All posts tagged: 18th century

Rate the Dress: Robe a la Cypress

Last week’s Rate the Dress featured bright pink silk velvet and gold lace. This week’s features humble furnishing cotton with wool embroidery made into a very posh dress – will faux simplicity fare better than brash finery? Last week: a pink velvet & gold lace 1910s evening dress If we counted Instagram & Facebook reactions last week’s dress would easily be a 9.9 out of 10 – there was SO MUCH LOVE. However, I do not, because I can’t go back and find them later (and because it’s too much work – and I do have to actually work), so only the ratings here on the blog count. And they were decidedly more mixed, with some loves, and a few real NOPES. So the official rating is… The Total: 7.5 out of 10 So so This week: a 1770s crewel embroidered Robe a la Francaise This striking Robe a la Francaise made such a stir on the internet when Cora Ginsburg’s 2018 catalogue came out that I thought it was unfair to show it as …

May detail, Cycle of frescos of the twelve labors of the months, Trento (Italy), Castello del Buonconsiglio (Bishops Castle), Torre del'Aquila (Tower of the eagle), otherwise unknown Master Wenceslas of Bohemia, after 1397

The Historical Sew Monthly 2018: Inspiration for Challenge #5: Specific to a Time of Day or Year

Published by The Dreamstress

The Historical Sew Monthly 2018 is well underway now, and it’s my duty and honour to write the inspiration post for our fifth challenge of the year: Specific to a Time (of Day or Year). I was slightly panicked when I realised this theme would fall to me. I’m not at all an expert at pre-1700s fashions, and this is a challenge that’s particularly tricky before the 19th century (ish), when specific garments for different times of day became common. But with help from my awesome co-moderators, I’ve found examples from a range of eras – enjoy! In chronological order: This ca. 1400 cycle of frescos of the months from the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, Italy, provides a wonderful look at late Medieval fashions by season, with warm layers for winter snowfights: Flowing garments for spring romance (note the love-knots on the gentleman’s tunic): And sunhats and light shirts (and sandals!) for harvest labours. The sunhats do double duty for this challenge, being both daytime, and summer, specific: Elizabethan costume plates also show wonderful …

Portrait of a Girl Holding a Spaniel by Alexander Roslin, mid 18th century (Detail)

Rate the Dress: an 18th century Hoodie

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m so excited about launching the Scroop Patterns Otari Hoodie (which you have about 19 hours left to get 20% off on, along with all the other Scroop Patterns, with the code TWOYEARS at checkout), that of course I had to pick a historical hoodie for this week’s Rate the Dress! Last week: A mid-1910s iridescent silk taffeta ensemble Last week’s Rate the Dress pick was…contentious. You definitely couldn’t fault it for not being interesting, but some of you faulted it for pretty much everything else. The two biggest complaints were about the (even more clashing) sash and buttons, and the abrupt join of the two fabrics around the hips. There were also people who adored the outfit for its personality, and for being such a fabulous example of mid-1910s quirkiness. The Total: 6.6 out of 10 Well, it’s a slight improvement on the week before it I guess? Unfortunately a lot of the people who adored the outfit only commented on facebook, and I don’t include the FB comments because they get lost to …