Hooray for Fabric.com

I was finally able to place an order for some scrumptious cotton velvet the other day for my frockcoat and breeches. yes, I'm starting off with something a bit dressy.



It's a rich burgundy wine shade, and I'm hoping to find a nice silk brocade to use for the waistcoat.
That's the neat thing about waistcoats; even if the fabric you want to use is some $80 per yard silk Lampas brocade, you still only need about 1.5 yards.
I have a seller on Ebay that has some amazing 18th century style silks that I'm currently eyeballing...and a company in Sweden that makes repro 18th century fabrics.

My hatred of synthetic fabrics....

has reached an all-time high.
The swatches I ordered from 800Fabrics.com of a supposed "cotton" velvet for my gent's frockcoat, turned out to be nasty polyester bits of crap not even my grandmother would have used on her couch in 1974.
Yech!
*sigh* back to the drawing board.
A word of warning; if you ever order from the above supplier, or anywhere you don't already trust to have natural fiber fabrics, order swatches.
I'm glad I did.

Fabric mission accomplished

Not only did I find the perfect solid silk taffeta to use with my striped Georgian gown (Striped fabric swatch shown with it)....
I also acquired a silk satin damask I'd been lusting after since seeing it a few months ago.
My love decided to get it for me as a birthday present ;-)
The 8.5 yards of this will go into my Robe a la Francaise, and a waistcoat for him.
The colors are a gorgeous rich, warm rose color with a gold pattern in a 'Chinoiserie' figural theme. Hugely popular during the middle to late 18th century...

Patterns!

Today I received the J.P. Ryan patterns in the mail, including one for a Pet-en-l'air that can be lengthened into a Robe a la Francaise.
Although I won't be making this gown right away (opting to focus on a Georgian/1780s wardrobe), I only have a small issue with it...
It has no front waistline seam on the gown, between the dress fronts and skirt. They are cut as one piece, which places this in the 1740s to early 1750s. Too early for my taste in a Robe a la Francaise.
I'd be going for the 1760s to early 70s.
Not a problem though; after looking through the pattern, it looks like I can simply use the front bodice lining piece as a guide to put that break in the two front panels where needed.

Aside from that, I will definitely be making the stomacher narrower and more pointed, similar to some I've seen on original gowns.
Currently the pattern makes up a rather boxy looking stomacher, with a very wide and shallow scoop in front.

Regardless, the first thing I must do is not only make myself a new pair of stays as my foundation for all this, but start on my gent's wardrobe first.

Stay tuned...

***Edited to add: Actually now that I've seen photos of the Winego patterns version of the gown (shown below, made up without that darn waist seam) I'm more apt to just go without it.

I'm back...

I just ordered a bunch of patterns from J.P. Ryan, to begin an18th century wardrobe.
Currently I'm waiting on those, and some fabric swatches as well.
A burgundy cotton velvet and a swatch of navy blue of the same.

This coming weekend I'm hoping to find some contrasting fabrics.

Expect sewing posts here very soon.