All posts tagged: 1790s

Rate the Dress: the littlest bodice and the biggest garden of embroidery

This week’s Rate the Dress goes from big 1890s sleeves, to little tiny 1790s bodices Last week: an 1890s reception gown in pumpkin orange Many of you loved the Anne reference, but not everyone is a puffed sleeve fan. It lost some points just for the sleeves. And gained some just for the sleeves. And lost some points just for the colour. And gained some just for the colour. The one thing everyone seemed to agree on was a not-sure-ness about the scale of the beading and the chiffon overlay. The Total: 7.9 out of 10 Well, and improvement on the week before, and almost good enough to count as a proper success. This week: a 1790s dress and matching fichu This dress represents a very brief and specific moment of fashion, where the last remnants of 18th century styles, in the form of fichu and an open overskirt, meet the extremely brief bodice of the early Regency/Empire silhouette. When I say extremely brief, I mean it. The bodice appears to be no more …

1795-1800 muslin dress thedreamstress.com

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

Published by The Dreamstress

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 …