sleeves

[ursula]

I'm trying to make sleeves like the ones worn by the woman in the lower left-hand corner or the girl with an apron in the back of this painting:

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/ghirland/domenico/6tornab/62tornab/3birth.html

How do people think they would have been fastened on the upper arm & wrist? Buttons? Lace? Pins? A couple of stitches?

Comments

[gwacie.livejournal.com]

I suspect that the sleeves are sewn to the body at the back of the shoulder (at least that's what I got from the artwork at the time) leaving an opening at the front, as for at the elbow and wrist; well... it could be sewn, or closed with a hook-and-eye or lacing. I'm leaning toward sewn at the elbow and hook-and-eye at the wrist, but that's just me guessing. (a hook-and-eye hides well, was available and means that the sleeve can be opened at the wrist for sliding over the hand.)

Just my theories, feel free to ignore 'em ;)

[reasie.livejournal.com]

I must concur with my sister - and not just because she beats me up when I don't. Gracie, do you have links to any of those fabulous pictures you had that show the shoulder more closely? I do think they sewed it on a bit. There are other pictures that show lacings, but not as common.
As usual, I strongly suspect there were many different solutions employed at the time.

I do wonder why buttons are unfashionable in Italy at this point, as they had been fashionable the century before, and men, at least, sometimes have buttons at their collars... perhaps it is yet another way they were trying to be 'classical'.

[ursula]

Did you look at the picture I linked to hanksan? The same piece of documentation links to this:

http://www.wga.hu/art/c/cossa/griffo_6.jpg

which has really obvious lacing at the wrist, but that's a very different effect.