16 Search Results for: ramsay

1760s Frou Frou Francaise thedreamstress.com

The Frou Frou Francaise – almost there

After many, many bouts of unpicking and re-sewing the 1760s Frou Frou Francaise is almost there. Maybe. I’ve unpicked nearly every seam in the dress and re-sewn it at least three times, and I still can’t get it to a place where I’m really happy about it.  So I don’t know when I can stop and call it done, because the more work I invest in it, the more I feel I need to get it right, and right now…it isn’t quite there. The last time you saw it it was worn by a model at Ramsay to Renoir in Nelson.  I also  blogged about making the sleeves, and how their fit wasn’t quite right. When I looked at the photos from Ramsay to Renoir the Francaise was pretty, but something about it wasn’t quite right to me. I looked at it, and looked at it, and couldn’t figure it out.  Then I posted this francaise for Rate the Dress, and my mind went ‘ah hah!’ What my Francaise was missing was the floating pleats. …

Frou Frou Francaise Sleeve thedreamstress.com

The Frou Frou Francaise: Sleeves & Sleeve Ruffles (& Felicity)

Some construction details on my Frou Frou Francaise sleeves and sleeve ruffles, for those who are interested.  And some photos of Felicity, for those who are interested 😉 I based my sleeve pattern on the from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion   The construction is a basic sew-three-layers-together-and-then-use-the-outer-fabric-to-hide-all-the-seam-allowances construction.  I don’t know if there is a less-wordy 18th c name for it! The fun part of sleeves, is, of course, sleeve ruffles! I based the punch pattern on my sleeve ruffles on this sacque in the V&A. There is a close-up image of the sleeve details in the 18th century Historical Fashion in Detail book (page 176 if you want to see it), but this image of the petticoat ruffle should give you a good idea of what the punch detailing looks like. To create my pattern I used the sleeve ruffle patterns from the American Duchess book (in retrospect I really wish I’d used the ruffle that corresponds with the Janet Arnold sleeve, but oh well) , and sketched out a punch design. I …