Peter Sanderson was an Edinburgh tailor who worked for

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

wife of

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

Tailoring in the 1580s

He became a burgess of Edinburgh in 1587 by his marriage to Alison or Helena Cranstoun, a daughter of Cuthbert Cranstoun, a furrier. Sanderson's clients in the late 1580s included Christian Douglas, Lady Home, the first wife of

Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home Sir Alexander Home of that Ilk, 1st Lord Home ( – ) was in 1448 Sheriff Deputy for Berwickshire, and was made a Lord of Parliament on 2 August 1473. He is an ancestor of the Earls of Home. Family Alexander Home's father, Sir Alexander Home of t ...

. Lady Home bought textiles from the merchant John Robertson, which were delivered to her tailors Sanderson and David Lyon. They made gowns and clothes for her, her children, her pages, and other family members. Sanderson added

passementerie Passementerie (, ) or passementarie is the art of making elaborate trimmings or edgings (in French, ) of applied braid, gold or silver cord, embroidery, colored silk, or beads for clothing or furnishings. Styles of passementerie include the tas ...

to her gowns and stiffened and formed the shoulders with grey cloth. The library of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

has a similar account for textiles bought by

Margaret Livingstone Margaret Stratford Livingstone is the Takeda Professor of Neurobiology in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School in the field of visual perception. She authored the book ''Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing''. She was elect ...

Working for Anne of Denmark

Anne of Denmark brought a number of household servants and artisans with her from Denmark, including a tailor Paul Rey who made clothes for the queen until the summer of 1591. Three Scottish tailors, Sanderson, Peter Rannald, and William Simpson filled his place. In the 1590s James VI's tailor was Alexander Miller, who replaced James Inglis. The annual wage of the queen's tailor in 1591 was £100 and the foreman tailor had £40. Sanderson made gowns for the queen, and also pairs of baleen bodies of satin lined with green and incarnadine taffeta. He made clothes for several women of the queen's household, as gifts from the queen, including a black velvet wedding gown with gold passementerie for Marie Young, a daughter of the King's former tutor and librarian Peter Young. He made clothes for Princess Elizabeth (and a gown for Beatrix Ruthven to wear at Elizabeth's baptism), for

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

, Princes Margaret, and a purple velvet side-coat for Lord Gordon when he was a hostage at court. Accounts of the fabrics supplied to Anne of Denmark and James VI in the 1590s by a Edinburgh merchant

Robert Jousie Robert Jousie (or Joussie or Jowsie or Jossie; died 1626) was a Scottish merchant, financier, and courtier. Life Jousie was a cloth merchant based in Edinburgh with a house on the High Street or Royal Mile. He became an exclusive supplier of fa ...

survive in the

National Records of Scotland National Records of Scotland ( gd, Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It is responsible for Civil registry, civil registration, the census in Scotland, demography and statistics, family histor ...

. Jousie worked in partnership with a goldsmith

Thomas Foulis Thomas Foulis ( fl. 1580–1628) was a Scottish goldsmith, mine entrepreneur, and royal financier. Thomas Foulis was an Edinburgh goldsmith and financier, and was involved in the mint and coinage, gold and lead mining, and from May 1591 the receip ...

administering a subsidy sent by Queen Elizabeth. Sanderson's work is mentioned many times, as in these entries for making two bodices and new sleeves and a bodice for one of the queen's gowns:

Item the 29 of October 1595 deliverit to Peter Sandersone with Sorne ( Søren Johnson) fyve ellis and ane half Spainzie taffetie to be tua pair of balene bodeis __ �38-10s.br>Item the 25 of Januar 1595/6 deliverit to Peter Sandersone thrie ellis and ane halff of blak twa pyle velvot to be new bodeis and slevis to ane velvot goun __ �49./blockquote> In 1600 Sanderson went to law over a debt of £54 owed by Libra Hamilton, Lady Ayton and her husband William Hume, for workmanship and merchandise supplied to Lady Ayton and her daughters and servants. A signed bill from "Peter Sandersoun" for clothes for Princess Elizabeth in 1602 survives at the National Records of Scotland. It includes gowns with "stenting, stiffing, clasps and wire", a
farthingale A farthingale is one of several structures used under Western European women's clothing in the 16th and 17th centuries to support the skirts in the desired shape and enlarge the lower half of the body. It originated in Spain in the fifteenth c ...
costing 20 shillings, and with a few items for her brothers and clothes for pages, totals £154 Scots. Items mentioned in the treasurer's accounts made for Princess Elizabeth include; a gown of Spanish taffeta lined with plush, a gown of figured velvet with white on incarnate satin sleeves, and a night gown with a "wyliecoit" petticoat for nightwear. Sanderson went to England after the
Union of Crowns The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...
in 1603 and joined the household of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Henry at Oatlands as the court tailor. Another Scottish tailor, Patrick Black, was in the Prince's service in 1605, and Edinburgh town council allowed him to be a burgess despite his absence in London. Peter Rannald, who had been one of the queen's tailors, died in 1609, and his widow Jonnett Birs petitioned for payment of £1,300 Scots from a royal precept dating from 1595. King James asked for confirmation that such an old debt was still outstanding. Sanderson returned to Edinburgh and there are several records of him pursuing bad debts from aristocratic clients. His daughter Anna married John Cunningham, a tailor, in 1613. In 1630 his widow, Helen Cranstoun, petitioned Charles I for unpaid tailoring bills of Anne of Denmark totalling £3000 Scots.''Earl of Stirling's Register'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1885), pp. 440-1.

References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanderson, Peter Household of Anne of Denmark 16th-century Scottish businesspeople 16th-century Scottish tailors 16th-century fashion British tailors Material culture of royal courts