surface planks (primary wood) on genuine antique furniture will be wide, varying in thickness, and relatively free of blemishes.  Knotty pine was not employed by olden day cabinetmakers.
   
• Although it has been stripped and refinished back to the original wood, much old-time non-mahogany furniture was originally painted.  Analysis of wood pores and fissures with a jeweler's loop will often show several layers of paint residue. This "paint history" can help authentic a piece and determine whether individual components-the feet, the top, etc.-are original or undesirable replacements.

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Busy Little Silk Worms - Silk Quality and Facts

Finnished Silk

High quality silk can be distinguished from lower quality silk textiles by its superior smoothness, lustre and thickness. This is easy when you have a comparison of the two and is really the best way to really learn the difference in quality. However, there are some general pointers and key things to look out for to help you determine the quality of the silk.

• Ensure the chosen silk is 100% mulberry silk (this may also be referred to as cultivated silk or bombyx silk). Longthread mulberry silk is incredibly durable.
• Look for a momme count of no less than 10 (this is pronounced “mummy” and indicated by the symbol “mm”). Momme is the standard weight measurement for silk fabric and indicates the heft of the fabric.

Artificial silk should be avoided. Synthetic textiles are produced in such a way that they provide an inferior lustre and shine in in comparison to genuine, natural silk. These fabrics cannot begin to imitate the durability and the superior thermal properties of high quality mulberry silk.

Raw silk

Three amazing facts about Silk:

Silk is the most durable natural fiber known to man.

If one took the same amount of steel and silk they would hold the same weight and stress.

The silkworm can spin filaments of silk which are up to nine hundred meters long!

The annual world production represents 70 billion miles of silk filament, a distance equal to well over 300 round trips to the sun.

The silkworm species Bombyx mori no longer occurs in the wild.

After 5000 years of domestication for silk production, this species is now entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and can no longer survive in the wild. Its nearest wild relative is Bombyx mandarina with which it is able to hybridize.

The silk worm

http://www.justpipit.co.uk/

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