Open-robes were a very popular style from the 1790s all the way through to the early 1800s. I've always wanted to make one but never had the inclination or reason. Since I was on my 1790s streak and had an IKEA duvet cover I was sick of looking at, I decided why not? I can whip this up quick?
I was undecided about whether to make a full blown gown to go underneath or just a petticoat and wear a chemisette/fichu underneath. I decided on the petticoat option as I didn't want the added bulk of another gown. I chose this lovely lavender cotton voile as I'm not the biggest fan ot cream/white like the original is mounted with (I don't think that's the original petticoat, just a mounting accessory).
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| It was very windy... |
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| My remote died the next day... |
The making of...
I don't know how to describe the hold that the 1790s has on me at the best of times, but ever since I saw a 1790s gown with Watteu pleats in POF6 I was obsessed. I recreated the one from The Netherlands, which is a round gown in style, earlier in the year, and since I had momentum and an IKEA bed sheet that had been taking up room for too many years, I decided to have a go at recreating the only other 1790s sack-back in existance: the one held in the V&A.
I actually managed to find a near perfect reproduction chintz cotton, but it was 35 euros per metre and was from Europe, and thanks to Brexit I didn't want to find out how expensive importing things is. I also had the infamous IKEA duvet sheet that had been kicked about my sewing room since I ordered it more than 4 years ago.
I ordered Queen size, and holy shit was it large. I have a measly double bed, and I couldn't believe how much of a difference in size there was between the two. I was swimming in this duvet cover. I cut around all of the edges so I had two very wide panels. The thing about duvet cotton, or I suppost quilting cotton in general, is that it does tend to be quite thick and sturdy. The V&A refer to this example as made from a "particularly fine cotton chintz" which I can't tell if they're referring to the thickness or the fact that it's painted with gold. From the way it drapes I'm presuming it's probably a bit thinner than my quilting cotton.
I had to make a new pattern for the lining, created using the lining pieces I'd drafted for the silk 1790s gown. The neckline is a lot lower on this one since it's an open robe and evidently made to be worn over another gown. That was pretty easy, except I did make a wee mistake.
The only white cotton I have on hand is lawn and voile, which is a lot thinner and finer than quilting cotton. I didn't think they would be suitable as a lining for the watteu pleats. I just so happened to have some Klona cotton (a relatively sturdy kind of quilting cotton) that I'd used to make the lining of my recently made Italian gown. I didn't think the IKEA duvet was that see-through and thought it'd be fine.
Although you can't quite see, there is definitely a difference in person between the two pieces (I lined the front piece with the white lawn since it wasn't bearing a lot of weight or tension). Whoops.
Pleating this IKEA duvet was a bit more difficult than the previous gown as this quilting cotton was a bit thicker than the silk dupion I'd used before. As a result the pleats are a bit bulkier at the back, which isn't that much of a problem, more an observation.
The other minor problem was the width of the hem. I'd learned from my previous attempt that the hem needs to be quite wide so that the watteu pleats fall and hang nicely, and the hem at the back doesn't fold in on itself. This gown as a bit different, it was an open robe. So I decided to be stingy and only use the full panel of the duvet cover. I'd observed during my last attempt that shaped panels (or gored panels) would be better for a gown of this type to make it hang nicely, but I was too lazy to do that and didn't really see the point. It doesn't really work in the same way a traditional dress would, it's going to billow out behind you anyway because it doesn't have a front skirt piece.
I was also quite concened with the weight and bulk caused by using too much of this cotton for the skirt panels (I had recently had to take the skirt off of my Italian gown because I'd used so much of it the gown was weighing down my false rump and flattening my 1780s big-arse silhouette).
The final result is that it doesn't sit nicely on a mannequin, but moving it still works ok.
The next problem was the sleeve heads. I, for some odd reason, thought that my pattern already had seam allowance added to the sleeve head (I'm notorious for being really inconsistent with which seams have seam allowance added onto a pattern and which don't). So I didn't add any, but added it to all other seams. Yeah, turns out none of the seams had seam allowance.
I had a nightmare of a day on these sleeves. First I didn't have any way of adding the seam lines to the cotton and white lining as I usually use a black sharpey, which doesn't come out and would be perfectly visible on a white gown (I do have blue chalk, but it wasn't cooperating). Then I spilled tea on the cut out pieces. And then those sleeves didn't even fit because of the missing seam allowance.
I ended up not using a lining for the sleeves as the cotton is quite thick, and I used the black sharpey (just don't look too closely), which I've not convinced myself they had back then (and I won't be reasoned with).
I made an experimental choice for the front bodice piece. The mannequin that this gown is mounted on appears to have no chest, so the bodice lies very flat with not a wrinkle in sight. But the whole point of 1790s stays is to thrust your chest out.
I decided to cut the front bodice piece on the bias, so it would curve and mould to my silhouette, a technque commonly deployed in the 1780s to account for the curvature on the front of stays. I have no idea if this will prove to be a stupid choice or not, but it currently does lie relatively flat (that might be because I have minimal boobage, even in 1790s stays). I'll have to see how that decision pans out in the long-run.
I didn't have as much fun with this gown as I did with the first one, perhaps some of the novelty wore off.
If you're interested in having a go at this I'd recomment a lighter fabric. Put down that IKEA duvet cover. Having said that I am curious as to how those pleats would work with a looser woven fabric such as a lawn or voile. Would they still hold their shape as well? Why do I get the feeling I'm probably going to be the one to find out one day?
