A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

December 20, 1786 FRENCH FASHIONS. Two women's Busts. The first, dressed in a pink satin gown, wears a hat with a very high crown, made of satin with pink stripes and Sky blue stripes, trimmed on the front in three rows of large bows of yellow ribbons with green plain stripes down the middle and pinked pink stripes on the edges, and on the back with three large bows of matching ribbons. In the middle of the three rows of large ribbon bows rises an aigrette of seven medium plumes in white, pink, black, and green. A veil of satin matching that used on the hat hangs from the back. The crown of this hat is, so to speak, the only hat crown which is worn today. They are made in different satins with stripes of different colors - blue and white, black and pink, yellow and black, violet and white, etc. The Woman's hair is all frizzed en tapet , and six curls, placed in three rows, hang over her chest. Her hair, behind, is pulled up in a floating chignon . On her neck, a ...

November 30, 1786 We said in the twenty-fifth Book  of the first Year  that the caps à la Turque  could bring back the great mounted caps, which went so well with women's faces that they removed and ruined straw hats and  chapeau-bonnettes , which most often uglified them, for the reasons we recorded, but which still broke them. One may judge between the two Busts shown in this Plate, if even the baigneuses , which are like the great mounted caps, do not perfectly suit. The baigneuse  that the Woman dressed in a  dawn-colored  satin gown wears has large pleats and is made of striped white gauze. It is trimmed with a dawn  ribbon with white stripes, which forms a large bow on the front. This Woman wears on her neck a full gauze kerchief en chemise , with three collars, held together with an arrow pin. In her ears hang gold rings à la Plaquette . Her hair is frizzed all over her head. Two curls which descend to the chest are allowe...

November 20, 1786 We announced in the previous Book, on the occasion of caps à la Turque , that we would publish the type and the origin of caps à la Randan , sometimes called à la Bayard . These caps were born from the exquisite taste of the celebrated Actress (1) who played the role of Madame de Randan  in The Loves of Bayard , a new Comedy by M. MONVEL. The sweet and tender air that they extended over her face, which she had been careful to render still calmer by the total lack of powder in her hair, and by a tint of melancholy, giving her this interesting air that allowed Madame de Randan to make the conquest of the sensitive King François I , of the brave Knight Bayard , of the generous de la Palice , of the presumptuous and galant Bonnivet , and even of the impudent and ferocious Sotomayor . The greater part of our Ladies who have adopted these coiffures were persuaded that they would make conquests as brilliant, or at least that they would have the seductive air o...

Boston MFA 44.1533 Round Cap with two rows of Linen [ruffles] with wide hems, streaked ribbon Round Cap with two rows of Linen [ruffles] with wide hems, ribbon tied in a bow, with a kerchief à la Marmotte Round Dormeuse  Cap or morning coiffure Baigneuse  of a new taste called the Galant  Negligé Peasant cornette Cap à la Pierrot Cap à la Gertrude Cap à la Laitière * * milkmaid Cap à la Reisser Cap à la Lyonnaise Cap à l'Enfant Cap  à l'Enfant Cap à la Cauchoise Cap à la Jeannot Cap à la Picarde Cap à l'Insurgente ( 1783 )

A little while ago, I started working on making a new cap - my earlier one was the first I'd ever made, of course I did it without a real pattern, and the cotton was too heavy as well, so it was just terrible. Because I wanted to be able to sell caps in my store, I knew I couldn't start out with a commercial pattern (although I had been at the point where I was prepared to buy one for my own use, which, if you've been following me for a while, you might recognize as desperation!) and so I'd have to start over and figure it out properly. My first stop was at Garsault's L'Art de la lingère  (1771), which I translated and then kind of forgot about doing anything with. c  - the crown a  - the brim d  - the lappets The instructions aren't hugely helpful. It says that double (probably thicker) muslin should be used for the crown, and clear muslin for the ruffles; the crown is whip-gathered to the brim, and the ruffles are whipped on as well. The draws...

It feels really, really good to see all of the finished pieces.  (Well - I think I need a kerchief, but that's quick.)

Even though the Struggle for Liberty re-enactment at Fort Ticonderoga is set during the Revolution, since the stays I made a while ago are 1730s/1740s, the rest of my outfit is going to be dated to that period as well.  I didn't want to make a later-period jacket to fit to that silhouette and not be able to wear it in its proper period once I had the right stays!  I've been looking at cap tutorials online, but most of them seem aimed at the 1770s, so I'm looking at pictures from earlier in the century and will adapt the tutorials once I understand exactly what I want.