A Polonaise Continued: Red Silk For A Petticoat

It has arrived!
The Ruby Red silk I ordered from Renaissance Fabrics, landed on my doorstep after I returned home from work today.
As expected, the quality is divine and the color is sumptuous, but soft when compared to most red fabrics of today. Perfect for the 18th century. It leans toward a warm rose color, with a very slight golden undertone.
And of course, it's a perfect match to the polonaise gown fabric.
I'll probably pair this gown with contrasting colors of petticoats in the future, too, as I have a similar one I need to make in a gold silk taffeta (for another project). I can mix-and-match!
I think I just wanted this red color because of the challenge; to find a soft red and hope that it also comes in a lovely silk taffeta for historical sewing. I can happily say this search has proved successful.

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.

Step By Step: A New 18th Century Dress Pattern

Ok, I will go on record to say that I'm more than a bit excited for the new 1760-1770s English Gown pattern from Larkin & Smith. I've been wanting to try their mitts pattern for a while now, and when the gown pattern was recently released, I made up my mind to order both.

Not from the usual time frame that I currently obsess over, but this is the style that made me fall in love with the 18th century, way back when.
I do love the cut and versatility of these particular gowns. The clean lines and fitted back lends itself well to all figures and types of trimming. Another good thing about the English gown; if you have an event or reenactment to attend that is set somewhere during the latter half of the 1700s, you can rest assure you will be dressed accordingly should this ever be the only frock you have. It was worn well into the 1790s by some in the middle/merchant classes, and in the Americas.

"There are 34 pages of step by step instructions, with 20 pages of color photographs, spiral bound.  As you can imagine this bumped up our printing costs quite a bit.  So our pattern has to be more expensive than other patterns.."

$28.00
That is a small price that I'm HAPPY to pay, considering that too many historical patterns out there have less than ideal instructions. There are even some with incorrect instructions that never get edited, and some are practically nonexistent! The primary focus is on hand sewing, but I'm sure machine sewing is still an option.
I'm really looking forward to trying this pattern out, and making some lovely things inspired by the below images.
Extant gowns from the KCI Archives:

Just Something Pretty...

It's interesting to compare the way we apply ruched trims to reproduction historical garments today, as opposed to how it was once done. Perhaps this is due to the fact many no longer have the same finishing tools readily available, like pinking irons, and edging trims (or the skills to produce them). So we sometimes rely on just putting a deeper gather on our ruching, or more stuff on a gown to fill in the space.

Below as an example, we see that there isn't an excess of stuff gathered to the point of snapping the thread that binds it. Instead it's laid down delicately by hand, with just enough body to give it depth and allow a serpentine curve while laying flat.

Of course for this trim I'm sure a lower profile of ruffle was desired, and it has been flattened a bit over the ages. But even on gowns where more fulness of trimming was needed, there is still a quality of 'less as more'.

The thing I also notice about clothing during the latter half 18th century, is that exquisite framing of space. Weather it's on a frock coat or a Robe a l'Anglaise. The trim and decoration compliment the simplicity and effortless elegance if the textiles used, rather than to cover it up.

Early 1770s silk brocaded jacquard gown. Self made ruching with fly braid at edge.

Example Of My Current Project: A Hopeful Outcome

This is what I'm attempting for my Robe a l'Anglaise, for both the gown and stomacher style. I'm either going for a Super late 1770s or early 1780s, such as these examples show.

And I love this gown in the below portrait. Again with the similar front but with the pinked & scalloped collar.

I have two colors of silk taffeta in my stash that may be going into something similar to this.

One is a sea-foam color, the other a rich gold.

Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun??

Stripes And Flourishes

Here are the 2 center back pieces of my current Robe a L'Anglaise project put together. I must say I did a fine job at matching those stripes! Thanks to that and the design, I even have what looks like a little ladybug at the bottom of that first 'V'; too cute.

The fabric really is lovely, but I think for 18th century dress fabric, the repeat is a smidgen too wide.
Oh well, it's still pretty, and a good fabric to test out this pattern.
I can hear that line in the back of my mind from 'Amadeus' telling me, well..."it's Turkish!"

I also want to find a nice rich red silk taffeta to make a petticoat and tabbed stomacher for the zone front.
Somewhere in my stash, I also have some ivory silk organza that I can hear begging to be ruched sleeve cuffs.

And below is the side/front bodice piece as I was figuring out what direction I wanted the stripe to go.

Though it looks odd now, once the zone is cut away and the trimming applied, etc, it should look just dandy.

Robe a L'Anglaise: Bodice Mock-up, Or The Dart Of Possible Doom?

I was finally able to get to fitting the muslin mock-up of the JP Ryan pattern for my robe a l'Anglaise today.
Also utilizing my new Uniquely You dress form; I still need to do more fitting on her to get her closer to my uncorseted shape, but with my pair of (crappy) 18th century stays, she did just fine as a fitting reference.

At the fabric store today, I also picked up some cotton linen, for both a chemise and lining for the bodice. Though, I may want to pick up something a tad heavier to line the bodice.
While my muslin currently has the closed front, I will be making this dress as a polonaise with a zone front, in the very late 1770s style.

My own odd fitting technique, as I am not sure I have ever seen anyone do this, was to instead take in the excess fabric in what would be considered the "middle" of the front bodice piece making a dart or tuck. The front and sides of the bodice are cut as one in this particular pattern, and I have been wracking my brain as to where I have ever seen a gown from this era with true side seams.
I'm sure I have, but either way, this is an option that worked for me.
As someone with an "X" body type, when corseted or in stays, my waistline-to-bust ratio increases even more. This always means I need to take in the waist on just about every pattern I sew from quite drastically if I'm going by bust measurement. This was no different, and after fiddling with the back seams, it seemed to just make the wrinkling worse...it's about here where I begin to call them "wrong-kles".
It's as if the pattern makes up a shapeless tube completely ignoring the soft, and in some cases extreme, conical shape of the classic 18th century bodice.
I also extended the back point to a slightly longer length, creating a more flattering and slenderizing line.

So out of curiosity, and I probably did this in the most wrong way possible according to fellow seamstresses; I made a dart where a side seam would be. This took in all the excess "wrong-kles" and created a smooth fit.
So far so good. At least the fashion fabric I'm using is a cute cotton print I picked up on sale and not totally historically accurate. If I screw this up, I won't be out much cash.....but nonetheless frustrated.

The 'tuck'...am I a total rebel or have others done this too?

Note that this tuck will not be in the final bodice, but I will be using this as the new front pattern piece for it. You can also see how the tuck created a sharper arch at the waistline edge, yet in many extant gowns and bodices, I have seen this. I may smooth it out a bit more as I go, lessening the Gothic arch onto a more Romanesque one, but once those edges are clipped and turned, it'll straighten out on it's own.

Mockup Done, Velveteen Cut...

A handsome man in great breeches.

After completing the mockup of the Breeches Of Doom, and a few 'minor' adjustments to those (longer in the crotch, slightly longer in the leg and some extra room at the knee so it will stay buttoned), I was finally ready to cut the pattern out of the real fabric.
Hopefully it works...by work, I mean beating the hell out of it and making it whimper uncle until it behaves.

Final thoughts on this for now;
the J.P. Ryan pattern, regardless of mistakes in the instructions and pieces, is an already frustrating garment to construct. I think it's simply compounded by the messiness and sometimes lack of instruction. This pattern is like running the gauntlet, separating the people who craft from the Goddamned Seamstresses. If you make it through to the end and use common sense as a weapon against the evil of misleading information, you are one victorious Goddamned Seamstress...even if you end up bruised (and quite possibly bleeding) with a less than perfect pair of breeches in the end.

And yes, I'm making these out of a cotton velveteen...I'm crazy...or this is going to get really interesting.

xoxo

Breeches Continued

Here they are so far. Tonight I'm putting the waistband on, but I think that's all I will accomplish until tomorrow. Work took the wind out of my sails today and all I want to do is curl up with my sweetie and a slice of pizza.

These are just the mockup, but the actual breeches I am going to make will be from a plum burgundy velveteen. A frock coat of the same material will follow...I only hope the pattern for that doesn't have too many speed bumps.
Plus, the patterns for my own gown(s) are from the same company (once I get to those).
I already plan on adjusting things, and I can drape my own without a pattern if needed, so if the instructions or pattern itself are off again I can catch it in the mockup...but hopefully without too much futzing.
Futzing makes me impatient.