A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

I haven't written anything here in a while! The main reason is that I started to take a pattern from a corset at work to share, as I don't have one in my notebook already for the 1830s, and then started considering whether that's against policy, so decided I should stop until I discussed it with someone ... and then didn't ... and then, you know, the museum was closed and we all had to go home. So. In the meantime, I have  been working on Mimic of Modes patterns! (Everything's 50% off this week!) You may have noticed if you follow this blog's page on Facebook. I've made: The Very Easy Crinoline I don't know how much demand there is for this, given that crinolines can be purchased easily from Pin Up Girl and Unique Vintage and other shops, but I wanted more practice figuring out how to grade patterns and write instructions. There is also an excellent vintage clothing store here in Oneonta, and I purchased a whole bunch of things to pattern in the fu...

Several years ago, mid-sixteenth-century Venetian gowns were fairly popular among historical costumers, but I don't seem to see them anymore. (Or maybe I'm just not looking in the right places?) Anyway, I was always interested in them but never made one myself. Recently, I was thinking about this era of clothing again due to a personal fiction project, and I realized that while I was familiar with the standard outfit - a sleeveless or sleeved kirtle that laces up the front, revealing a white triangle or strip of gathered chemise - I didn't really know anything about its evolution. (One interesting thing its evolution shows is that the common statement that fashion only "changed" every few decades until the nineteenth century is, like many common statements about fashion history, not true. Fashions had continuing variety, though often in subtle ways.) At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Venetian dress was somewhat plainer. La Schiavona , Titian, ...

The chemise is the first thing you put on, so it's the first garment I'll be discussing. As in other eras, the chemise was used as an underlayer to soak up the wearer's oils and sweat and protect the rest of the clothing. Throughout history, they have tended to be pretty shapeless, but there are typically various features that reflect contemporary fashion. In this period, that typically means higher and wider necklines, and short but full sleeves. Fabrics This period marks the early years of the Industrial Revolution, and the transition from linen to cotton as the basic utility fabric. Linen required a significant investment of time for processing (you have to let the harvested plant sit around in water for weeks to rot the stems and loosen the fibers), while cotton could be cleaned, carded, and spun pretty much immediately, which is part of the reason for this transition. Both linen and cotton were used for undergarments at this time. The Workwoman's Guide,  fi...

Putting it in writing to make sure it happens - next summer, I'm going to be hosting an 1830s picnic in central New York! Hyde Hall - this was in April when it was still very cold, so it will be more lush, I promise! Hyde Hall is a gorgeous mansion on Otsego Lake in Springfield Center. It was built between 1817 and 1834, which makes it a perfect place to have a pre-Victorian event. It also has a great big grassy lawn, and I've already mentioned this to the staff there and they think it would be pretty cool! Why am I posting about this so early? Well, mainly because I planned to do it this year and it never happened (though in fairness, I spent half of July out of town, so ... that made it hard to plan or prepare), and I want to make sure that I do pick a date and that it gets held. This is also not a period that most people sew for, so it might take us all some time to create our ensembles. With that in mind, I'm going to be writing a series of posts on 1830s dres...

The Layette In an earlier chapter, marriage gave the lingère the work of making and furnishing a convenient trousseau. Once the wife is pregnant, she must still resort to the lingère: she contemplates the fact that she is going to become a mother, and therefore it is time to prepare the layette for her and the infant that she will bring into the world. "Layette", which etymologically means a "little box", refers today to an assemblage of all the clothes and necessary items for the infant born by its mother during the time of her confinement. With regard to the newborn, whether a boy or a girl: the sexes are not distinguished by different clothing until the age where the infant is no longer an infant. The layette can be magnificent like the trousseau, and for the same reasons a magnificent one will be described: it will contain every possible item. How and when it is put on the infant will also be indicated, and what is called the "suit": this item...

Lingères not only sell and cut linens, laces, etc., but as they are charged most often to make garments that are finished and ready to be worn, they send them out for seaming, assembling, mounting, and marking to their Linen Workers. Sometimes the assembling is also done in households of women or by maids who have some knowledge in that respect, or even by thrifty ladies who do it for their amusement: this is why we will explain the seaming stitches used in linen-making as clearly as possible, together with the method of sewing the different marks on the linen that make it known to the laundresses, or any other launderers, to whom they belong. The different Stitches are: The overcast stitch, which joins fabrics at the edges. The whipstitch, which holds fells at the edges. The backstitch, which joins fabrics flat. The running stitch, same. The flat-felled seam joins and holds the edges. The knotted or buttonhole stitch, which prevents edges from frayi...

16 Vendémiaire an 7 (7 October 1798) YOUNG WOMAN ON A PROMENADE Blonde wig à la Naiad.  The triumph that wigs have carried over natural hair will last a long time: it is more ornamental than hair. Our elegant women have cut their hair as if they have taken the veil, a strange coiffure, and one that only looks well on some very young people. Can you believe that we have seen (such is the power of fashion, that it often blinds self-love itself!) women coiffed à la Titus  with grey hair? This women's mania for looking shorn could not last. Wigs retook favor, and with them, the inappreciable advantage for coquetry to be able to change the color of one's hair as one changes clothing. Hat topped with a green toque and two white and black plumes. This hat is wrapped with white taffeta with black velvet net.  It is difficult to determine which type of coiffure is triumphing among the beauties. They vary infinitely and it is rare to meet two elegant ladies in a brillia...