Mathew Gnagy

Farthingale of Silk. This pattern takes 5.5 yards of 22″ wide fabric

Silk Farthingale

Made by Mathew Gnagy

When viewed from the side, you can see that the front lays rather flat and the manipulation of grain lines and placement of the hoops makes the back stand out a bit more. With the bum pad underneath, it helps , keep this proper angle. Alcega specifically shows in his draft that the straight edges of the back panels are to be sewn to the fronts…the result is a MUCH more period look.

My interpretation of the Verdugado. you can see that front line is rather narrower than our modern versions of a hoop skirt

My style of bum roll that goes UNDER the Farthingale

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Shawl collar dressing gown with regular hem. this has a long hanging sleeve….similar to the Persian coats with long narrow hanging sleeves. Sometimes in portraits, you see the sleeve left unsewn and hanging open, sometimes its sewn closed and hangs down the back of the arm

Shawl collar dressing gown with extra full hem.

It’s the same gown as the previous, but with a lot of extra fulness in the hem. It is possible that the softer drape of wool required a wider hem to achieve the same look as the narrower hem in silk.

Spanish dressing gown/loose gown. This is the same shape as the other gowns, but when the collar is complete, it looks rather like a high upright doublet collar. This gown takes 3 1/5 yards of 22-inch wide fabric.

Spanish Saya

by Mathew Gnagy

This is the pattern in Alcega for the woman’s Ropa. I merely changed the sleeve design to resemble the one in POF even though the cut is different. It still looks and wears very similarly.

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This gown is my favorite. It is a loose backed gown with a doublet style front. In Alcega’s own words, it has lacing strips, at the side back seams, or a false back that holds the doublet style front tight against the body. Rather like a precursor to the 18th century Watteau gown.

This gown takes 13 1/8 yards of 22-inch wide fabric.

Mongil Trancado

by Mathew Gnagy

The mongil trançado with hanging sleeves

front view

Double tier heavy wool felt traveling cloak. The double tier is rather like a duster style coat. This pattern takes 4 yards of 44″ wide fabric.

The pieces on the lower right are actually the collars of the lower layer. The hood is attached to the lower layer. The upper layer has a  the gathered neck, but the collar pieces shown in the middle are actually attached to the upper layer inside the neck of the hood. This is the only garment in Alcega that is shown with a single layer layout. The felt only comes in specific dimensions. You are also looking collars and collar facings.

A single-layered wool traveling cloak. This cloak takes 4 yards of 44″ wide fabric.

Here is an extant  double tiered felt traveling cloak. The hood is amazing. When properly closed it actually resembles a fighting helmet

This is a low neckline gown. Literally translated as ‘skirt and bodies’ of silk. It requires 5 yards of 22 inch wide silk.
It has become my assumption of the years of working with this book that this is the layer which is intended to give all the support. I believe that corsets were less common than we assume.

It is logical to assume that the front skirt would be cut to shape during construction. In the Pfalzgrafin gown in Arnold’s <em>Patterns of Fashion</em>, they have simply folded back the excess and left it hanging inside. In later manuals, Burguen, for example, the shape of the center front of the skirt is shown with the point shape trimmed out already.

It’s also clear from the way it’s laid out in the book that there is a seam at CB and at CF…you could have the opening at either location.

White brocade low-necked gown

Made by Mathew Gnagy

A gown with the low bodice of this pattern and the trained skirt of the Women’s High-bodied trained gown with hanging sleeves pattern.

Nice back view of the skirt

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Full womans gown with large pointed style hanging sleeves. It takes 17 1/8 yards of 22-inch wide fabric.
Note, The center back length of the skirt is 99 inches in this draft…its VERY long and the hem width of the back is insanely wide. It looks SOOO very rich when made up.

Blue Brocade Gown

Made by: Mathew Gnagy

Saya skirt with the 99″ center back skirt length…the puntigada sleeves and exact proportional cut for her height. In this shot, her skirt has been hooked up like a bustle.

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Silk cloak. This pattern takes 4 5/8 of a yard of 22 inch wide fabric.
The herreruelo was a simple day cloak accessory. It is theorized that it was self-lined and was truly only a half cloak. After measuring the fulness that is shown in paintings of this style, I have found the half-circle style to be less common.

Red silk herreruelo cloak

Made by Mathew Gnagy

Herreruelo cloak of silk. There is a large piecing in this piece that corresponds to the piecing in the draft. This full circle cloak was cut from only 3 yards of fabric, 60″ wide.

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Alcega’s cassock pattern. It requires 44 inches of 66-inch wide of wool cloth, or 44 inches of 55-inch wide cloth rash. Note that the back skirt is cut-in-one with the back body and the front is cut separately

An alternate layout for a cassock of Woolen cloth. This pattern takes 50 inches of 66 inch wide fabric.

This is the first cassock I ever made from the pattern

You can clearly see what a glorious drape it has through the back. Note, the lining can be cut separately at the waist and hemmed in carefully and tacked to the interlining. This will prevent the lining from sagging.

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