After three days of pretty much straight sew sew sew, I’ve got the habit jacket draped, patterned, cut out, and half-way assembled.
It was difficult to decide exactly how the back of the jacket should look, as I can’t find any extant examples of this cutaway style. I initially decided the back should be cut straight across, as most habits I’ve seen do this… but then when I looked at the pictures, it just looked strange! So I added a gentle curve towards the CB.
Here’s the mockup, along with the start of the jacket — fronts & backs together, collar started and just draped on to see how its working. I wasn’t sure if I should stiffen the collar and lapels at all, but I decided to go for it as the stiffening could only help, so there’s a layer of linen/cotton fustian in there.
Figuring out the side pleats was CRAZY HARD. Thank god for the detailed diagrams in the men’s coat pattern in Costume Close-Up. Even so, it took multiple attempts, talking out loud, and a call to Francis to get it figured out. It’s SUPER cool, but super crazy.
My iPhone seems to have decided that my wool is blue, but it really is green!
I’ve mentioned it a million times, but I really truly AM making a riding habit for Colonial Williamsburg. It’s going to be March, which could very well mean cold; plus, I’d really like to have a very-appropriate-to-Williamsburg outfit; plus, riding habitses are fabulous!
I’ve been mulling about it for a while now, and despite looking at tons of different inspiration images, I kept coming back to this habit from 1779-81:
Zoffany, detail from "The Sharp Family," 1779-81
I LOVE the waistcoat, with the gold braid and buttons, and I think that’s what sold me. Of course, I need to do it in my colors, so I hunted down some forest green wool from Mood Fabrics (which, shockingly, has decent prices on some fabrics, including wool!). Olive is modeling the fabric for you; the bit in the bottom left of the pic is the best capture of the color (it’s not blue, as it looks in the pic):
I’ve been doing tons of research, although there’s limited information out there about habits. And, of course, I’ve been madly working on my 1780s stays, as I want to wear them under this. So since I FINALLY got the stays wearable, I was finally able to start on the habit… with only a few weeks left to go before my trip! So, sadly, all my plans for a totally authentic hand sewn habit went out the window, and I am machine sewing everything I possibly can that won’t show (and, even, bag lining so that I can machine and not have it sew). I’m laughing as I’m working, because I am using really authentic materials… but modern/theatrical techniques!
Unfortunately, there are only a few options out there for pattern resources for habits: Janet Arnold and Norah Waugh both include patterns, but both are 1750s, which is stylistically somewhat different from late 1770s. So while I’ve used both as references for draping, I’ve had to make some educated guesses; most especially, knowing that habits followed men’s fashions, I used the 1760-90s coat in Costume Close-Up for ideas on how to handle the cutaway front and back pleats.
Here’s the waistcoat in progress, with trim, and with buttons; I did handsew the bust dart, and will be hand sewing the buttonholes:
You can see that I changed the waistcoat back; when I first made it, I did a triangular cut-out with the quick & dirty, but still period, linen tape ties (instead of spiral lacing) — but, of course, the bias totally stretched. Then I remembered that when Janea Whitacre showed us this option (in the Brunswick workshop), she did the square cutout — right, on the straight of grain! So I redid that.
So, I am starting to stress about all the sewing I need to get done before Williamsburg, which is in, uh, a few weeks? I don’t know, I don’t want to look at a calendar. I think I can get it done in time… but there are lots of things to do! Gotta make my 1780s stays wearable, finish my Brunswick, and bang out a riding habit — it can be done!
I’m starting to stress about a hat for the riding habit (and possibly the Brunswick? dunno). I want to do a blackhat with tons of feathers like you see in the fashion plates, but it’s hard to see exactly what is going on there under all the feathers… and I don’t have a lot of time!
So, this brings me to my question — is it doable to get a black wool hat on Etsy/Ebay and reblock it (steam/wet it and dry it over a form)? From what I can tell, it looks like the hats are big enough to go over the (low) wigs, which means a waaay bigger headsize than anything I’m going to find. And I just don’t have time to really make a hat from scratch, so I’m thinking get something with a decent size brim, reblock the crown, mess with the brim, and stick a lot of feathers on it. Does this make sense? Am I on the right track?
I FINALLY finished boning the 1780s stays. You know how you read about how 18th century stays were made by tailors (men), not mantua makers (women), in part because it was thought that one needed a man’s strength to get the baleen into the stays? Well, I don’t agree that men = strong and women = weak, but I gotta say, sticking that German plastic boning into the casings was HARD. No doubt, some of my channels were slightly too narrow (they were fine for metal boning, but the plastic is slightly thicker, so it takes up a little bit more room). Some went in smoothly, and others took MULTIPLE teeny-tiny shoves… so much so that it took me the good part of Saturday to (cut, sand, and) stick in the boning, and my arm still hurts a bit three days later.
I draped and drafted out a strap pattern a while ago… but apparently I am a genius, because it’s not in the pattern envelope, nor is it anywhere else in my sewing room that I can find. Sigh. So I draped yet another!
Here’s the stays with all the boning in, draped temporary straps, still no tabs cut:
Finished that final seam last night – yay! Then came the 15 min. hunt through the sewing room for the boning I’d ordered, which came last week, and (brilliantly) instead of putting it with the rest of my boning, or anywhere else logical, I stuck it in my “random sewing tools” drawer. Go, self.
I was too tired to do more than put in the metal bones, which are in the back piece (center back, and then inside of the eyelets), side front (1 right along the seam, next to the center front), and 3 in the front (center front, about midway across the piece, and then near the side seam). I’ll need to cut the plastic boning to the correct length, and I’m thinking I should probably sand the ends a bit so it’s not poky, and I didn’t have the energy to do that last night. And I haven’t yet cut the tabs. So, not a lot of boning + no split tabs = some wrinkles!
But, it fits! Next: straps! Then: attempt to bang out a riding habit while simultaneously finishing up my Brunswick and binding the stays — AGH!
