FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
White Giezło
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
My absolute hands down favourite book is "The Deluge". It's the 2nd part of a Trilogy by Henryk Sienkiewicz. However while I'm in love with the story and it's main male character, I definetely like female lead character of the 1st part (With Fire and Sword) more. I was sure I'd like to sew something for her from nearly the very beginning.
Helena Kurcewiczówna can be compared to Cinderella - a wealthy noble, orphaned and abused by her "evil" aunt. She definetly would not be used as a role model for "modern woman" - she is quiet, mellow, waiting for a knight to save her, not very well educated. But I think under all that "damsel in distress" attitude she has a lot of courage and strenght. She endures hard and dangerous journey without a single complaint and is ready to sacrifice some of her maiden honor for the sake of survival. And all that with optimism and smile on her face, keeping up the spirit of her travel companions.
She is also fun to plan an outfit. During the story she wears a wide arrange of clothes: from hight status nobles, through homely and servant attire to men clothes and begger's rags. With my low experience in cloth making I decided to go with something simple: a giezło, which is a kind of older version of chemise - long white shirt worn under dress or for sleeping. There is an important scene when she is wearing one.
Outline the construction…
Giezło is the most basic piece of clothing, made and worn by everyone. Usually it was made from thin plain weave linen, however due to late decision to enter I was not able to find one I like. I decided to use plain weave cotton, whis IS historically accurate as it was avaliable at that time in Poland, especially since Helena's familly often raided Near East regions. I got my hands on the only 2,5x1,5 m piece of textile that was avaliable.
Helena herself was probably not a skilled seamstress as her aunt knew her way more around a sword than needle, so I used the most basic rectangle shapes. I skipped triangles for sides, oficially due to Helena's skill but in truth I didn't have enough material for it. Threads for seams and emboidery are made from linen. Embroidery is cross-stich in simple piramidal pattern. The sleeves are wide as I ommited the little rectangles under it for the sake of simplicity. Cuffs are held together by little pearls as buttons.
The plan was to use someone else as a model and the giezło was sized to her. But life happens so I had to make quick corrections. There is a piece of clothing added at the bottom to make it longer as I'm a little higher. This one is supposed to be a night wear so it's loose on purpose for comfort.
So pretty – your combination of linen cut in simple shapes and beautifully embroidered is delightful. When you keep things simple every seamline and stitch shows, and yours are perfection.
Thank you for your kind words 🙂
such a precise and clear line. It is lovely
Thank you very much 🙂
The clean lines of your giezło highlight the beautiful stitchwork very well!
Thank you for your kind comment!
I love the embroidery details! They’re so delicate and neat. You did a great job on this piece❤
Thank you very much for kind words! I’m very happy with how it turned out 🙂
I’m so glad you snatched that linen and made this. Giezlo looks very neat and nice!
*cotton, not linen
That built up cross stitch is magic – so lovely – makes what could be a plain garment really nice. And your stitches are so neat!