THE ASSIGNMENT
My daughter, who is in her second year of college, is taking an incredibly wonderful honors class in the humanities with three different professors, whom we’ve come to know in the last year.
Because the course covers history, art, and literature of the Renaissance, it is team taught by those professors.
On the first day they were assigned presentations with room for creativity, which includes costumes.
RENAISSANCE COSTUME
Did someone say costumes? Cur non?
Since my daughter totally has the spirit of Lafayette, she asked me if I had time to sew a costume.
Well…not one from scratch, but how about wearing my 1495 Venetian gown?
She loved that idea!
VENETIAN GOWN UPGRADES NEEDED
Quickly sewn as a stage costume, my gown had several issues.
Since my family has no idea how to pin me when I ask them to drape me, I don’t do much better trying to reach difficult places to show them what I want or do it myself.
Nor can I see all the angles.
Spending hours on fitting me, we get frustrated, so anymore I simply do my best on myself, then have my family pin and tape me securely before our presentations.
Since the gown didn’t fit well in front, the shoulder straps kept inching off my shoulders.
EXCEPT I PURGED THE COSTUME CLOSET
Over the summer I made room in the closets for my newest history presentation costumes by purging the poorly made costumes.
Since I’m learning so much, my goal is to ultimate sew more historically accurate versions that actually fit and remain secure!
Thus I dismantled the lesser of the costumes, since they were sewn in a rush.
And for the record, my best work is with the 18th century clothing, which happily remains in our historic wardrobe!
With the Renaissance gown, I removed all the trim from the gown and chemise, or Venetian camicia, and tucked it away for another project.
Because the camicia is made of linen, I set that aside to reconstruct into an 18th century shift, which would be far more usable and needed with our frequent trips to Colonial Williamsburg.
The gown I laid in the sewing basket future muslin/toiles when sewing new garments.
FITTING THE RESCUED GOWN
Rescuing the gown, I fitted it upon my daughter, then I covered all my alteration stitches by reapplying the gold and black trims.
I also added a gold silk dupioni scrap which I found in my fabric stash to help make the front a bit more historic and less revealing.
Cutting several inches off the length, which had never been hemmed, I hemmed it this time.
RESEARCH OF SECURING VENETIAN BODICE
Deeply researching proper methods of securing these Renaissance gowns, I found nothing.
Since the show must go on, I quickly employed historic techniques I was familiar with in the early 19th century, since that form of gown was similar to the Venetian gown.
I created ties with gross grain ribbon to secure the bodice from the inside…
…and the outside.
THOMAS JEFFERSON ARCHITECTURE INSPIRED BY THE RENAISSANCE
While considering an artist from the Italian Renaissance, my daughter decided to make it relevant to her Virginia classmates.
Since we live in Northern Virginia, we often see the definitive architectural style of Thomas Jefferson, and she’s familiar with my favorite book on the topic, that I purchased at Monticello a couple of years ago after seeing an exhibit.
Inspired by the 16th century Venetian artist Andrea Palladio, Jefferson replicated the style in Monticello, the Academical Village of the University of Virginia, the Virginia state capitol, Poplar Forest, and many other locations we have visited.
Since I talk about this topic all the time, her familiarity allowed her to easily research with my book to create her presentation.
TIME FOR THE SHOW
Then I prayed there would be no costume explosions while my daughter was lugging modern textbooks across a modern campus, without her brother or I there to help.
If there is anything my daughter and I have learned about the historic gowns we wear, is that when they are sewn in the historically accurate way, they require ladies in wating…which we can’t seem to find.
They simply weren’t designed for the modern lifestyle, so to do both, accommodations must be made. 😉
How well would our accommodations hold?
BILL BARKER COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG INSPIRATION
Taking a cue from the Colonial Williamsburg historical interpreter who famously portrays Thomas Jefferson, my daughter replicated what she’s seen him do at the Tucker House for donors.
After her 16th century presentation, she walked out of class quite dramatically to respond to something calling her out of doors, then dramatically but cheerfully returned as herself to answer questions the class might have!
Everyone loved it!
Her art professor exclaimed that she had never seen a student do a first-person historic interpretation.
MY DAUGHTER’S RENAISSANCE NECKLACE
When I picked her up from college, I noticed the necklace she quickly made from scraps from her other historic costumes.
Above you can see some shifting in her outfit, probably from hoisting a backpack to wear while walking across campus.
When I dropped her off for class that morning, that was quite a sight!
Nevertheless, her gown was still tightly secure and the presentation was a hit!
She had a blast with this experience!
CLASSICAL EDUCATION PERMEATES
Classically homeschooling to Become History has definitely permeated her! <3
Her classmates are jealous she had such a neat school experience with real books that are more interesting than the boring modern stuff they are always assigned in public school and college.
Dismayed by all the modern in college, my daughter creatively seeks ways to infuse class with classical elements, causing her classmates to clamor to be in her group.
