Vernet project: the bonnet

I may have mentioned in passing that I'm also participating in the Vernet's Incroyables & Merveilleuses project this year. The idea of the project is to recreate the 30 odd fashion plates Horace Vernet drew in 1814. Since we are supposed to keep the plates we've chosen secret until the big reveal in November/December this year, the posts for this project will be in bits and I'm trying my best to be as secretive as I can.

I've finally begun working on my Vernet fashion plate and the first thing I've finished so far is the hat. I can't really say if my method of constructing the hat was really period correct but it worked well and I think I've managed to produce a shape that is very close to Vernet's drawing.

I first made base pieces for the hat using tightly woven needlepoint canvas. I wired edges of the top piece and both edges of the crown piece after sewing the centre back seam. I also sewed the centre back seam of the brim. I then handstitched straw braid in slightly overlapping rounds on the base pieces and finally assembled the hat. The concave shape of the crown took some thinking and pleas of help to fellow costumers (thanks Sabine and Jennifer) and their advice led me to adapt this technique for my bonnet.

I still need to trim it but other than that, it's finished.

 The inside of the brim is lined with cream taffeta and the crown with cotton batiste.

An early 60s-esque summer dress

I dropped by the fabric shop on one rainy June day and came away with this fabric. It screamed early 60s to me, so clearly a dress was in order.

I have a good basic pattern for my favourite dress and I've used it to make 3 other dresses already. This time I wanted a summery version, no sleeves and a zipper closure.

So, here's a popular style from the summer of '63 :)

Awkward early 60s fashion pose.

I <3 The Beatles! This album wasn't released until November '63, but what the heck :)

Mwah!!

I made the belt too, because I couldn't find anything from the shops. It's a length of wide black elastic band sewn onto a clasp. 

The hem is very full, I put three widths of the fabric in it, mainly because I didn't want to have any weird fabric scraps left over. The hem circumference is ca. 3,5 metres... :)

The Courtois dress revisited

I recently made some additional underwear for the Courtois dress and today I finally took the time to photograph them. The new things are a little underbodice, natural form hoop skirt and a balayeuse hem frill for the skirt.

There are pictures, of course :)

The first layer. I'm very scandalous and don't wear the bloomers, mostly because I don't have a pair. Note to self: put on stockings and shoes before the corset...

The underbodice and the hoops. It looks ridiculous but is actually very useful. It keeps your legs clear of the mass of skirts and frills and general froufrou. I had misplaced the buttons intended for the centre front opening while I was sewing this so here the centre front is basted close. I mean to add the buttons later.

Playing the harp wearing this was VERY difficult.

The underbodice. I'm happy with the fit. Extant pieces seemed to have a longer hem or a basque, but I was short on fabric and time and chose to make a waist lenght version.

Petticoat. I'm not entirely happy with this, I might modify it in the future and ad some frills up the back of the hem.

The 1st skirt.

Cancan! Or showing off the balayeuse. I simply gathered two looooong strips of fabric and sewed  them in two tiers on the train part of the skirt.

The 2nd skirt.

And done!

Some period reading. I'm actually halfway through Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd (also a period novel) but it's a bog standard paperback and not as photogenic as my Anna Karenina.

The underbodice back.

And the fronts. I made this entirely from stash, that's why the lace doesn't go all the way to the front....

Accessorise!

So I've made some Regency accessories lately. You might remember my red stovepipe bonnet? Well, I finally trimmed it and I like it. I'm not sure if I let my 21st century sensibilites take over; I didn't place the rosettes as high as on period fashion plates but frankly, they looked stupid on a 3D hat (as opposed to a 2D drawing of a hat, seen only from one side) so I feel my hat trimmings and their placement are justified.

I also made a new reticule. The fabric is the same cotton velvet as on the bonnet. The embroidery pattern is an original from 1823 Ackermann's Repository I found here.

The hat with my Museum of London pelisse

My turquoise bedroom walls really make a wonderful backdrop for photos :)

I modified the original pattern by adding a monogram letter in the middle

Blue robe à la francaise

I finished my first robe à la Francaise yesterday! Hooray!

*Throws confetti*


I've worked on it on and off for months and months and originally it was supposed to be ready for the Bal Masque in the end of April but that didn't happen. There'll be other events to wear it, though. I decided that I would rather take time to finish it properly than hurry to get it ready in time and do sloppy work.

The vital statistics of this robe are:

The style/pattern: I wanted a later model of the francaise, with a front closing bodice, not a stomacher and the fiddly "pin these pieces on your stays" business. I suppose my robe would be somewhere in the 1770s; I was inspired by this, this, this and this extant example. I used my anglaise bodice as guidelines and consulted the Janet Arnold book for the back pleats and the front hems. Also, a thanks to Sanna of Rococo Atelier, who gave me advice on the width and depth of the back pleats.

The fabric: some kind of viscose (?) blend, with a woven stripe. The fabric was originally silver gray, but I dyed it and it became sort of forget-me-not/periwinkle/pennywort blue. It's very hard to photograph but just take my word, it's a beautiful shade in person :) The bodice is lined with cotton. I chose not to make the conventional adjustable lining for this dress.

The petticoat is a surprise find from the stash. I had been searching for a suitable fabric for the petticoat because I never had enough of the robe fabric for a petticoat too. It's a cotton blend (I think).

The trimmings are of the robe fabric and leftover scraps of my Courtois dress fabric.

Onwards to the pictures. There are loads.

The amazing bunny ear feathers. I recently bought three of these brown ostrich feathers from an interior decoration shop that was closing down and selling everything half price :)

I like how the train pools on the floor. Though I might be of a different mind later, I have yet to wear this around other people so I haven't experienced the dreaded trample on the train.

Awkward 18th century portrait pose with a harp.

"This is good. Where are you going to sit?" :)