Robe a la francaise a.k.a Oh God, no.

I wouldn't really be a proper costumer if I didn't at least try to make a francaise, would I? But can you believe it's not something I've ever had on my bucket list, solely because it look so time consuming. Yet, somehow, here we are.

ca. 1750s

I'm attending an event in 2020 where a francaise is the order of the day (an optional one but considering it's based on the 18th century French court I'd be mad to go without a francaise). I know what you're thinking - 2020? It only just turned 2019! And you'd be right, but I'm a planner, and since I've never made a francaise before I'd like to get some research in now.

Thankfully for me, the francaise is so iconic that tons of people have tried it before (unlike my 17th century court gown). American Duchess (AD) even have detailed instructions in their book! I am tempted to cave in and buy a commercial pattern, but why go down the easy route when I have an abundance of costuming books up the stairs all with patterns and details about the francaise?

As you know if you've been following me for a while, I'm a no-frills sort of costumer. Minimal trim kind of stuff, which is the complete opposite of the 18th century, especially the francaise where trim is mandatory, the more the better. I don't mind trim, honestly I don't, it's just that whenever I find myself designing costumes they don't have much. Even my 18th century Pierrot ( which almost went completely untrimmed) only has trim around the neckline and cuffs, and the silk petticoat has none at all! The largest amount of trim I've ever done were the 3 rows of pleating and 6 bows I had to put on my natural form era gown.

Don't get me wrong, my francaise will be trimmed....the silk version anyway. But this is more of an inspiration post. What are the garments I use to get ideas onto paper?  My francaise will be mid-century, so before the big hair of the 1770s. I'm thinking about 1750s-1760s, but of course the francaise doesn't go through that many changes in the entire century, let alone these 20 years, so it might be difficult to pinpoint an extant garment to a precise year. Paintings are better.

The only thing different between earlier gowns and later ones is the size of the pleats at the back. They tend to be wider earlier in the century. Can't say I've noticed.

Madame de Pompadour was my first person of interest during my research because it was she who was dominant during these decades, despite not being the official Maitresse en titre (she retired in 1750 from that role and just became the King's close friend).

The first is by far the most famous portrait of her painted by Francois Bouchet about 1750. In fact I think all of the above are painted by him during her lifetime. Obviously I love the colour of the first one, but just the thought of all that floof makes me sad.

Then I moved onto extant garments. Now, I don't know about you, but most reproduction francaise by costumers are done in silk taffeta which tends to be one colour. Conversely, most, if not all, extant francaises are silk brocade. To add another layer onto this mess most of the paintings from the era also have the gowns as one or two solid colour silk. Obviously silk is still expensive, and after finding out you need at least 10m for one I fell out with silk taffeta for a little while. Let's just say that any silk francaise you make will be an investment.

The robe a la francaise can be fastened 2 ways. The first is the old stomacher and pins method, which was very, very common. The other is the so-called compere front, which usually attached the stomacher to the sides of the gown and buttoned up down the centre front. A lot of the stomacher's I noticed, both in portraits and extant garments, were trimmed up the wazoo, and I'm just not a fan.

circa 1760s, currently held in the Bath Fashion museum

circa 1760s, Museum of Fine Arts Boston

circa 1740s

circa 1760s

You see I'm more of an embroidery kind of gal. Ironic since embroidery actually takes longer than normal 18th century stomacher trim, but I just prefer it. And embroidered stomachers were also worn with the robe a la francaise.

ca. 1775

Stomacher ca. 1730-1750, VA museum

All in all designing the francaise itself was actually one of the easiest parts of this idea. On the other hand, we had the foundation garments. WTF is up with the 18th century and all of these weird cushions, cages, panniers, and rumps? Just calm the f**k down.

At least in the 19th century its the crinoline, then bustle, then 2nd bustle, there's one silhouette for each, and usually one or two variations on the same undergarment. God forbid the 18th century is the same.

We have pocket hoops, court panniers, normal panniers, square panniers, and all give a slightly different silhouette. I've spent more time researching these garments than I did the friggin francaise itself!!

These are my current favourite, but I have the intentions of shortening it a bit. There is a name for it, I think it's a short hoop (at least that's what they call it in POF 5). I came to this conclusion after reading somewhere that pocket hoops tend to be a bit unstable, but I;m not sure if perhaps tying them together would alleviate that problem. Never having made or worn them I can't say either way, but I have plans to make them as well (I've got an abundance of books with a pattern in it).

The square/rectangular panniers I'm talking about I think are usually worn with court gowns, like whatever is underneath the gown below.

Court gown ca. 1750, The Met

ca. 1759

If I thought I had the skills I'd want to make these minimalist ones.

POF 5 has 2 patterns for a pannier similar to this, but from a brief skim it looked quite fiddly, so I think I'll stick to the short hoop for now.

I am making pocket hoops, but I'm unsure if they're as large as I'd like, especially the ones below. I know there is a costumer recently who's made slightly bigger ones and they look perfect, but again stability issues. Don't get me wrong, I'm not making a court pannier size, but I just feel the pocket hoops are a little too small and flimsy for me.

Perhaps it's just the mannequin. I did notice with my prototype pair that the size of my hips did make them stick out more, but it's more the stability issues that concern me.

I've found recently that I actually prefer making undergarments. I know that's a strange thing to enjoy because a lot of people find it tedious and just want to get onto the actual gown, but with gowns come trim. I find undergarments fascinating, and despite the sheer number of them in the 18th century, I really enjoy finding the differences between them, and when they would've been worn.

So, that's it for my inspiration post, but don't expect a completed francaise this year (2019). I still intend to do my 1890s gown first, then if my obsession for the francaise lingers then I'll attempt one in cotton because can you believe, my money tree still hasn't grown.

2018 year in review

Goodness, it's that time of year again. I don't usually do a separate post on reviewing what I've made but I was looking at the one I wrote last year and decided it may be too long.

One of my goals this year was to blog more, which I don't feel I really did. This year the problem was with actually finishing projects. I realise I have a problem in that I very rarely see projects through to completion. They sit with seams unfinished, fastenings not done, and edges fraying. This will be more like a list of incomplete projects than a review of what I've done in 2018.

1.) Natural form era gown.
This comes with a story, like they all do. I made this for Prior Attire's ball in May, but by April it looked as though my friend couldn't go due to work commitments, and I was never really that keen on attending another one (I have a blog on my experiences of events like this that I'll leave you to find). I had a corset, petticoat, underskirt, over-skirt, and evening bodice all nearly done. I had worked on them for ages, but when I realised we weren't going I lost interest very quickly and they've been moved around the sewing room for the last 8 months. The corset and petticoat are complete (minus flossing and hook and eye, respectively). The underskirt needs another row of pleating at the hem and a fastening. The over-skirt I kind of messed up a wee bit so I'm currently toying with unpicking parts of it and re-doing them. The bodice edges need finishing, and I also had a bit of a nightmare adding hook and eye tape which will need to be fixed.
This is another project that's added to the never-ending list of "needs fixed/finished". I do have a collection of in progress photos that will have to do for now.

2.) 1780s Pierrot ensemble
This was the main project of this year as it was a new era for me. I made a challenge for myself in that I didn't want to use commercial patterns, only ones I had scaled up. I even styled a half-wig for this period, with questionable success. I tried to make a chemise, which was far too big, 2 pairs of stays, a linen petticoat, silk taffeta petticoat, and the Pierrot jacket.
I really liked working in this period, and found a new love for 18th century stays. That love was so strong that I've made at least 3 pairs (all unfinished) in 2018 alone, with some shaky plans to continue into 2019.

3.) 1780s Chemise a la reine ensemble
The 1780s and 90s are my favourite decades of the 18th century, and as a result I spent most of the sewing year making various pieces from the ground up. This consisted of the same semi-disastrous 1780s stays, an experimental petticoat lined with cotton organdie, and a really nice printed cotton for the chemise itself.

4.) 1790s round gown
I don't know what made me do this one...I'd probably found a fabric that I liked. Again I had to make everything from the foundations up with this one, and this was also the first experience I had with using the AD guide to 18th century dress making. This also confirmed to me I don't suit an empire waist, even if it isn't as high as traditional "Austen" style gowns.

5.) 1660s court gown
This one had been on my list for years, and since the final season of Versailles came out this year I decided to start on it. Unfortunately, the sewing drought of 2018 hit in the middle and I found myself going less and less into the sewing room. The gown is nearly finished, finishing edges and adding trim to the bodice kind of stuff, but by this point it does feel never ending. Here are some in progress photos until I finally finish it. It has been a bit of a disaster on the whole, kind of like putting fires out at every junction, but it looks alright....from a distance.

6.) Vintage inspired skirts
I have been wearing the same skirts for about 5-6 years now. Some have small holes, others are faded to a completely different colour, but all of them suddenly became too short for my liking. I also began my journey into vintage clothing this year. Instead of paying through the nose for vintage repro clothes I thought why don't I just make them myself. Using one of my old skater skirts I made a pattern, tweaked it here and there, and then made 2 skirts from 4m of tartan fabric. One was the "mock-up" for the pleating pattern, and the other had a thicker waistband.

7.) Misc
I put this category in here because I made a few accessories this year, and began another hobby. I made an 18th century pocket, hand embroidered; I styled a half-wig into a 1780s hedgehog; and I began a new hobby of crocheting this year.

Turns out 2018 was the year for building my 18th century wardrobe, which I'm completely ok with. The 18th century and I still have some unfinished business in the shape of stays. I think it feels to me like I didn't make much because there's only 3 completed outfits, and 2 unfinished ones, but I had to make everything from the foundations up with all of them, so I suppose I've actually been quite productive.

I also ventured outside a lot with my costumes, which was something I wanted to accomplish last year. I didn't quite make it outside the safety of my own garden, but let's take baby steps.

2018 was a bit of a quiet year, not that I'm complaining, I just hope it continues that way.

An 18th century pocket a.k.a a very Scottish pocket

Do you know there is practically no one in the UK (on Etsy) who sells embroidered 18th century pockets? To be fair, I was just being lazy. Embroidery is the only reason I ever got into sewing in the first place, and it's where I started my sewing journey, so I really had no excuse buying one when I knew I had the skills to make one.

I, along with many others, own Janet Arnold's books. It took me less than 5 minutes to find, and procure a pattern. Then it came onto the fun job of embroidery. I didn't fancy crewel, which would have been popular at the time. I've done a very nice panel of crewel before in my embroidery days, but I'm not really a big fan. Instead, I designed my own.

Bad thing is, I can't draw to save myself. It's why I only ever used embroidery kits with the pattern printed on. I had to give up on this pocket being symmetrical, it was hard enough just drawing the thistle and flowers. The second problem came when I cut out the cotton and had to transfer the pattern.

It's more HA to use linen, but I had cotton, so that's what I used. This project came during the time when I was being rebellious against HA, so cotton it is. Like I do with many projects, I got a pencil, and I drew a pattern onto the surface of the cotton, lightly, and it would be covered by thread.

Over my years of embroidery, and obviously eyelet sewing, I've collected a lot of embroidery thread, so I managed to complete this project with most of the ones in my stash, the orange was the only one I didn't have.

I also had the smallest embroidery hoop known to man, from a teenie, tiny, project I did many years ago, which now sits proudly framed at my parent's house. I did order a larger one, but found that the smaller one was actually the perfect size. Bad thing, and something I forgot, is sometimes hoops leave dirty marks on fabric, especially when they've been kept in a sewing box for 7 years. Thankfully, it's very light, and only on one bit, so it's hardly noticeable.

My design is partly inspired by 18th century designs, and partly modern, very much like my current sewing techniques, so this pocket is literally me. If you don't know I'm Scottish, then you must be new. I, like many fellow Scots, am very proud of my country and heritage, and I ended up going all out on this project, partly because I own a million metre roll of tartan bias binding (I've had it for 3 years and it still hasn't run out despite being whipped out for nearly everything that isn't seen).

Like a few extant pockets, the centre motif is the Scottish thistle, which considering my dire drawing skills I'm very proud of, it turned out better than I imagined, which is rare. The other flowers and vines are inspired by other extant pockets I found from the quickest Google image search any seamstress has ever done. The initials are mine, unsure if I'd seen pockets with initials on or just made it up.

I did come across a few costuming blogs about pockets, although they were also few and far between, and they were all hand sewn, I think one was patchwork, which is massively HA, and I said, to hell with that! My railing against HA continues. This thing is machine sewn, but the embroidery is all hand done, so I think even that will appease the harshest HA critics.

It didn't actually take me that long. I could only remember a few stitches in embroidery and couldn't really be bothered looking up more, so it was really simple, none of this fancy stitching.