Pinstripe robe à l'Anglaise retroussée

This dress is one that I started making back in 2015 but that I didn't finish until Christmas ball in November 2016.  I also wore it to the Christmas ball the following year again, when the first set of these pictures were taken.

Previously I've made patterns in mainly two ways; either drafting my own patterns according to my measurements and trying to get the seam lines right by looking at extant gowns, or by enlarging scale patterns from books, altering them according to my measurements until they fit. I haven't really had as good results with either of these techniques as I'd like to have so it was about time I tried out something else. So I borrowed Creating Historical Clothes: Pattern Cutting from Tudor to Victorian Times from Mia because this book includes step by step instructions for creating patterns for several periods. First you start by taking your own measurements and, comparing them to measurement charts, draft a basic bodice pattern. I chose to turn my basic bodice pattern into a 1770s style bodice from the book, except so that it doesn't extend below the waist (see photo), and used it as a base for the pattern for my first robe en chemise. Since the pattern was made to my measurements, it required very little alterations to make it fit, except that I had to take it in quite considerably in at the back. Later on, I completed the pattern into a 1770s bodice according to the instructions in the book.

Bodice pattern before extending it below waist and alterations.

But I wan't happy with the pattern as it was because I thought it didn't look quite right. (I wish I had took a picture at this point so you could compare it with my final pattern.) However, the pattern reminded me of the 1770-85 gown pattern on page 39 of Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1 so I decided to try to alter my pattern to make it correspond with it. To me it seems the pattern in Creating Historical Clothes might be vaguely based on it, too. I won't go into detail describing all of the things I did because a. it's not that interesting and b. I can't actually even remember all of them anymore. But I ended up altering it quite a lot. In the end, I was slightly frustrated because I had spent so much time on the pattern and yet I wasn't completely happy about how the bodice looked. But eventually I thought it made no sense to keep fiddling with the pattern and decided it was good enough.

The bodice after a great deal of adjustments.

I also experimented with a bodice construction method that I hadn't tried earlier (though I wish I had!): "the weird running whip stitch thingy" that is now known as the English stitch, thanks to the ladies of American Duchess. I must say using this technique made matching the stripes easy. Not to mention how neat and tidy it makes the inside of your bodice, too (as can be seen below).

Here's a close-up of the finished seam, before removing the basting stitches:

The finished bodice seen from the outside:

And the inside:

At this point I drafted the pattern for the sleeves with the instructions in Creating Historical Clothes and had some fit issues with them as well. The finished sleeves (after alterations) look alright but I can barely lift my arms in them so I might add a little triangle to the underarm to allow for more mobility.

After that, it was time to decide on the trim. I wanted to trim the gown in some way, even though the most of extant robes à l'Anglaise aren't trimmed at all or only have a little bit of trim. But I didn't want to use the same trim style as the one in Patterns of Fashion, as it's the style that most people use and I thought it would be fun to do something a little different. So I spent some time researching options (which are collected on my Pinterest) but, as you can tell, I ended up using the same old trim style as everybody else, as I concluded that I liked it the best after all. *facepalm*

When it came to the sleeve trim, I really liked the wide trim seen on this beautiful costume from the Duchess. But I wanted to find validation for the trim style in historical sources. Alas, I was in no luck - which honestly didn't surprise me - so I gave up the idea. It's a trim style that appears to have mainly been used on robes à la Polonaise.

As usual, Mia did my hair for the evening and I did hers. We arranged a little public toilette before the event officially begun.

Mia working on my hairdo after I had finished hers.

When it comes to late 1770s, there's no such thing as too much hair decoration, right? ;)

And there's even a short video clip from the ball (unfortunately the quality is bad because this was taken on Mia's phone :/).

I also wore this dress to a small informal ball in January earlier this year and Mia kindly snapped these detail pictures of my gown and hairdo after the ball.

So here's a dirty little secret: I didn't intend to put trim down the center front (it's not something you see on historical examples and it even hides my careful stripe matching) but the hook and eye closure of the bodice stretched the lining a bit so there's a narrow but ugly gap at the front. Hence this was the last time I used hooks and eyes as a closure on my 18th century gowns. While hooks and eyes make a dress easy and quick to put on, I prefer to be able to adjust the bodice with a center front pieces that are lapped and pinned.

Despite of the difficulties I had making this dress, I do like the gown anyhow. :)

Links related to this project: 

1770s hair caps and hats

18th century: Portraits of Women: 1770s

18th century: Costruction details

18th century: Robe à l'Anglaise

Costume in Detail: 1730-1930 by Nancy Bradfireld

Patterns of Fashion: c. 1660-1860 by Janet Arnold

Original open robe in National Trust

Has anyone of you tried to draft a pattern with the instructions in Creating Historical Clothes? I'd love to hear your thoughts about it if you have! Personally, I'm not going to use it again (unless someone can point out a good pattern from it). Mia has also tried to make a pair of stays with this book and didn't have good results either. In conclusion: If you're thinking about buying this book, I wouldn't recommend getting it. 

Revamping another floral robe à l'anglaise

First of all, I must introduce my new friend to all of you who aren't my friends on facebook. A while ago I found this nice dress dummy from a second hand store and even though she isn't exactly my size she can wear my dresses surprisingly well for a random find. I'm considering padding her at some point I but at the moment I'm feeling too lazy to do it. And I'm not yet sure if I want to do it anyhow because right now she can wear one of my friend's dresses (without stays) as well as mine (with stays).  

Currently I'm revamping yet another floral robe à l'anglaise that was made a few years ago. Basically it wasn't in desperate need of a revamp but it bothered me so much that something had to be done to it. I ended up taking it almost completely apart because it was badly machine sewn and because the lining was loose and made out of sheet so I had to cut new pieces for it from linen. At the moment the dress nearly completely reassembled, lacking only the sleeves and hooks and eyes. Eventually the skirt of the robe will be looped up with tapes on the inside of the dress. This is how it looks now:

Since this is an old gown, I'm starting to feel like it needs something new to it - to cheer it up a little bit. This is not my gown so the final decision lies in the hands of it's owner but I'd still love to hear your opinion about it. The original plan was to decorate the dress with self-fabric trim but after some research on the net I realized that none of the similar extant gowns had self-fabric trimming. Evidence can be seen on this Pinterest board. 

I know many costume makers just love to trim their dresses heavily with self-fabric and I sure love to do so as well. But now I feel like I really don't want to do it with this dress like I did with the earlier robe à l'anglaise that was already doomed to be historically inappropriate because of it's fabric. But this fabric looks much more historically appropriate so I wouldn't like to ruin it by decorating it in a way that isn't. So what do you think? Have you stumbled upon a floral robe à l'anglaise that is indeed decorated with self-fabric trim? Or any other kind of trim that I could use? Of course accessories will make the whole costume look a bit more interesting but I still feel like the robe itself needs something to it. Please let me know what you think!

And here's one more quick shot of the bodice...

This is what the gown used to look like when it was made.

I don't think I have quite enough fabric left to make a matching petticoat but I'm thinking about making either a light blue or a sheer white petticoat instead. Or maybe even both. The petticoat seen in the two old photos no longer exists.

Early costumes: Floral robe à l'Anglaise, 2009

Because there's nothing new to post about, it's time for a post about an old dress. I actually tried to make a half-polonaise but it failed miserably. The visual effect on the front side made my bust look as small as the waist so that my upper body looked like a straight tube. Or even worse, so that the waist actually looked bigger than my bust. I'm not even going to share any photos of it with you because it's so horrible. Not to mention all the wrinkles.

My aim was to wear the demi-polonaise at a ball last April but as you can imagine, I didn't even finish the whole thing. After the lost case, I had only a couple of days to pull something together for the event. So I had a chance to finish an old dress that had been a work in progress for some time. It's a floral robe à l'Anglaise retroussée that I originally sewed back in 2009, being also the second dress that I ever made. It was also the first dress that I wore with stays underneath. Long story short, after a few years it no longer fit so it had to be taken apart and the fit had to be altered. The design remains basically the same as in the beginning but it's made with much more care than back then.

To be honest, I have a sort of love-hate relationship with this dress. I got the printed cotton fabric as a gift from a dear friend and I've always loved the floral pattern of it. The combination of gold and blue (accompanied with red and white) has to be my favorite combination of colors ever. But. There's always a but. So there's a tiny voice in my head that tells me blue fabric with gold printed floral pattern isn't an historically appropriate choice anyway. It's actually a modern Christmas season fabric.

If I remember correctly, the original pattern is based on a pattern in the book Period Costume for Stage and Screen by Jean Hunnisett. As many of you can tell, the trimming style is based on a polonaise dress c. 1770-85 from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1.

 

Because of having worn this dress to events before, I let the hem fall down instead of pulling the skirt up.

The pose in the photo below is awkward but this is the only photo of the back of the dress worn like this.

In the following photos I'm wearing a quick and simple mob cap that I made for 1780's costumes. It's my back-up plan in case of bad hair days. :)

And this is how the dress looks from the back with the skirt pulled up with two strings.

A few photos of the construction... I started by fitting the bodice lining by taking it in both at the sides and in the back.

 Then the en fourreau back was attached to the lining.

After a few failed attempts to repleat the en fourreau pleats of the back I simply took the dress in at the back as seen in the photo below.

Next, the front panels and the shoulder straps were added. Bones were put into channels at centre front in order to keep the front straight.

By this point I got very lazy and didn't take any photos of the remaining parts of the construction. As usual, I'm going to be honest and admit I cheated at several points. Similarly to my purple robe à la Polonaise, the lace ruffles at the ends of the sleeves aren't separate and the lace along the neckline is stitched to the bodice and not to the shift. This dress was a practice project for fun rather than a very serious project anyway. 

Also, I'd like to thank Chelsea, Kendra, Kirstine and Katie Jacobs for nominating me with the very inspiring blogger and one lovely blog awards. I'd love to pass them on but it's so hard to keep up with who has already received the awards and who hasn't so I'm afraid I'm going to pass this time.