Kathelyne on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/kathelyne/art/Camicia-1480-93322986Kathelyne

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Camicia- 1480

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1480 is part of a transition period when it comes to the Camicia (also known as the smock or chemise in other parts of the world). The tunic styled camicia was becoming out of fashion and the more gathered/pleated style was comming into fashion. By the late 1480s you see the gathered style worn by very young, rich ans fashionable ladies. It was much more common in the 1490s and took off in the 15th century in Italy and elsewhere.

This style of camicia is still seen in period art, and for the not so young, rich and fashionable it would have been worn still.

While my character is not poor, she is not so very wealthy either and the shift style is more than suitable in this case.

This camicia is 100% handsewn using a method I LOVE. I have hemmed all the pieces individually and whipstitched them together. I usually use this on my bodices for strength, but I was talking to a lady online who saw some extant camicia's from the 16th century, I found out that they had this seam treatment and it had been origionally mistaken for a tiny tiny runningstitch, first and the edges hemmed after. My stitch sizes are roughly similar, if not a little smaller than the ones found on the 16th century camicia's.
So while I decided to use this method because it is very strong and wears well (because the edges are hemmed first, it protects them from fraying asap. also, it means I can't sew the garment intending to finish the edges later, and then never get round to it. This is what happened with my first handsewn item I made (a shift) and as a result the unfinished edges have frayed badly and the whole garment needs to be resewn.), there is also evidence they used this for undergarments in the 16th century, and the stitch was known and used in the 15th century, so it may have been used on 15th century Camicias. Unfortunatly there are no surviving garments from 15th century italy (except for a few religious items) so we will never know for sure, unless some are found.

Yes, I know knickers aren't period, but aren't you glad I was wearing them? Looking at how see through this is, I am!

The green stocking I am putting on is one I have sewn myself, and you can see elsewhere in my gallery. Most of the photos are taken with my gold stockings as I took my other green one appart to make a pattern... My gold ones are silk and purchased. My shoes were also purchased. Garters were made with wool yarn that was fingerlooped (seven loop flat braid).
The necklace you can see is a little pewter cross and the cord is red silk I fingerlooped (three loop square braid).
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© 2008 - 2024 Kathelyne
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CatOfManyWhiskers's avatar
Hi! :) I'm also in the SCA and recently started researching 16th and 15th century Italian garb. Right now my mom and I are working on a camicia and when I saw the title and picture of this, I nearly had a heart attack of glee. Someone on DA who did a camicia, WOOHOO! So I've got a question - how did you finish the sleeves? We want to make a full-sleeve camicia with a high, v-neck collar, but for the life of us we can't figure out if the ends of the sleeves are drawstring or just roll hemmed (I've seen some references to that in paintings from 16th century Italy), or what. So yeah, just wondering. Thanks for posting these - your work is fantastic and it's nice to see what the garb will look like when it's not in pattern form or simply sketched out, but on a real person. Thanks. :)
~Cat