Dreaming of the 17th century

Slowly unpacking ad slowly sewing. I’m still very tired which is truly frustrating as my mind wants to do so much more than my body can manage. I have unearthened my medieval smock though, so I’m felling seams while I think about what to do next. Finish my stays, definitely. However, sp far the fabric needed for the shoulder straps have eluded me, so that is on hold until that surfaces.

I still very much want to make a robe battante and will probably order some striped taffeta soon for that project. Meanwhile I feel very inspired to make and 17th century gown. I will definitely use the silk that didn’t get to be the battante, but I’m not quite sure what kind of style. There is this gown, which seems to have been popular in the 1650’s:

I like the simplicity, the lovely fabric can speak for itself, but I also like the style with decorative borders. I get a distinct feeling after looking at so much 17th century, that this style becomes popular closer to the 1660’s. This painting is from 1657:

I’m not at all sure on what kind of decoration I want. A simple ribbon? A metallic braid, or similar? Then there’s the sleeves question, or rather what kind of cuffs.

Anyway, I have decided to make it easy for myself and use an old pair of stays, or rather mock up. It’s extremely un-period as it’s made out of black denim and with metal grommets, but all the boning channels are already sewn. The stays are too big fo9or me, so I will totally disregard the original seams and cut it in a more 17th century shape as I need to make it smaller anyway. Something like this:

(Please ignore the sloppy drawing)
I will need to add a shoulder piece and rebone it too, obviously. If it works, then I’ll have a working pattern for more 17th century sewing. 