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Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs

Rate the Dress: Chine Française

Published by The Dreamstress

This week’s rate the dress is focused on one of my favourite fabrics, and favourite dress styles (though neither necessarily means I love this example – when it’s your favourite you get picky!)

Last Week: a mid 19th-century ensemble in green florals and bows

Sooo…that was a no from you on the bows then? You thought they were too twee, or too clashing (or too twee and too clashing). The fringed plaid ribbon got a somewhat better response, with at least half of you thinking the mix of florals and checks was very effective. Of course, the other half thought it was very awful.

What was a win was my description of the dress’s style as ‘demure fussiness

A confession: I liked the bows! I felt their hue freshened up the colours of the dress, and their non-matching-ness was so perfectly mid-Victorian, and exactly the note of levity the dress needed. Lisa, Vivian, Paula & I can be team #gobowsgo (apologies if I missed any other bow champions!) (and extra mega-bonus points if you get the reference).

The Total: 7.4 out of 10

A few 2s & 3s really pull the scores down!

This week: a Robe à la Française in chine a la branche

This week’s Rate the Dress is a Robe à la Française in warp-printed silk, or chine a la branche – the distinctive soft, blurry pattern made by dyeing the warp threads of a silk before weaving.

Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs
Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs

Les Arts Decoratifs dates this to 1760. I wonder if it’s not from the very tail end of the 1760s: the flatter, more restrained trim and compere front seem more like a 1770s Française.

Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs
Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs

I also think it’s shown over paniers that are a tiny bit too big, and a tiny bit too high: it’s pulling awkwardly over them on the side views.

Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs
Robe à la Française, 1760, Les Arts Decoratifs

The small issue of display aside, what do you think of this française, with its careful pattern mirroring across the petticoat, skirt fronts and down the back pleats, and pattern on pattern trim, which almost disappears on the ground fabric?

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment.  Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting.  It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste. 

(as usual, nothing more complicated than a .5.  I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment

The Scroop Patterns Robin Dress scrooppatterns.com

Introducing the Robin Dress!

Published by The Dreamstress

What do my favourite person in the world, my favourite living author, and my favourite living artist all have in common?

They are all named Robin!

(my mum, Robin McKinley, and Robin White, respectively)

So obviously I had to make a Robin dress!

The Scroop Patterns Robin Dress scrooppatterns.com

The Robin Dress is inspired by my mother’s description of her ideal dress, and features her favourite dress elements: princess seams, elegant swishy skirts, a flattering scooped neck, and awesomely large pockets.

The Scroop Patterns Robin Dress scrooppatterns.com

It comes in sizes 30-56, with separate bust pieces for Small (A-B), Medium (C-D) and Large (DD-E+) cups, to make sewing and fitting as easy as possible.

The Scroop Patterns Robin Dress scrooppatterns.com

To celebrate the launch, the Robin Dress pattern is 25% off for the next week. No need for a code: the discount is applied automatically at checkout.

You may be wondering about the timing. I really debated whether to launch this pattern in the middle of an epidemic.  

I’ve chosen to do so for two reasons.

First, I know that many people are sewing for their mental health, and that happy news, even if it’s as tiny as a new pattern, is a morale booster.

Second, while I’m immensely privileged to continue to be employed while New Zealand is in lockdown, not all of my family and friends are in that situation.  I’ve been using the income from Scroop Patterns as a safety net for them: your purchases will help support people who are without an income due to Covid-19.

The Scroop Patterns Robin Dress scrooppatterns.com

(and just in case anyone is wondering, photos for this dress were taken the weekend before New Zealand announced it would be going into Level 4 lockdown. I used my long range lens, and the wonderful Danielle and I waved at each other from across the beach while maintaining a healthy 3+ meter distance. Mr D took all the photos of me in our last mini outing. No bubbles were compromised for these photos!)

The Scroop Patterns Robin Dress scrooppatterns.com

I hope you like the pattern as much as my mother likes her versions of the Robin dress. And I hope you’re safe and well. Sending love ❤️

Two-piece dress, c. 1850,Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen. Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze

Rate the Dress: 1850s elaborations in green

Published by The Dreamstress

Either we’re all a bit argumentative (entirely possible) or I’ve been posting a lot of very divisive Rate the Dresses. They have certainly been distinctive, and I haven’t been going for obvious crowd pleasers. Perhaps this week’s dress will be more universally popular? Or perhaps not!

Last Week: a tailored walking dress in plaid

I recorded a fashion history lecture for the Costume Construction students at Toi Whakaari today, and one of the things I talked about was the perception of taste in the Victorian era: how they were obsessed with what was good taste and what wasn’t, and how different elements of the Victorian era have subsequently been judged very attractive or unattractive, all per the taste of the era judging them. The point is that good taste is very subjective, and last week’s dress certainly proved that.

You all agreed that the outfit showed a great deal of skill on the part of the maker. And that was the only thing you agreed on. Spectacular, hideous, dazzling, nauseating – all options were there!

The Total: 7.5 out of 10

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…

This week:  a mid century ensemble in green florals and bows

This week’s Rate the Dress is a ca. 1850 ensemble in jewel green silk brocaded with lush florals, trimmed with narrow fringed ribbon with a small check pattern, and topped by apple green bows with large checked pattern.

Two-piece dress, c. 1850,Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen. Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze
Two-piece dress, c. 1850, Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen.
Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970,
Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze

The layering of green on green and pattern on pattern is relieved with a white undershirt, which emphasises the jacket effect of the bodice.

Two-piece dress, c. 1850,Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen. Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze
Two-piece dress, c. 1850, Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen.
Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze

The layering of patterns on patterns is typical of 1850s taste, as is the overall effect of demure fussiness.

Two-piece dress, c. 1850,Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen. Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze
Two-piece dress, c. 1850, Prague. Silk with a woven pattern, silk ribbons, linen.
Purchased from the Hainz family in 1970, Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague Uměleckoprůmyslove museum v Praze

What do you think? 

Rate the Dress on a Scale of 1 to 10

A reminder about rating — feel free to be critical if you don’t like a thing, but make sure that your comments aren’t actually insulting to those who do like a garment.  Phrase criticism as your opinion, rather than a flat fact. Our different tastes are what make Rate the Dress so interesting.  It’s no fun when a comment implies that anyone who doesn’t agree with it, or who would wear a garment, is totally lacking in taste. 

(as usual, nothing more complicated than a .5.  I also hugely appreciate it if you only do one rating, and set it on a line at the very end of your comment