All posts filed under: 18th Century

Finished project: The mistletoe panniers

Published by The Dreamstress

Almost a month ago I mentioned that I was making a pair of panniers.  The panniers are long since done, I wore them, but I haven’t had a chance to photograph them properly and blog about them. I’m calling these the Mistletoe Panniers, because the fabric reminds me of mistletoe. Occasionally as I was making them up Nanny Ogg would come and sit in my brain and smirk and drop suggestions that making undergarments for one’s nether regions out of mistletoe patterned fabric is rather indiscrete.  Then Granny glared at her and Magrat looks confused.  My brain is complicated. I’ve used Norah Waugh’s pannier pattern from Corsets & Crinolines – basic, easy, and oh-so-quick to make up. For my waist tie and the channels for the pannier hooping I used this fabulous twill tape that I picked up in Napier on a road trip with the Naiad a year ago.  I bought 10 huge rolls of it for $1 a roll – score!  It’s lovely and strong and just the right width for the hoop …

Rate the Dress: Gentleman in Red, 1760s

Published by The Dreamstress

Last week’s 1840s plaid-ish dress was like a woman who is technically not the least bit beautiful, but who is so clever and witty with her looks that she tricks people into thinking she is more attractive than her more classically arranged sisters.  The illusion divided you into those who were completely taken in by the subterfudge, those who saw it and admired her more for it, those who looked straight for the true aesthetic and missed the wit altogether, and those who saw and dismissed the clever screen and cast your vote for the academically prescribed aesthetic.  Which is right?  All of them, and none of them!  They are what make the world interesting.  And together mush all the sharp ups and downs of the ratings into a respectable but not exactly brilliant 6.9 out of 10. Last week one of the main complaints from the latter two camps was that the colours of the dress were too dull. I hope this is bright enough for you. Celebrated Italian painter Pompeo Batoni depicts Edward …

Goddesses and queens in the Rose Garden

Published by The Dreamstress

Last Sunday Elisabeth the Sewphist and Sarah of Capital Adventures and I had a photoshoot in the Rose Garden and Greenhouse at the Wellington Botanical Gardens. The photoshoot didn’t go quite to plan – Madame O was supposed to join us and wear her fabulous frilly pink polonaise gown, and I was wearing my chemise a la reine and was going to bring 18th century for Elisabeth, and we would have been the perfect late 18th century trio.  But Madame O couldn’t make it, and I couldn’t find a petticoat for Elisabeth, and we ran dreadfully late in getting ready.  And my hat just wouldn’t sit right. But I sucked up the hat, brought my green silk satin pseudo 1930s Stella gown for Elisabeth to wear, and we caught the last hour that the Greenhouse was open and the last of the Rose Garden sunshine and had a lovely time anyway. Elisabeth channeled the (rather strange) statue in the begonia house in both elegant and literal fashion.  Sarah wore the tropical flowers without picking them. …