12th century Trapunto

9/8/2023

Now that my dear friend Machteld Cleine has been elevated to the Order of the Pelican (for the SCA) I can now share this completed project. I had a confab with my co-conspirators, and collaborated with the many, many people involved in making her elevation a special occasion.

Schemeing with Maestra Ellisif to make a dream dresss, a 12th C Bliaut A-LA Lady Macbeth's Green Beetle wing dress, the perfect green silk was found and I volunteered to make the under dress. Enter my introduction to, and piqued interest in, Trapunto.

Lady Macbeth beetle wing dress.

What is Trapunto

As best as I can find or form a definition, Trapunto can be a stuffed quilting or cording stitched in place type of quilting. We know that Trapunto falls in the Medieval period because of extant there are many manuscripts and statuary. And while there are no extant garments to reference, The Tristan Quilt which is believed to be made around 1390, is on display.

ca. 1390, Victoria and Albert Museum. link below.

This illumination is a great example for differentiating between the representation of long sleeves with excess fabric "stacking" and a distinct row of lines on her sleeve cuffs, which is believed to represent the Trapunto technique.

ca. 1200, Millstatt Abbey (Carinthia - Austria)

Trapunto cuffs and collars in 12th century artwork. C: is Hunterian Psalter and possibly shows the collar as well as cuffs, 1160-1175. D: Manuscript of Eberbach, 12th century.

Elevation outfit for Machteld. * Linen under dress with Trapunto neckline by Rikissa Ravattulalainen. * Stamped and beaded silk veil by Lady Merewyn Scharp. * Green silk dress by Maestra Ellisif Gydasdottir.

Smiles for all as we prepared Machteld for the elevation ceremony.

Inspiration

After Ellisif introduced me to the idea of quilted clothing, I searched the interwebs to see what 12th C examples there are, and what others have done to create this art. Below are just a few examples of statuary and illuminations.

statue A (lower set of 2) from the Chartres Cathedral, mid-12th century was my main source statue.

I discovered this great blog that has so many amazing pictorial examples. I read what Elise Kingston did with her Trapunto keyhole neckline and took inspiration from it. Then I researched further and took my own route.

A lovely example of the rigid neckline on the undershirt, which can be interpreted as trapunto. C. 1180

The Garment construction

As we play SCA here in the Southern United States where it can be hot and humid, I thought for September at an event that is known for being physically draining because of the heat, I found a delightful, light-weight, loose weave linen that would make a comfy medieval under dress. Add to that the over gown would be silk... this linen fit the bill.

The pattern for the dress I made from measurements that Ellisif provided, which copied a dress Machteld had just worn while visiting Drachenwald. So we knew it would fit! A key factor when you are making clothing for someone in secret and you can't do a fitting! It is a modified rectangular construction much like the well known Vigdis pattern, but this dress includes a waist seam in the side panels.

You can see from the picture of the finished under dress this fabric is quite sheer, and the loose weave makes it more delicate. Not less strong, but I did need to take this into account in my decisions.

One of the key choices I made, that I believe led to the success of the project, was I chose to hand stitch the entire garment. This is a first for me! Before this I have hand finished cuffs and necklines, or fixed seams and such, but never before had I sewn an entire garment by hand. This decision was driven by the inability to use a machine while traveling in a vehicle.

I am thrilled though because the fabric choice paired with hand sewing made for sturdy and graceful seam treatments. The individual threads of the linen are strong, but the weave is loose. So I used a combination of flat felled seams and french seams, and added a third row of stitching to help with stability and resist pulling.

Hand sewn seam treatments provided gentle stability for a friable fabric.

Thousands of stitches...

The entire garment was sewn, apart from side seams, before THE trapunto even began.

Trapunto neckline

Basing the shape on both the extant examples and the neck of the Lady M inspiration dress I chose to do a snug keyhole neck. I did a full binding; that is to say both an inside and outside facing for the collar. This provided stability to the fabric and allowed it to support the many stitches of quilting.

After stitching the facings together and turning it right side out, I fitted it around the neckline. And then began the consecutive rows of woolen cording stitched in place. Below is pictorial documentation.

Binding the neckline gave strength and rigidity for the cord quilting.

First round of cording also attached the neck binding. Wool cord pictured.

The cord is tucked closely to the previous line of stitching, then secured in place.

woohoo! It's finally looking like I imagined. Here I knew there couldn't be too many rows.

On the last round the facing raw edge was tucked under the cord and carefully stitched in place.

I put as many rows as my 3" facing could fit!

I did not count how long this garment took to construct... but two cross country drives and all of Suits; plus some more. It turned out exactly like I imagined. It fits! AND it carries the LOOK of the period Trapunto examples. I call this a success.

Machteld wants to add...

When I asked Machteld her feedback after the elevation excitement was over, she asked me to add the following...

"You didn't mention how deliriously happy and loved the recipient felt and that despite the fact that you all must be witches to make it fit without fitting to me, she loves you very, very much! ... Because it fit perfectly and there were no bumps or whatever... and that also counts!"

NOW THAT IS SUCCESS

Photo by Mistress Marion the Red

Sources

Maestra Ellisif Gydasdottir, is 1000% to blame for this project. Thank You! Her Site
Chemise Neckline with Raised Quilting My biggest source and inspiration.
The Tristan Quilt ca. 1390, Victoria and Albert Museum
Here is a blog (found after the project) to help understand more about trapunto by someone that knows more than I. click here
Here is a link for the illuminated lovers above.
C: and D: picture found all over Pinterest, but tracked it to this blog about 12th C Bliaut's.

Materials

Fabric from The Fabric Market online. it's called linen mesh? but it washes so softly.
100% Wool cord is Paton's 4ply, white/cream color to match the linen.

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