I have just over a month to make an 18th century ensemble for myself. There's a Rococo picnic I want to attend happening at the end of April. At this moment, I have nothing quite acceptable to wear. My 18th century wardrobe currently consists of a shift, an under petticoat, a pair of shoes, and a white linen cap (not yet blogged). A few more layers are required for me to be a properly dressed Rococo lady. The stays I've been procrastinating on for well over a year? Yeah, those have got to happen. Now. And the gowns I've been dreaming of? It's time to make one reality. For the stays I've decided to use Simplicity 8579 - one of the 18th century patterns Simplicity produced as a collaboration with American Duchess. I'll be altering it somewhat to lace up in the front as well as the back, since back-lacing only stays sound difficult to put on one's self without assistance. Stays with lacing up both the front and the back are a historically accurate option and would seem to be more user-friendly. Picking the pattern was easy. Deciding to make the stays both front and back lacing was also easy. My procrastination has had nothing to do with either of these things, and everything to do with the next step of the project, possibly the most important part of the whole stay and corset making process - making the mock-up. I do not enjoy making mock-ups whatsoever. Now, I do know their value, and I've never regretted making a mock-up (and have regretted not making a mock-up), but I just generally don't like making them. Thus, I've avoided making my mock-up stays, and thus my actual stays as long as possible. Due to my immediate need of an 18th century outfit, my time of mock-up avoidance was forced to an end last week. I made my mock-up. Out of cardboard. 18th century stays are often fully boned, thus more rigid than a Victorian corset. Making a fully boned mock-up sounded tortuous. (This is part of the reason I've avoided making a stays for so long.) However, a few months ago, I learned in one of the 18th century sewing groups I'm a part of on Facebook, that non-corrugated cardboard (like the stuff cereal boxes are made from) works well for making stay mock-ups. The stiffness apparently nicely simulates the structure of fully-boned stays. This concept made the stay mocking-up process seem a lot more approachable. I just so happened to have two large sheets of this type of cardboard on hand. So last week I traced my pattern onto the cardboard, cut it out, taped it together, punched holes in the edges for lacing, and tried the cardboard stays on. They actually looked like stays! And they fit pretty darned decent! And took way less time to make than a fabric mock-up would have! There were only a couple small fit changes I needed to make. First I lowered the armscyes slightly so they wouldn't dig into my armpits. Then I took a bit of width off the top of the center front edge for better bust support. I laced myself back into the cardboard stays, and. . . They fit!! So now that the pesky mock-up stage is out of the way, I can cut out my actual stays, sew them up, then make this dress: A sacque-back gown, which will be machine sewn, in a rather inaccurate fabric. But, I'll tell you all about that later. Right now I'd better get to sewing all the boning channels on my stays!
I’ve been interested in working class dress lately. And more specifically 18th century maids costumes. searching the net I’ve found lots of pics of pretty outfits and great pattern mixi…
Artwork and Inspirations by Evelyn Kennedy Duncan
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My good friend Jacob Appelbaum was recently invited to Paris to shoot photos of a 18th century bordello party. Here's his amazing gallery of over 400
"Was there only one world after all, which spent its time dreaming of others?" ~Philip Pullman I have been working on this post all weekend and I can't wait to show it to you! The sheer volume of photographs that I had to go through was overwhelming! I've narrowed them down though to what you will probably still think is an extravagant amount, but I loved them all! My sister and I went to an exhibit at our local museum this week showcasing costumes from thirty odd films. It was spectacular! We had such a wonderful time and the best part was that I was allowed to bring my camera! I have included a list at the end of the photos of the films these costumes are from (sadly there are two I can't remember). I hope you enjoy looking through them as much as Emma and I did! I have also included a little sketch of my most favorite gown from the Phantom of the Opera...it is the last in the group. Enjoy! Drawing by Jennelise Portrait of a Lady, Miss Potter, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, The Duchess, Casanova, ??, Goya's Ghost, Pirates of the Carribbean, Pocahontas, Ever After, The Phantom of the Opera, Finding Neverland, The Golden Bowl, Howard's End, ??, The White Countess, Gosford Park, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, Defiance, Sherlock Holmes, Land of the Blind, The Phantom of the Opera.
This pannier cage can be used for creating right shape to Your 18th century "robe à la française" style dresses. For tailoring we take white or black cotton fabric. The waist measurement is required for tailoring pannier, please, write us into note to the order. Thank You! We use for 3 strong hoops in each pannier. If you have any questions or would like to place an order, please, write us!
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I’ve been interested in working class dress lately. And more specifically 18th century maids costumes. searching the net I’ve found lots of pics of pretty outfits and great pattern mixi…
Explore PWimsey's 328 photos on Flickr!
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Patterns used: – Patterns of Fashion 1: 1660-1860 (page 26 , view C), by Janet Arnold. Fabrics used: – Unknown, gift from friend. Other materials used: – White cotton fabric for l…
Artwork and Inspirations by Evelyn Kennedy Duncan
I made a new 18th century jacket this week, mainly because I wanted to have something new to wear at Isokyrö 18th century fair. I finished the piece just in time (read: stayed up until 3 a.m. on Friday night to put last stitches on it...) and it was a joy to wear. There were plenty of good reenactor photographers at the fair yesterday so I expect to get some nice pics of the whole get-up in action soonish, but meanwhile here are some I took today. The jacket is a modified version of my earlier black swallowtail jacket. I made the petticoat this week too. I might embroider the hem later. I changed the shape of the hem for this one, making it round rather than pointy The fabric is the same Ikea bed sheet I used for my flowery anglaise. I still have heaps of it left... The jacket is pinned close and it has a separate stomacher with ribbon decoration. Since I dressed up for photos of the jacket I wanted to try some different styles with it. Here's what I came up with: My Parisian chic Party version of the anglaise The anglaise doesn't have proper ribbons to pull the hem up, here it's just pinned and looks a bit strange. Don't look at the hair too closely. I just threw some pins and hair rats at it and didn't style it properly.
Robe à la francaise Time: approx. 1770 Reconstruction of a rococo dress - a robe à la francaise - made of ice blue silk in the typical vertical wave pattern with embroidered floral bouquets. The hand-embroidered plug was made using the pattern and embroidery technique of the 18th century. The dress includes a chemise made of fine linen with antique lace on the sleeves, a functional base with pockets, a large panier and a corset with handmade nest holes. All parts were made according to original cuts and templates. We offer the dress complete with a base, as the panier in particular must be coordinated with the skirt and the dress cannot be worn without a corset. The side seams of the jupe (skirt) and manteau are open at the top so that the pockets are easily accessible. Pictures 4 - 9 show the order of dressing: Chemise - Pockets - Corset - Panier - Skirt - Plug - Manteau The plug is authentically attached to the corset with pins (Fig. 7), and the manteau is also attached under the garnish on the plug (Fig. 9) (don't worry, the needles can't prick). This allows for much wider variability for different sizes. Material: Skirt, manteau, plug 100% silk, lining top manteau 100% linen Chemise 100% fine linen, lace 100% cotton Corset and panier 100% cotton Size variable thanks to the plug-in system and lacing inside the jacket about size 40 - 44/46 The doll has the following dimensions: chest circumference 114 cm, waist 98 cm Length of the dress measured from the shoulder-neck point: 155 cm The dress shown in the photos is being sold. Our company has specialized in the design and manufacture of high-quality historical fashion for more than 20 years. We work for museums, artists and private individuals. There is a reference page with our work on our website gandiva.eu.
Fasion of 1780's
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