Foundation

The simple dress or "gamurra" in Italian is a foundational garment as well as being the informal garment worn in the home (Hearld, 216). There are no known extant dresses from my exact time and place, so construction details such as seam placement are based on paintings rather than later pieces. For my gamurra, I've opted for green wool. The material is on the heavy side for this application, but sometimes you have to work with what you've got. Hearld notes that gamurre may be unlined, however the wool gamurra of Osanna Andreasi which is the closest extant piece I've found is lined with linen in the bodice only which seems to give a more supportive garment. While my inspiration dress is from the 1480s, I went for the earlier puff sleeve to date myself back towards that 1460s target date. I included side and front lacing based on the Piero della Francesca's Madonna del Prato, as well as other paintings. Typically during this era lacing is closed unless there is significance to it being open (such as depicting pregnancy), down side is I lost some weight between patterning and taking final pictures, so the gamurra wasn't as supportive as it had originally been.