I planned on attending a Midwinter feast in December, the theme of which was in the 13th Century and Spanish. The actual theme was Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, 1212. In searching for a dress I wanted to create, I was loose with the date, as I fell in love with Leonor de Castilla's underdress and over dress, which are dated 1244.
Here underdress, the saya encordada, was very fitted, laced up one side and made of beautiful brocade.
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| Saya encordada of Leonor of Castilla |
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A lovely link from Jessamyn's Closet shows the
lacing detail from the Saya Encordada demonstrating that the side lacing cord is run through a tape stitched to the inside of the opening.
Her pellote was also of a beautiful brocade and is sideless. The brocade on this gown is amazing.
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| Pellote of Leonor of Castilla |
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| Brocade detail |
Unfortunately, I had no luck finding anything similar that I could get in time for the event (or in my price range). So I had to come up a plan B.
A friend of mine told me about
Libro de los Juegos, ("Book of games"), commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile and dated 1283. The pages of the
Book of Games are available online and browsing through them I saw a number of women in the same style of dress. One of them really caught my eye.
The lady appears to be wearing a white underdress with red and blue embroidery on the sleeves and probably on the bodice. Over this, she is wearing a red saya encordada and a blue sideless gown. She appears to have a pink cloak on as well. These more simple solid color fabrics were possible in the 2 weeks I had to sew an outfit!
