The Courtois dress: Finished and photographed!

As you might remember, I finished the Courtois dress sometime in July, but because I've been busy and because we've had about the hottest summer in ages, I haven't got around photographing the dress and writing a post about it. Today, however, my friend had time to join me in a nearby park to help me photo my first finished late Victorian, natural form project.

The dress is based on a portrait by a French painter Gustave Courtois; in 1880 he painted Anne-Marie Dagnan, his father's cousin and the fiancée of his good friend. I fell in love with her dress and even though I had never dabbled with Victorian fashions before, I wanted to give it a try.

I took the dress pattern from The Fashions of the Gilded Age, Volume I by Frances Grimble. I modified the bodice fronts to match the portrait dress and took inspiration for the front closures from this extant dress. Also, I'm indebted to many of my readers for giving me advice and encouragement during the project; one of my friends even took the trouble to book a study appointment in the costume museum in Bath and photograph a dress from the same era for me! How nice is that?!

Under the dress I'm wearing my late Victorian corset (the pattern of which I took from Norah Waugh's Corsets and Crinolines), chemise and a petticoat. I think I might want to make a corset cover, a balayeuse for the train and possibly some natural form supportive garments for the skirts that were so expertly researched and produced by Festive Attyre.

That's all, really. I'm reasonably pleased with the ensemble, though there are things I'm still going to tweak. Also, there's the evening bodice to make!

Pictures? A word of warning, there are loads. A plethora, if you will. Not for the fainthearted :)

All the photos here by Suvi Saraste.

Practicing my regal wave. Apparently balconies make me feel very queenly.

A gentle breeze caressing my cheeks...

Graffitis, very interesting, my dears.

On the pier

The building with the tall chimneys is the local university, my current place of employment. It used to be a cotton mill from the 1850s to the 1950s.

A bit of unladylike galloping

So windy!

Floral robe à l'Anglaise (and new shoes!)

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've been making a new robe à l'Anglaise, and I finished it yesterday. I think it turned out better than the stripy anglaise I made before; the fit and the look are better and it just works. The pattern is from Linda Baumgarten's Costume Close-up and I just made the necessary modifications to fit and to the lenght of the hem, as I didn't want to make a retroussee hem this time. The overall look of the gown is very simple, it has only box-pleated self-fabric trims on the neckline and on the cuffs and the bodice is closed with pins. I wanted something more everyday and plain, and I think I succeeded. I still need to make a fichu scarf as I only have a black one, and an apron, since I'm going to wear the gown at an 18th century market.

The fabric is cotton and an Ikea duvet cover, by the name of Hållrot. I found out that the pattern on it is an authentic historical print from the collections of the Museum of Printed Textiles (Musée de l’Impression sur Êtoffes) in Mulhouse, France. So, hooray!

Also, today I went to the post office to pick up a shoe delivery from the American Duchess. I ordered 18th shoes for myself and some friends, and they couldn't have come at the more perfect time :) The service and the speed of delivery at the AD were as good as ever and I'm very happy with my new shoesies. Pictures below :)

They've come. They're here.

Pretty buckles.

Otherwise ok, but I really need a new bumpad, the current one produces a weird shelf-like silhouette...

I'm fairly chuffed about the whole get-up.

Close-up of the bodice. I chose to close it with pins and I'm really pleased with the shape of the neckline and the trims.

Sample garters I've been making for the event in August. They say "Halte la" :)

New shoes! My feet look massive, due to the strange camera angle..

A bit hard to see, but this is a close-up of the en fourreau pleats

The box pleated trim, cut with pinking shears

The inside; for once I managed to make it tidy.

What have I been up to?

I feel like I've been very industrious, having finished the Irish dance dress and the Courtois portrait dress. I don't start work until the beginning of August and my mad travel-every-week June and the folk music festival bit of the July are done, so I have plenty of time to just hang around, enjoy the new home and sew.
I still need to get some proper photos taken of the Courtois dress, but it is finished. The next thing is to make an evening bodice for the skirts and I did find a lovely period photo of a beautiful lady in a ball gown that I'd like to try and reproduce.

I'd like to try and make an evening bodice like this. I seem to remember I found this photo through a French blog. If anyone knows the source, let me know and I'll add it here!

With the Victorian interlude finished, I've returned to the 18th century. I'm preparing for an event in early August, the 18th century market in Isokyrö, which is a village nearby. I went there last year for one day, but this year I'm planning to stay the whole weekend. I'm participating in setting up a market booth with some costumer and re-enactor friends, selling all sorts of fripperies and pretty things an 18th century lady would like to have. There's also going to be a big battle re-enactment commemorating the battle of Napue fought 300 years ago.

So, to prepare I've been knitting mitts and weaving garters. I'm also sewing a new, plainer robe à l'Anglaise because I realised that all my 18th century clothes - apart from the black swallow tail jacket - are too fine to be worn in a market environment. Again, as I'm not a re-enactor, I don't feel the need to follow the time period very strictly, so my new gown is your typical, generic anglaise which can be dressed up or down with different accessories.

The anglaise is coming together nicely; I'm currently battling with the sleeve placement and the shoulder straps but once I get that done, I only have the self-fabric trims to make and attach and that's it. I have a lot of the fabric, so I might make a petticoat to go with the gown, but it works with my red petticoat too.

New anglaise on the left, I'm using the stripy one as reference for the measurements. I also trimmed my hat :)

Civilised garters and some ribbon I've made. Must make more of these :)

The Irish dance dress

I finished my dance dress project yesterday! In case someone missed it, I've been making a solo dress for myself, as I plan to compete more towards the end of the year and because I just wanted to make one, to see if I can. Turns out, I do :) Here are some pics I took:

Hmm, could've pointed my front foot more...

Wearing absolutely no make-up as this was right before my dance rehearsal.

The Courtois dress - The End Is Nigh

Despite the house move in late May I've managed to sew steadily though I feel like I've had a mad case of the sewing ADD having the dance dress, the Courtois dress, the 18th century riding habit on the sewing table all at the same time.

I realised that I haven't really done anything for the Courtois dress for a long time, and when I finally found ribbon for it when I was in Helsinki a couple of weeks past, I dug out the skirts and the bodice.
I've since attached the narrow ribbon on the skirts to cover the upper edges of the pleated ruffles on both the skirts. I also changed the red ribbon I had used temporarily to gather the centre front of the overskirt to a more suitable blue. I still want to attach some wide ribbon loops or rosettes on the sides or on the back of the overskirt, like on  some fashion plates I've seen.

I have ordered lace for the dress and once it comes I'll be able to really finish this project. I'm hoping to take the dress out and have some nice pictures taken as there are several 1870s and 1880s houses and locations in my home town. So apart from this one pic, no more photos until it's entirely finished!

I'm thinking I'd like to add those ribbon loops/rosettes just below where the bodice tail ends.