Completed C18th costume - Gwen does Poldark?

Ta da te da te Dum! (larger fanfare than usual)

Not only are the pet and caraco complete (old news) but I have now made the skirt and a neckerchief to complete the costume. There is no point in making stays – the only way to reduce or alter Gwen's waist is with wood working tools, no point in shoes, etc – there are no legs or feet, and a cap or bonnet looks incomplete without a head to go underneath it.



front showing the inside of the open pet

The skirt is simple, blocks of fabric pleated at the waist, raised slightly in front to compensate for the bum rolls. The hem is taped rather than folded, extra work but a smart, clean finish. The construction is straightforward – the knife pleats face to the back leaving a small flat section at centre front. A length of tape runs along the waist edge, neatening and holding the pleat edges as well as extending to become ties to fasten the skirt. The knife pleats sit really well, opening over the roll and folding shut when not needed.

 This extra layer does not benefit the mission in search of Gwen's corset waist, but with the pet's skirts flaring outward over the hips it is contriving to give an illusion of narrowness ( you have to get the angle just right and squinting might help).

The neckerchief is again very basic. Janet Arnold shows a triangle, Nancy Bradbury, a square to be folded. For this one I used a triangle of muslin – need practice with the flimsy fabrics, though now I never wish to see it again! To finish the edge I turned a hem and then caught across it in the first row of a crocheted edging to keep it secure. The originals seem to have been made in a wide range of sizes, fabric and colours – coarse and dark for workers, finer and more ornate for the ladies, so it seemed quite safe to improvise a little. Having the longest side of the triangle on the cross grain of the fabric did make life a little exciting – the muslin is quite loosely woven so pulled and rolled out of shape. The crochet edging seems to have stabilised this and inspite of the excessive moaning was not difficult nor take long. It is a single crochet into the scarf, chain 4, and repeat every half centimetre. Row 2 is merely single into the chain loop of the row below, chain 5,and repeat. I did try all sorts of designs of various complexity but this gave a neat edge with minimum fuss.

 

Overall - an enjoyable foray into the 18th Century, frustrating, time consuming, deeply annoying. But enjoyable. There are many errors still to address but I would look forward to tackling them rather than sob into my soup and consider emigration. A full sack back gown perhaps?  It will join the growing list Of Things I want To Make... Seeing the ensemble together is strangely satisfying - something to be learnt there I think - but next task......  is already underway.

 

It is experimental, uses builders' grade and a hair drier - at the same time.

 Should have it done for next week's post, if I manage to recapture the scissors by then.

 

watercolour inches and apologies

sorry folks - again no sewing to share this week -
the trouble with making Christmas presents is the time  it all takes - oh, I'll just add this or that little detail, 'just' adds an hour or two each time. Or three. And I can't share the trials, tribulations and triumphs here because I want the pressies to be as much of a surprise as possible!  Definitely not winning this week.

I am stacking up a couple of sewing tasks to do  over the holiday while the rest of the family is snoozing or on mobiles or watching Dr Who, so should have some work done to show soon. Item one  already cut out and ready to sew is a petticoat to go with the 18th Century pet en l'air and caraco. They look MOST odd with the skirts flaring out over the bum rolls on Gwen or even odder when sadly drooping without them (see the caraco post). The  skirt I photographed the pet with was a confection of pins and recreational violence (apologies to Gwen )  so it is time to make one properly. It won't be fancy - not quilted or flounced,  just knife pleats at the waist and fastened with the tapes used to finish the top edge.



I've even taken a bit of a break from the portraits. Shock, horror! Been totally immersed in doing inches - literally. These are tiny paintings measuring about an inch square. It began with wanting to practice different fabric surfaces and sewing details but is threatening to expand drastically, The fabric details are so good to do, lots of texture, delicate tone and colours, and the different shines and patterns are a great challenge. The watercolours are difficult at this scale - I want to let them run and enjoy themselves but it becomes a soggy blob too quickly, so restraint and precision (within reason) is required. Oddly the worst trap is trying to be too precise -  the most controlled ones I don't like at all - they are too hard edged and photographic. The painting techniques are shifting all the time as well, some inches are built up with layer on layer of transparent colour while others are more like gouache, opaque mixed colours, and others are just bullied until they give in and begin to look something like.  Having worked through one scrap fabric bag do I start on the next? should I do inches to chart the journey up the stairs to fetch it? I'm already starting on a journey across the work table- tape measure, binding offcuts, pencil sharpenings, paint box, papers, lunch......  the trouble with this is that nothing stays still long enough.......

Gwen travels back in time -

Considering that I was interested in Regency costume  pet en l'airs and now a caraco are an aberration. These jackets were common wear in the mid 18th century but were sadly outmoded by the turn of the century when the Neo Classical was all the rage.  Mine was based on the example from Snowshill again used by Janet Arnold and Nancy Bradbury. It is not a complicated design = no shaping to the front, the underarm seam is a dart  and the back  panel is cut in 2 with the pleats in the skirt following down from the seams, a gusset giving extra fullness at the base of the underarm dart. The cuffs are lined and winged. Simple! 
I'm sure it should have been but again the pattern had to be Gwenned. I should be good at this by now! I am beginning to believe more firmly in the need for a basic block pattern for each era rather than scaling up from the original each time. Perhaps by next post I will believe strongly enough to have done something about it.

It was good to be doing a tailored back, even though I had to piece the fabric to make the 2 centre back panels. The extra seams are at the waist so do not look out of place. Understanding the fit was a problem. The National Trust photographs the garment as an artefact rather than a piece of clothing  and each of the other extant examples I found seem to be variations on a theme! Some were very much more intricate, shorter, longer, decorated and plain, some, en ferreau, some sack backed and others tailored! I was as faithful to the original as possible but don't think I got the underarm dart right. This became a seam and is too upright  you can see the pull to the bust, it should be angled  forward from the arm hole which would move the gusset  more to the front.


loved the back details and naturally flirty skirt!

 The flare on the skirt has had tantrums, the top and lining fabrics argued, especially at the gusset ( the triangular insert over the hip). A lot worked out when I gave Gwen real hip rolls. The pleats immediately became flirty rather than droopy!  The real pain has been the front neck line, the angle to the shoulder wasn't quite right  and it has a tendency to gape just a little. Neither the lining nor the top did this but together they made trouble. The sleeves were inspired by this poor behaviour - these are fitting no. 4. They are in and sewn and I don't intend there to be no.5.  
I had thought it would be longer from the illustrations in Patterns of Fashion,  but then I wouldn't have been able to fit it on the remnant of fabric at all. The proportions look awkward - I did have to redraw the waist lower by about an inch, so there is more body than skirt compared to the original. ( don't think anyone will know if I don't tell them)The winged cuffs were also a new thing and quite fun to do. It is a lined tube, pleated on the front and then sewn to the sleeve. The cuff is wider than the sleeve which gives the 'wing'.  I had to do the top fabric in 2 parts so they are a little stiffer and more awkward than they should be.

Not entirely happy with this. I am expecting more now, very little margin of error allowed. The flat lined garments look much smoother at the seams and the fitting is easier. This was started as 2 garments and then joined at the front and neck and then the side dart put in holding the two together.



Snowshill caraco,  National Trust

The 2 extant garments provided the shapes and form I was aiming for. The Snowshill one was the inspiration right from the word go but the Met museum one showed a similar robe in the round. The neckline is scandalous, obviously (hopefully)  there was an undergarment or a well pinned kerchief to preserve some modestly (and prevent chest colds). The sleeves are a little longer, without cuffs, but  I tried to get them to hang in the same way.  It does have the gusset, similar problems under the arm. The skirt is longer and more shaped, the pleats give the back a bit of a kick but not to same degree as mine. Perhaps I should have pressed the pleats in more aggressively.


Distractions - Gwen2  the clone- resurfacing and tidying, Christmas decorations, drawing and painting. Now reading about the Fairfax family of York. Have also put my drawings and paintings of these costumes onto a page - tab is at the top -

new Gwens and painting

Gwen 2- A Clone Drone.

For some brilliant reason I woke one morning, leapt out of bed and encased Gwen in layers of clingfilm, PVA soaked fabric and then paper – all before breakfast.

Shame I can't remember why it was so important to do, I hadn't planned it at all. The process was fun enough and simple enough but had I thought about drying time?

Photo one is Tuesday. Photo 2 is Thursday. Still drying on Saturday. I've taken the body cast off her and resealed it and guess what? - waiting for it to dry. I've also made a paper cast of a dinky body form to experiment with – it is still drying too. I have headless bodies dotted round the house hogging the radiators.... why does this make me want to put Christmas decorations up?

This brought nearly everything to a halt- difficult to drape and fit without a model to drape on and fit to. Never mind. It has been a finishing and resolving week. The velvet purple spencer has been revamped, some hems redone and illustrations, notes and pattern pieces put together. Instead of total chaos taking over the house it is now organised total chaos and coordinated heaps of things. Can't spot the difference. I've roughed out a caraco to use up the scraps from the blue rose fabric and hope to complete that this coming week once a Gwen is free. The illustration below shows what it should be like (hope).

In the meantime it's been research, paint and draw. I now know what Marie Antoinette wore to the Revolution – fascinating book but still feeling rather ambiguous about her ( felt sorrier for the husband!). The ideas of clothing as a visible statement of status, personal attitudes and political allegiance are still commonplace and mainstream, but it was interesting. Still not sure whether it was the choice of clothing or the attitudes leading to the choices that are important. She did seem to give a lot of ammunition to her enemies with many of the things she did.

Compared to the current book this was light entertainment. Having read some of the 'Ackermann's Repository's on Google books (thank you for the free downloads!!) I desperately need more background. I'm on page 12 (again) of a weighty tome– and there may stay – it's discussing the underlying shifts in philosophy and attitudes that led to the Neo Classical revival and Romanticism – apparently it wasn't just finding Pompeii and all those Grand Tours. The posts on Google+ in the Regency and general history communities are excellent at providing snapshots of key people and places but stitching these snippets into a broader understanding of the era is taking time.

As light relief more illustrations – new artists to trace down and try to remember, and as usual the more I look the less it seems I know. I was brought up with the formal portraits, but there are so many styles, some looking back, some looking forward.
While admiring the skill and drama of the formal, (Gainsborough's country house portraits of tall figures who tower above you in all of their finery, or of starchy court paintings,)
I am a creature of the 20th and 21st centuries so find the sketchy, the domestic, the intimate and informal more fascinating. Some the pastel or pencil studies are exquisite – they show more of the artist's thought and working practice in response to the subject before the layers of fashion and style take over. Looking at Fragonard's body of work is an education in itself – the fanciful, mannered and playful Rococo pieces to the more sober, bolder observation of paintings such as “young girl reading”. It is so easy to dismiss artists if the style of work is not fashionable any more but that just means we judge on trends and presentation expected of their time and not on skills and content.

Of course there are problems, dating the painting, attributing work – just take a look at John Copley's listing on BBC paintings - some the handling is so skilful and on others so clumsy. The same face reappears on different bodies. Even within the one painting the quality can be radically different. Some studios did have specialists to do various parts of a painting such as the clothing ( my dream job, if anyone needs one just ask!) or hands, and sometimes students filled in the unimportant bits, but there should be a consistency of standard. Of course I don't know which works were of a commercial standard and which may have been rejected and stayed in the studio or reworked and sold on. Some may have been retouched or repaired and this is not recorded on most sources.

Paul Sandby

Using portraits to help with understanding the clothing isn't helped by the artists having a stock of costumes which appear on a variety of patrons over the years. A serious draw back as I've been using them to match hair and accessories to dress styles as well as dress to artistic style! Oops? But at least it makes it very clear where the traditions for the school photo poses come from!