Naval riding habit inspiration

The time has come for me to make a riding habit, another one of those projects that I've hoped to make for so long, maybe even longer than any other project. As a child, much before I got into costume making, I used to be interested in pirates as well as naval history. So I've been hoping to make a naval inspired riding habit ever since I realized it would be a much better option than making a naval officer's uniform for myself. The design started to evolve when I stumbled upon a naval inspired riding habit on deviantArt but the original photo got deleted from the site a long time ago so I can't link it here. But I had to mention it anyway because I don't want to take credit from something that wasn't originally entirely my idea.

Anyhow, my major source for inspiration comes from the naval uniforms of National Maritime Museum, which I visited a few years ago. My favourite type of uniform is the full dress uniform of a captain, from 1774. If you've read my post about the floral robe à l'Anglaise, you surely understand why. The reason why I didn't start making a riding habit earlier than this is that I hadn't found suitable wool for it. But a few months ago I did, when I was out visiting the local fabric stores with Noora. I also hadn't found good linen for the habit shirt, but Couture Mayah kindly sent me some linen for it some time ago. The only material I'm still missing is the trim but I'm ready to start making the outfit now because I can order it later.

A Portrait of a Lady (1747) by Roberet Harvie.

At first, I wanted to make the outfit in the 1770s style so I had already bought a pattern for it from Reconstructing History, but after seeing this painting, I changed my mind. Especially because I still have some fabric left from the recent robe à la Francaise that I plan to use for the waistcoat. The details that I love about this painting in particular: The lace collar with a black bow.

And the mariner's cuffs, plus the golden trim.

 For comparison, here are some painting of men in naval uniforms.

Captain Horatio Nelson (1781) by John Francis Rigaud.

John Jervis, Earl of St Vincent (1769) by Francis Cotes.

Captain James Cook (1775-76) by  Nathaniel Dance.

Mrs. Epes Sargent (Catherine Osborne) also wore a blue riding habit for her portrait. But I don't like the wide ribbon tied around her neck with two bows in the front and back because it's quite large. And isn't that pale pink bow in her hair just a bit silly? Maybe she tried to add a feminine touch to the stiff, tailored outfit with it but I don't like it. I also prefer the coat open in the front so that you can see the vest. 

Mrs. Epes Sargent (Catherine Osborne) by John Singleton Copley (c. 1764).

Nancy Fortescue looks fabulous in her blue riding habit, though. I love the tassels!

Portrait of Nancy Fortescue (1745) by Thomas Hudson.

This picture is very small but you can see the lady in the blue riding outfit has got a coat with ermine cuffs and collar. 

Trevelyan family of Wallington, Nothtumberland, English school (1745-50).

For more blue riding habits and uniforms, take a look at this Pinterest board.

Second Robe à la Polonaise - planning stage

I've got so many exciting projects coming up it's getting hard for me to pick which one I want to do first. As a lonely seamstress I've recently been easily tempted by online group costuming projects because that's the closest I can get to sewing together with friends right now. Before I start blogging about 18th Century Court Ensembles Project (hosted by Kendra of Démodé) there's at least one dress of my dreams to make.  Ever since I realized the purple robe à la polonaise isn't going to fit anymore I started visualizing a new robe à la polonaise. At the moment it's my favorite style of all 18th century gowns and now that I'm used to it, I even find the hanging front kind of appealing. My original idea was to make a pale blue robe à la Polonaise with either wide self-fabric or silk organza trimming and black bows. But by now I know there are at least two light blue robe à la Polonaise gowns made in the recent past by other seamstresses and I'm getting very concerned about the uniqueness of this dress. Or should I say, the lack of it. I'm pretty sure many of you have already seen photos of the recreation of the robe à la Polonaise worn by Madame Elisabeth of France in the painting below. In case you haven't, here's a link to the blog about that dress in particular.

Madame Élisabeth seated at her harp by Charles Leclercq, 1783

At the time I first saw photos of that dress on the net I had just decided to order ice blue silk taffeta from Renaissance Fabrics but had not yet done it. It felt like a really big drawback for me because it started to feel like I'm going to copy that recreation, careless of the fact that I already had had that design in my mind for a long time. Not precisely the same design, but close. So this is where I got stuck. After a short while, I also saw another very similar dress made by Les Corsets de Lola on facebook (also found on this website) and lost almost all will to make the whole dress. That made me ponder the possibility of mixing two dresses: a Spanish robe à la Polonaise from Museo del Traje with light blue robe à l'Anglaise from Abiti Antichi. But somehow I didn't feel as excited about it as I had felt about the original idea. With the two following prints featuring two totally cute robe à la Polonaise gowns, I'm still considering making it in light blue. I would also love to make the petticoat daringly short, with shoes and a hint of ankle covered by stockings showing.

Fashion Plate (1780) from Los Angeles Public Library

The straw hat and the walking stick really complete this pretty little outfit...

1870s print of French Baronesses from 1783

Talking about group costuming projects, some time ago Merja started writing about her thoughts on making a robe à la Polonaise on Livejournal so we thought it would be fun to make them at the same time and arrange a group photography session after we're both done with our dresses and it really brought back my inspiration for this project. I hadn't lost it completely but I guess I just needed something to push me forward. Because I love to draw quick sketches to clear my thoughts, here's the design I was thinking about back in March. And still am, with slight alterations.

And another sketch that was actually made right before the one above. I don't like this as much as the other, but I thought it might be nice to share it anyway. 

Currently I don't feel so well because I've probably caught a cold or something but as soon as I get back on my feet I will finish revamping the floral robe à l'Anglaise asap and then head to see what the local fabric stores have to offer and  then I really hope I will come to a conclusion so that this dream project can finally start coming true. And hopefully, I'll end up having a cute dress something like this in the end: 

Portrait d'une Jeune Dame de Qualité, 1777, by Jean Laurent Mosnier.

Upcoming project: Striped 1780's dress

I'm finally about to start to make a new dress. This is a gown of which I've been dreaming of since I saw a picture of a striped 1780's robe à l'anglaise in the book Fashioning fashion a few months ago. There's only a back view photo of the dress (below) in the book if I remember correctly. I tried to find the dress in LACMA digital collection but it wasn't there. Later on, I saw some pictures of the said dress on a flickr set of Fashioning Fashion exhibit and thought I'd love to sew the dress for myself because I'm absolutely crazy about stripes and purple is one of my favorite colours.

Picture via Fashion is Poison blog.

The dress instantly made me think of another very similar anglaise gown on MET.

Unfortunately I couldn't start making the dress as soon as I would have wanted to because it took me a couple of months to find the fabric. I knew I probably wouldn't find white and purple striped silk fabric but luckily I did find the fabric in cotton! It looks almost blue when photographed but it's actually purple. Here's a sketch of my version of this type of dress. I'm not yet sure whether I'll add ruffles to the petticoat like in the Met dress. I'll have to see about it later on. Changes in the design are very probable anyway.

At the moment I'm making a humongous bumpad to be worn under the petticoat because I realized my earlier bumpad was much too small. I'll post photos of the progress on the dress as I get there.

Pattern for robe à l'anglaise (1787) found via the Costumer's Manifesto. 

By the way, I started a facebook site for Rococo Atelier so that I can share interesting links with you. I'll also post links to my recent blog posts there so you can follow the blog more easily if you don't have a blogger account. Like Rococo Atelier here.