The Spanish Farthingale was a bell-shaped hoopskirt worn under the skirts of well-to-do women during the Tudor and Elizabethan era. From 1530 to 1580, the farthingale played an important part in shaping the fashionable silhouette.
The Spanish Farthingale, as its name suggests, originated in Spain. The name "farthingale" itself is an English corruption of "verdugados", the Spanish word for twig, which refers to the rings of willow and cane bents used to hold the hoopskirt rigid. In alternate Elizabethan spellings of "farthingale" --verdingal, verdugal, and fardingal-this relationship is easily seen.
The first depiction of a farthingale is in a picture dated to 1496, of Salome holding the head of John the Baptist on a plate. Her outer skirt is tucked up to reveal a boned farthingale made of a rich brocade, with several decorated bands of fabric containing willow bents evenly spaced along its length.
Tradition holds that the Spanish Farthingale arrived in England in the 1520s, introduced by Katharine of Aragon, Henry VIII's future queen. It is true that, beginning in the 1530s, clear evidence of hoopskirts worn by English noblewomen begin to appear in court paintings and portraits. To your right is a full-length portrait of Lady Jane Grey, wearing a classically Tudor gown complete with farthingale. The Tudor look was in great part created by the spanish farthingale: a small inverted triangle over a larger triangle.
The silhouette of the farthingale stayed for the most part the same through the 1550s and 1560s. "Queen Elizabeth Out Hunting", below and to the left, is a woodcut of the queen created in 1575 and shows the queen wearing a farthingale not much wider than that worn by Jane Grey 25 years before.
Court farthingales, however, could be wider; this sketch of queen elizabeth, created by the artist Hilliard in 1575 (below right) depicts a fashionable, if perhaps somewhat exaggerated, spanish farthingale worn by Queen elizabeth in the 1570s.
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"To cut this farthingale in silk, fold the fabric in half lengthwise. From the left, the front (Piece A) and then the back (piece b) are cut from the double layer. The rest of the silk should be spread out and doubled full width to intercut the gores. Note that the front gores (A ) are joined straight to straight grain, and the back gores (B) are joined bias to straight grain, so that there will be no bias together on the side seams and they will not drop. The front of this farthingale has more at the bem than the back. The silk left over may be used for a hem. The farthingale is 1 1/2 baras long (49.5 inches) and the width round the hem slightly more than 13 handspans, which in my opinion is full enough for this farthingale, but if more fullness is required, it can be added to this pattern."
The pattern to the left used 6 Castilian Baras (5 1/2 yards) of silk fabric which was 22 inches wide. The large, squarish shape of the front (piece A) has the two gores marked A sewn to either side of it to create a flaring triangular front half. The two triangular gores are sewn to the front with their selvegde edges. The two triangular pieces marked B are sewn to the large B back piece by their bias-cut edges. Then the back half is sewn to the front, the straight selvedge edge of the B gore being sewn to the bias-cut edge on the A gore. As Alcega notes above, this results in no bias seams being sewn to eachother and eliminates the sagging which two bias seams sewn together would inevitably experience.
Once everything is sewn together, the farthingale would have been gathered at the top and the raw edges bound with a strip of fabric.As the triangular B gores are wider, and contain a few inches of fabric at the top, the back will have more fabric to be gathered than the front. There is no indication of where the opening is for this skirt (as is the case for all of Alcega's skirt & gown patterns), but given that there are references to farthingales being laced to corsets, it is reasonable to say that the opening would have been in the back or in the front for a front-lacing corset.
Janet Arnold has analyzed and reconstructed this pattern, creating a wonderfully detailed and annotated sketch of the resulting garment, shown to the left. To the right is a woman wearing this reconstructed farthingale. As you can see, it is quite large, especially for a garment made out of the equivalent of 3 yards of 45" wide fabric. You can find more information about this sketch and Janet Arnold's info on farthingales in general in her book Patterns of Fashion 1560-1620.
Janet Arnold's analysis of Alcega's farthingale pattern explained the unusually long length by taking up 10 inches of the length by sewing tucks in the farthingale for the hoops. This method has been adopted by many who want to reproduce a period farthingale. I disagree with her analysis, as all of the kirtles, skirts and gowns in Alcega's pattern book have the same unusual length to them; it was not peculiar to farthingales.
In addition, all of the references to farthingales in Queen Elizabth's wardrobe accounts describe the hoops as covered with fabric: velvet, brocade, satin or taffeta. This is corroborated by the late 15th century spanish painting of Salome and John the Baptist pictured at the top of this page: The hoops are definitely covered with fabric.
The brocade fabric of Salome's farthingale allows us to see where the seams lie. The front and back panels appear to be rectangular pieces slightly flared at the bottom, and are connected by a strip of fabric at the sides. This probably serves the same purpose as Alcega's straight-to-bias sewing instructions; by sewing the bias edges of the front and back farthingales to a piece of fabric on the straight, the side seams are not allowed to droop.
Salome's farthingale was a decorative underskirt meant to be seen, and was therefore made out of an expensive brocade. In Elizabeth's time, farthingales were mostly hidden under petticoats, kirtles and gowns. Queen Elizabeth's wardrobe accounts mention farthingales made out of silk taffeta and satin, as do Queen Mary's wardrobe accounts. If you wish to use the modern equivalents of these fabrics, bridal satin and acetate taffeta, be forewarned that acetate taffeta is much weaker than its predecessor, silk taffeta, and will not support the wear and tear and strain put upon a farthingale unless it is backed with a heavier fabric, such as cotton duck, drill, or canvas. If you do want to use silk satin or silk taffeta for a reproduction farthingale, Thai Silks has a wide variety of fabrics suited to this need. They are listed on the Costuming Supplies Page. A woman of lesser means would likely make her farthingale out of a heavy linen or linen-silk blend. Wool, as it stretches, is not a good fabric for a farthingale.
Three materials were known to be used for stiffening farthingales in Elizabeth's time: rope, bent rope, and whalebone. To the left is a picture, created in 1545, showing a woman wearing a farthingale with channels filled by rope or rags to create a soft silhouette. Bent Rope, made of bent reed, was stiffer and springier than rope. Whalebone was lengths of flexible baleen. The first reference to whalebone in farthingales was in 1580; before then, only bent rope is mentioned.
Cane and willow osiers are also used by re-enactors to stiffen farthingales; these were used in the 18th century and work well, but there's no hard evidence that they were used in the 16th century.
Most re-enactors use cotton duck or drill, which is cheaply available in any fabric store, to make their farthingales. In fact, any non-strechy and strong fabric will do when making a farthingale. A farthingale of modest size requires 3 1/2 to 4 yards of fabric, depending on the width of the fabric and the pattern used.
Most recreation farthingales are made using hoopskirt boning. Hoopskirt boning is 1/2 inch wide stiffened canvas or plastic with spring steel along the edges. It is very stiff and can hold out the heaviest of skirts, yet is lighter than other boning materials. Because it is flat, rather than rounded, it doesn't create the bumps or ridges sometimes seen with farthingales made of period materials. Hoopskirt materials can be cheaply bought ($10.25 for 12 yds of boning) from mailorder costuming supply houses such as Greenberg & Hammer, which are listed on the Costuming Supplies Page.