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The Merchant of Florence

Most of you will know me as a peacock. Most of the time I deck my self out in feathers and bright silks and rich brocades. I am a fop, a dandy, and a flirtatious gentleman of Florence in the late 1500's. It is what my persona is in his youth, carefree and fleet of foot....But, like every child of Florence I too must grow up, and, so embracing my role in Florentine society as a tailor and merchant, I should dress appropriate to my station. So, therefore....

Yes, I know this is a picture of Niccolo Machiavelli. Yes, I know that Niccolo is well known for his politics (though in truth he is best known for his failures instead of his successes), but what most people don't know is that he came from the upper middle class. His father, Bernardo, owned  a home in Florence, as well as a farm outside of Florence (in the village of Sant' Andrea in Percussina) that had vineyards, an apple orchard and olive trees, as well as live stock. Bernardo also owned a tavern and butcher shop.

Still, Bernardo once described himself on a tax document as being "without gainful employment". It is with that same sense of  melodrama that Niccolo once wrote "I was born into poverty, and at an early age learned how to scrimp rather than to thrive"1

This portrait of Machiavelli is one of the best examples of upper middle class dress in Florence. This painting was was created in 1520 by Santi di Tuti.

By looking at the painting above it is obvious to see several layers of clothing. Firstly, what appears to be a simple Camicia, without adornment at the cuff or collar, under a Farsetto with knee length skirting. From the painting, it is difficult to ascertain what material it was made from, but I'm willing to bet that it was made from red velvet or wool, as opposed to silk. The sleeves are padded. Over the Farsetto is a garment called the Giornea made of- I would guess, plain black velvet. There does not appear to be a Cintola restraining the Gironea nor holding the pleats of the Farsetto skirting.

And therefore, my project is this: A simple low collar Camicia of linen (or reasonable facsimile there of), a red wool Farsetto and matching Calze with humble Braghetta, and a plain black velvet Giornea. I'll need a hat of some sort, but that is another project for another day.

The Farsetto, Calze, Braghetta are all well documeted, but the garment Giornea has eluded easy research- at least in the form that Machiavelli wore it. Normally they aren't very long- maybe knee length or even thigh length. In at least one depiction, the garment seems to be ankle length and has loose, unfitted sleeves- much like a graduation gown.

But, for the most part, this garment is knee length belted in the front, holding the pleats, while the back was left to hang loose. Also the neck line appears to be wider allowing the head to pass through, while the one Machiavelli wore appeared to be split in the middle, and the collar is fitted.

These examples from "The Triumph of Venus" by Francesco del Cossa (a painting I do not have in total, sadly) illustrate the more popular forms of the Giornea. you can clearly see the white on on the youth in the first with a green doublet and the countercharged hose. The amorous young man attached at the chest with a young woman in orange next to the first has his green Giornea belted all the way around. Both these, as can be seen, are thigh length...

Machiavelli's Giornea isn't thigh length and it isn't pleated. Instead, it has a flat front in the portrait- though in this bust located in the Palazzo Vecchio it clearly shows that it actually has multiple folds in the front:

It also clearly shows that it opens in the front as well as open at the sides (combining the this bust and the portrait gives us a pretty clear picture of what his garment may look like) and that it closes only at the neck with a simple black tie.

In this painting, attributed to Rosso Fiorentino, as well is shows the that same garment, not pleated or folded in the front, and laying open. Now, it is entirely possible that this is a reproduction or inspired by the portrait above, given the time frame this artist was active (he died in the 1540's) it is possible that it is an accurate- at least in the details of clothing of the time period.

Of course, since this painting is only attributed to Il Rosso, that it could be a forgery as well....

Now, this portrait of Machiavelli is almost assuredly a reproduction. It is by Cristofano dell' Altissimo, who was born in 1525 and died in 1605. it shows the garment, tied at the neck with a black tie and it shows folds in the front for the garment- though not to the extent that the bust shows.

I have no idea when this painting was actually done. But I will tell you that Machiavelli died June 22nd, 1527. So, unless Cristofano was a savant, and painted this portrait prior to the age of 2, it has to be a reproduction or a reinterpretation.

So, the only portraits of this piece of clothing on Machiavelli that shows pleats or folds in the garment are suspected of being a reinterpretation, then I have to believe that Machiavelli's Giornea is tabard like, flat in front and back and would explain why it was unbelted- there was no need to hold the folds that did not exist.

With that being said, I'm going to give it a week until I actually pattern it out to see what makes it self present :-)

 5/3/09

Well, I have taken the last couple of months to fight with the pattern- mostly wrestling with the hose. But, much to my uberjoyness, I have found some semblance of success! Yeah me!

The calze is almost good, practicaly almost perfect (something I am incredibly excited over!). The camicia is functional. I started it for an earlier project, but it will be very usefull for what I'm doing here as well- same time period. And then, the issue of my Farsetto...

Do I look like I'm in pain? Nope- not hurt- just tired. I've spent way to much time standing over the last few months and it's taking it's toll on my body. Thats why I'm all at funky angles in the pictures. Anyways.....

So,the sewing by machine  to sewing by hand ratio is better than on other projects I've done. The gross construction on the body and the sleeves ar done by machine, but the sleves were attached by hand, and the binding around the edges of the farsetto are all hand sewn. The cuffs are by hand as well, and the lacing will all be hand done.

 5/15/09

Ah, but it's worse now! Thanks to my dear friend Domenico Ghirlandaio and his fresco "Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple":

I have seen that quiet possibly that the images above of Niccolo may be lacking in some detail. Notice the gentleman in the lower left hand corner. Here, let me help:

How pretty the Florentines boys are! It's no wonder the German word for ...er..sodomite.. is "Florenzer"2  

But take a good look in this painting dated 1486-1490. Here are these Florentine men- one way to pretty for his own good...Ever see the DaVinci Code? Yup- it's probably a Mary Magdelen sighting. Look at those eyes. There is no boy in that farseeto and giornea!

Seriously, she's hot!

Ok, back to the journal...

There is our Giornea in contrasting colors, open at the sides (and if you look close, at the front as well, though I don't know how they keep it closed, but if the pictures of Niccollo above, there is a tie at the neck), seemd at the shoulders with an ittybitty collar. Beyond that, all I can do is speculate about who and what they are.

So the cut is obviously rounded at the bottom and left to fall so the drape froms the pleats. It also appears to hit below the knee at about mid calf. These boys and girls wear no swords, but there does appear to be what looks like a puch on the old, ugly man next to Mary. So that tells me there was a belt of somesort worn underneath. It was something I assumed, but now it seems plausible with "Assumptive Pictorial Extant Evidence"

And look at those cute little caps their wearing so officiously! I'm going to have to look them up and see what I can find about them. They seem easy enough to make...four triangles?

Anyways... So thats my answer, at least in part....

6/6/09

So, Briana and I chatted about my doublet at Potrero. Ok, it's cut to close. It's also cut too long. I suspected the too long and I knew about the too close. What I wasn'tt sure of was how to fix it with out recutting it fully. I didn't want to do that. So, here's wht I'm going to do. Since my seam allowance is 5/8", I'm going ot backstich the machine seams to 1/4" and rip the 5/8's open. Hopefully, it won't leave a lot of holes!

First thing is first though. I have to remove the skirting. I really don't want to have to pleat the bloody thing if I can avoid it, so- becuase it's double stitched (that is, each pleat was stitched to the garment at the top and base for extra security), I slit the handsewing at the top, leaving the stitching at the bottom, and backstiching the pleates into place.

6/7/09

Yesterday, I did some deconstruction of the farsetto- removing the skirting and the binding along the edges. I then took up my shears and took 3 inches of the bottom of the farsetto (the difference between my hip and waist meassurment, at least as of the last time I took these numbers...). Thankfully it was a straight cut- a cut not in fashion in the late 16th century, but certianly the cut d'jour of the late 15th/early 16th centuries. This is something I am very appreciative of as I would not have want to recut the point of my other doublets. 

As far as opening up the seams to let it out, after cutting the three inches off the farsetto I only needed to open the side seams. It still garnished me and extra 1/2 to 3/4 inch. I back stiched the seams by hand.

Today recomenses the handsewing. The skirt gets re attched today, and, if I have time, I'll re attach the bindings. With any luck, I may even be able to snap a couple of pictures to post.

9/19/09

I'm back on this project, thank Gods! I've spent all my time yesterday and all day today so far working on Alana's Hilak and kaftan.

So, Ok- I have one hour to draft the Giornea and possibily cut it. I talked with Brianna about this particular project before and she suggested that I gore the hell out of it. That way I could better control where the folds are. It's not often that I go against her advice, but for this project I think I will. Instead of gores, I'm going to cut it in 4 quarter circle peices. Why? A couple of reasons...

1) I don't have a tremendous amount of Balck velvet for the eventual fuck ups. By going with the pattern that I will use the most fabric, and if it doesn't work then I can cut it down abit and gore it using the pieces I've already cut. The circular pieces should fall in appropriate folds, but if they don't...snip, snip....sew, sew...and there you go!

2) Time. Yup- the single worst reason for going against your instructor's advice. Truth is though, I have limited amount of time to get this done (since I have very little to wear at GWW. I know, I know...most of you don't care and some would even prefer me in variou states of undress. blah blah blah). So, the circular pieces are easy. Gores are time consuming to do right.

I know I drafted a partern somewhere. I've just got to find it. If not, back to the drawing board (ha ha ha)...

Well, shit. That made that decision easy... I only have 4 yards of black cotton velvet at 59" wide. Not enough for the circle version....ok, so, gored to hell it is. Thats going to take a hell of a lot more planning than just the 45 minutes of patterning I just did. Sigh... 

Starting with rectangles for the body panel then split andf gore, split and gore... If it works, I'll post the pattern.

Now I realize what the real purpose of interlining was. It's your pattern mock up in the pattern perfection process... No waste of fabric at least. Feh.

Well, thats it for tody- I'll pick it back up tomorrow morning. Got the Giornea patterned and the shell cut. Construction tomorrow as well as lining. What do to for the lining, what to do...MUUUUWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

9/20/09

Good Morning! I'm feeling good today! And yet, strangly, I'm hungry- off ot breaky and then back to the Dungeon!

Mmmmmm protien powder.....

Anyways- time to add the gores!

And I did. And it look groovey! And I have nothing to line it. Damn. Ok moving onto something else for right now... Time to revisit the Henry!

9/24/09

One of the advantages of  owning your own business is that you are in complete control of your schedule. Tomorrow, being my birthday, I realized that I was probably not going to get much done. So I arranged my schedule to be pretty heavy at the begining of th week aso I could take today and tommorrow off. 

I'm so smart!

Anyways. I'm sewing all day today, so I don't get behind. War is, after all, in 8 days. Not for the general populace, but becuase my wife is running GWW- with Mistress Eilidh- our time table for war actually starts next Friday when we have to take control of the park and begin the process of getting the thing built so that all of those ownderfull people who are going to grace us with their presence won;t be dissappointed.

Now, there is no pleasing everyone and I know of a couple idiots who want to see the war fail just to prove a point, but fuck them and their pessisimism. Blah blah blah to their biased advice and Feh! to their stupid political games. You don't like it, don't come. 

Yah, so anyways.  Back to the topic at hand.

Got the material I'll need to line the Giornea, so I'll be getting that to a point of hanging today, and then a tremendous amount of repair work and some tailoring to make things fit. This has been totally low stress compared to other years at this time! For this, I am very gratefull!

Normally at this time- right before war- I am completely stressed out over garb and rarely get anything finsihed, but this time I seemed to have avoided that hurdle and I am so freakin' thrilled about it I can't even explain!

Seriously- I'm actually excited about the amount of progress made!

So, now back to work!

Ah lunch time.... Well, so far in the last three and a half hours I've gotten all the garb together, sorted it into what needs to be repaired and what needs to be modified, and what can just be packed, and I got the lining cut and pinned. I'll sew it after lunch, then work on the facings....That's actually going ot be a bit of work because I don't thing I have enough black velvet to face the Giornea. I may have to use either red velvet or red or black wool. Not sure yet. I'll pull it out after lunch and see what looks best.

This is why doing the lining first is always the bestest idea in the world. Is ewed the shell and the lining slightly differently. Specifically in setting the gores into the garment I sewed from the top of the gore down to the hem on the shell and from the hem to the top of the gore on the lining. Now I'm handsewing the linging and finding that the tops of the gores don't match the slit! that makes it real hard to even handsew without it looking all crappy.... Good thing it's the lining!

Well, it's the end of the day in the Dungeon. I managed to complete the lining and sew on the facings to the Giornea, It's heavy. It's hot here. I'm tired. But before I go and hang that bad boy I have to say I'm really proud of myself for once. This entire project represented some major firsts for me:

1) First time I've done almsot 50% handsewing on any project.

2) First time I've worked in wool.

3) First time I've patterned something- not seeing it in recognizable form in the SCA or elsewhere- entirely from portaiture. 

So...wannaq sneak peak? Here your go:

11/8/09

So here it is before coronation, completed:

Things I have learned from this project:

 1) It's almost impossible to take your own measurments for hose. No seriously, you lose a month trying to get all the little things correct. It's so not worth your time. Get some one you trust to do a toille and just get it done correctly, eh?

2) Simple patterning is always the best!

3) If your going to cut multiple layers of fabric all at once- Iron it flat first, then fold it and iron it again, and then fold it again if necessary and iron it into place. Minor length discrepensencies can happen when fabric isn't ironed  and folded accurately!

4) Circles don't fit into angles real well. Eventually one must become the other in order to work....

5) Before you work in a new fabric, learn how to take care of it. In this case, I still need to learn how to iron cotton velevet. It's a dream to work with, but a nightmare to care for if you haven't a clue on how to do it.

6) I like wool.

7) Always take your time with a garment. Especially when you have to modify it. It's really easy to get impatient with a piece when you have to make changes...

Documentation

1- "Machiavelli, Philosopher of Power" Ross King (and his research)

2- See above. In truth, I know I found it in there, but I can't find the page. On these websites it has corrosponding information: