(Re-)Making Royal Fashion History, Pt. 2

After reading our post yesterday about Butterick's new Kate Middleton-inspired wedding gown pattern (#B5731), our friend Laurie from Teacups in the Garden alerted us to two additional royal wedding gowns that have been commercially patterned.  The first is Grace Kelly's iconic 1956 gown for her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco.  The gown was designed by Helen Rose and made by the costume department at MGM, as a gift to the bride from her former studio.  It was reportedly made of 25 yards silk taffeta and almost 100 yards of silk tulle.  Valenciennes rose point lace decorated the bodice and sleeves, and the veil was trimmed with lovebirds in appliquéd lace and embellished with thousands of tiny seed pearls.

Grace Kelly's wedding gown.

Photo linked from fashionbride.wordpress.com.

Vogue has created a lovely Grace Kelly look-alike pattern (#V2979) that closely adheres to the details of the original and successfully captures its old time Hollywood glamour.  That this is a recent pattern release is unsurprising, considering the degree to which Kate Middleton's gown (and her overall sense of style) has been compared to Grace Kelly's.

Grace Kelly in her wedding gown (left), with the Vogue reproduction V2979 on the right.

Photo of Grace Kelly linked from Hollywooddame.com.

Vogue photo linked from Voguepatterns.mccall.com; follow the link to purchase the pattern.

The second pattern Laurie discovered is an old and (alas!) now out-of-print Burda pattern (#7940) for Princess Diana's wedding dress. I wish this was easier to find now because it would be such fun to try to recreate such a fairy tale gown, with the big poofy sleeves and all the lacy frills and bows.  This pattern seems to appear occasionally on ebay and etsy, so check those sites if you're looking for one.  If you'd like to read more about the original gown, visit our earlier post here.

Burda pattern envelope for Princess Diana's wedding dress.

Photo linked from a recent etsy listing.

A big thank you to Laurie for sending us these links and permitting us to share them with you!

And while we're still on the topic, just two final notes.  To complement your reproduction Kate Middleton wedding gown, a reproduction of the diamond Cartier tiara lent to her by the Queen is, of course, an absolute must (because who can resist a tiara?!). This is by far the closet reproduction I've been been able to find (and it's even affordable, too!): click here.  If you'd like to compare it to the original, check out the photos here.

And if you're interested in recreating Kate's sapphire blue Issa engagement dress to add to your royal wardrobe, a combination of Simplicity 2145 (quite obviously inspired by Kate's) and McCalls 5974 should do the trick.  Happy sewing and don't forget to let us see what you create!

(Re-)Making Royal Fashion History

Because we've discussed Kate Middleton's wedding gown at such length and admired and sighed over its details in such depth, I thought it would be fun to share something I just so happened to stumble across yesterday.  Butterick has designed a pattern (#B5731) so that you, too, can make and wear a copy of the Duchess of Cambridge's Sarah Burton/Alexander McQueen wedding gown!  From the photos and line drawings on the pattern envelope, it seems to be a fairly good replica, though they didn't quite capture the clever and oh-so-elegant way the skirts of the original were draped (which was one of my favorite parts of the gown).  And, of course, any recreation won't be able to boast the world-renowned handiwork of the Royal School of Needlework, and few reproductions can incorporate genuine Irish Carrickmacross lace, and I don't think that Butterick notes any of the placement and patterning of the applique lace designs that added such an amazing texture and dimension to the skirts of the original.  But then again, the rest of us wouldn't be marrying a future king in our reproduction gown, so these are tiny details indeed!  So in general, I think they did quite a nice job with the pattern; visit the Edelweiss Patterns blog for a more detailed comparison of the pattern and the original.  If anyone attempts a reproduction using this pattern, we'd love to see your final product and how it turns out!

Kate Middleton's wedding gown (left), with its Butterick (B5731) counterpart.

To purchase the Butterick pattern, click here.

Left photo linked from wallang; Butterick photo (right) linked from the Butterick website.

And for a bit of added fun, Butterick has also released a pattern (#B5710) that closely replicates the style of Phillipa Middleton's bridesmaid's gown and another that copies the adorable dresses of the young flower girls (#BP248)!  Now if we can just convince them to pattern some of the other historic royal wedding gowns...  :-)

Online 18th Century Patterns in Unexpected Places

As the majority of re-enactors and costumers are aware, Duran Textiles (based in Sweden) is one of the few resources for high-quality 18th century reproduction silks and printed cottons.  But what you may not know is that they periodically publish an online newsletter peppered with all sorts of fascinating and unique information, from the details of their own (period-accurate) printing processes to articles on perfume, fans, and period hairstyles to stunning photos and descriptions of reproduction garments and accessories.  Occasionally, they'll even include clothing patterns from their inspirational sources.  Below are a couple of our favorites:

- A Swedish short gown, dated approximately 1750-1770.  Note the collar piece, which is fairly uncommon.  The construction details are superbly documented, from the assembly to the stitches used, making this a great resource for a period-accurate project.  The original print, a block-printed cotton, has been reproduced exactly in scale and colorway as "Anemon" and is available on the website if you'd like to make an exact copy of this original short gown.

The original 1750-1770 short gown, from the Duran website.

- A late-18th century Swedish short gown.  The cut and construction of this short gown closely resemble the one above, though its shorter skirt and slightly higher waist date it slightly later in the 18th century, or even into the early part of the 19th.  The original resist-dyed block-printed cotton has been reproduced as a screen print and is available here.  Additional photos of the interior of this shortgown can be found in this article.

The front of the original short gown, from the Duran website.

Other costume-related newsletter articles that caught our eye were this one on a recreated 1780s robe a l'anglaise in a gorgeous Duran striped silk (*sigh*), a collection of cap and bonnet patterns conjectured from period images, and this short account of 18th century stays with some great photos. 

Shortgowns are a quick and easy project that swiftly help you achieve a period look (when worn with the correct period undergarments and accessories, of course!).  If anyone attempts a reproduction from either of the patterns above, we'd love to see your final product!  Here's a recent one made by Katherine (Koshka the Cat) from the second pattern above. 

If you're feeling in a shortgown mood, additional shortgown patterns taken from extant garments can be found in Costume Close-up (pgs. 43-6) and Fitting and Proper (pgs. 20-2 and 23-5).  If you'd like to draft your own shortgown pattern, visit Mara Riley's page, or see Beth Gilgun's instructions in Tidings from the 18th Century (pg. 48) for more information.

Treasures and Curiosities from...

The National Museum of Denmark

"Tidens Tøj," loosely translated (by Google, I don't speak Danish!) as "Time's Clothes," is the virtual companion to "Body and Disguise," an exhibition (semi-)recently staged by the National Museum of Denmark, which featured items of clothing from the 18th through the 20th centuries.  One of the highlights of this particular virtual museum collection is that it offers a number of scaled patterns on items' detail pages.  If only a greater number of museums would start to do this and make it a trend in virtual exhibits and online acquisitions catalogues!  We'll just keep hoping (and hinting!)!

All of the information I've gathered from the website was gleaned through a Google translation of the original Danish text, so if I've misinterpreted anything, pray forgive my errors.  If your knowledge exceeds mine in this area, please do let me know of any corrections so that I may make them swiftly.  Thank you!

The following images are borrowed from, and linked directly back to, the website of the "Tidens Tøj" exhibit and originate entirely from the digital database of the National Museum of Denmark. They remain the full and copyrighted property of the aforementioned museum. All images are used for private educational purposes only, without any monetary gain whatsoever, and no copyright infringement is intended.

Our National Museum of Denmark Top Ten:
Number One: A silk hooded "caraco" jacket in silk, dating to approximately 1775 (acquisition number W.25.a (petticoat) and W.25.b (jacket)).  I can't make out much more than that from the Google translation, unfortunately.  The museum identifies this as undress, an informal, "morning" outfit of the sort one would wear at home before dressing for the day.

This is a wonderful piece.  I love the pleating at the back, and the way it is fitted using the waistband piece.  I also love the drape of that hood.  I wonder, though - is it what we would call a brunswick, strictly speaking?  That same question applies to the piece below as well.  Could anyone offer some insight on that?

Number Two: A morning suit of quilted silk, 1778 (acquisition number W.26.a).  The pet-en-l'air/brunswick smorgasbord is secured in front with ties.  It appears from the photograph that the skirt part is not merely a petticoat (as above), but is actually a gown of some sort.  If only we could see it in its entirety!  And don't you just love this color?  So delightfully springy!

The provenance for this piece is neat.  It was the "bridal morning suit" owned by the wife of a cleric, and, according to the museum, was most likely worn by her during those first few days of honeymooning at home after her wedding.

Number Three: A sacque-back gown and matching petticoat of silk, 1778 (acquisition number W.8.g).  The silk appears to be painted, but I can't confirm that with the icky Google translation.

The gown's trim is padded and edged with lace, and the interior of the bodice is lined with a red canvas (linen or cotton, I can't tell).

The interior of the gown, showing the back lacing that adjusts

the gown's size beneath the loose back pleats.  For further details

on how this works, see this earlier Threaded Bliss post.

Be sure to check out the museum's detail page for this one because they offer a fantastic discussion of one of the quandaries that so often faces curators of costumes: how precisely was a garment worn, and should possible missing pieces be reproduced by conjecture, or simply left out so that the original may speak for itself?  In the past, the website explains, this gown was displayed with a reproduction stomacher and the back lacing tightly closed to expand the chest width.  For this exhibition, however, the curators made the choice to leave a stomacher out because it was not original to the gown; loosening the laces, they displayed the ensemble as if the center front closed edge-to-edge.  This raises some crucial questions about museum re-presentations or interpretations of objects, and in anticpation of the upcoming CW conference, "A Reconstructed Visitable Past," I invite you, gentle reader, to offer your thoughts on this issue.  What is at stake in making these types of decisions?  What would you do, and why?

Number Four: A jacket ("bodice") of greyish-beige silk brocade, dating to the 1770s (acquisition number 813/1951).  This jacket was made for a young girl about 7 years old; because long gowns were expensive and a heavy encumberance for a young lady, the shorter skirts of a jacket like this were an acceptable concession, as the structured style still helped maintain the fashionable body shape of the period.

The jacket spiral-laces up the front with eyelets, which are concealed beneath the robings.  Presumably there was once a matching stomacher, which is now missing.  There is a detail photo on the item's page, but the link doesn't seem to be working properly.  The back of the jacket appears to be shaped with en fourreau-like pleats that are then released into the skirts.  The remainder of the skirts' fullness is achieved by gathering (or pleating, it's so tough to see!) the fabric along the shaped waistline.

Number Five: A (probably) Spitalfields silk satin robe a la francaise (acquisition number W.8.j).  The gown's design has been dated to 1786, while the woven larger pattern on the silk suggests the fabric dates to the 1740s.

Number Six: A young child's dress of narrow pink and white striped taffeta, 1780-1785 (acquisition number W.1138).  The gown actually closes in back with ties.  The false stomacher front is created by arranging strips of ruched silk in the traditional V shape; that V shape is echoed in the dip at the center back waistline.  Box pleats decorate the hem of the skirts.  I just love this piece.  I think it's my favorite of this grouping.

Number Seven: A silk gauze cap decorated with a green silk taffeta bow and ribbons, 1780-1785 (acquisition number W.1138).  This delicate cap was made to be worn with the child's gown above.

I love the look of silk gauze caps.  The milliner's shop at Colonial Williamsburg frequently displays adult-sized examples of their own design, one of which can be seen here on their facebook page.

Number Eight: A silk pet-en-l'air (the museum lists this as a caraco, but I'm thinking something is being lost in translation) and matching petticoat, 1780s (acquisition number W.9).  The detail page indicates that the fabric was imported from China, but it doesn't say whether it is embroidered or painted.  It's very difficult to tell from the small photos, and the one close-up link doesn't work.  Boo!  :-(

This garment closes with a false-stomacher edge-to-edge "vest" or "waistcoat" front.  The very narrow pleats in the back, along with the past-elbow-length sleeves and the shorter skirt, date this pet-en-l'air to the 1780s. 

Be extremely excited!  A scaled .pdf pattern for this caraco and the matching petticoat is provided on the museum's detail page for this listing.  I only wish they also offered a more detailed sketch of the embroidered (or painted) design, becasuse I'd love to reproduce that, too!  A word of warning about the .pdf - there is no indication about the scale used in the drawing.  I assume it is centimeters, but I haven't double-checked that so make a muslin first (as always!) if you use it for a full-scale reproduction.

Number Nine: A quarter-back open robe of printed cotton with a matching petticoat, dating to the 1780s (acquisition number W.18).  The front of the bodice is boned.

A detail of the printed cotton fabric.

The National Museum of Denmark took a pattern from this gown as well, and has made it available in a scaled .pdf on this item's detail page.

Number Ten: A striped silk piemontaise, dated to approximately 1780-1790 (acquisition number 621.a-c).  The piemontaise was like a robe a la francaise, except that the pleats were left to hang free from the shoulders and were not incorporated into the back bodice or the skirts of the gown; the bodice of the gown, in other words, is cut much like a quarter-back gown.

Occasionally, the pleats of a piemontaise are tacked down at the waistline, but in this case they appear not to be.  Gowns like this were in style for a very brief time in the 1780s, and as a result are quite hard to come by.  See this fantastic article on a similar piemontaise from La Couturiere Parisienne for a detailed exploration of the quirks of this often-forgotten style.

There is a pattern taken from this gown as well, which helps to illuminate the way the piemontaise style worked.  Visit the museum's detail page for a .pdf!

Printed Resources Featuring Items from the 18th century part of the National Museum of Denmark:
The detail pages for each of these items list the published works in which the garment has been featured.  If you can read Danish, you're in luck here!  If not, you'll just have to sit with me in confusion and regret at potential costuming resources lost in translation.  If anyone with some knowledge of Danish can locate any of these resources, do let me know so I can update this post and share them!

Sewing for the Literary-Minded

Just before Christmas, while doing a little online holiday shopping, I discovered that the Sullivan Films shop offers for sale a pattern from Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story movie. It is Anne's wedding dress, a simple yet elegant gown inspired by a 1916 Canadian catalog wedding dress (because, if you recall, Anne's hurried wedding in the film necessitated the purchase of something pre-made).

My version of this dress will not be for a wedding; instead, I'm thinking perhaps either black (the sheer sleeves would look so pretty!) or a pastel color to make it a pretty springy outfit. With a hat, of course. Must have a hat.

I emailed the company to inquire if there were currently any plans to release any other patterns of costumes from the two earlier films, but they replied in the negative. Perhaps if we bombard them with inquiries so that they know there's plenty of interest, we can stir something up! I know I, for one, would love to get my hands on a pattern for Anne's "Gibson Girl" dress from Anne of Avonlea (er, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, if you prefer!), or that gorgeous gown she wears to the opera on her visit to Boston, or...well, I'd be happy with whatever they could offer!

Because of the timeline shift in the first Anne film, Kevin Sullivan had to bring the third up to the period of World War I. In the movie world, then, Anne and Gilbert don't marry until 1915, while in the book (Anne's House of Dreams), their wedding takes place around 1890, and it is not until the eighth volume in the series (Rilla of Ingleside) that L.M. Montgomery reaches the war years, by which time the main character has become Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter.

Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne's creator) and Ewan Macdonald were married on 5 July 1911, closer in date to the movie Anne and Gilbert than their original literary counterparts. We visited Prince Edward Island several times back in the mid-90s, and saw LMM's wedding gown on display at her birthplace in New London, and also visited the parlor room where she was married at her cousins the Campbells' home at Park Corner. Descendants of LMM still own the Park Corner property and permit wedding ceremonies to be conducted before the very same fireplace where LMM stood on her wedding day (and yes, all of the original furniture is still there, too). All three years we visited the house, there were couples having wedding pictures taken on the grounds.

LMM's wedding gown on display at the LMM Birthplace. 

Photo linked from Reverand Sam's flickr photostream.

LMM recorded in her journal that "my wedding dress was of white-silk crepe de soie with tunic of chiffon and pearl bead trimming - and of course the tulle veil and orange blossom wreath."  She also wore "Ewan's present - a necklace of of amethysts and pearls.  My bouquet was of white roses and lilies of the valley" (The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol II, pgs. 64-7).  Interestingly, these same materials - white silk de soie with a chiffon overdress decorated with bead trimming - were also used to create Anne's movie wedding dress, though in a much more "modern" style.

Photograph of LMM's wedding gown.  The gown is

the property of the LMM Birthplace.  The photo is

copyrighted by the LMM Institute.

The gown was made by Margaret Bulman of New Glasgow, PEI.  We visited well before the age of digital cameras, and the photos we have are so badly lit you can't make out what's in them, so I've had to link to online images instead.

Montgomery also wrote about the enjoyment she and her Park Corner cousins derived from the arrival of her trousseau, which the hard-earned funds from her newly-published novels had enabled her to order all the way from Toronto and Montreal. She modelled them proudly as her cousin snapped photographs, and later inserted the photos into one of her scrapbooks. Swatches of some of the fabrics were also carefully saved there, along with some flowers from her bouquet. Click here for a brief but very neat little video from the L.M. Montgomery Institute showing the scrapbook page.  I remember seeing some of LMM's scrapbooks on display at her New London Birthplace and at the PEI Confederation Centre of the Arts, but I don't recall seeing this particular one. Guess I'll just have to go back again!

Some of the photos are below, and she described the outfits thus in her journal: "My trousseau, which I had made mainly in Toronto and Montreal, began to arrive and we were all interested in that.  My things were pretty...These are snaps the girls took of some of my dresses.  My suit was of steel gray cloth, with gray chiffon blouse and gray hat trimmed with a wreath of tiny rosebuds.  My long wrap was of gray broadcloth.  Besides the dresses 'illustrated' I had a linen dress, a pink muslin, one of white embroidery, and several odd waists" (The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol II, pgs. 64-6).  If only they had survived as well as the wedding gown!

More images of the trousseau can be see in The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol. II, pg. 65.

For further information on all of these items, visit the Confederation Centre's "L.M. Montgomery's Wedding Clothes" page.  The page is part of a larger project based on a recent exhibit of LMM's scrapbooks, called "Picturing a Canadian Life: L.M. Montgomery's Personal Scrapbooks and Book Covers."  If you're interested in taking a closer look at some of the scrapbooks (which intriguingly contain many swatches and fashion clippings), check out Imagining Anne: The Island Scrapbooks of L.M. Montgomery, the book that accompanies the exhibit.  Further information on the life and writings of L.M. Montgomery can be found through the L.M. Montgomery Institute.