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.

And The Wallet Whimpers Again

***Update***
NOPE! Out of stock. Ugh, I hate it when this happens.
Hey Seller, here's an idea; maybe you should update your inventory so your customers don't end up ordering something you DON'T HAVE. Just a thought :-|
And the money is still tied up in Paypal until they refund me...I hope they refund me

(I still need) 10 yards of sapphire blue silk taffeta for my Dickens Fair project.
Renaissance Fabrics has something similar, and probably of better color & quality, but it's an extra $50 after tax and shipping. I may need to go that route though:

The true sapphire blue taffeta at Renaissance Fabrics:

and the other guy's 'light royal' blue taffeta, that is no more:

With this blue kick I'm on, I'm thinking of using a contrast trim of delicate burnished gold or metallic something-or-other. Maybe even silver, in a lightweight metallic fringe or soutache, combined with self ruching from the same silk? Now the question is if I will actually be able to get the darn fabric!

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.

Buttons And Braid

A couple of months back, I had mentioned that my friend Anders had acquired boxes upon boxes of wondrous things. Mainly buttons.
There were also loads of genuine silver and gold braid, of varying width and design, many in their original wrappings from 19th to early 20th century Germany and England.
He has started an Etsy shop, Greyfell Productions, with just a few of these items so far. But you can get an idea of the types of buttons and military braid we have available from this huge lot.
A lot of these items would be fantastic trimmings for a ladies military inspired Georgian or Victorian riding habit.

Tools Of The Trade...

One thing that has had me on the hunt for years in the realm of 18th century styling, is the pinking tool.
Each time I thought I had at least one within my grasp, I lost the auction or the company making them would fold.

Last night while perusing Ebay, I found one, and was finally able to purchase it!
The seller mentioned that it is an old leather working tool and may need some sharpening, which is an easy fix. It has a tiny zig zag or 'Van Dyke' pattern, and while I'd love to find a scallop version, this is a good start. I have some scallop pinking shears that will do if I absolutely need it, until I find another tool like this. Many 18th century items I've seen with a pinked edge, however; have had this tiny zig zag. More often than I've seen the scallop

The size of this one is 7/8" wide, perfect for making the pinked scallop-within-scallop sleeve ruffles.
A wooden mallet and a piece of wood for under your fabric is all that is needed. Here is a photo of Augustintytär's experiment with this on her amazing 1760's robe à la Française. The tool I found will end up with scallops that look very similar in shape and size to these:


I'll also need to dig for an image in my collection showing a physical historical reference of the results of such a tool (I have some not-so-great photos), but here is an 18th century diagram showing various types of pinking tool. Mine will give a pattern similar to figures A or 4:


Many people have asked, why not just use regular pinking shears? I have before, and while they work fine on some things, here are my own reasons for wanting a pinking tool over pinking shears for certain projects. Particularly when I'm faced with cutting a lot of fabric:

- pinking with shears is tedious and makes my hand hurt after just a few scallops, let alone cutting a straight line.
- shears loose their sharpness much quicker.
- they don't cut through silk taffeta easily, for very long.
- You can't cut your scallop pattern through multiple layers of silk neatly.
- a pinking tool actually does better with punching through multiple layers of fabric, as it gets a better 'bite'.
- and the above makes a pinking tool that much less tedious, as it takes half the time as trimming each scallop by hand, on only one layer of your fabric, with shears.

I can probably add to this list, but that's pretty much where I stand ;-)

Oh, ok yeah....

Sure, I'd love to go check out that little fabric store in Arroyo Grande they might have some stuff-OMG RIBBONS!!
$60 later plus a 1 1/3 yard remnant of silk taffeta...

Sources, Tips and Tricks?

I've decided to try my hand at metallic bullion decoration for my gent's burgundy velvet frock coat. Also known as Goldwork.
I'm not intent on anything too involved (like the bodice in my header image), but I'd like to do some designs on the self fabric-covered buttons, both on the frock coat and waistcoat.
I figure buttons are a good place to start for a beginner; less surface area.
Something along these lines:
http://goldnstitches.typepad.com/gold-n-stitches/2010/01/goldwork-buttons.html

I have a pretty good idea of how it's done, but I was wondering if anyone knows of some good online tutorials on the subject.

xoxo

Beautiful Bodices....

Spangles, where art thou?

I'm on the hunt for those tiny flat sequin-like embellishments, traditionally called "Spangles" or "Paillettes".
There are modern versions in plastic, but I would like to hopefully find the real metal ones, as seen on this waistcoat by Bjarne Drews.
They have proved a bit difficult to find in a color other than gold, but I may have found a few good sources. Two being hedgehoghandworks.com, and The Lacemaker.
If I decide I ever need to cheat and go with some made of more modern materials, Cartwright's Sequins might be a good bet as well.

The (almost) Lost Art Of Fly Fringe

Thanks to this little tutorial, those of us willing and patient enough can learn to recreate fly fringe, also known as fly braid. There are varying degrees of complexity, ranging from seemingly simple, to layered multitudes of color and texture.


This was a popular form of trim found on many gowns during the 18th c., and in some cases, even found on ensembles from the 19th century.

Follow this link and learn to get "knotty", the 18th century way (Ha! yeah, I know that was bad).
http://www.quaintrellelife.com/fly_fringe.html