All posts tagged: Frou-Frou Francaise

Frou Frou 1760s Stomacher thedreamstress.com

A frou-frou stomacher (based on an extent original) and making buckram

Published by The Dreamstress

I made a very, very frilly stomacher to go with my Frou Frou Francaise! I based it on this stomacher, from the MFA Boston: I was searching for stomacher inspiration to go with my Frou Frou Francaise, because I wanted something a little more dynamic and interesting than the usual stripes-of-ruffles or bows (not that they aren’t charming, but this one just needed something different), and I stumbled across this one, and it was perfect, and (amazingly) it’s also the only extant plain blue silk stomacher that I know of. I realised that it would be the perfect project for the HSF Challenge #8: Extant originals, where you copy a period garment that is still in existence. I tried to replicate the exact shape & dimensions of the stomacher, but I just couldn’t get it to pin onto me and into my francaise and looking right. So instead I worked with a shape and dimensions that did fit my body and my dress, and adapted the trim to fit. To make my stomacher first I …

1760 Frou Frou Francaise thedreamstress.com

Five years later – Frou Frou Francaise progress (finally!)

Published by The Dreamstress

It’s had a five year hiatus, but the mostly-Queen-Charlotte-inspired  Frou Frou Francaise is back on my sewing schedule. It hit the shoals of inactivity back in 2013 for two reasons.  First, the fabric was really hard to sew, and was aggravating the chillblains and other arm problems I have in winter.  Second I realised that I had two meters less fabric than I had thought, and wouldn’t be able to finish it without significant piecing – and even then without all the trimming I’d hoped to have.  The two combined were just too demoralising, and I packed it away in the naughty bin. I’m really trying to clear out my PHD (project half done) pile, so, inspired by all the people who were planning to make Robe a la Francaise based on the American Duchess 18th century costuming book, I pulled the Francaise back out after Costume College last year, and re-assessed it to see what I could do to finish it. When I set the dress aside 5 years ago, the petticoat was completely …

Frou-frou francaise progress (and Fissy)

Published by The Dreamstress

I’m stitching away at the ca. 1760  robe  Ã   la française, in between teaching classes and giving lectures and marking papers and re-fashioning shoes and drafting patterns and being a human being. I started with drafting a pattern: Then I sewed up a linen support bodice, and worked eyelets down the back, so that I could tighten it with laces: Then there was a great deal of sewing huge lengths of fabric together with teeny-tiny hand stitches.  Time consuming, but not very interesting! Then I pleated the back pleating, and hand-stitched it down with silk thread. Then I basted at the shoulder seams, and down the side seams, and cut the fabric down to the waist, and out for the front skirts: I’ve figured out the side pleating, and marked the lines to cut down for pocket slits, and finishing those is my next task.  Then on to side pleating, front bodice attaching, hemming, sleeve construction, sleeve insertion, finishing, and trimming.  Makes it sound so simple! I’ve dubbed it the frou-frou  française,  because the fabric …