There is ample evidence for feminine dress in the mid-15th century dress including a base layer chemise or "camisa" in Italian. There are glimpses of this garment in most paintings, but there are very few images to base construction on. Chemise were generally made of linen although sometimes silk or cotton (Herald, 212). I've chosen a linen for my chemise as it seems to be the most common. The bits of visible chemise in my target era do not seem to have the billowy proportions of later chemise, so I went with an economical cut. Looking at both earlier and later evidence it seemed reasonable to use rectangular construction. The chemise was all hand sewn and you can see it cut my cuffs just a tad too tight to roll up so I did some of that terrible period piecing.
Women's stockings, or "calze" in Italian, are an even greater mystery! While men's hosen are depicted in a sort of partial dress, a bit of toe is generally the most you see of ladies' socks. Stockings were usually made of woolen cloth and were often, but not always, worn with shoes (Herald, 211). There seem to be few indicators how tall women's stockings were or how they were held up during the 15th century. With so little to go on, I based my construction on a 15th century German drawing. The decision to make them yellow was entirely fanciful, I've most commonly seen stockings depicted as red on women, although all colors appear on men.
Temptation of Saint Anthony, San Giovanni Battista church, Italy 1508
Reference:
Herald, J. (1981). Renaissance dress in Italy: 1400-1500. Bell et Hyman.
The realm of venus - fashion and style in Renaissance Italy. The Realm Of Venus - Fashion and Style in Renaissance Italy. (n.d.). Retrieved December 29, 2021, from http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/