I wasn't entirely pleased with the look of the giornea, so I decided to take another shot at the pleats. The fabric I used for the giornea was very light, and with only the padding to stiffen it it ended up looking very pillowy. Also, I think the pleats were set too low on the yoke. I'll probably take it apart later and move them up higher. In the meantime, I decided to try a somewhat stiffer solution. This time, I used a light cotton brocade for my outer shell, with a coarse, stiff wool/poly blend as the lining. I also decided to make a cioppa instead of a giornea, just to try something a little different.
I used the same basic construction as I did for the giornea, except with slightly fewer pleats overall. With fewer pleats, I was able to attach the top of the pleated section to the yoke without using cartridge pleats. I started out using two layers of wool and one layer of cotton in the back, then switched to one layer of wool, one layer of batting, and one layer of cotton in the front. There's not a whole lot of difference between the two; both are very stiff. After I finished putting the body together and tacking down the pleats, it was able to stand up by itself! I originally made the body of the cioppa with no opening, which made it very difficult to squirm into. After looking through some more paintings, I saw many examples of cioppas with a line through the center front of the yoke, which disappeared into the valley of a pleat. I did a test piece, then cut through the center pleat and bound the edge with a strip of the cotton brocade wide enough to attach it to the neighboring pleats to maintain the proper shape. Then I put a series of hooks and eyes up the front to close it.
The yoke is very short, barely enough to put the neck hole in. The appearance is much better. The only thing I would change is to slightly change the angle of the back half to make more taper toward the shoulder. I found some leftover fake fur that I used on a pair of Tudor sleeves ages ago, and used it to trim the neck, hem, and sleeves. The sleeves are slightly flared, with a curved sleevehead gathered into the top of the armscye. They are lined with some lightweight striped green silk.
