Saccoccia

This was the project I entered at Michaelmas – my first A&S competition.

It was a bit of a rush job, since I only got back from traveling the day before the event and nothing that I’ve already made since joining SCA last year seemed quite up to the task (there are many hidden machine seams in my garb…).

A 16th century Italian pocket

Cloth pockets, such as the one pictured above, from Woman at her Toilet  by Alessandro Allori, begin appearing in Italian art from the 1570s onwards, attached to the outside of women’s dress or fastened with ties around the waist.

There are a number of 17th century English and German pockets at the V&A, of a very similar shape and function. Some are plain, and some very decorated. Some come in pairs on one waistband. The V&A has helpfully provided a “Make Your Own Pocket” guide based on these slightly later examples.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/m/make-your-own-pocket/

This, combined with a tutorial produced by Drifa at lækjamóti of Avacal (whose blog reveals that she produced a plethora of pretty pockets for largesse), provided ample guidance for construction.

https://dawnsdressdiary.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/1480s-florence-saccoccia-pursepouch/#more-6873

Materials

Outer: Red and gold wool/silk left over from the sleeves/placard of my Tudor garb.

Inner: Lining is a small piece of brocade from a curtain sample book, fabric content unknown, but a burn test suggests the gold is natural and the red is man-made fibre (the red pretty much just whooshed up in flames, leaving all of the gold behind).

Ribbon: Cheap satin ribbon, which really lets the whole thing down. Will be replaced before wearing.

Technique

All hand sewn with simple running stitch, as per V&A instructions.

Time taken

All of the sewing was done on the Friday morning of Michaelmas weekend, on the Tube to and from my skating lesson – so about two hours.

Lessons learned

A&S competitions are awesome! Judges write lovely things about your work and feedback on how it could be even better. And I now have a “personal best” score (83/100) to improve on.

It is possible to produce a useful object that I’m not embarrassed to display in less than 24 hours from concept to completion. But with a bit more time and planning, I’d have had nice ribbon ties too.