Tuesday, May 6, 2014

A Polonaise Continued

As another little escape from the cosplay side of things here, I finally caved and purchased 3 yards of luscious ruby red silk taffeta. This will become the petticoat for the 1770s polonaise I've had on the sidelines (for AFTER I get the stays built), mentioned here and here. I finally found the right red to accompany the color of the print on the cotton I will use for the polonaise. I found plenty of 'OMG that's red' reds, muddy burgundy and way-too-dark/pink wine shades to be of any use. Renaissance Fabrics had this lovely Ruby Red that, I think, will work perfectly or at least darn close:


The back of my dress in the red & ivory stripe cotton.

I won't be making the entirety of the petticoat out of this silk, choosing instead to make the parts covered by the polonaise out of a fine burgundy or neutral cotton. This is an historically accurate way to save on silk, and was done by even the upper classes. 3 yards should be plenty to cover the front and lower hem around the back in silk over the red cotton lining, leaving the remaining silk to make a flounce or a lot of ruched trim.

I'm going for something between the very late 1770s, to around 1780. Something like this:


As you can see above, the trim on the contrasting petticoat only decorates the front, something I find interesting and as a bit of a relief. I don't *need* to try and trim the entire circumference, and it's still historically appropriate. I also know I won't have enough of the printed polonaise fabric left over to make trim from. So, the use of a sheer ivory silk organdy I have stashed away should make for a nice contrast trim, similar to the gown in this plate:



Of course, the trimmings on the polonaise will be different, but I wouldn't mind experimenting with that ivory silk organza I have. Some of the textures on the body and sleeves are stunning, and I'd like to try doing some Hertzenruch (heart ruching) style trims in that sheer ivory. Below uses a similar technique as what we see on the gown above, only done on a single ribbon:

You can find a tutorial on how to do this style of trim here at Threads.

2 comments:

  1. Lovely! That smocking on the original you posted actually reminds me of the smocking on one of the Game of Thrones costumes!

    http://michelecarragherembroidery.com/USERIMAGES/10%20-%20DAENERYS%20TARGARYEN%20DRAGONSCALE%20DRESS%20EMBROIDERY%20BY%20MICHELE%20CARRAGHERE.jpg

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    1. Wow! That is amazing. Seriously, the sheer level of stunning detail on those costumes is crazy. I've seen a number of them up close and they are so, so beautiful. I love how they reflected a dragon scale texture on that one you linked to, for Daenerys' costume.
      Really good continuity and art direction in film, let alone TV, always makes me happy ;-)

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