Angel Wing Surcotes

Nouvelle acquisition latine 1673, fol. 52v, Flore: millet. Tacuinum sanitatis, Milano or Pavie (Italy), 1390-1400.

This Dress. This dress is made of awesome.
I have fallen in love with this image. The angel wing sleeves that wave and drape like petals, The purple/blue combo. The soft looking layers, the dagging on the wrist. This dress has the high bust, with a gently scooped neckline, without tons of cleavage. she looks like she is waving to you in a friendly greeting.

I have been looking at several examples from this area and I like the angel wings, such a fancy way to show off finery, but without a bulky houppelande. The following images are also from the Tacuinum Sanitatis, and depict more of these angel wing surcotes. Click for larger images.

ERRR the real melons are behind us Sir!

Wings bottom right

Extra fancy!

Side Lacing

This dress (left and top of this post) is a good transition between the boat neck/gently supported bust of typical 14th century images, and the extremely high bust and scoop neck of the 15th century. See this link that compares bust silhouettes with. And this one for necklines of the 14th century.                                                                              What really intrigues me about this image is the drape of the sleeves. Most of the image I have found show the angel sleeves stiffer,  keeping a basic triangle shape.  Here is a beautiful example of the sleeves on another creation by Maistresse Mathilde Bourette. 

You can tell on the left side that the sleeve forms a 45 degree angle. Many of the other sleeves in this manuscript also have this angle, but these sleeves are soft and flowing. This drape is much more than what I have experienced with all but the lightest linens and silks. I am wondering if I can recreate this drape with linen cut on the bias. (now this is just a theory- and will be experiment with some mock ups shortly) Below is an experimental cutting layout that I will be attempting soon.

hypothetical cutting pattern for bias angel sleeves

This shows a shallow S curve sleeve head with it shifted to have the seam along the back of the arm. For my 18" armscyle this places my cut line approximately 9" from the corners. For me I only need 16" from my shoulder point to my wrist-  so a square yard of fabric should work for 2 sleeves.

to be continued....