All posts tagged: 1790s

1795-1800 muslin dress thedreamstress.com

A mental meh and a very-end-of-the-18th-century muslin gown

I was really excited about my trip to Australia, and an opportunity/excuse to make a new ca. 1800 dress. I’ve done very little historical sewing since last Costume College, and I’m definitely missing it. Regency has been on my sewing wishlist for quite a while. I had a length of muslin I found at an op-shop that was just asking to be a simple almost-white dress. Should be perfect! Unfortunately I’m pretty meh about the result. I’m not sure if it’s really the dress, or simply in my brain. I’m currently going through a really hard patch as a costumer and historical sewer. Mentally, I need a certain amount of time to focus on a project in order to really do a good job. And I also need to keep in practice in order to not only to keep growing as a historical sewer, but to just stay at the levels of sewing that I’ve achieved in the past. And for the last few years I just haven’t managed to make that time. Between starting …

Old Government House, Parramatta, Sydney

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m in Sydney & the surrounding area for the week, visiting the wonderful Theresa, having a much-needed mini-holiday with Mr D, and, most importantly, speaking in conjunction with the ‘Tales from the East: India & New South Wales‘ exhibition at Old Government House, Parramatta, Sydney. I was incredibly excited about getting the opportunity to visit Old Government House. It’s the oldest public building in Australia and one of the few authentic examples of Georgian architectures in the Antipodes. It’s also an extremely important structure from a historical standpoint. It’s strongly linked to both Australia’s convict and colonial history, and to Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Macquarie is sometimes called the ‘Father of Australia’. While his legacy is chequered, he was undeniably central to shaping Sydney & New South Wales general trajectory in its formative years as a colony. He and his wife Elizabeth were also responsible for expanding Old Government House to its current structure. The house is furnished as it would have been under their residence, in the style of the 1820s. Theresa and I were …

George Romney Mrs. Billington as Saint Cecilia, 1787

What do you wear under a chemise a la reine? 2.0

Published by The Dreamstress

Five years ago I wrote a post about chemise a la reine (also known as gaulle) dresses, and what was worn under them based on how they are depicted in paintings of the 1780s & 90s. Unfortunately that post is one of the ones that has fallen victim to the Photobucket 3rd party hosting debacle, so I pulled it. I’ve had quite a few requests for it since. I decided that as long as I was going to go to the effort of finding and replacing all my images, I should update the entire post. I’ve learned a lot about chemise and 18th century undergarments since I originally wrote the post – hopefully I can make more educated guesses. However, the 18th century is still not my area of study and expertise, so my guesses are just that, and not an expert opinion. I’ve posted them to give people food for thought, and a jumping off point for more research of their own. So what was worn under a chemise a la reine? Obviously you’d …