dress

ΜΓ 674 Long-sleeved foustanin of cotton alatzia with pairs of stripes alternating between green and red against an off-white ground. The peculiar stripes of the alatzia include double rows of tiny consecutive circles, green or red, and rest on yellow bands.   The dress comprises a bodice and a wide skirt which is held in place with a handmade stitch of thick beige thread within a banded waistband around the waist. The back of the bodice consists of a single fabric piece (width: 46 cm on the shoulders, 40 cm at the waist), which continues to the front until under the shoulders, at a height of 12-12.5 cm. The rest of the front is covered by two square pieces of fabric, one on either side of the breast (height: 21.5 cm, width: 20-21 cm), with a vertical seam under each armpit.   The simple neckline of the foustanin features a low banded collar of a height of 1.5 cm, from a separate piece of the same alatzia. A vertical opening reaches from the neckline to below the waist (total height of opening: 45 cm, 29 cm of which up to the waistband and 16 cm under it). The two sides of the opening, up to the waistband, as well as the front of the neckline, feature a black trimming band finish. Further in, a decorative edging features arches on a straight line. The sewn-on elements are secured with sparse handmade basting using black thread. Handmade fishbone stitch in brown runs between the trimming band and the edging. On the left side of the dress, the stitch continues to the middle of the back side of the neckline, at the nape.   The long sleeves are sewn vertically to the body. They consist of a single fabric piece with a seam along the centre of the external side of the arm. At the left armpit there is a small rectangular patch of a different fabric (height: 6 cm,  width: 2 cm). At the edge of the sleeves, the fabric is turned in to create internal basting, 2.5 cm in height. The same edging as the one adorning the opening on the breast has been secured with black thread around the basting. The entire bodice, including the sleeves, is lined with joined pieces of thick, off-white, loom-woven cotton fabric. The 2.5 cm-tall waistband is made of two bands of the same alatzia as the dress, albeit with its stripes in horizontal arrangement. The vertical joint of the pieces is discernible at the centre of the back, whereas at the centre of the front side the waistband fastens with a hook. Another hook is placed slightly higher up, at the base of the vertical opening on the breast.   The wide skirt of the foustanin gathers at the waist in dense pleats, formed as the fabric is folded over inwards (height: 2.5 cm) and secured with two thick beige parallel threads that cross through the pleats all around. The skirt consists of two superposed panels. Each panel has a height of 48 cm, 2.5-3 cm of which correspond to basting in the lower panel and in the upper panel to the internal folded-over part within the pleated area. The vertical seams of the two panels, using thick beige thread, extend to the middle of the front side, on the same straight line as the opening of the breast. There is basting around the hemline whereas a black/brown trimming band runs along the edge of the skirt, externally and internally. Fine red lace, now surviving in fragments, is sewn with brown thread at a height of 2.7 cm above the basting. Higher up, at a distance of 20 cm from the basting, ready-made black lace, 3 cm wide, with schematized rosettes, outlines the skirt. The upper part of the lace is sewn with basting and its lower part is unstitched. The same edging as that adorning the sleeves and the opening on the breast runs around the joint of the two superposed pieces of the skirt, at 45 cm over the basting. The various types of seams used on the dress are exclusively handmade.   Height: 126 cm (height of bodice: 33.5 cm,  height of waistband: 2.5 cm, height of skirt: 90 cm). Width: 46 cm on the shoulders, 40 cm at the waist, 120 cm around the hemline. Length of sleeves: 43.5 cm. Width of sleeves: 17.5 cm in the upper part, 14 cm in the lower part. Date of entry to the Collection: 1989 Provenance: Palaiometocho, Nicosia – Purchased from Ero Farmaka.