Anduxar’s Ropa Capona
I believe the overall meaning of Ropa Capona is “cutaway coat.” But Translating from Spanish through Google isn’t always helpful for the Early Modern dialect. I decided to study this curious coat because it seemed like a nice, lower-class style of garment. In Anduxar’s manual, there are two of them. Once is cut from wool cloth and the other, which is part of a three-piece outfit (showing the diagram above), is cut from silk. The coat has some truly unique features that I couldn’t wait to explore.
The Coat pattern consists of a front, a back (which tapers to nothing about halfway down the coat), and large round sleeves. There is no indication of a collar and indeed, many images of people wearing open coats during the 1630s show large, wide ruffs and collars. It is likely that a collar would not have been needed so as to leave room for support structures for the oversized neckwear.
The first and most obvious thing is that the back of the coat is almost nonexistent. It tapers down to nothing at the point, leaving the fronts to be drawn around to the back and consumed in the center back seam. To make this drape attractively takes some adjustment and skill. The small amount of fabric required to cut one of these coats makes it ideal for lower-class clothing
After finishing the market woman’s outfit last week, I wanted to look into some patterns that were in the same section of womenswear in Anduxar’s manual. It is typical that the clothing is arranged in the manuals by class level and gender expression so I’m assuming that the styles I’m seeing in this part of the book are meant to be worn by common folks and not aristocratic people.
This coat definitely fits the bill as it is incredibly efficient to cut. The incomplete back leaves much yardage to be use elsewhere, like the sleeves, which are round and full.
It is also a possibility that the coat was not meant to close at the front and would be pinned to the doublet beneath and left with the front folding open.
Whatever the intended mode of dress, the manner in which the coat must drape is quite specific so I felt comfortable forging ahead with my pattern analysis.
I made two muslin mockups, each with slightly different takes on the pattern. The one on the right was made very closely to the manual’s draft. I just interpreted the pattern as I always do. It is more successful than the one on the left which was interpreted with a lot more conjecture. There are some small changes that I will make to the shape of the side back to underarm seam when I come back to this piece later this week.
There were some things that were quite clear though, once the work started.
• The shape along the tapered edge of the back MUST be carefully controlled.
• The coat is clearly meant to be worn open
• The coat is clearly meant to be worn without a substantial hip roll. Perhaps soft padding or a few more petticoats, but definitely not a roll.
I chose to fit the Ropa Capona over a doublet and skirt because there is a layout in Anduxar’s manual which shows the same set of clothing cut together. I am still trying to find images of clothing from the 1620s through 1640s which resembles this kind of coat because I have a sneaking suspicion that we have been seeing them for ages, but didn’t know what we were looking at.
One of the only ways the coat body will hang properly over the doublet and skirt is with it folded open as in the photo. I chose this method because there are other styles in the same time period which are styled in this way. Some images show a tie holding the fronts closed across the waist, but some appear to be pinned on. Based on the wide seam allowance that is left at the back of the coat in the pattern layout, and then my subsequent mockup fittings, it seems as though Anduxar is showing us that we will need to contour the center back seam to create the final drape. Indeed, because of the angle change that must happen in order for the center back skirt to hang correctly, the center back seam should be the last thing that is sewn.
This styling is easier to find in aristocratic images rather for the common folks and I find it odd that this style of coat is shown with a large redonda sleeve rather than something more practical. I haven’t added the Redonda sleeve yet since I’m still refining the body shape but as I get further along in the mockup stage, you’ll see the sleeve appear.
My second muslin/toile came out much better as I finally understood how the angles and the draping were to supposed to work together. The side back seam has to stay at quite an angle and all the bumps and curves must be customized for the style of outfit that will be worn beneath most often. The front view of the coat has been styled with the lapels turned back in the fashion that was common in the era.
I’m not sure if it is my mannequin, or if it is something inherent to female bodies that I’ve not noticed before, but I found that I had to lower the back neckline considerably to make the garment hang correctly. I had to make this same change, many months ago when I was fitting the mockup for the gray doublet that my mannequin is wearing beneath the coat. I will need to look into this further because if it does seem to be a change that is inherent to womenswear, then I will need to modify a lot of my current female-bodied patterns to reflect this change.
At the front of the armhole, because I assume these coats would be heavily tailored, I have pinched out a small amount of the material, presuming that I would be shrinking in that area to create a better fit over the bust. This manipulation is one that I usually do for female-bodied clothing. It has the same function as a dart, but without a visible line. When worked up with wool material, the fabric can even be shrunk to create the dart shaping, but without seeing anything. It will mould to the figure as if by magic.
