Threaded Bliss

A Fitted Back Gown

in a Reproduction 1780 Cotton Print

Oh my.  Was September really the last Threaded Bliss we did?  That's minorly embarrassing.  It certainly isn't a case of not having anything new to share, but between creating items for the Shop, finishing up some commission projects, and doing some "real work" in between, we've been so prodigiously busy that the blog has slipped silently by the wayside.  I had to laugh this morning when I saw that Samantha sent up a similar cry, and all I could think was, "Oh, I'm *so* glad we're not alone in this blogging backlog!"

So...here's the beginning of what I hope to be a quick succession of make-up-for-lost-time posts!  This gown was finished back in January of 2013 and I wore it a number of times over the past year.  Unfortunately, as these wearings included a couple of school programs, a dance, and our town's 225th anniversary parade, I didn't manage to get any pictures of it at all.  During the Christmas trip to Williamsburg, then, I made it my mission to finally get some quality proof that yes, indeed, I have finished this gown, and yes, indeed, I have actually worn it!

The pattern: Draped by Ashley at a Burnley and Trowbridge workshop in November 2012.


Inspirations: The inspiration for this gown was the fabric, which, as I will detail below, is reproduction exactly from a cotton gown in the collections of Colonial Williamsburg (acc. no. 1991-450).  The gown was featured in Linda Baumgarten's What Clothes Reveal (pp. 48-9).

1780 cotton print gown (acc. no. 1991-450).

Image linked from Colonial Williamsburg's Online Collections.

Construction details: Since the construction process of the gown was partially described in the original workshop post, and as it is exactly the same as all of our previous fitted-back gowns, I won't spend any time reiterating those details here.

The most challenging part of making this gown (and the reason I saved this fabric specifically for the workshop!) was matching all the viney curves on both the front and the back.  I had forgotten to bring a picture of the original gown with me to the workshop, but of course Janea had the benefit of experience of having already made a gown out of this fabric and she worked her magic figuring out how to make the printed design balance and flow as it ideally should.  I'm so chuffed at how perfectly it came out, thanks to her expertise!

The front of the gown...

...and the back pleats.

Here are a couple detail shots, including the back waistline,

 

the pleating of the skirts,

 

the top-stitched back pleating that helps to fit the gown closely to the back of the body,

 

and a detail of the shoulder and sleeve from the back.

The interior of the bodice reveals the construction process of the gown, with the stitching of the back pleats visible, along with the overlapped front linings,

as well as the unfinished armscyes, common in 18th-century gown construction.

The edge of the bodice neckline and center fronts are finished by turning the edges in towards each other.

The fabric: As I mentioned above, the fabric is part of Colonial Williamsburg's exclusive line of fabrics that are reproduced from pieces in their collection.  This particular one is taken from the block printed and penciled English cotton used on a fitted-back gown dating to 1780 (CW acc. no. 1991-450).

An eerily similar English chintz textile appears in Barbara Johnson's album (V&A acc. no. T.219-1973), and her dating reaffirms the 1780 date of the CW piece.  Johnson records that she purchased her fabric in June of 1781 and paid thirteen shillings a yard for it.  I still can't get over how very similar the motifs are.

Finishing the look: The trouble with only having a single set of photos to share with an outfit is that they don't give any sense of the sheer variety of ways that I've worn this gown.  For one, it's got several other petticoats that look splendid with it (you can see one in the workshop photos), and for another, I regret that I decided to leave my neckerchief out when I wore this for the pictures because it obscures the front of the gown.  The front is visible in the dance video, but not to any real satisfying degree because it's so far away (and moving!).  I suppose this just means that a "Threaded Bliss Postscript" post is necessary in the near future!  :-)

When I wore the gown at Christmas, I accessorized it with a windowpane checked linen neck handkerchief, left untucked and secured in front by a breastknot of purple/yellow changeable silk taffeta.  A string of deep purple glass beads further underscored the "best" middling impression suggested by the gown's textile.

I also added my favorite hat, which is trimmed, edged, lined, and tied in a blue/green changeable silk taffeta, and my B and T red shoes.  Somehow, both accessories just seem to coordinate so perfectly with every outfit.  I especially love wearing them together!

A set of removable windowpane checked white linen ruffles - part of the suit of kerchief, apron, and ruffles - are basted into the sleeves.

In the pictures, I have the gown drawn up through two sets of interior loops and ties to create a double draped look, giving a bit of extra body to the skirts.  This feature it copied from the original inspiration gown.

 

These ties can be easily let down to allow the skirt to hang free.  Next time I wear the gown, I'll be sure to get a view of the back left undraped.

Many more photos can be found in this project's flickr set.  Stay tuned for a Threaded Bliss Postscript for more variations on this outfit soon!

An Evening of English Country Dancing: "Mr. Isaac's Maggot"

Our English country dance group held its final dance of the season a couple of weeks ago.  This "last hurrah" before we resume in the fall is traditionally our "Drancy Fess Ball"; see this earlier post from a couple of years ago for the origins and full explanation of the phrase.  This year's theme of "mythical beasts" was a repeat of last year's but nonetheless still succeeded in eliciting some intriguing and very clever interpretations!  Period dress is also (thankfully!) an option for this event, and since I've been so busy with work lately, I didn't have the time or energy to get too creative and just opted to dress for the 18th century instead.  All together, we looked quite an eclectic bunch, but it was a very fun evening and a lovely farewell until we meet again in September.

This year, I attempted my first video recording of a dance and thought it might be fun to share the results!  It isn't by any means a high-quality video; I just rested the camera on top of a spare piano and pressed record and let it go until it stopped itself.  But what it lacks in visual appeal, it more than compensates for in capturing the gorgeous sounds of our very own live band, with whom we have the pleasure and true honor of dancing every week.



This is "Mr Isaac's Maggot," one of my favorites.  It's a duple-minor longways dance, first published in Playford's English Dancing Master in 1695.  Mr. Isaac was one of the premier dancing masters of the latter half of the seventeenth century, earning widespread fame and respect as instructor to Queen Anne and the English court.  The "maggot" referred to in the title is not a creepy-crawly larva, but rather a whim or flight of fancy.  Instructions for this dance, as well as the tune notation, can be readily found online, or in The Playford Ball (which I highly recommed!).

Extra credit to anyone who can identify which film(s) have featured this particular dance!

I wore my (still new-ish) cotton print gown that I started at the B&T workshop last November and finished in January.  This is the third time I've worn it, and I still haven't managed to get any pictures!  This is what happens when your photographer moves seven states away.  :-(  You can catch a couple of glimpses of the finished product here and there in the video, but nothing too exciting.  I promise photos and a decent write-up in Threaded Bliss very, very soon!

Burnley and Trowbridge Gown Draping Workshop

Last Friday, Ashley and I indulged ourselves with a weekend of pretty dresses, playing with fabric, and good company for Burnley and Trowbridge's latest gown-draping workshop.  We've been eagerly anticipating the opportunity to do a gown workshop for literally years now, but they've typically been held in the summer when neither of our schedules would permit us to attend.  This year's fall offering was a most welcome surprise and we jumped at the chance to go.  We were also thrilled that our friend Laurie was able to join us for the weekend of fun!

The workshop was led by Colonial Williamsburg's mistress of the trades of millinery and mantua-making, Janea Whitacre.  Janea arrived Friday morning looking like she just walked out of - you guessed it - Meet Felicity, so of course the entire room of ladies sighed and oogled her "Felicity fabric" gown.  What little girl at heart can resist that print?  Especially when at least two of us (ahem) in the room could very legitimately blame Felicity for our life-long obsession with history and historical fashion?  :-)

Demonstrating the art of draping a sleeve.

Our first task, I was overjoyed to hear, would be learning to drape sleeves.  If you've read any of our previous "Threaded Bliss" posts, you know how much I struggle with sleeves, both patterning and setting them, and remedying that situation was one of the reasons I really wanted to take this workshop.  So here we are, diligently working on our sleeves...

Ashley cutting her sleeves out.

Me working on finishing my sleeves.

As you can see in the picture, Ashley chose to bring a gorgeous "bottle green" lightweight worsted for her gown. She's been saving it in her stash for a couple of years now, waiting to use it on the very first gown she'd make all by herself. I finally decided it was time to muster up the courage to cut into my stash of the CW reproduction print that's copied from the now infamous gown on pages 48 and 49 of What Clothes Reveal.  I'm so glad I saved it for a workshop rather than tackling it alone because Janea worked some serious miracles helping me figure out the ideal way to make this impossible print work.

Discussing options and techniques for constructing the gown's back pleats.

Saturday began with finishing up our gown backs that we started the afternoon before, and then we proceeded to draping the bodice fronts.  Janea took a slightly different approach to the order of things this time around, opting to have us only concentrate on the top half of our gowns first, to be sure we'd have plenty of time to get adequate help with the perennial trouble spot of fitting shoulders and sleeves before the end of the weekend (I was so glad to know I'm not the only one wary of sleeves!).  This is why you see the bottom parts of our gown bodices not yet looking "normal" in most of these pictures!

Draping buddies fitting bodice fronts to backs.

Double-checking back symmetry.

My gown as of Saturday afternoon!

Ashley doing my shoulder straps.

Photo very kindly taken and sent to us by Laurie.

Saturday evening, our homework was to work on shoulder straps and attaching our sleeves, so Ashley and I headed over to Laurie's hotel to see how far we could get.  More than slightly delirious from lack of sleep, that ended up not being very far at all...:-)...which was fine in the end because we had plenty of time the next morning to keep working and to get some extra help.  I still don't like sleeves, but I definitely feel much more confident about attacking them after all the guidance Janea gave on them throughout the weekend.  Laurie did a splendid job fitting mine, and I hope I was at least adequate in my efforts on hers!  :-)

Saturday's late-night homework attempts.

Sunday, our final day, was spent finishing up sleeves, shaping the bodice along the waistline, and pleating in the gown skirts.  Neither Ashley nor I got that far, but we left well equipped with everything we'd need to finish on our own.  Many of the ladies were nearly done with their gowns by the end of the day; I was so impressed by their speed throughout the weekend, and their work came out so lovely.

Finishing the waistline.

Ashley attaching shoulder straps.

Although it was an incredibly busy weekend, it was certainly a productive one, and we're both eagerly anticipating finishing our gowns for upcoming holiday events.  Stay tuned for the finished products!  Many thanks again to Mistress Janea and the lovely folks at Burnley and Trowbridge for hosting yet another fantastic workshop.  We're already looking forward to the next one!

Additional photos from the workshop can be found in our flickr set.

If you're interested in participating in an upcoming historical fashion workshop, keep checking Burnley and Trowbridge's facebook page for the latest list of offerings and soon-to-come spring updates!