It's that time of year again...

...when the costume closet gets cleaned out!

We've just done another purge of the costume closet, since space is getting tighter and we both have too many pieces we're not wearing often enough to justify keeping them.  That, and we're both in the midst of plotting new sewing adventures and need the space (and the money!) to make them happen.  So here's another chance to add something new to your own period wardrobes!

1) The first gown up for grabs is the first gown I ever completely hand-sewed for myself.  I know I said that about the blue wool gown I parted with last year, but I was wrong - I totally forgot about this one! (yes, that's how long it's been since I've worn it!)  This is an Italian or "quartered back" style gown dated 1775-1785, scaled up from the gown on pages 37-9 in Patterns of Fashion.  The cuff detail was copied from an Indian chintz caraco with an identical date range that is in the V&A.  For further details on the cut, construction, trim, and fabric choice, and to see additional photos, see the gown's Threaded Bliss post from 2010.  Sizing and condition information can be found on the Ebay listing.

2) I have to admit that it's hurting my heart to have to part with the second gown, but I'm doing it for the simple reason that it no longer fits me.  I debated long and hard for a couple of years whether or not I wanted to pick it apart and remake it because I just adore the fabric color and have never seen anything like it since, but in the end, I feel like that would be wasting all the hours of work that went into hand-sewing the entire thing.  Yes, picking it apart was the period solution to the size-change problem, but it just feels silly to me to throw all of that work and time away when I know someone else could use it.  So here goes...taking the plunge and letting it go...*sniff*

This is a lavender silk taffeta gown with a matching petticoat.  Both gown and petticoat were cut to go over a very small hoop which is not included, but you could very easily make a pair of small hip pads (we're talking maybe only an inch or two on each hip, that's all it needs) to fill in the skirts if you want to.  To be totally honest, though, when I just put the gown on the mannequin to take measurements, I didn't even notice any difference in the hem length at the sides, so you could even get away without any skirt supports.  The coordinating hat is not for sale (though I'd be happy to make you something similar if you really wanted it!).

The gown is pleated in back and trimmed with simple box pleated self-fabric around the neckline and sleeves.  The full run-down on the details is in the Threaded Bliss post, with all information about sizing and condition in the Ebay listing.

3) Next up is a Regency gown that Ashley made, and it, too, is entirely hand-sewn.  This sadly never even got a Threaded Bliss post because she only wore it once to a ball and we didn't get any decent pictures then.  It's based on an 1823 gown with a net overlay in Costume in Detail, pgs. 119-120; we just simplified the sleeves and didn't do the padded hemline detail to bring it forward in time to about 1810-1815.  The photos don't do the true color justice - it's a pale blue shot with a sort of brushed gold tone that's really pretty when the light catches it.  Check out the Ebay listing for more photos and for sizing information.

4) Finally, Ashley has also decided to part with her gold linen jacket.  This was an old stand-by for her for years and she still loves it, but it no longer fits and she has a couple of newer jackets to replace it with, so it's time to let it go.  This is the most worn of the pieces we're listing, but it's still in great shape and has many more years of life left in it.  It's absolutely ideal for a camp-following or working-class impression!  Like all of our things, it's entirely hand-sewn, with the fabric, cut, and construction all fully documented - please check out the Threaded Bliss post for all those goodies.  And once again, sizing and condition are given in the Ebay listing.

If you have any questions about any of these pieces or would like additional details or photos, please just let us know and we'll be happy to provide whatever you need!  Help us give these Past Pretties new, loving homes!

Threaded Bliss

A Blue Flowered Cotton Print Quarter-Back Gown 1770-1785, Reproduced from Janet Arnold

In front of the Jonathan Trumbull, Jr. House, Lebanon, CT

The pattern: Patterns of Fashion 1: 1660-1860, by Janet Arnold, pp. 37-39.  The same gown is sketched by Nancy Bradfield in Costume in Detail: 1730-1930, pp. 57-58.  The sleeve cuff details are copied from this Indian chintz caraco, dated 1770-1780, that I photographed (albeit it badly!) in the collection of the V&A back in 2006.  Incidentally, it's also featured in Fashion in Detail from the 17th and 18th Centuries, pg. 95, though I only just realized this a couple weeks ago!

Construction Details: This gown is entirely hand-sewn using the period techniques and construction notes provided in Patterns of Fashion.  Though not nearly as detailed as Costume Close-up, Arnold's book provides enough information to garner a good idea of the assembly process for each garment.  Each piece of the bodice is lined in cream linen and finished separately; these pieces are then joined together using tiny whipstitches (over-handing) so that they lie flat when opened. 

The interior of the bodice, showing the individually finished pieces

whipstitched together to lie flat

The sleeves are also finished separately, and their bottom half backstitched from the inside before the top half is fitted while on the body and top-stitched to the shoulder strap from the outside.  The gown's skirts are folded over, pleated, and then stitched to the bottom of the bodice from the outside.  The excess fabric is left to hang loose on the inside to provide a bit of body to the pleats of the skirt.

The sleeve cuffs are separate pieces, tacked on at the bottom to the sleeve ends.  They are trimmed with self-fabric ruching (I used box-pleats on the sea-greaan gown, so I decided to depart from the "inspiration sleeve" and go with ruching for this gown instead) and shaped by drawing an indigo blue hand-braided cotton cord over a covered button. I was enthralled by this unique little feature when I saw it on a caraco in the V&A.  The caraco dates to the same period as the gown, so I decided it was acceptable to transpose onto my reproduction (that, and I just thought it was so pretty and since then I've been itching to use it on something!).

Sleeve detail of the India chintz caraco, 1770-1780

(photo taken from the V&A website listing)

Sleeve cuff detail, reproduced from the example above

The self-fabric ruched trim on the sleeve cuffs also appears on the neckline of the gown.  Many thanks to my costuming friend Laurie for sharing knowledge and inspirational photos to help create this embellishment!

Detail of the neckline trim and the front center closure, secured with straight pins

I also decided to line the bottom 9” of the gown skirts with china silk.  Because the skirts will often (if not always) be worn a la polonaise, the bottom of the skirt will show and this was the period solution both to making the visible bits of the gown pleasing to the eye and protecting the hem when it is worn down. This feature can be found on the gown on pages 36-7 of Patterns of Fashion 1, which dates to the same period.

The interior of the gown, showing the folded over tops of the

skirt panels, the cotton ties used to drape the skirts,

and the china silk hem facing

Although the original gown drew the skirts up into the "a la polonaise" draped fashion by drawing a looped cord from the inside to the outside and securing it on self-fabric-covered buttons, I opted for a slightly different technique.  Because the sweep of my skirts is only 81" (I had a very limited amount of fabric with which to work), instead of the 114" of the original, I copied the more subtle draping style used in the gown on pages 36-7, which has a sweep of 78".

The more modest draping of this skirt accommodates the

smaller width of fabric available in the skirt panels.  Compare this

style with the draping of the sea green gown, which makes use of a

wider sweep of skirts that is 126".  Both skirt widths and both

draping styles can be found in extant garments.

Back detail showing the covered buttons (here only decorative,

though the original used them to drape up the skirts)

The fabric: This is a discontinued and very hard to find print by Laura Ashley that a fellow costumer very generously helped me identify when I admired it so much on one of her own gowns.  It is 90% cotton/10% linen, and though slightly heavier than an 18th century clothing textile would have been, the monochrome indigo blue print is a very close approximation to the meandering floral-and-vines designs popular in the first half of the 1770s.  There is a swatch of a purple and white copper-plate linen print in Barbara Johnson's album (below, from page 14 of the album) that has a similar monochromatic floral/vine pattern.

A swatch of a copper-plate printed linen, dated 1771, from

A Lady of Fashion: Barbara Johnson's Album of Styles and Fabrics.

The bodice is lined with a medium-weight cream linen and the hem faced with cream china silk.

In the photos, the gown is paired with a cobalt blue and white changeable silk taffeta petticoat. As Sally Queen's Textiles for Colonial Clothing notes, changeable silks were extremely popular throughout the 1770s.

Finishing the look: The gown is worn over a fine linen shift, half-boned Diderot stays, a bum pad (based on those depicted in Costume in Detail on page 43), and two linen petticoats.  

Bum pad, from a pattern I drafted based on examples given in

Costume in Detail.  This helps give a fashionable late-70s and early-80s

shape to the draped "a la polonaise" skirts.

Pairing the gown with a silk petticoat creates an upper-middling class impression for this gown (though it could also be worn with either a cotton or linen one to make it a slightly less formal and less costly outfit suitable for a marginally lower social station, as this type of simple, single-color print would not have been particularly pricey by the mid-70s).  In keeping with the upper-middling persona, I've accessorized it with a single-strand pearl necklace tied with a silk ribbon, a pair of pearl drop silver earrings by Janice Erickson Smith, and a straw hat embellished with lots of silk satin ribbon.  A fine linen lawn handkerchief fills in the low, wide neckline.

18th Century Frocks and Fashions (or, Frolicks in Williamsburg, volume the second)

The Lady Dunmore Ball Gown, on display in the milliner's shop

I may be forging a career in literary studies, but my second calling has always been historic fashion and period costume reproduction. As a special treat to coordinate with the additional re-enactors in town for Under the Redcoat, the CW Costume Design Center put together several one-off programs. The first was a one-on-one costume clinic at the CDC, to which I ambitiously carried a basket-full of in-progress garments. Of course, we only found the time to chat about one (a blue flowered quarter-back gown copied from Janet Arnold), but the time spent was tremendously helpful, and I’m so grateful CW thought to offer such a unique opportunity.

The second CDC program we attended was an afternoon lecture by Brenda Rosseau (CDC director) and Tom Hammond (supervisor of research and design), which addressed the CDC’s approach to reproducing extant garments and how these reproductions are used to complement historic area programming and other CW initiatives. Highlights discussed in detail included a gorgeous embroidered yellow “court suit” (the production process was unbelievably complicated, as you can imagine!)

and the reproduction of a Chinese painted silk from a gown in the CW collection. The latter was made for artist-in-residence Mamie Gummer’s visit in May, and Brenda described the years of laborious attempts to replicate successfully the original stunning painted design. Their solution – a most unconventionally modern one in the costuming world! – worked incredibly well, and from even a foot away, you could not tell the difference between that and a truly painted textile!

We were also shown a reproduction of one of Tasha Tudor’s donated items, a curious piece in that it doesn’t seem to be able to decide whether it wants to be a short gown or a long jacket, but it’s quite lovely and definitely a style I’d like to attempt at some point in the future.

Of course, the milliner’s/tailor’s shop is always a must-see (multiple times!) on every trip to CW, and this visit was no exception. Sarah, the milliner’s apprentice, happened to be attired in her own reproduction of a CW printed cotton gown, and I enjoyed the opportunity to pepper her with questions that I’ve been saving up for just such an occasion. I also learned how to do a mantua maker’s stitch, and am now wondering how I got on so long without it! My sincere appreciation to the ladies of the shop for so graciously indulging my numerous questions.

On display on “tailor’s day” was an in-progress white cotton (or was it a cotton blend, argh, I can’t remember now!) riding habit which immediately caught my eye and has finally succeeded (as nothing else has thus far) in inspiring me to attempt something in that “genre.” Mr. Hutter was, as always, generous and eager in his responses to my inquiries about the printing and importation of textiles in the Rev War period, and he recommended several fantastic new sources to consult on the subject.

Another extra special treat this trip was the chance to explore the study drawers in the textiles room at the DeWitt Wallace. Somehow, in all our many previous visits, we’ve never been able to time it to catch this opportunity, so I took full advantage to stare and drool and exclaim and sigh and snap away. A couple of favorites are below, including a 1756 silk satin wedding gown (who says wedding gowns weren’t white or cream until Victoria’s time?!),

these incredible quilted petticoats (can you tell which one is loom-quilted and which one is hand-stitched?),

and the original of “the” Costume Close-up jacket, which Ashley coincidentally happened to be wearing that day (which the museum textiles volunteer found most amusing!).

And finally, in celebration of their 75th year, the CDC is offering a tour of their facility every Thursday, for which we were lucky enough to secure tickets. From the sewing room, with its rafters packed end-to-end with jackets and gowns, to the fabric room stock-piled high with bolt after bolt of stunning and oh-so-hard-to-find yard goods, to the accessories room brimming (literally) with confections from head to toe, this was truly an unforgettable experience. Talk about a dream job!