So over on Instagram, one of the amazing historical costumers that I follow, TheModernMantuaMaker is hosting her #GeorgianJanuary2024, in which everyday there is a prompt and you post an image in your Georgian era/18th century clothing. I typically don’t stick to challenges for more than two weeks 😅, but I hope to this year. Here are the prompts!
And here is what I have posted so far on my Instagram:
Day 1: I rarely stick to all the days for challenges like this-but let’s get Day 1 of #georgianjanuary2024 started with #opening | I’m Marisa. I’m 3 pandas in a trenchcoat masquerading as a human. I’ve been costuming for A LOOOONG time, but I do take a lot of shortcuts and usually do my own thing when it comes to pattern drafting and such. I didn’t get into #18thcenturyfashion until I hopped on the #hamiltonmusical train like 2-3 years after it came out, and since then I’ve been hooked. Last year was my first year at making an actual 18th century gown using a period pattern (the #angelicagown from @scrooppatterns), and using actual historical sewing techniques (I STITCHED THE MOCK UP AND THE FINAL VERSION ABOVE LIKE 85% BY HAND!). It he running joke is I have a chaotic sewing goblin in me that will bust out sewing an ensemble right before an event so I can get that ADHD dopamine hit as I enter crunch time 😂 The next ensemble that I am going to be working on is a 1790s ensemble to wear to a galentines tea with friends in February. And damnit-one of my resolutions is to sew a little each day so I’m not waiting until the last minute! 😅
Day 2: Day 2 of #georgianjanuary2024 is #flora. So, don’t judge my mirror, that thing somehow always has fingerprints no matter how many times I clean it (I blame my kids). But here is one of my 18th century pockets that I purchased a kit for a looooong time ago, forgot about it, found it, finished it, lost it, found it again, and here we are! #18thcentury #18thcenturyfashion #historicalcostumer
My costuming year in review! This year I made the most ensembles and went to the most events that I ever did. I love this little #costumingcommunity 💜 Looking forward to #2023 – my projects will be bigger and better, and hopefully there will be more awesome events! (I may take my hand at hosting another one!)
Coming along well! I didn’t add pockets to it, but if I really wanted to, I could stitch faux pocket flaps to it, which I might do. The fit is snug, which is coming of the 18th century men’s clothing. I just have to wait for the buttons to come in.
Turns out that the color of the fabric that I wanted is sold out, but they do have another blue that’s very similar, and that’s the one I will be buying for the final version. I may have to take my hand at making fabric buttons too so they can match to the color of the silk
This past weekend was just amazing. On Saturday I headed down to Virginia to attend my friend Jennys autumnal bonfire party. This was an all day into the evening party in which we donned our finest frocks, and the theme was dark & spooky autumn. There was no set time period to come in, so it was lovely to see the array of historical era’s displayed. As you all know, I have been working crazy hard since October to make an 18th century Italian gown, The Angelica gown from scroop patterns, and I had already made a black chemise a la reine for the event. And they both made their debut! I put the chemise a la reine on for the first half of the day, with the angelica gown for the second. Let me tell you, the way the angelica gown looks and moves is EVERYTHING! Believe it or not, I was originally going to go with a color named Hex from the Silk Baron, but by the time I went to buy it, it was sold out. So the color of the gown, Bruja, was a color they had just released and I knew it was perfect for me. The petticoat is a shot silk petticoat in a sapphire blue that I already had. But enough babbling, let’s go to the pictures!
She. Is. DONE!!!! Yes yes yes yes yes yes!!! 🙌🏾 I literally got done sewing the lace tucked on maybe an hour ago, and then I hastily threw her on the dress form for pictures, but y’all! SHES FINALLY DONE! And tomorrow, she will make her debut!
So a couple of things about making this gown. 1- The silk taffeta is a color called Bruja from @silkbaron (and I’m already eyeing other colors from them for future projects). 2- I was going to make a black petticoat to go with this, but I really like the way the blue petticoat pops, jewel tones for everyone! 3-this is the second version of this gown that I made, and the 2nd time around went much smoother. The pattern is the #angelicagown from @scrooppatterns. For the sake of time since I started working on this just under two weeks ago, the bodice/sleeves/and hems are machine sewn, everything else is hand sewn. 4-the gorgeous brooch that’s pinned on the waist sash is from @dames_a_la_mode . 5-not pictured are the shoes from @americanduchess .
And with that, I am DONE with making 18th century gowns for a while, next projects up are for my husband who has been a saint in waiting. If I say that I want to do another Angelica gown in the next 12 months, slap me!!!
So I am back from the wedding in CT, and from visiting friends in MA. For the first time in 18 years I did NOT do anything for Halloween since we were driving back home Monday afternoon through the evening. But that means that today I started attaching the skirts to the bodice. Well first I had to readjust the pleating so it can fit within the 28 inch mark line , but that was relatively easy.(taffeta is a DREAM to pleat honestly!!! And once the pleats were adjusted and pinned, it was time to actually attach the skirts. Using silk thread for the very first time made a world of difference! I also learned that you should typically sew with the type of thread that your fabric is: so cotton to cotton, linen to linen, silk to silk, etc. This is news to me 😂 I have until Friday evening to get this finished. I still have to sew the rest 50% of the half of the skirt to the bodice, cut the sleeves and sew them, sew the straps, and hem this gown, and my black chemise a la reine. For the sake of time and my sanity, I will be using my sewing machine to hem it. Tomorrow I plan in running by JoAnn fabrics for items for product photography for a couple of small businesses, but also to see if I can find a lightweight sheer cotton that would work as a fichu. I got the white fabric that I’m wearing for this one pictures below .
Oh! And I still have to make two petticoats to wear each gown! I have faith!!! After all this sewing for myself, I’m going to start working on a couple of projects for my husband. Including an 18th century waistcoat, a sleeved waistcoat, and a new shirt. Oh! November letters for my $10 tier patrons will be going out VERY soon!
So it took just under three weeks, but the Angelica gown is done. HOORAY! (I repeat, HOORAY!). Even though I’ve been sewing and doing historical costuming for years, this gown was the first truly historical pattern I attempted, and boy did it kick me in the butt. I tend to take a lot of shortcuts and do what I want to do when it comes to sewing and using patterns, but this one has shown me that I can’t do that all the time UNLESS I already know what I’m doing. For example, I can knock a regency gown out with a sewing machine in under 2 days.
A couple of things I have learned from making this gown:
1-Historical patterns are VASTLY different from modern commercial patterns.
2-Some things just NEED to be hand stitched. I’m used to taking shortcuts and machine-sewing everything. NOT with this gown!
3-Hand sewing is not all that bad. I used to hate it but found out that I’m quite quick with it once I get a good rhythm going and focus
4-PRESS. OPEN. SEAMS. Trust me on this.
Now, the dress still needs to be hemmed, which I can do at any time since it’s a wearable mock-up, but other than that it is done! Here are some pictures:
Also, can we get a round of applause for these pictures taken by my 11 year old? Looks like she is following in my footsteps as a wedding photographer!
Now that the mock-up is done, I feel way more confident in starting the real version, and cutting into my silk baron tafetta! I have an event to go to on the 5th, and the theme is dark and moody. So although I already have a black chemise a la reine (which still needs to be hemmed), I am EXTRA, so I want a second gown to change into. But if it doesn’t get done, then I’ll be changing into edwardian.
What can I say about this gown? For one, it’s the first actual historical pattern that I have ever worked on, and if you know me, you know that patterns and I never work out. Secondly, this thing has different techniques that I have never heard off PLUS there’s a ton of hand sewing.
So I started the mock up for this gown by Scroops Patterns and Virgil’s Fine Goods two weeks ago. It is being made out of a honey colored linen with a white Muslim lining for the bodice. Haven’t quite decided on the color of the petticoat yet, but I’m thinking of a black one since I kind of need one anyway, and maybe one with a gorgeous African print.
I will admit, the beginning of this project had me STRESSED, but it’s nice to see everything starting to come together. More handstitching on the bodice before I move onto the skirts!
So now with the pleating on the skirts done, I need to baste them down to keep them in place, and then comes the exciting part aka stressful part: attaching the bodice to the skirts! I am so so nervous to do this. But I need to get it done, because I have to turn around and do this all over again with the main fabric. Let me show you! It’s called Bruja by The Silk Baron and it is seriously gorgeous! Perfect for my spooky themed costume meet up coming up in November (let’s hope I can get it done before then though!)
As far as the petticoat, I’m going to do with a simple black one so it can go with the mock up version and real version. May add some decorative ruffle trim, we shall see!
Other than that, I have to get the monthly rewards (wax sealed letters for my patrons done this weekend, along with a wedding tomorrow. Let’s hope the rain from this storm holds off so my couple can get some gorgeous sunset images.
So that’s it for now. Wish me luck in the finishing of this gown!
I did it yall! After a long time of wanting to make my own chemise a la reine, I finally did it! Well, this is not my first one. My husband had one made for me in white as a Mothers Day gift like two years ago. Since one of my friends is doing a spooky/dark themed costumed meetup in November, right after Halloween, I definitely wanted a black one.
So to start with, I had to decide whether I wanted to do it from a pattern or from scratch. I headed to Instagram with a poll, and a majority of people suggested the Laughing Moon Chemise A La Reine Pattern. But then others suggested that it wouldn’t be too terribly hard being that at the base of it, it is just rectangular panels with straps and sleeves, so my chaotic goblin sewing brain decided to give that a try.
First, the fabric!!!! I knew that I wanted it black, but didn’t know exactly which fabric to choose. Apparently cotton voile is popular, but on a random trip to a JoAnn fabrics out of town I went the Linen Look Fabric Solid from JoAnn (the fabric content is 85% viscose and 15% linen, and drapes like a dream).
Let’s get in how I went about construction. After doing a lot of online searching, and getting input from friends, I came across the blog post about a simple chemise a la reine from Fresh Frippery’s blog, and decided to go with that. She used 3 panels of 55″ fabric (one back, and two sides). Since I am larger than her and wanted a lot of floor, I went with four panels of 52″ fabric. One back, two sides, and the third panel was cut in half length wise and each one added to the sides, like so:
After sewing the panels together, I then sewed a channel for the ribbon along the top. The squiqly bits shown are where the ribbon was incased, and be sure to leave a 12″ opening (do not put ribbon in the casing) on either side of the back panel for the arms. Then you run the ribbon through each of the channels, gather to high heaven, and sew down at the back two anchor points, and the two side anchor points of the channels. For the front, you don’t achor the ribbon down, as you will use those two ribbons to tie the front of the gown closed. And being that there is a lot of gathered fabric, it closes beautifully once done.
This is what it looks like with everything gathered, those two hanging bits on the sides are where the arms go.
I found that I had to gather the back A LOT for it to not hang, since the weight of the fabric makes it want to drape down naturally. So again, lots and lots of gathering. After gathering and placing on the dress form where it would ideally fall on me, I made the straps. Now these were straightforward, two straps that ended up being about 10 inches in length and three inches in width, with a slightly curved edge at one side. At first, I thought that these would be two short and then I made a second set that was slightly longer, but remember that drape I talked about? I ended up going with the shorter straps.
Now at this point, I flipped the gown inside out and put it back on the dressform, then took a ribbon (as you can see) to tie where the waist band would be. I then marked where that would go. But during the final fitting, I decided that I wouldn’t sew in a channel for a waistband because tying it with the wide ribbon was enough to keep it in place.
Moving forward to my favorite part: THE SLEEVES! I’m kidding! If you know me,you know I hate sleeves and they make me cry. My last two regency gowns, my friend Renee had to come over to help me, because my brain literally locks up when I think about doing sleeves. So of course, I wanted to go with something super simple for me to make. Now, with the chemise a la reine, there are so many paintings of this dress in various styles: fitted sleeves, fitted three quarter sleeves, poofy sleeves, etc. So I decided to go with a poof sleeve with one simple ruffle at the elbow. Definitely not hard. Cue, the panic.
Ribbn casing about to be sewn.
So my good friend Shasta (ScifiCheerGirl on IG) came over to help me! So what she did was make a simple rectangle, and draped it from my shoulders to where the ruffle was. I then sewed a ribbon for the casing on the inside, and finished the top and the bottom of the sleeve. We had to do a little gather along the top of the sleeve to fit it, we then set it, and it worked!
And with all that said, here is the semi-final product! I just got in a wide, deep-purple ribbon for the waist, and of course I still have to hem this beast (205″ of hemming to do!). Introducing…her:
Now all I need is an epic hat like this one!
Now all in all, it took roughly 5-6 hours of work. I would have probably been able to do it all in one day, but again…sleeves, so it took two days. Also, the robe makes for a FANTASTIC vintage looking night robe to flounce around the house in with pretty undergarments.
theplushseamstress.com 