All posts filed under: 18th Century

Rate the Dress: Marie Christine in lots of pink

With most of the ‘Rate the Dresses’ I’m happy to sit back. I like hearing what you have to say: the comparisons, the opinions, the different design perspectives. Very, very occasionally though, I feel the need to leave my own comment. Last week’s Rate the Dress was one of those. And because this is my blog, I get to post it up front and centre: If Worth Jr’s contemporaneous afternoon dress was “small furry animal tipped the inkwell over, amused itself in the subsequent puddle, then took a stroll across the sketches for the new season” with results included in the final garments, this dress was ‘small furry animal vomited hairball on sketch, then tipped the inkwell over and rolled in the puddle, shedding copious amounts of hair in the process, and finished up by leaving hair-enriched turds on top of it all’ with results included in the finished garment. If I could give this a -10, I would, but the lowest the rating goes is 1 out of 10. But clearly you guys didn’t …

Grandeur & Frivolity – the 1770s suit

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m pretty happy with my 1770’s man’s suit, especially as it is my first real go at 18th century menswear, but I do still want to make some tweaks to it. Even so, I was quite pleased with how it looked at the Grandeur & Frivolity talk. The model certainly helped: Daniil carried off sky blue satin, wig, stockings and bows with all the poise and hauteur of a proper French courtier. The duchesse silk satin creased something awful from being sat on. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Would 18th century silks crease like that? Daniil and Chiara are good friends, so we got them to pose together after the talk. The outfits may be over 100 years apart, but they sure look gorgeous together!

The 18th century man’s suit: fabric and trims

Published by The Dreamstress

I planned and made my 18th century mans suit redux in just a few days, so I had to scrounge in my stash and use whatever I had on hand. For the jacket, I used a fabulous sky blue duchesse silk satin which I picked up at the same time as the beige satin which I dyed for Ninon’s dress: Unfortunately, I forgot that I had a specific project in mind for the sky blue fabric, and now I’m grumpy with myself for using it. However, Daniil is probably very grateful that I didn’t use my other option, which was a lilac silk duchesse satin – very 18th century, but rather difficult for a 21st century man to pull off! I was pretty confident about my ability to make the jacket, and make it well, but I was much more nervous about my ability to make breeches. So I chose a fabric that I wouldn’t be heartbroken about if I totally stuffed them up: a $4 a metre heavy cotton with a woven in irregular …