Gwendoline's party frock.

I'd been given some pretty offcuts a while ago so decided it was party frock time. The fabric was quite stiff, frayed happily, and has trailing flowers embroidery which can be awkward in the seams. But that is the up side. The embroidery is not really period at all but did remind me of an example from Worthing using fine embroidered Indian muslin.

Worthing. 1810-20s.

The fabric is in long narrow strips and doesn't have the drape and hang of the muslin, so I went looking for styles from 1815 onward rather than the more pure NeoClassical look of the early 1800s.

 

 I hoped to make a  high waisted dress with a panel of pleated gathers on the bodice front, fastening at the back, with a gored skirt. The neck was to be embellished and the sleeves short and open to reveal an undersleeve in contrast material. The hem would be decorated and possibly stuffed to give the 1820s rounded shape to the skirt. Both of the plates below show  the wider flared skirt, the fitted bodice and lot of decorative detail. The necklines are wide rather than very low, both accent the waist with a ribband.  extant dress is from the Met collection, the padded hem is clear and holds the skirt out from the feet. Perhaps the mockery of the satirists had had its effect - take a look at the 3 Graces in a high wind by Gilray!

Problems – fabric. It has a nice sheen but resents being folded tightly, the bodice front is rigid! Top sewing on the neck did help but it tends to do its own thing given half a chance. The same problem with the sleeves, rolling the edges to create neat mini hems was not happening so I ended up facing them and they stood out rigidly like bat wings instead of falling gracefully . Research to the rescue! 1820s seemed to delight in layers and contrasts of textures and concepts. The tight bodice with the massive exaggeration of the sleeve, the simple dress with great embellishments at neck, arm and hem. The purity of the Neo Classical hadn't lasted long. In the Janet Arnold are several examples of pleating, gathering, slashing or opening to reveal an under layer, Renaissance influenced, and of mixing fabric surfaces, tucks, cording, using lace.   The 1827 Snowshill and Gloucester examples have so many ideas!

 I had already started on crocheting a heavy lace edging for the neck, close to the dress colour but the satin sleeve lining and waistband are toothpaste white. I made a butterfly in the crochet lace to hold the sleeve together over the lining to defeat the bat wing look but was doubtful about  white and cream together, but it does seem to work,

 This left decisions about the hem. Made the decision to try out the Gloucester Museum wedding dress decoration in scrap fabric and to a larger scale. Thank goodness I did! This just eats up fabric. The top piece is on the cross and uses double the width, I don't have any where near enough fabric to do this for the dress! The top and bottom are bound in satin on the original, I just used some left over cotton bias binding- again far more than it looks, all those vandykes are a trial. And the time!

 Looking at the pattern it appears simple but this doesn't work, to get those rounded gathers they have to roll under and then emerge flat to link to the next repeat. I have got close to the original but am not yet happy- do think it looks a bit like a curtain pelmet.  While I would like to try this for real, but not with this embroidered fabric.  It is just not flexible enough for anything like these so the compromise queen swung into action again, I tried the stuffed rouleau hem to see how this does affect the shape and hang, added some extra texture with a larger version of the neck embellishment. The compromise does not look out of place but is a bit plain, perhaps another crocheted row or two would do. The hem maybe over stuffed, the wadding makes the hem stand out stiffly and always wants to make circle. As the skirts got wider it must have been like a bumper car convention. The technique  is simple enough but is unforgiving, the hem has to be absolutely level and hang symmetrically before starting.

 Review-  too safe. Enjoyed the experimenting but as soon as it becomes a garment it goes tame. This began as the same pattern as Gwen's poplin dress, it seems to be a decent base so I could afford to be more adventurous.  Perhaps time spent doing experiments rather than garments could be wise. Extend the range and then try to apply it?
 Next challenge- a printed day dress. The fabric is soft but dark, so pleats, tucks, flounces, contrasts. I've been roaming museum sites, blogs and pinterest, so goodness only knows what is going to happen! Perhaps if |I put the Janet Arnold books under the bed I shall awake infused with that knowledge, experience and know how!