How I Make A Camica (Shift)

The shift (camica in Italian) is the basic undergarment for women of all classes and all styles of dress across western Europe from the early middle ages through the eighteenth century. While it goes by different names at different times and in different places, and the style does vary a bit, especially in later centuries, this is a good basic square necked shift pattern that will work for just about any Italian Renaissance outfit. While upper class camice were frequently embellished, and you can certainly do so to yours, a simple one will never look out of place with any Italian ensemble. While the Italian style isn't exactly the same as what is seen in Northern Europe in the 16th century, you could certainly get away with using this with English or German garb in a pinch. Just keep in mind that the Italian style of shift is much more voluminous, so if you need this to work with clothes from other regions, consider reducing the volume of fabric used, particularly in the body.

The pattern is extremely simple; it's just rectangles.  The linen I use is 58 inches wide, which is a lot wider than 16th century fabrics.  Since that's close to double a period loom width, I use one full fabric width total for the front and back (so a half width for the front and the other half width for the back).  Since I'm very petite, I could probably get away with a bit less if I was really trying to conserve fabric, but just using the full width makes cutting very simple, so that's what I do.  So the front and back pieces are one full fabric width by the desired length, which for me is just a little below the knee, though a lot of people prefer theirs longer.  The side panels are the same length by one quarter fabric width, and the sleeves are a quarter width by 6-12 inches longer than your arm, depending on how voluminous you want them to be.  One quarter width makes for a narrower sleeve; if you want yours more voluminous, use more fabric!  The underarm gussets are approximately 10x10 inch squares, which I cut out of the fabric left over from the difference between the sleeve and side panel lengths.  Cuffs and neck band are optional, depending on your style.

I like to use sheer linen,
but there are plenty of 
other fabric choices 
that work just as well.

I use about 2.5 yards of 58 inch wide fabric to make a camica, but if you're tall or want a really long one, you will probably need more.  I prefer a very light weight linen, because it can have a lot of volume without adding a lot of bulk.  Linen is the most correct period material, though cotton and linen/cotton blends were available in Italy and Spain in the 15th and 16th centuries.  Some reenactors use sheer silks, but there's little evidence for this in period.  The whole point of the camcia is to protect the not-very-washable silk and wool outer clothes from sweat and body oils, so it only makes sense to use an easily washable fabric.  While both cotton and linen are easy to wash, I prefer linen because I think it breathes better, and it also wicks moisture away from the body, rather than absorbing it like cotton, making it the most comfortable in hot weather.  The example garment in the pictures is a fine, sheer weight linen, though handkerchief linen is great, too.

I find flat felled seams
to be the most comfortable
finishing method for 
undergarments.

Start by sewing the sleeves together and inserting the gussets.  To do this, first line up one edge of a gusset with the top end of what will be the sleeve seam.  Sew them together right sides together.  Then sew the sleeve into a tube, stitching the adjacent side of the gusset to the other sleeve edge.  Once that's done, just stitch all the body pieces together.  I like to flat fell the seams on my camice, but French seams are also correct for the period.  Once that's done, finish the bottom edge with a narrow rolled hem (which is really easy to do on fine linen!).  Finish the sleeves either my hemming or by gathering them to narrow cuffs, and then gather (or smock, or whatever you want) your neckline to the desired width, which should at least peek out the top edge of your dress bodice.  I prefer to add a narrow neck band because it's easy and lies flat under my partlet, but it's really up to you.  Smocked and ruffled examples can be found in portraiture from the period.  Finally, if you have cuffed sleeves, add your fastenings.  I used hooks and eyes, but buttons and ties are also period.  

Adding the cuffs

And that's all there is to it; this is a really easy garment to make!  Like I said, this is a really simple garment, though the upper classes often wore embellished camice.  Blackwork, redwork, or polychrome embroidery all appear in art from the mid 16th century in Italy, as does lace insertion.  Decorative smocking is a pretty common and very attractive style of neckline finish for many different classes.  It's really up to you how much or how little embellishment you want on your garment.  Keep in mind, however, that while a simple camica looks good with a very fine court gown, a highly decorated one doesn't really work as well with working class garments.  One of the most important keys to putting together great historical costumes is remembering who you intend to portray and making sure all the pieces of the outfit fit that persona!

Fifteenth Century Pasta!!

Renaissance dinner!  This is what happens when I'm not allowed
to go to restaurants to try new things...

I write this blog because I'm curious not just about the major events of history, but about what life was like in the past.  Honestly, I care less about who was on which European throne in a given year than about how people lived.  Obviously, this covers a wide range of topics, and the one that interests me most is generally fashion, but I also really love food, so I decided to investigate some historical cooking!

I've been as bored as everyone else in quarantine, so I recently subscribed to The Great Courses, because what else is a housebound amature historian to do, and watched a lecture series on the history of food by Dr. Ken Albala.  One of the recipes from Renaissance Italy featured in this series is for pasta with pancetta (Italian bacon- you can use regular bacon instead), sugar, cinnamon, and cheese, and I was intrigued, so I tried it.  And it was really good!  And easy!  I would definitely do it again, and even my very picky brother liked it!

If you've delved into medieval and renaissance cuisine at all, you're probably aware that sugar and spices were used all the time, on or in practically every dish on upper-class tables.  This is because these ingredients came from far away (Asia and the Indian subcontinent, mostly), making them both exotic and very expensive.  This was a cuisine based around conspicuous consumption, and the spice trade was the main source of Venice's wealth in the Renaissance.  In fact, the spice trade was so lucrative in this period that the age of exploration was sparked in large part by Portugal trying to break Venice's monopoly on spices!  And no, despite what you may have been told in school, the spices were not needed to mask the taste of rotting meat.  Gross!  If that were the case, we probably wouldn't have survived the middle ages because everyone would have died of food borne illnesses! 

This particular dish is pretty typical of fifteenth century Italian cooking in its use of spices and sugar.  Keep in mind that what we today think of as traditionally Italian tomato sauce isn't available yet, since tomatoes are a new world plant, and weren't really seen in European cooking until the late sixteenth century.  It's weird to think about, isn't it?

This dish was really easy to prepare.  Dr. Albala made his own fresh pasta for this dish, but I didn't feel like taking the time to do that this time, so I used store bought fettuccine.  I cooked and drained my pasta.  Then I cooked some cubed pancetta in a saucepan, adding a bit of sugar (I was cooking for just me, and used maybe a tablespoon?  I just grabbed a small handful and didn't measure) and a generous amount of cinnamon, plus a dash of nutmeg when it was nearly done.  I did cheat a little by adding the nutmeg and using a tiny splash of heavy cream when I thought it needed a little more moisture, but both those ingredients are seen in these sorts of dishes in period, so I'm ok with it!  Finally when the pancetta was cooked, I added a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese and then mixed in my pasta.  I served it with more grated cheese and cinnamon on top.  

I know this sounds weird to modern tastes, but it was really good!  The sugar and spices glaze the pancetta, and the sweetness goes really nicely with the creamy, salty cheese.  I would definitely recommend trying this if you're at all curious about Renaissance dining!  I also highly recommend the lecture series I got the recipe from, Cooking Across the Ages, from The Great Courses, if you're quarantined and looking for something cool to watch.  He covers everything from ancient Rome to the 1980's, giving cooking demos from each period.  It's a really interesting look into one of the most basic human activities through history.