Wednesday, February 1, 2012

W.I.P.: 1780s stays and petticoat for polonaise progress

So, I'm happy to tell I actually kept my promise I made in the last post and started sewing the petticoat for my robe à la polonaise. At the moment I've got only half of the trimming on the hem left to do. I got the idea for the pinking of edges from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion I. I guess most of you are familiar with the book and recognize the petticoat I'm talking about. I don't have a real 18th century pinking tool since it's not available anywhere on the web at the moment (Do correct me if I'm wrong.) so I used my pinking shears to imitate the triangular pinking style. It's quite time-consuming and doesn't have the exact same shape of the original 18th century pinking but I'm happy with the result anyway. 


I decided on a pleated trimming style that matches with the trimming on the gown itself.


I found this lovely drawing of a woman sewing with a similar pleated petticoat trimming style.

Louis Roland Trinquesse, Seated Woman Sewing, 1788

Also, I mentioned I was making patterns for 1780s stays in a post last September (Was it that long ago, really?!)  and I found the cut pieces last weekend when I was going through my fabric boxes and thought I should make them although I had decided on another pattern. I'm probably going to sell them once they're finished so I 'm not going to make any changes to them according to my size. I do this just purely for fun and to test out the pattern I had picked.

4 comments:

  1. The pinking must have taken you ages! But it looks great so I'm sure it was worth it!

    I know some American sutlers carried pinking tools years ago but a quick google turned up nothing. There are several 1930's pinking "machines" on Ebay that I would like to try one day but the shipping costs to Sweden would be awful!
    Some suggest woodworking tools for pinking as well.
    As you see, ths is of great interest to me, too! :D

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    1. I know some Americans sold them a long ago (or that's what I've heard) but I didn't know about the 1930s machines on Ebay! Hah, I think I should have the same problem here in Finland! I wish someone started selling the 18th century tools, though... Yes, it's an interesting subject!

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  2. I think the pinking looks perfect!

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    1. Great! Because I sure think it's close enough and love the way it looks!

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