All posts filed under: 18th Century

18th century shoes at the Honolulu Museum of Art

I wish I had a finished garment to show you today – my hoopskirt, or the hinted at 1900s dress, but sewing is not going to plan, and I want to post about at least SOMETHING, and I thought, hey, a real antique textile is as good as anything I make, if not better! I’ve shown you most of the textiles from the Honolulu Museum of Art, but here is one of the most exciting pieces I looked at: a pair of 18th century shoes in green and gold on ivory brocade: Based on the large scale brocade, which is clearly early 18th century in date, the wider heel shape and slightly tilted toe, the shoes are probably early-mid-18th century. The outer of the shoes are silk brocade, and they are lined in linen. The green binding is herringbone twill, either in cotton or linen. The shoes are (obviously) entirely hand sewn. The heel is wood, covered in more of the brocade, and the sole is rather heavy leather. The pointed toe appears to be …

Cherries & Cherish: brooches in metal and wood

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m feeling a little panicked about the HSF, because I’m still behind on my #17 Robes & Robing challenge, and I have a big entry to the #18 Re-Make challenge still to enter (though I did enter two little items), and I’m behind on the 1860s elliptical hoopskirt I’m making for the #19 Wood, Metal, Bone challenge. So, to mollify myself I whipped up two super simple little items that qualify for ‘Wood, Metal, Bone’: The first, in metal, is a portrait brooch inspired by 18th century portrait brooches and bracelets. I printed out Ramsay’s Portrait of a Lady on parchment paper and cropped the face to the right dimensions. I really liked that she was an un-named woman, so that her face didn’t have any connotations other than sweet and appealing. Then I lacquered the paper to finish and preserve it, and when it was dry, inserted it into an old brooch back with extra layers of cardstock to further protect it. The brooch looked to plain as it was, so I …

Frou-frou francaise progress (and Fissy)

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m stitching away at the ca. 1760 robe Ã la franÃ§aise, in between teaching classes and giving lectures and marking papers and re-fashioning shoes and drafting patterns and being a human being. I started with drafting a pattern: Then I sewed up a linen support bodice, and worked eyelets down the back, so that I could tighten it with laces: Then there was a great deal of sewing huge lengths of fabric together with teeny-tiny hand stitches. Time consuming, but not very interesting! Then I pleated the back pleating, and hand-stitched it down with silk thread. Then I basted at the shoulder seams, and down the side seams, and cut the fabric down to the waist, and out for the front skirts: I’ve figured out the side pleating, and marked the lines to cut down for pocket slits, and finishing those is my next task. Then on to side pleating, front bodice attaching, hemming, sleeve construction, sleeve insertion, finishing, and trimming. Makes it sound so simple! I’ve dubbed it the frou-frou franÃ§aise, because the fabric …