More original artwork of aprons

The Fountain of Youth (detail) by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Pyramus and Thisbe by Hans Baldung Grien, 1530.

But the image am so excited about finding is the one below clearly showing smocking at the top of the apron of the women cooking!

Camp scene of Charles V- Zeltlager Kaiser Karls V. vor Lauingen, 1546.

The Apron - Smocking Finished

I finished up the final rows of smocking stitch tonight while watching a movie with the family.  I just love how it came out! 

Smocking done, gathering stitches still in place.

Gathering stitches removed, loosely layed out.

Stretched out to finished width by help of my son.

The Apron - Day 2

Today's goal was to get my apron pleated up and I managed to get it done too!

There are a couple of ways to create pleats in your fabric.  If the seamstress was very accomplished she could simply eyeball the distance between basting stitches... I am not that accomplished.  I need a tool to help me get perfectly even basting stitches.  The two most common options available are iron-on dots that can be found for purchase on-line or using a sheet of plastic canvas (used for 3-D needlepoint projects) to measure out the dots.  Since I happened to have a large sheet of plastic canvas in my stash of craft stuff, that is the option I used.

I aligned the long edge of the plastic canvas sheet with the basting row I put in yesterday (for my straight cutting line).  Using a #2 pencil, I made a dot in every third square across and down for a total of seven rows.  I plan to only smock 6 rows but it helps to have nice straight pleats to work on when smocking so having an extra row is helpful.  When I filled all the squares in the plastic canvas I lifted it and repositioned it further down the length of my apron.  It took four placements to cover the 60 inches of the fabric to be pleated.  Here is what a 9 inch section looks like fully marked...

I used a black quilting thread to make my basting stitches as it is a strong thread that resists breaking when gathered into the pleats and the high contrast in color helps with placing the smocking stitches later on.  Here is that same nine inches after basting...

And finally, here is what the whole 60 inches of fabric looks like after drawing up the basting stitches...

Next step is the make the smocking stitches.

The Apron - Day 1

I pulled out my white 5 oz weight linen tonight so I could start the cutting for my new apron. Since I will be smocking the top edge of the apron I needed it to be 50-66% wider then I intend the finished piece to be. As I want the finished top to be about 20 inches wide, I chose a starting width of 60 inches. The pleating will gather the beginning width into the much smaller finished width. For the waist to floor length I opted to use a known period loom width of about 32 inches.

To insure that I was cutting straight with the grain, I hand basted a black waste thread along one of the weft threads. I then cut the length I needed a half inch from the basting line.

That is all I got done for tonight... Tomorrow the basting stitches for the smocking.

A Pleated & Smocked Apron - The Plan

So, now that the holidays are over I am going to start working on my new garb.  The first project will be something small and hopefully quickly finished... an apron.

Aprons were very popular as they helped keep ones hard to clean clothes from getting soiled.  I personally like the look of smocked aprons and that is what I plan on making.  Below you can see a few of the paintings of which I am drawing my inspiration from.

The first three show the use of pleated aprons. In the Seated Woman by Durer you can see how the pleats have been drawn up tight at the top of the apron and then are allowed to hang down and become full.  I don't see any top stitching on the pleats in this image so the basting threads may have been left in to hold the pleats in place.

Seated Woman, Albrecht Durer, 1514

Presumed Portrait of the Artist's Wife, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1517.

Portrait of a Woman, Albrecht Altdorfer,  1522.

(Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid)

In Albrecht Durer's Melencolia I, you can clearly see a pattern at the top of the apron that could easily be honeycombed smocking.

Melencolia I , Albrecht Durer, 1514.

And again, below you can see what apears to be honeycomb at the top of the apron and maybe a simple line of embriodery or cutwork at the bottom too.

The Seamstress, Edward Schoen, 1535.

If I have time I would like to add some embroidery to the bottom of the apron as well.  Maybe some blackwork similar to what appears in this painting:

Unknown.

Well before my persona's life time there are many examples of pleated and/or smocked aprons.  Most notably, images found in the Luttrell Psalter from the 14th century.  Black embroidery of some kind is clearly seen at the tops of these gathered aprons.

And finally, about 60-70 years after my target time period, you can find many images of pleated, smocked and otherwise embroidered aprons in the Frauen-Trachten by Jost Amman published in 1586. The ones of greatest interest to me are among the images of the women of Frankfurt am Main, Germany the home of my persona, Elsbeth.