Category: 18th century

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Books to Pre-Order (Woot!)

There’s nothing like knowing that a Really Good costuming book is coming out.  Having FOUR to look forward to?  I may need a chaise lounge and a fan!

[Full disclosure – I’m an Amazon Associate, so the links to the books below take you to Amazon and will give me like $.02 (and support this site) if you buy from them.  If you’d prefer not to support this site, don’t buy from these links!]

First, there’s Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700 – 1915 (coming out Sept. 1, 2010).  This accompanies the Fashioning Fashion exhibition (Oct. 2, 2010 – April 3, 2011) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).  LACMA recently acquired a HUGE collection of European costume from the 18th century through the early 20th century, and this exhibition will feature this new acquisition.  According to their website, “Highlights will include an eighteenth-century man’s vest intricately embroidered with powerful symbolic messages relevant to the French Revolution; an evening mantle with silk embroidery, glass beads, and ostrich feathers designed by French couturier Émile Pingat (active 1860-96); and spectacular three-piece suits and gowns worn at the royal courts of Europe.”  I’ve seen a sneak preview of just one of the 18th century dresses, and it is to DIE for.  Thanks to Kim for the heads up that at the same time as this exhibition, they will also be exhibiting a number of paintings and sculptures from big names like Boucher, Vigée-Lebrun, and Fragonard.  YAY!  Finally something SUPER exciting happening on my side of the country!

Then on Nov. 1, 2010, our friends the Victoria & Albert Museum will be releasing Underwear: Fashion in Detail and Toiles de Jouy: French Printed Cottons, 1760-1830.  The Underwear book is another in the Fashion in Detail series, and will highlight the V&A’s collection with incredibly detailed close-up shots.  According to the book description, they’ll be including garments “from rare 16th-century examples to Dior’s curvaceous New Look, to Calvin Klein’s notorious briefs.”  Toiles de Jouy will be of interest to 18th century costumers — I don’t know too much about the book, but since it’s coming from the V&A, it has to be good!

Finally, on April 1, 2011, the V&A will do it again with Seventeenth-Century Women’s Dress Patterns: Book 1 (thanks to Catherine for the heads up!).  I’d heard a while ago that they were working on a book related to 17th century costumes — they’d taken down some pieces from exhibit for the book — but I’d forgotten about it until Catherine emailed me yesterday.  According to the book description, “This breathtakingly detailed book presents dress patterns, construction details, embroidery and making instructions for fifteen garments and accessories from a seventeenth-century woman’s wardrobe. Full step-by-step drawings of the construction sequence are given for each garment alongside photographs of the objects and the groundbreaking use of x-ray photography revealing the hidden elements of the clothes, the precise number of layers and the stitches used inside.”  I am SUPER excited about this, after making my Nell Gwyn dress (altho I’m also grumbly, because how helpful would this have been?).  Oh well, I’ll just have to make another 17th century gown!  I’m also excited about the “Book 1” in the title — does this mean we can anticipate MORE 17th century costume books from the V&A?  Be still my beating heart!

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18th Century Clothing Notebook

Karen Larsdatter, creator of the amazing Medieval & Renaissance Material Culture directory, has applied herself to a new era with the 18th Century Clothing Notebook.  It’s an amazingly extensive directory of links on all sorts of fiddly bits related to 18th century costume.  As someone who up until recently tried to maintain something like this (the Real Women’s Clothing Directory), my hat is off to her — this is an AMAZING amount of work, and a hugely valuable resource!

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Sewing at a Leisurely Pace

Although my mind is currently (as always) BUZZING with project ideas, and I’d much rather be sewing than doing anything else… I am forcing myself to stay on track with the idea of leisurely sewing.  I have no looming deadlines, other than things I WANT to make, so I am determined to sew for fun and not to get stressed out.  I’ll wear the new red & white polonaise to the Costume College gala, and I have options to wear for all the various events coming up.  So things will get done when they get done.

To that end, I’ve been noodling on the Brunswick.  Mostly, it’s been doing the real sewing where I previousy basted.  I did finally pleat the skirt, and last night I cut out and started sewing the lower sleeves.  But it’s all very noodly around here!  I need to decide on cuffs vs. elbow ruffles, and trimming patterns, but before I commit to that I can finish the lower sleeves, make the hood, do buttons & buttonholes, and make the petticoat.  I do need to bribe someone to set my second sleeve, and to help me mark the jacket hem, as I’m not convinced it’s even (and I think the back dips down too much – it’s these hips o’ doom!).

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England Trip Report #3: Costume Museum Fiesta!

So I have been to the UK many times — I studied abroad in Scotland in college, and I’ve probably spent a combined 3 months in London.  Which means that while I’ve done most of the London museums multiple times, I haven’t spent much time in England beyond London… which means that there are many interesting costume museums I’ve never visited!  Which is all to say that a large point of this trip was to hit some out of the way museums.

I did go to the V&A to meet up with Kate, Christina, and Leia.  Leia had never been, so we did go through the costume wing, but we spent more time in the new Medieval & Renaissance galleries and in the Textile Study Room.  There was lots that was interesting, but highlights for me included seeing this Florentine bust in person — it is great to see a 3D view of mid- to late-16th c. Italian fit. There’s a nice curve to the bustline, and the neckline comes up past the bust point… and check out the waistline wrinkles, consistent with a bodice that’s stiffened with heavy fabric but not boning!

VAbust

In the Textile Study Rooms, I bypassed the embroidery to look at the printed cottons, but luckily Kate mentioned this pair of mid-18th century jumps. One whole front was there — I think it had never been sewn together? And the teeny tiny embroidery stitches were absolutely to die for — maybe like 20 stitches to the inch?

VAjumps

Blaise Castle House Museum had a couple of nice rooms full of period costume (altho heads up, they had some signs up that they’re working on a [late?] 20th century exhibition – sigh). Probably the best moment was looking at this Charles Worth gown, when some very small (ages 5-6?) children ran in. Boy #1: “Is this what they wore in the Victorian era?” Boy #2: “Yes.” Boy #1: “NASTY.”  My husband and I ran around saying “nah-sty” for the rest of our trip.

BlaiseWorth

I happened to check out the Royal Albert Memorial Museum website, and saw they were doing an exhibit at the Lawrence House Museum in Launceston… otherwise I wouldn’t have known to stop in! This gown, from their regular display, is signed as being from the 1880s, but I say it looks about 1908ish.

Launceston

The special exhibit, “Curious Curves,” would have been very cool if I wanted to try on reproduction period undies (bustles, panniers, etc.), but turned out to only have one extant dress on display — this late Victorian beaded number.

LauncestonCurves

Killerton had a lovely exhibit called, “Elegance,” which included a number of really fabulous items.  These pair of leather 18th c. stays had me peering up close for a while…

KillertonStays

…and this 1770s sacque, with teeny tiny ikat pattern, was just gorgeous in person.

KillertonSack

I was super fortunate to have a study appointment with the curator of Killerton and the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. I was looking at late 18th century gowns, and was super excited to find one in the particular style I’m researching, plus to look at a lot of other pretties.  Unfortunately I can’t post pictures of any of them due to copyright.

I did find out that they recently photographed all of their collection, which will eventually (in a few years?) make its way onto the National Trust website.  I don’t know if this means that other National Trust collections are also being photographed?

Many small museums that I didn’t think of as “costume museums” had period costumes on display. The Sidmouth town museum had this lovely fan front taffeta 1850s dress.

Sidmouth

Chawton, Jane Austen’s home, was really really cool.  REALLY! The jacket is from Mrs. Austen’s riding habit, which was recut by younger family members for fancy dress.  And the quilt on the bed was made by Jane and Cassandra (and Mrs. Austen?) out of dress scraps.

Chawton

Finally, the Winchester City Museum had a display of Tudor costumes recreated by Herbert Norris (author of Tudor Costume and Fashion) in 1908 for a town festival. I thought some of you 16th century costumers might like to see what he came up with!

Norris

All in all, it was a lovely trip, and I’m glad I got to cross so many small but interesting museums off my list.  If you’re interested, you can see the full set of travel photos (including many from museums, but also just my general travel photos too) on Flickr.

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Brunswick workshop report

Last weekend I attended the 18th century Brunswick workshop organized by Burnley & Trowbridge, taught by Janea Whitacre, mantua maker extraordinaire from Colonial Williamsburg.

And it was FABULOUS!

Janea is hugely knowledgeable about 18th century gownmaking, and getting a chance to work with such a master was wonderful.  I’ve taken another workshop from her — the sacque workshop, where I made my first (the peach francaise).  It was fun to revisit this style in a new variation, and to be able to confirm and update my often self-taught knowledge about 18th century gownmaking.  Plus, she’s just really nice, and lets you ask her 10,000 questions!

Angela & Jim (owners of B&T) were there too, and they were super helpful and nice, bringing a bunch of their wares and allowing us to shop periodically throughout the weekend.  I’m really happy with them, as they have amazing customer service — I bought a pair of shoes from them that were too small, so I sent them back and they had the next size up made for me.  Well, those didn’t fit either, so Angela traced my foot at the workshop and they’re going to try for a third time to fit me!  If that’s not customer service, I don’t know what is.  (Let’s not even go INTO how helpful she was when I was buying fabric for my stays).

We had lots of options on styling the jacket — high or low neck, long or short waistcoat skirtings, depending on the era and style you liked.  I went for 1760s, with a high neck and long waistcoat skirts.

I worked with Cynthia on our jackets, so all credit for the fabulous drape goes to her.  We both had some fitting crises, esp. on Cynthia’s gown, as we hadn’t realized we needed to drape on the bias so her waistcoat front went wonky.  Luckily, I found a solution — we let the fabric go where it wanted to go, and pieced in a bit of the lining.

It was tons of fun to hang out with lots of friends and sew for 3 days, plus there is something magical about handsewing.  You have lots of time to chat in a way you don’t when the machines are out, plus it makes me waaay less stressed about getting things done on time (because it’s just not going to happen!).

So here’s where I’m at so far — everything is basted, and I’ve been working on doing the real sewing over the past few nights.  I need to hem the center back a few inches up (hello, I have hips of doom!), and I’m trying to figure out a trimming pattern that will be different from everyone else’s.  And, of course, make a hood, lower sleeves, and a petticoat!  I plan to do self-trim from the caramel taffeta, and then cream bows at the neck and elbows.

The best part is I was worried this would be a little bit of a frumpy style, but I’m really liking where it’s going.

(Oh and yes, we sewed in tiaras, because that’s how we roll…)