18th century – Page 4 – Fashion Through Herstory

Gentle(wo)mans 18th century Riding Hat

Published on December 30, 2014 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

For the HSF 22 – Gentlemen, I had some grand planes, but life happened and the project has been postponed till next year.

So instead I decided to make and submit the complementary accessory to the original outfit – A 18th century riding hat.

Some inspiration:

To start, I bought a simple wool/felt hat at the local fashion store.

Then I drowned it completely in hot water, and forced it onto a acting hat block (a flower pot) and molded and pinned it to shape.

I used some weights to make it hold its shape while drying over night.

When the hat had dried and the shape was set I pinned one of the side up and stitched it on. I then added a length of feathery trim I found in my stash.

I also added a piece of black satin ribbon and a small buckle to finish it of.

The finished hat:

Just the facts:

Challenge: nr 22 – Gentlemen

What: A 18th century riding hat made from a regular fashion wool hat.

Notions: Thread, satin sash, 1 silver buckle and 80 cm of feather ribbon.

Time: Active time, maybe 30 minutes (24 hours if you count the drying).

Cost: 100 Sek (16 Usd) – 79 Sek for the hat, and the rest of the notions came from stash.

How historical accurate: Not really. Apart from the fact that black wool hast were common for riding attire, there is noting accurate about it.

First worn: Not yet, since this is part of a whole ensemble which is not yet finished.

Final thoughts: I can’t quite decide if I like it or not. It may be that it looks to “costumy” to be any good. But I guess I can always add more feathers.

This was such a fast and easy project that I cant help feel I’m totally cheating as the HSF goes, but at this moment I don’t care, I’m just happy to have something to submit as my final item to finish this years race.

18th century Spring Anglaise – Photoshoot

Published on December 2, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory3 Comments

Here are some photos of my new Spring Anglaise, paired with my Bergere and green quilted petticoat.
Lets just pretend its April…

Photo: Maria Petersson

18th century Spring Anglaise En Fourreau

Published on November 30, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

Here in Sweden November’s been darker then usual and it seems we just broke the record for less hours of sun, counting only 2 hours of sun during the whole past month.
No wounder we all feel and look like living dead by now. (and Winter is coming…)

So today I decided it was time to get some costuming sun, by showing of my newest gown – inspired by fresh spring flowers…

Last year I bought this fabric from IKEA (hm, must be my, 5th dress, or something made by fabric/curtains/bed-sheets from that store).And a month ago I dug it out from my stash determent to make it into something 18th century.

Inspiration came straight away.

I used an old pattern and made some minor alterations like moving the shoulder seam, and remade the sleeve.

I tried the paper pattern on my dress-form to get a better look of how it would look.

Then I made and tried on the mock-up.

After some minor alteration I was ready to cut the fabric.

Since I didn’t had any deadline for this project, I decided to make the whole dress by hand.

I basted the lining to the interlining and stitched the bodice together for a try on.

After lowering the neckline a few cm, I put the bodice on my dress-form and started covering it with the fashion fabric.

The En Fourreau pleats was a bit tricky to get to lie smooth, but after once re-pinning I stitched everything down from the outside using back-stitches.

Then I set the sleeves, gathered and stitched on the skirt, cut the length and hemmed it. And finished of with some pleated trim and hook and eye for closure.

The Finished dress:

Facts:

What: a 1780s robe Anglaise

Pattern: I drafted my own using a old self made pattern as a starting point..

Fabric: 1 white flowery printed cotton bed sheet from IKEA (approximately 3,5 x 1,5 m), 0,5 m regular white cotton for lining and 0,5 m heavy upholster fabric for interlining.

Notions: Thread, 11 pair of hook and eyes and 1,5 m of plastic boning.

Time: Since it is completely hand stitched the amount of time is much higher then my usual projects. I will take a educated guess at 25 hours counting low.

Cost: About 200 Sek (32 Usd). Everything from stash.

Final Thoughts: I’m not thrilled about it.
The back pleating looks a bit sad, and the en fourreau back is not one of my greatest accomplishments. I think I will have to re-make the entire back of the gown before wearing it for real.
I also think the front point should be longer and more pronounced, even if that’s something I can live with for now.
I do however like the shape and setting of the newly drafted sleeves. And the fabric of this gown just look so soft and beautiful.

18th century Waik

Published on November 27, 2014November 28, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory6 Comments

I planed to do a long write up about the 18th century Halloween party I attended two weeks ago, but now I feel more like just some quick word then on to the pictures.

As previously mentioned I didn’t had the time to make a mourning gown for the party, (I did however take one evening to make a new cap). Instead I wore my pretty recently finished Autumn Anglaise, paired with my new lace cuffs and cap.A mirror selfie before leaving the house.

The location and settings for the party was perfect (even if it took me one hour to find the way to the house).

I had such a good time at the party. I danced, chatted and meet several really nice new people.Photo by Jennifer Garner

Photo by Jennifer Garner

They even had a real coffin with a man laying inside. jennifer garnier Photo by Jennifer Garner

And a scary laboratory with lots of creepy and disgusting objects.

Brain in a jar anybody…?

We think this is whats left from the masters latest lost servant…

The paintings on the walls are actual 18th century renderings.

One of the musicians – At least I got one sharp photo.

Elisa from “Isis Wardrobe” – If you haven’t found her blog yet, you seriously missed out…
Photo by Folke Bagger

Well at least one of the photos taken during the evening was of me…Courtesy of Folke Bagger – or not, depends how you look at it :-).

I had such a good time and I’m determent to get some proper mourning gear for next years party…Love my “after event hairdo”, perhaps I should consider doing the Mohawk on a more regular basis…

18th century Lacy sleeve cuffs

Published on October 8, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory3 Comments

For the HSF nr 19 – HSF-Inspiration (draw inspiration from any of your fellow HSFs items), I decided to make a pair of 18th century sleeve cuffs.

I found a 6 m long piece of lace in my stash, and decided to use it for this project. I originally had some much more delicate lace in mind for this project, but I couldn´t find any I liked in a reasonable enough price range.
So the white lace it is.

The only problem was, it was too white.

After some debating with myself, I decided to try to tea dye it.
And so I did.The salt´s for setting the color.

Cooking away on the stove.

Rinsing the leftover color out.

When dry, the lace was in dire need of some ironing.

Then it was time to start on the cuffs.
I decided to use two different kinds of lace, using the middle one as extension on the second layer on the cuff.

So I stitched the edges of the pieces together, creating different sized circles of the lace.

then I gathered and pined the pieces together.But then I realised that once the extension lace was gathered into the bias tape, the cuffs would be too puffy.

So I decided to trim a piece of the longer lace to get a more modest gather to start with.The bottom piece are the one cut of.

Then I pinned the second layer to it.

And finished of with the bias-tape.

And Finished:

Just the facts:

Challenge: 19 – HSF Inspiration

What: 18th century lace cuffs.

Inspiration: Erin Lee´s 19th century lace cuffs.

Pattern: none, I just gathered and stitched.

Fabric: None.

Notions: a total of 3 m of cotton lace, 60 cm of bias-tape and thread.

How historical accurate: Not particularly. But I did take what I had at hand, and if that´s not period then I don’t know…
They are completely hand stitched, and hand dyed with natural material. Maybe 5/10.

Time: 4 hours including the dying.

Cost: 50 Sek (8 Usd)

First worn: I hope to wear them on an up-coming costume event this november.

Pink 18th century Flowery Francaise Petticoat

Published on October 4, 2014October 4, 2014 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

“Long petticoats to hide the feet,
Silk hose with clocks of scarlet ;
A load of perfume, sick’ning sweet,
Bought of PARISIAN VARLET.”

From Female Fashions for 1799 by Mary Darby Robinson

This summer, when venturing trough the local fabric store, I couldn’t resist buying this beautiful flowery satin fabric. It just screamed at me from the sales corner, and begged me to make it into a robe a la Francaise – so I bought it all.

And since the this weeks HSF challenge nr 19) is “Poetry”, I figured I’ll start working on it.

I started with the petticoat (since I just needed something simple to occupie my hands and thoughts from work).
Sitting in the sofa, watching old series, I managed to finish it in a couple of nights. But just as I was about to put it away as finished, I noticed the huge amount of fabric at the center front.That didn’t look quite right.
And after some additional image searching I knew I needed to rework the pleating to get a neater appearance under neath the dress.

So I ripped the waistband of, re-pleated the skirt and stitched it back on.

Unfortunately I forgot to take proper, and detailed, finishing photos of the skirt before storing it. But I did get a quick photoshoot.

The finished Skirt:

Just the facts:

Challenge: 18, Poetry in motion

Poem: Parts of Female Fashions for 1799 by Mary Darby Robinson.

What: a 18th century skirt/petticoat.

Pattern: None, just cut two lengths of fabric and fiddled with he pleats until it looked okay.

Fabric: 1,3 m of flowery polyester satin (yes I now, but it was Sooo pretty).

Notions: Thread and 2 m of cotton ribbon for tying at the waist.

How historical accurate: So so, the material are totally wrong, but it is all hand stitched and I think the look of it are pretty okay.

Time: About 8 hours, including the readjusting of the pleats.

Cost: 100 Sek (16 Usd).

First worn: around the house for photos.

Bal a la Turque

Published on September 17, 2014 by fashionthrougherstoryLeave a comment

So, last Friday it was finally time for the Bal a la Turque.
I left early from work to catch the train to the capital, went to our apartment, dressed and headed to the party.

The party itself was located at some beautiful old buildings complete with dining room an dance hall. The guests were all dressed to their teeth in 18th century Turkish fashion, and everyone looked wonderful.

All party pictures are courtesy of Jennifer Garnier, who graciously allowed me to post them here. Enjoy.

And I just have to show you these masterpieces, one of the girls took at the end of the evening.
If you look fast you can actually kind of see the three of us posing…

Robe a la Turque – photoshoot

Published on September 15, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory7 Comments

OK, first I feel I need to apologize to anyone who might be offended by these past posts very non political correct use of the word Turque.
I’m sorry, and please know that I do not mean anything by it, but simply uses the word as a name of the Turkish influences in fashion and society in 18th century.

And here are some pics of the outfit now known as “Robe a la Turque”

My Artistic Robe the Turque (sort of..)

Published on September 13, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

With the Bal a la Turque just one week away I finally decided what to sew – Nothing!

I will not make a thing, I will however do some alterations on a previous costume and add some new accessories.

When looking at the inspirational pics I really liked the flowing, layer on layer type of look, but also the more stylished robe a la Turque. Then I realized I had just the dress – made only three months ago.

My striped Zone front Anglaise.

A couple of quick sketches later I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and started on the alterations:

Beginning by shortening the sleeves.Cutting and hemming at a flattering new lenght.

Then I made a pattern for the extra under sleeves, cut them in a white leftover linen I found in my stash.

Then I stitched them together and hemmed the wrists.

And basted them to the armhole.

Then it was time for the ruffle.
I drew a circle on a paper, And cut it out in double cotton voile from stash.

I gathered the edge and stitched it to a bias strip.

And finally I basted the ruffle to the neckline, and trimmed it down using pinking sheers.

The new Robe a la Turque:

I love how the makeover turned out.
I think both the ruffle and the new style of sleeves make it look really good, and helps enhance the pretty crispness of the white on the stripes.

But the dress alone don’t make a “Turque” – It’s all about the accessories…

I decided to change the original white petticoat, in favor for the recently shortened golden one to give the outfit more color.

I used the sash from my white 1900s Ariel dress and tied it around the skirt at hip level, securing it with safety pins. To mimic the mandtory white Turque sash.

And of course I also needed a belt, which I bought in a thrift shop not long ago.

And not to forget some shawls and jewelry.

The finished outfit styled and ready:

Over all I think I came up with a pretty nice looking (sort of) Robe a la Turque, using only stash fabrics and old pieces.

Now its of to the bal…

(Sport)Autumn Anglaise – Photoshoot

Published on September 8, 2014September 8, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory2 Comments

This picture post contains even more photos then usually, since I insisted on a second photshoot after I’d properly shortened the petticoat. You can actually see the skirts different lengths in many of these photos.

And once again a big thanks sis, for always helping me photograph and never complaining (even when I get frustrated at my own lack in modeling skills, and crappy wig work ;-)) I really appreciate it.