chemise a la Reine - Gwen style.

This week's effort was meant to be light relief – I think you can guess what happened.

I picked an iconic garment from the 1780s; the chemise a la Reine. You probably know the dress even if the name is unfamiliar – think English country house portraits with white fluffy dresses, frothy at the neck with big coloured sashes and ribbons. The setting may be countryside, the lighting dramatic. Big picture hats, and occasional dogs or children.

This had begun life as a  'gaulle'  (robe a la gaule), a loosely fitted  dress of layers of muslin usually worn with fichu and apron. It was picked up as an informal relaxed style by Marie Antoinette and popularised by her, she even sent examples to the Duchess of Devonshire and Mary Robinson in England. It became known as a chemise a la Reine,  an insult - the Queen's underwear. This did not stop the dress becoming popular wear at  Petit Trianon and amongst the fashionable classes. The queen was criticised for  this - it was not suitable or appropriate for one of her status. Even the fabric was seen as unpatriotic,  the expensive cotton muslin had to be imported at a time when the home grown silk industry was in decline.

The basic idea of the dress is very simple- think sundress with sleeves. It is a large tube gathered at waist, neck and sometimes inbetween, to fit.  It has shoulder straps  and sleeves which are gathered at various places. Some have flouncy necklines, some lace, while others are left plain. Lots of ribbons and large sash complete the look. For 'simple' garments some examples are extravagant and flamboyant  expressions of wealth

There were many examples to select from,  Vigee LeBrun painted many of the grand ladies in the dress, remember the infamous one of  Marie Antoinette?, but this is the one  that appealed the most. –   a rather detached looking French lady and I liked the sleeve details. 

This portrait is of  the Countess of Provence, Maria Giuseppina of Savoy (known as Marie Joséphine in France)  dated 1782. ( Wikipedia is not flattering but in outline - she married  Louis Stanislas- younger brother to Louis XVI. They  escaped the violence in France and established a court in exile,  and following the death of the Dauphin her husband was declared King Louis the XVIII, she died in Buckinghamshire in 1810!).

There are many blog sites describing the making of the chemise but the only pattern guide I have found is a diagram from Norah Waugh. Unable to print it out, I measured off the screen, (umm) and drew up a rough outline of the main parts with 'hopeful' if not aspirational measurements.
 Norah Waugh's has 3 rows of gathering, the top neck edge and the 2 channels marked, Marie Josephine  only has 2 rows on the body, the top of the sleeve has a tighter band (can not make out how this is done), and a lace collar. Could not see the bottom of the sleeves so  prepared to make this up - as if the rest was incredibly accurate!

This an approximation of Waugh's outlines - I was able to cut the whole body out a single piece so the only seam is centre front. The circumference  of the tube is 1.26m to fit a bust size of 43cm! The sleeve looks huge -  45cm wide and the top of the sleeve is flat, the cuff is curved, which feels odd. So far it looks easy, and quick. Time to get real - fell seams ( I did French) = 2 rows of stitching, rolled hems on every raw edge, each gather needs a casing = 2 rows of stitching, and it all adds up.

The muslin I had is a gentle yellow tone rather than white, quite nice quality, evenly woven without slubs or snags. Meant it looked nice as it unravelled.

Making up -
The back neck edge is gathered onto a fixed band of cotton

tape to give some stability. The front neck edge is folded to give the dip to the centre front and used as a channel for the first drawstrings- these run from the armhole forward, I made eyelets so that the ribbon 'strings' could come out to the front to be tied. The waist channel (5 mm cotton tape) was marked and  stitched to the inside and the front seam closed upto Gwen's waist level. The remainder of the front opening was hemmed and folded under.

This was the body of the dress done.  Next was the shoulder pieces, These were adapted to fit Gwen but the rounded 'serifs' top and bottom were kept - these gave a rounded transition from shoulder to front and back neck.

 In the first image the sleeve is pinned in situ to get an idea of the space the strap has to fill, In the second the strap is drawn onto fabric and problem one is found - should the front be gathered right to the armhole or just to the edge of the shoulder piece? Opted for the second in the interests of reducing bulk. The bottom photo shows the sleeve coming up from below and attached to the strap lining piece. to the right is the front - seam done and the allowance folded upwards. The top part of the strap is already attached ( along blue line) and waiting to be flipped over to be edge stitched down onto  the same seam line as the lining. This encloses all the nasty raw edges. Sounds like a headache? Not really, just takes some planning, fiddling and patience. The result works well, no raw edges inside or out to worry about.
  Have you noticed problem 2? Forgot to reduce the top of the sleeve. Lesson - big, BIG stitches preferably in neon colours if ever you want to unpick on muslin. Having done some damage attempting to unpick the sleeve  an executive decision was made - live with it, reduce the top sleeve width by other methods.
Sulking gently it was neck line time - and no lace to suit! The modern stuff was toothpaste white or just not long enough so.....
Introducing extant example from Manchester -take a look at this site for fantastic firsthand details and images, This had a flouncy double frill at the neck,  so cut on a curve rather than a straight  gathered strip. This gobbles up huge amounts of fabric and is a pig and a half to hem. Nevermind. Bit of grit and a packet of biscuits ( plain and not greasy) and it was done. Done and then some - it is too much. And it is a nightdress. Hum. Not quite so bad with the waist drawn in but still..... problem 3.

Solution time.
Problem one sorted en route - only gathered the front neck edge on strings.
Problem 2 - needing to draw in the fullness at the top of the sleeve - smocking to the rescue. Did 2 rows of simple square smocking at the top of the arm ( mark a square and pull the opposite corners into the centre and secure. You get a four petalled flower on the stitch side and a square puff on the other. Just repeat.)  Probably should have done 3 or 4 rows for a denser effect but they can be added at will.

Problem 3 - uber frilliness. The fault lay in fully opening the neck gather and stitching the frill along its length - 25cm worth.  Solution was logical, less gathering . So unpicked the front,then gathered half of the neck edge and secured it.  Re attached the frill taking  11cm  off its length each side, neaten, and rejoice. The reduction in the amount of fabric in the frill  has helped a lot.

All it needs is sleeve gathering channels - surface mounted  muslin strips this time. I did experiment with more gathering rows but it became too congested - There is also the option of adding lace frills if it feels unfinished.
Washing time to get rid of the blue marker and then photoshoot!   Done. (not done - see the following posts!)

Odd thoughts - in the photos it looks Edwardian.But so did the Manchester one. I think the proportions may be out - more hip and less bust required?  The frill is too wide  -compare to the portrait- volunteering to re-hem all of that on the bias? - next lifetime may be. Meantime out with the bum rolls. Could possibly just roll the hem again? NO.
 Time for tea.
 But maybe the length of lace I just found could do the neck line better........ These are just details  the dress itself has worked well. There maybe an occasion to try the third row of gathering on the bust line in the future -  but it is huge - the volume is immense - 3 or 4 lengths of fabric for full size! No wonder they were considered as frivolous expensive things.....

Stray thought -Just trawling through images with no idea of the stories and history behind the people shown, so do tend to see them just as pictures – more likely to assess painting style and dress than anything else. By finding out more about the sitters, these are now dresses worn by people- not sterile museum exhibits. I started feeling uncomfortable about seeing them entirely as artefacts particularly as so many came to violent ends- what they wore only a few years before became less important. It is a little relief that this lady survived the Terror- imagine if I'd picked the next portrait along - Princesse de Lamballe - Marie Josephine's sister.

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!

regency pelisse.

So much needs to be done... including this.....
got as far as making a little half version trying out the ideas.  The general look is quite good but still....AAGH!!



museum of london 1820s.

Not sure about the back skirt yet, the seams feel a little arbitary- the stiffness of the fabric doesn't work for the back gathering- it doesn't have any drape at all. I think there should be more fabric in there  so will have to try again. As you can see the collar was entertaining and I still would like  more height at the back of the neck.

It was fairly straightforward - Janet Arnold was raided again for the basics and shapes of the pieces but historically accurate ?- don't think so. I am still working at the hand stitching - 12 per inch and straight is the current aim( impossible!) .   
I now have a full size pattern for a spencer which I will try out before making this up. With any luck some problems will be sorted - being me, I am sure I can find more!




scissor update - I know where they all are! - not currently sat on any of them.
Why my heavy cutting shears were in the medicine drawer in the kitchen  I have no idea......