Theresa in all the ruffles
My Frou Frou Francaise is silk taffeta covered in ruffles and lace, and there’s an equally ruffly Marie Mantle to pair with it. What’s not to love?
All posts tagged: robe a la francaise
Rate the Dress: Fresh green française stripes
This week’s Rate the Dress may be familiar to many of you. For others, it may be a happy (or, this being Rate the Dress, indifferent) introduction. Whichever the case, I hope you enjoy looking at it more closely! Last Week: an 1810s dress is very, very yellow silk There’s quite a lot that people agreed on about last week’s frock. You agreed the dress was indeed very historically-accurate-Bridgerton-esque. That it was most likely later than the date given by the family (which did mean it was exactly the right era to be worn by the sisters). You almost all thought the sleeves were very nice indeed. And that the hem treatment was clumsy and unrefined, but that the overall effect was deliciously sunny and happy. In fact, this was one of the most concensus-y dresses we’ve had in a long time. There was two ratings for 10, and one for 6, but every other rating clusetered in the 7-9 range, with the vast majority at 8-8.5. Which means it should be no surprise that …
Five years later – Frou Frou Francaise progress (finally!)
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 …