Italian Turkish Outfit

Years ago, I did research on the Turkish Coat style as seen in Italian art. You can read the original article up on my webpage that I don't think I've updated in five years or so. :-) Although it's been a while, a lot of the research is still good and I still make the coats in the same way. I made one last year as well that I completely love.

This year, I found some scrumptious stripy linen at Joanns. It's 98% linen with 2% unknown. The unknown is the metallic fibers in the linen - which is very 16th century, although I doubt they are real metal. The colors of the linen are all very well documentable - orange, yellow, red, lavender, blue, and white. The moment I saw it, the fabric told me it wanted to be a Turkish Coat.

The Italian Turkish outfits are a bit different from the actual Ottoman outfits. Italian ladies didn't wear the chirka - or the vest like fitted jacket that went over the gomlek/chemise layer. (See for details on the Ottoman terms for clothing). There could be many reasons for this but what the portrait and extant evidence shows is the chemise and the enteri or coat was worn in Italy. At the Met, there is this chemise with a v-neck and this early 17th C coat, both Italian.

First, I cut out the body of the coat.  You can probably just make out the basic shape.  I cut out the side gores next - which I had to recut because I made them too narrow.  

Slightly blurry photo of the front of the finished coat with buttons.  I also made linen pants to go with the outfit.  The pants are a lovely melon color that looks much brighter against the orange of the coat.  They aren't cut in a period manner but work well since all anyone will see is from the knees down.  I used New Look Pattern 6139 for the general cut. I added a waistband and had the pants open in the front rather than use a drawstring or elastic. I just pleated the excess to the waistband. They fit well and are pretty comfy.

The back of the coat.  I will probably wear a blue or purple scarf around the waist mostly to break up the brightness of the color a bit. 

Side view.  These coats are so fun and really look much better on me than on the dress dummy.  This is what I plan on wearing at some point during Pennsic!