Putting it All Together

-

Finishing the basics of my 18th century ensemble last summer was thrilling. I decided to go ahead and do photos of the bare-bones ensemble without a gown (see issues in previous post), and I'm so glad I did. My wonderful husband acted as photographer, and we used a local historical farmstead and nature park as the backdrop.

Standing between the garden and the summer kitchen

A better view of the oven in the summer kitchen

Standing in the shade of the ice house

Resting against the stone wall framing the property

Filling a canteen in the river

Since taking these photos, I have made several alterations to the ensemble, including shortening the length of my petticoat and apron to be a more suitable length for that of a working woman, as well as adding sleeve bands to my shift. I have also purchased and made several more useful pieces, including shoes and stockings, and am putting finishing touches on a gown.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

1780s Round Gown, Part I

-
Image
There is a lot of content here, so I'm breaking this up into three separate posts. Two will be on the gown itself; the third will be on the accessories I made to wear with it. And now to the good stuff! When we visited Williamsburg, I knew I wanted to pick up some of the reproduction fabric they sell. I chose the Serpentine Vine cotton, and got 5 yards, enough to make a simple gown. You can see here on their site the comparison between the reprint and the original fabric--it's remarkably close! By the Monday after our trip, I already knew what I wanted to do with the cotton: a round gown, using the one from Fitting & Proper as my guide. As my sewing machines were both giving me trouble at this time, I decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to sew a gown 100% by hand--no machine sewing at the skirt side seams or anywhere else I would usually "cheat." I also decided that just for fun, I'd also track my time spent on making this gown from start to
Read more

Seraphina Vines and Spring Blooms: 1780s Round Gown, Part III

-
Image
Everything aligned at last to do a proper photoshoot of my round gown, and seeing the photos, it was worth the wait. Liz and I are so often on the same page for photos, it's not even funny, and this time, we were both feeling inspired by Fragonard's pastoral-yet-decadent portraits. I think she absolutely nailed it. I used a silk ribbon for my sash, and my hat is trimmed with velvet ribbon from my stash. The wind spent the entire shoot trying to steal my hat. Pleats and back shaping As always, I find things to correct every time I wear a make for an extended period of time. Most obvious to me is my too-much tucker. I'll be making the ruffles fuller and the height shorter. I'll also re-gather the back of this cap--the gathering needs to be more concentrated at the top. At present, the gathers seem to almost drag it down. It's nice to know that there are only tiny tweaks to make this time. I'm looking forward to wearing this gown again, and styling it in other ways
Read more

A Man's Fine Linen Shirt

-
Image
As I put the finishing touches on my round gown, I was ready to dive headfirst back in to the 18th century. There's something addicting about the peacefulness hand sewing brings me. I wasn't quite ready to tackle my Francaise yet--there are a lot of things that need done first, including remaking my dressmaker's mannequin. Instead, I thought I'd take a rather sharp fork in the road and head the opposite direction, taking a gander at menswear. When my husband was considering joining in on the early American costuming shenanigans a couple of years ago, I had made him a checked linen shirt. However, we never got much further than that, and his historical interests are considerably more modern. I still wanted to try my hand at menswear, but I didn't want to force him into it either, so I decided that I should work with what I had: me! I don't see many women in the historical costuming community making menswear. Perhaps its because few of our men share our interest e
Read more