These gowns became popular from the 1770s onwards. They look very similar to robe a l'anglaise's, except the bodice is completely separate from the skirt, unlike with the l'anglaise which has that back pleat that runs into the skirt, cut in one piece. In other words, the Italian gown should be easier.....that was the theory anyway.
This gown is worn over my Scroop pattern stays, false rump from AD's Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking, and my blue taffeta petticoat. In hindsight I definitely should've had another petticoat on underneath the silk one, but oh well.
I'm really terrible with accessorizing my outfits, and I'm even worse with my hair. I tried my best, and had to pin some ribbon on a shallow crown hat I've had for ages and never got around to trimming properly.
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| The shot you've all been waiting for.... |
The Making of....
At the beginning of 2020 I sat down and planned out all the gowns I'd need for the two immersive 18th century events I'd be attending this year. A 3-day stay at an 18th century house, and a weekend LARPing. Except by the time I finished this gown all of that was out the window due to the global pandemic of Covid-19. I, probably fortunately, didn't get any time off. As a PhD student during the final months of my degree, I could write my thesis from anywhere, so instead of going to the office I had to actually work from home. But even so, I still had some extra time to finish this gown.
My current 18th century wardrobe consisted of; a Pierrot jacket, a pet en l'air, and a chemise a la reine I was never quite happy with. The pet en l'air was the only one I wanted to wear because I love it, the other two I have mixed feelings about.
My current 18th century wardrobe consisted of; a Pierrot jacket, a pet en l'air, and a chemise a la reine I was never quite happy with. The pet en l'air was the only one I wanted to wear because I love it, the other two I have mixed feelings about.
I originally wanted a l'anglaise, I even did the research, created the pinterest board. In the end I decided due to all the other things I needed to make, a l'anglaise was too much (I've heard the back pleats are a bit of a nightmare). What looks exactly the same but is easier to make? An Italian gown!
I also decided I could just use the pattern from my Pierrot since it was taken from the AD guide's pages on the Italian gown. The fabric was interesting. I own two Queen sized sets of the famous IKEA duvet covers, and in the 2+ years I've had them they've remained untouched. This would be a perfect opportunity, I hear you say. It turns out...no.
The bad thing, to me, about those duvet sets is that they've been so overused to make 18th century gowns (with a very good reason). I also, as you may know if you've been following this blog for a while, have a dislike for white (although that hasn't stopped me from making another chemise a la reine in white dotted cotton....). One day I'll probably make a gown with those duvets, but this gown isn't it.
I, instead, went for something that has been in my stash a wee bit longer, is so pretty and in no way HA (because we don't do that here anymore). This fabric is actually the same one I used to make my first bustle era ball gown way back in 2016-2017. It's a crafting cotton with the tiniest flower print on it. I got it in teal for the ball gown at £5 p/m, and they had a few different colours, so I decided to get the red. And it's been sitting in my stash ever since. When I was planning out all the gowns I wanted to make with their respective fabrics, I knew I wanted to try and use fabric from the stash. Thankfully I'd been clever enough to order 6m.
Then I got to mocking up. I dug out my Pierrot jacket pattern. The jacket was fitted over a pair of stays I never finished and loathe with every thread of my being. I had a new, nice and shiny pair of stays, so another mock-up was needed. A few minor alterations later and I thought I had the perfect fitting bodice (apart from the straps, I have no idea but 18th century straps hate me).
I cut out the lining, then cut out the fashion fabric, basted at the back neckline, and then did a fitting. Close at the bust fine, then by the time we arrived at the front the sucker wouldn't close. The edges of the fabric at the CF wouldn't even meet, and that was with 1" of seam allowance at CF!
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| Believe me, it barely closes at the bottom. |
How had it gone so wrong? At the time of writing I still don't quite know. I think during the fitting of the final mock-ups I'd went Victorian on the lacing and laced my stays tighter than I'd normally wear them. But even when I did that again it barely improved. I'm thinking it probably has something to do with that mystical thing called ease. Even after taking out the seams at the waist by as much as physically possible it wasn't that much better. It was just the waist and below, everything above that was absolutely fine.
There were three options.
1.) Forge on ahead as it was. There was still overlap of the two CF panels. Theoretically I could finish the edges and add fastenings. It'd be snug, but it was doable.
2.) Piecing is period. Have a really annoying panel somewhere, either CF or on the side, to let the bodice out where it needed to have more room.
3.) Zone front. Cut away the current front that didn't fit, then re-cut the front panel, adding room at the waist.
I went with option number 3! As you can definitely tell from the pictures at the beginning of this post. I did have the issue of what colour to make the zone front. Believe it or not, I don't have a huge stash of plain cottons. Fabrics I do tend to keep in the stash are silks, printed cottons, and white cotton lawn that seems to just produce itself because I've not had to buy lawn in about 3 years, yet use it for practically all undergarments and even some linings....
I didn't want white because white is just impossible to keep clean. The only two plain cottons I had in the stash were the lilac I used for my pet en-l'air petticoat, and a chocolate brown I'd used for flatlining my 1890s ballgown bodice. The lilac was nice, but the brown, to me, just went better. I knew I was going to be wearing this gown with my blue silk petticoat, which I still have the remnants of, but for some reason I just didn't want to make the zone front out of the blue silk.
I didn't want white because white is just impossible to keep clean. The only two plain cottons I had in the stash were the lilac I used for my pet en-l'air petticoat, and a chocolate brown I'd used for flatlining my 1890s ballgown bodice. The lilac was nice, but the brown, to me, just went better. I knew I was going to be wearing this gown with my blue silk petticoat, which I still have the remnants of, but for some reason I just didn't want to make the zone front out of the blue silk.
I actually kind of preferred it being a zone-front. It was a bit weird looking when the front panel was all the one colour. No idea why....
There are two things I'm kind of annoyed with. The first is the wrinkles in the bodice. I tried so hard to get rid of them, I even hand sewed on the panels to the lining, but nope, nothing got rid of them.
The second is the less than satisfactory point of the gown at the back. It definitely should have been deeper, but it was really hard to guage fitting it on myself.
Talking about hard to fit: sleevils. These didn't go together as well as my pet en l'air pattern. I actually think the arm scyes of the bodice are too high, which is a first for me. They're not uncomfortable, but they made fitting the sleeves quite tricky. I think it took me about 3 goes, and unfortunately I took 0 pics of the process, so apologies.
I did take obligatory satisfying pictures of the skirts though. For the first time in my sewing career I actually used less than the recommended width of fabric for the skirt. I was very aware of not having that much fabric, and I was paranoid about running out. I possibly should have used 3 panels for the skirt, but ended up using 2. I think it looks fine, and the pleats were so satisfying to do. I also added applique stitch to my repertoire.
Then it was time for the finishing touches. Mainly; adding the straps, fastenings, and trim.
Trim is always a bit complicated for me on 18th century cotton dresses, mainly because I see conflicting opinions of what should be done. I find because you can't just pink cotton for trim, like you can with silk, you either have to hem it by hand (not a f***in chance), or make a tube, which for me always comes out clunky.
From what I can gather from extant garments and other people's advice, cotton gowns aren't usually trimmed with self-trim. In fact trim in general on printed cotton is kept to a minimum. Why? Because printed cotton in the 18th century was expensive (not that silk wasn't), and because it was printed, there wasn't really any need to trim it to the nines as with everything else.
That doesn't mean I left it totally naked. Unusually I actually realised what was missing from my pet en l'air. White trim. By this I really just mean fluffy, frilly, ruffles at the neckline and cuffs. I dug out my plastic bag of white trim (yes, I have one of them, it's only small though) and managed to extract some polyester organza ruffle I used for a victorian ballgown years ago, and some weird lace that I don't particularly like but didn't have anything else. I only basted it to the neckline, hoping one day I can replace it with something nicer.
I always intended on wearing this en retrousse because I just prefer the volume it gives at the back, and therefore added a few ties.
The final step was sewing on about 20 hooks and eyes at the CF for the fastening. I, for the first time, also added boning to the CF just to keep is straight and try to mitigate the wrinkles. Thankfully, this actually worked. And then I was done.
Final thoughts about this project. I think this might be one of my most wearable gowns to date. Barring the few niggles I have with the design it's a comfortable, and entirely finished, gown, ready to wear for an event, whenever there should be one. When I can, and if I'm so inclined, I may order some more brown cotton and make a matching petticoat, but I'm not completely disgusted with the blue/brown/red combo. That might just be my colour mismatched brain talking though...
The second is the less than satisfactory point of the gown at the back. It definitely should have been deeper, but it was really hard to guage fitting it on myself.
Talking about hard to fit: sleevils. These didn't go together as well as my pet en l'air pattern. I actually think the arm scyes of the bodice are too high, which is a first for me. They're not uncomfortable, but they made fitting the sleeves quite tricky. I think it took me about 3 goes, and unfortunately I took 0 pics of the process, so apologies.
I did take obligatory satisfying pictures of the skirts though. For the first time in my sewing career I actually used less than the recommended width of fabric for the skirt. I was very aware of not having that much fabric, and I was paranoid about running out. I possibly should have used 3 panels for the skirt, but ended up using 2. I think it looks fine, and the pleats were so satisfying to do. I also added applique stitch to my repertoire.
Then it was time for the finishing touches. Mainly; adding the straps, fastenings, and trim.
Trim is always a bit complicated for me on 18th century cotton dresses, mainly because I see conflicting opinions of what should be done. I find because you can't just pink cotton for trim, like you can with silk, you either have to hem it by hand (not a f***in chance), or make a tube, which for me always comes out clunky.
From what I can gather from extant garments and other people's advice, cotton gowns aren't usually trimmed with self-trim. In fact trim in general on printed cotton is kept to a minimum. Why? Because printed cotton in the 18th century was expensive (not that silk wasn't), and because it was printed, there wasn't really any need to trim it to the nines as with everything else.
That doesn't mean I left it totally naked. Unusually I actually realised what was missing from my pet en l'air. White trim. By this I really just mean fluffy, frilly, ruffles at the neckline and cuffs. I dug out my plastic bag of white trim (yes, I have one of them, it's only small though) and managed to extract some polyester organza ruffle I used for a victorian ballgown years ago, and some weird lace that I don't particularly like but didn't have anything else. I only basted it to the neckline, hoping one day I can replace it with something nicer.
I always intended on wearing this en retrousse because I just prefer the volume it gives at the back, and therefore added a few ties.
The final step was sewing on about 20 hooks and eyes at the CF for the fastening. I, for the first time, also added boning to the CF just to keep is straight and try to mitigate the wrinkles. Thankfully, this actually worked. And then I was done.
Final thoughts about this project. I think this might be one of my most wearable gowns to date. Barring the few niggles I have with the design it's a comfortable, and entirely finished, gown, ready to wear for an event, whenever there should be one. When I can, and if I'm so inclined, I may order some more brown cotton and make a matching petticoat, but I'm not completely disgusted with the blue/brown/red combo. That might just be my colour mismatched brain talking though...
