The Vintage Nerd Sews

I decided fairly quickly that in making my suit, I preferred the look of the coats with stand-and-fall collars. As historically there were a few neckline options, from no collar whatsoever on up, I went with my aesthetic preference for the frock coat style. I was pretty intimidated by this as I looked through the resources I have. I have made a 1940s women's suit using tailoring techniques, but that is the limit of my suiting experience. To take that limited knowledge and use it to draft, fit, and assemble an 18th century suit coat from a gridded image felt overwhelming, even with the 18th century sewing experience I had under my belt already.  Doing some research in a couple of excellent historical costuming groups on Facebook, I found one name popped up again and again as the frock coat expert: Henry Cooke. Lucky for me, he doesn't only offer classes, but also a pattern, available at The Sign of the Unicorn: Wm. Booth, Draper. A part of me felt like a cheat for purchasing a p...

1790s, Colonial Williamsburg Collection I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I continue to be inspired by Felicity Merriman's wardrobe. I think most (if not all) historical costumers of a certain age owe a large portion of their passion to The Pleasant Company, and I am no exception. When Virgil's Fine Goods announced the return of their fabric, "Cait's Flowers," the original 18th century print that inspired the one used by American Girl, I had to have it. I was very kindly gifted 5 yards of it for Christmas by my parents, and spent my time waiting on the pre-order to arrive by deciding what to make with it.  I didn't want to go full cosplay, in part because that's not quite me. Another reason was that I already have a calico round gown, so another felt...excessive. What did catch my eye during the research process were the many chintz petticoat and jacket combinations. This struck me as something a grown-up Felicity might wear. I began to do my res...

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 ...