Burning the Befana and an Issey Miyake Coat

Christmas is Officially Over; The Old Befana has been Burnt

Umberto at the Burning of the Befana in Rivoli this evening

The Befana in Piazza Brà, in the heart of Verona

Camilla & Umberto in Piazza Brà

There's so much I'd like to say about the Italian tradition of burning the Befana on the evening of January 6th, but I'd also LOVE to press "publish" before midnight, and actually get a post out in perfect time for once :)

The tradition is a mix of ancient rural culture, folklore, superstition, and the Christian Feast of the Epiphany celebrating the arrival of the Three Wise Men. In modern Italy the 6th January is the last day of the Christmas holiday period. By 7th , the children are back at school and everything returns to "normal" - or normal enough, at least until Carnival.  So Cami, Umbi and I went into Verona this evening to see the preparations for this evening's bonfire, when an efigy of The Befana (which symbolizes the "old" year which finishes tonight) is burnt in the main square, Piazza Brà; also the site of the Roman Arena

Camilla was wearing the winter coat I'd made for her in October. She leaves home at 06.20 to be at school by 07.50, six mornings a week, and it can be very VERY cold here in winter, so it had to be incredibly warm.

The famous Clock sits high above the double archways which lead into the Piazza

The Roman Arena in the background

The iconic Stella Cometa is erected every Christmas season.  It "shoots" out of the centre of the arena to "land" in the Piazza

I'm wearing my good old Armani coat. Going strong since 1992

The Befana sits atop her bonfire - ready for someone to strike a match

Another perspective of the Befana, with the Arena in the background

Earlier on our way into Verona, we stopped in Rivoli village to catch the fading light for some photos of Cami's coat

The coat is out of print Vogue V1320, by Issey Miyake. 

I'd offered to take Cami shopping for fabric, but my thrifty little honey had said she wanted her coat made of this fabric from my stash. It's a double-face, very thick wool coating. She wanted it made with only the checked side showing. 

My very rudimentary pad-stitching.

My very rudimentary machine was a 21st birthday present. It's clunky, but it does the job.

I interlined the yoke and hem-line, and interfaced and interlined the centre fronts. This stabilized the borders of the coat, but the main fabric was so heavy it pulled the coat down and it bagged where it had been left "unfettered" by stabilizing. You can see how the hem hangs lower at the sides and back, than at the centre front. I would never have foreseen this problem given the sturdiness of the fabric, but in retrospect this would have been avoided if I had fused interfacing to all the main fabric pieces. Ah well ... you live and learn!

And the all over puckering of the fabric is sadly due to its great age. The adhesive joining the two layers of the double-face had deteriorated, and the thinner, checked layer had begun to lift away from the thicker dark-green wool layer. The fabric had been a gift from goodness knows where, and it had been in my stash for donkey's years. I've no idea exactly how old it was.  

Napoleon and his troops won the Battle of Rivoli here on January 14th 1797,  against the Austro-Hungarian empire. In the background is the Austro-Hungarian built, Fort Wohlgemuth. (I call it Voldemort as I have NO IDEA how to pronounce it)

I used a couple of beautiful ties from my HUGE collection to add some details

I added piping between the front facing and the lining (but my piping is flat ... without the "pipe". Wonder if it still passes as piping??) And covered jumbo snaps because I still have to master handmade buttonholes. My poor old machine wasn't up to tackling button-holes in all those layers.

I love the construction of this coat. The yoke and bias-cut upper sleeve are beautiful and comfortable to wear and I'll make it at least once more for myself; perhaps Cami would like another version too. But it was physically hard work to manage this particular fabric and, though it sounds unbelievable, heaving it around my work table, and through my machine actually tired me. So, I'll choose the next fabric carefully. I'm thinking scuba could work well for this!

Cami had kindly worn her hair in a ponytail, to better show off the hand sewn, swiss-roll style, rolled down collar.

But about here she asked if we could stop, as her ears were freezing off.

But Umberto didn't want to "stop"!  When we got back to the burning of the Befana in Rivoli, his ears were perfectly TOASTY!!!

Post Script
Darn it! I pressed "Publish" at exactly Midnight, so despite my efforts this didn't get published on January 6th after all  :(

This Blog is pro-autism,

Thank you, Sallyxx

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