All posts tagged: 18th century

Making 18th century pockets, thedreamstress.com

18th century pockets to go with my Amalia Jacket

Let’s be honest, for all the awesome things about 18th century womenswear, pockets are probably the most awesome. Pockets big enough to fit ALL your stuff?  The best!  Moveable pockets that you can take from outfit to outfit without having to take everything out?  Even better!  Pockets that can be made out of anything from the most awesome fabric, to the smallest collection of scraps, and can be anything from un-decorated to elaborately embroidered?  The dream. (While panier pockets that you can literally stuff your entire picnic into are amazing, I think that hanging pockets still take the (figurative, if not literal) cake, because you can still sit in normal chairs while wearing them). Despite my unabashed love of 18th c pockets, I’ve been making do with my not-very-historical bugs & birds pockets from 2019  under my 18th c costumes. When I cut out my blue and white chintz Amalia jacket, one of my cutting goals was to have enough left over to make pockets, without compromising the layout of the chintz pattern on the …

Making the Virgil's Fine Goods Norland Frock thedreamstress.com

A Norland Frock for Miss Four

What do you do when you’re having a Georgian dinner and your littlest guest is very little indeed? You make a Norland Frock! Priscilla’s daughter ‘Tobie’ is now a little bigger than she was when she was Tobie to my Jareth, but she loves dressing up.  Like mother like daughter! She was going to be at our Georgian Dinner, and that gave me the perfect excuse to try Virgil’s Fine Good’s Norland Frock.  I know Amber’s research is impeccable (that’s why I collaborate with her on Scroop + Virgil’s patterns!), and who doesn’t want the excuse to make adorable little girl frocks? Fabrics I asked Miss Tobie what her favourite colours were to choose dress materials.  I needn’t have bothered.  She’s a girl between 3 and 8.  Her favourite colours are pink and purple! I don’t have a ton of either pink or purple in my stash, particularly not in the bright shades that the skirt wearing young fry seem to wear almost exclusively. A thorough rummage did unearth just enough pinky-mauve silk habotai for …