A pastoral picnic, 1780s style
While on retreat we took a drive to Palmerston North to visit Greenhaugh Gardens, where we spent a pleasant (but very hot) day having an 18th century pastoral-inspired picnic, enjoying the grounds, and slowly melting.*
All posts tagged: Angelica Gown
Horizontal or vertical? Striped sleeves on 1770s-1790s gowns & jackets
The 1770s-90s are a time of experimentation and transition in cutting and patternmaking techniques. In the first 3/4 of the 18th century women’s sleeves are almost always cut so stripes run horizontally across the sleeves. However, in the last quarter of the 18th c both grainlines are used, so stripes can run either way.
The inspiration behind the Angelica Gown
We thought you might enjoy seeing some of the inspiration behind the Angelica Gown. Every Scroop + Virgil’s historical pattern starts with research. We look at extant garments in private collections and museums. We assemble huge inspiration boards of items from online databases, noting details and similar design and construction elements. Then we start parsing and sorting. What elements are commonly seen together? What aesthetic features do we really want to include? What construction features do we really want to include? Is there a particular garment that is the starting point for the whole design, or are we mixing common elements? Here’s what we ended up with for the Angelica Gown! The Angelica Gown pattern is available as a digital download from ScroopPatterns.com, and as a paper pattern from Virgil’s Fine Goods. View A Front: This was an easy pick! I absolutely love the neckline of this gown, and the waist edge, with its sharp curve and truncated point. This shape shows up on other extant garments, and in fashion plates, so it was a …