Adding to my earlier work, the 16th Century German Style White Apron, I am working on a black linen apron with honeycomb smocking and drawn-work hemstitch. Pleated and embroidered aprons were fashionable for functionality and adornment for women of the tross (aka. Trossfrau) (examples in woodcuts and drawings below and “Landsknecht Woodcuts: Kriegsvolker im Zeitalter der Landsknechte”). The tross / train followed mercenary Landsknecht Soldiers during their campaigns in the late 15th through 16th centuries (Richards, 2002, p. 25-27).

Many aprons of the early 16th c. from Germany and neighboring regions appear to be white or off white in paintings. However, other colors such as black are documented in clothing lists from the 16th c. (Zander-Seidel, 1990) and appear in some artwork (e.g., The Hours of Charles d’Angoulême. (BNF Latin 1173, fol. 1), De mulieribus claris (BNF Fr. 599) Amie Sparrow – 16th C. German Costuming, 15th-16th centuries: Pamphile of Kos (fol. 40), Thamyris (fol. 50), Paulina (fol. 77v), and Epicharis (fol. 79v) Medieval and Renaissance Material Culture, these images and more are shown below). I ended up abandoning this project, but I ended up dying my white one red, then black.