No wonder Renaissance ladies were so proud of their needlework. Or that it took so much time. They created truly amazing and beautiful garments with no computerized smocking machines or automated pleaters.

Thanks to Genoveva von Lubeck for her series on historic pleating. The researchers in The Society for Creative Anachronism are a novelist’s best friends, and I adore them for the hours they spend collecting and analyzing images on all topics. The SCA rocks!

Photo copyright Grace Vibbert