Category: 18th century

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The Basic Hat Is Done!

I did realize that I forgot to glue crin tape on the edges, over the millinery wire.  oops!  I realized this after I’d mulled and put on the fabric cover, so no going back now!  Luckily I can’t see any rough edges, so I’m hoping it won’t matter.

Now I’ve got to decide on trim — it looks like a lot of these stripey huge hats only have a bit of flowers on them (makes sense, as visually it’s very loud).  But I do still like the contrast with the green ribbon on the red & white stripey hat fashion plate, so I’m going to poke around and see if I can find something that will work.  Solid, definitely, as this is already pretty over the top!

Also, I love millinery!  This is making me want to get back onto my Edwardian suit, just so I can make the hat…

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Duran Textiles

Duran Textiles is a company in Sweden making stunning 18th century textile reproductions.  Their newsletter comes out every few months and is always an interesting read — the latest issue has a lovely reproduction of an 18th century Banyan, and here’s a nice article on the pouf hairstyle (I’m interested to note they use styrofoam as the base for their reproduction wigs!).  Their pictures do a nice job of featuring their fabrics, but an even better job of providing inspiration for dresses, hair, makeup, accessories, etc.  Renaissance Fabrics carries a few of their fabrics, as does William Booth Draper.  I really, really want this embroidered silk…  on the off chance the fabric fairy is reading this!

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Smocks, Shifts, & Chemises, oh my

Working on my new 18th century shift reminds me that even the simplest of garments can be fascinating.  From the Renaissance smock, through the 18th century shift, to the 19th century chemise, white linen (and, later, cotton) was cut into squares, rectangles, and triangles and then assembled into incredibly similar shapes.  Even the full Renaissance Venetian camicia is built on the same principle as the comparatively spare 18th century shift, using all the available fabric to piece together a jigsaw of pattern pieces.  According to Costume Close-Up, 18th century shifts almost always required from 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 yards of fabric, with size variation accomodated by purchasing narrower or wider linen.  It wasn’t until the third quarter of the 19th century, when the chemise and drawers were streamlined into a one-piece garment called combinations, that any significant change occurred.  That’s pretty impressive:  at least 400 years (if not longer? medieval costume historians let me know!) of continuity.