All posts filed under: 18th Century

Mariana Victoria: Dyeing to show you

One of my big projects this year will be a 1720s robe de cour for Demode’s 18th century Court Gowns project based on Alexis Simon Belle’s portrait-within-a-portrait of Mariana Victoria of Spain (and of course the various bits of it will also qualify for Historical Sew Fortnightly challenges). The first thing to do was to dye my fabric. When I signed up for the project the deal I made with myself was that I could only do it if I could do it from my stash. Because of this, I’m going to have to compromise a tiny bit on historical accuracy. For my fabric I’m using two 2.7m lengths of vintage mercerised cotton damask curtains (yes, I really am trying to do a court dress out of 5.4m of fabric!) in dull beige-gold, and one smaller scrap: Sadly, not silk, but the pattern isn’t too bad of a match for what you can see of MV’s dress, and the colour can be improved on. So, to dye the curtains. First I washed them thoroughly, to …

A little mending

Published by The Dreamstress

I actually did do some mending for the Make Do & Mend HSF challenge: there has just been so much else to post that I haven’t gotten around to writing about it! First, a little 10 minute mend. One of the bones in my 1770s silver gilt stays was the tiniest bit too long, and had worn a hole in the kid leather binding: I unpicked that section of the binding, slipped it off the tab, pulled out the bone, cut it shorter, and smoothed it off: Then I pushed the bone back in, and used a tiny piece of leftover kid to patch the area with the hole: All that was left to do was to slip the original binding back on, and re-sew it down: The Challenge: #1: Make Do & Mend Fabric: a tiny scrap of kid leather Pattern: My own, based on one in Jill Salens ‘Corsets’ book. Year: ca. 1770 Notions: Just thread for the mending. How historically accurate is it? Period stays were certainly mended, but my binding technique …

Rate the Dress: ca. 1800 innovation & tradition

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week I was a little disappointed in the lack of interest in Ã‰lisabeth de Valois and her velvet dress. I thought it was a fascinating fashion choice, but it just wasn’t a good week for discussions. Those of you who commented did like it though – it came it at 8.6 out of 10, which was just off its most common rating (8.5). And it was a big hit as a pinterest pin, which is always a good indication of popularity! This week, let’s return to the HSF as a source of inspiration for my Rate the Dress choices. The next fortnight’s theme is ‘Innovation’ and one of the most innovative fashion periods ever was the streamlined neoclassical styles of the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. Few fashion innovations are introduced completely out of nowhere: there is often a period of transition, in which elements of the old style mingle with the new trend. This dress represents both the innovation, and the transition: radical in its overall simplicity, it …