I’m very pleased with my finished 1940 Schiaparelli Inspired Dress! The relatively simple style is set off by the pink and green sequined appliqué on the front of the dress.
This post is going to be all about wearing the finished dress. There is a separate detailed post telling all about how I made it that you can read here.
This dress is dramatic, yet simple, and completely different from anything else I have. And, it lends itself to elaborate and large hair which always amuses me.
I chose to do victory rolls, which I’ve posted about doing with my curly hair type in the past. (Not all rolls are technically victory rolls, but if they make a V there is a good argument for calling them by this name. In this case, I’m arguing that the dip between my two rolls makes a V and that’s why I’m calling them victory rolls. You can read lots more about the history of this hairstyle here, on the Bobby Pin Blog.)
The particular roll pattern and shape I chose to do was mainly inspired by this. My hair has enough volume to sustain the rolls on its own, but I cheated a bit on the teasing and stuffed the larger roll with small hair rat to help maintain the height and shape.
I’m very pleased with how the rolls turned out. They were dramatic, just like the dress and they made me super tall looking in combination with my trusty American Duchess black Seabury shoes and the columnar dress.
The V shaped rolls of hair complemented the V shaped sequins on the front of the dress AND the V shape of the back bodice with its V shaped pleats. There are all sorts of V’s in this outfit!
And, not only did I get to wear a fabulous, formal dress with large and fun hair, I was able to have a great time at Club Drosselmeyer with friends while wearing both!
(If you’re in the New England area and you haven’t heard of Club Drosselmeyer before, I suggest you check it out! I’ve been performing at and/or attending for years. It’s really special and fantastic for all sorts of people and interests. Personally, I really enjoy the live Christmas swing music, puzzles, and fabulous clothes, but there are also interactive actors, special performances, an open dance floor, and more!)
I finally open my rereleased new copy of Patterns of Fashion 2 (Pof2) last summer and had great fun looking through all of the previously included garments (from the original edition) as well as the newly included ones. I remember seeing one dress (picture below), in particular, and thinking that it would be fun to recreate it, but that the beading seemed like it would be quite a challenge!
1940 Evening Dress designed by Elsa Schiaparelli. The Victoria and Albert Museum. T.48-1965
A few months later, I was at Joann Fabrics and saw a fabulous magenta and green sequined net poking out of a shelf. I pulled it out and immediately thought that the colors were very me. But did I have a use for it? Not really… Except… What if I used that fabric to recreate the beaded idea on that dress from PofF2??? Schiaparelli’s designs often made use of magenta pink as a Surrealist inspired color, so it didn’t seem too far fetched for me to include that color in my version of the dress.
So, I bought some. ¼ of a yard, to be exact. Not too much, but enough to be able to pick and choose different parts of the flowers to create a pattern similar to my inspiration. Below is a photo of the inspiration fabric: magenta and green sequins on black net.
Not too long after that, I decided that instead of wearing my updated 1933 Dramatic Evening Dress to a December event, I would instead make a new one–the 1940 Schiaparelli dress!
The first step after my decision was to find black fabric. The original is silk crepe, but I wanted to keep the cost down a bit more than what silk would allow for. I ordered a few swatches of rayon crepe and also went to stores to look at other options. I’d almost decided on one when I came across another random fabric at Joann that stood out to me. I debated for awhile, but decided the Black Shimmer Twill was more interesting than plain black crepe (the shimmer twill is visible in the above photo underneath the sequined net).
The next step was to size up the pattern in PofF2 and adjust it to be not tiny. I am definitely not the measurements of the original! I did those things and made a mockup:
The dress skirt worked, but I wasn’t happy with what the sleeves were doing.
The neckline needed some work to fit comfortably.
I changed the grainline of the back piece. On the original, the back bodices are cut on the bias, but I decided that they would lay better if I cut them on the straight of grain.
Then, another mockup. I made a few more changes and finally it was time for the real fabric!
Cutting out the pieces was pretty easy. There actually aren’t too many of them, especially because the facings are cleverly cut on with the front and back bodice pieces. The pieces are: back skirt, back bodice, front bodice/skirts, and sleeves.
Below is a photo of the finished garment showing the clever front facings and the shimmery quality of the black base fabric I chose. (The photo also shows the fun back element of this dress: three v-shaped pleats that meet at the center.)
I sewed up all of the seams I could (so that was the center front seam, the sleeves, and the back waist seams) while still keeping the front flat, so that I could replicate, or at least imitate, the floral V-shaped beading on the original.
The next big step was using the sequined fabric to create a design similar in shape to the beading on the original. I cut out individual flowers and vines, arranging them on my assembled front pieces and pinning them in place until I was happy with the layout. Below, a photo of my cut out flowers, leaves, and vines while I was deciding on the layout.
Every piece had some net left around the edge so that I could flip them under and appliqué stitch them on. Below is an in-progress photo showing the top right flowers sewn on and some pieces pinned out of the way while I sewed bits that overlapped.
I get great joy out of taking tiny stitches, so I found it fun to catch every sequin as I went around all of the edges of all of the flowers! Here is a view of what all of those stitches look like on the inside of the dress! I didn’t think ahead to put anything to help stabilize the fabric on the inside… I wonder if it would have been less comfortable to wear if I had. Thankfully, the shimmer twill holds its own pretty well and doesn’t show puckers on the outside!
Eventually, all of my sequined bits were sewn in place. And then it was time to finish assembling the dress! The machine sewn seam allowances are all left raw on the inside.
And the top back pieces and back skirt have a fun period way of attaching to each other, which is with a top stitched seam (shown in the photo below). This is pretty common on bias cut dresses I have seen. I understand that this helps to stabilize the seam and is easier to match and line up than it would be to put right sides together in the usual method.
For closures, there is an exposed zipper (gifted to me) on the proper left side of the dress. This method and style was taken directly from the original dress information in PofF2. Below is a photo of the zipper, which is hand stitched into place.
The sleeves and skirt hem are stitched by hand, also following information in PofF2. Here’s a closeup of the sleeve. It is shaped with gathers at the top and two darts at the bottom. The hem is slip stitched into place by hand.
The only other thing that this dress needed was shoulder pads. I don’t think the original has them, as the shoulders look very sloped to me, but they were needed to make the dress sit properly on my body (and they add a very 1940s square shouldered look!).
Conveniently, I had a pair of shoulder pads in my stash that worked well. They were, however, light colored and I thought it would be nice if they matched my dress better, so I covered them with scraps of the dress fabric before tacking them in.
Below is a photo of my covered shoulder pads followed by a photo of the shoulder pads sewn in place on the gown, with bra strap keeps added as well.
And that’s it for now! This post is long enough, so pictures of the full ensemble will be in another post!
Historically clothed events continue to be somewhat sparse on my calendar, but I have photographic evidence of having gathered with friends last summer to partake in a Regency themed picnic. We were rained out of the original date and the alternate date was very hot, so we decided to mostly stay indoors. But we did go outside for a few fun documentation-of-our-gathering photos.
Did I mention it was hot? I was kind of melting. But I did really enjoy getting my 1815 Tree Gown out of the closet and giving it a wear. This continues to be one of my favorite early 19th century dresses! I still love the patterning, which creates a comfortable and elegantly shaped dress, as well as the lightweight block print cotton fabric. At least I had a cool fabric to wear in the heat!
Made in 2013, this dress has held up to 11 years of wear very well; however, I did notice that the forearms are very tight these days… so tight that they don’t let the armsceye seams sit where they should, causing the shoulders to constantly be pulling down my arm! And sadly, even with the 1/4″ French seams I originally made, they don’t have enough circumference to be let out.
On the bright side, though, I keep everything and I have scraps of this fabric in my stash. So for now, the forearms have been seam ripped and the dress is, metaphorically in the pile of things-that-need-alterations, awaiting my action of actually digging out the fabric scraps so that I can adjust the fit (it’s metaphorical because it’s actually hanging in the closet not in a pile!). This will assuredly become a When-The-Dress-No-Longer-Fits post… someday!
Just as with my post about the 2022 Greater Boston Vintage Society Newport Weekend, I’m posting about an event from last summer in the middle of winter. Sometimes it takes awhile to get to posting! Well, as before, late is better than never.
This year the weather was not as cooperative as in the past. It was raining on Saturday, the only full day of the event. Nevertheless, we made the best of it, choosing to still picnic outside, but in the covered areas of the porch.
It was a bit cooler than summer usually is, also due to the rain, so we added hot tea to our picnic spread. Yum!
Who doesn’t carry around a teapot in a picnic basket?
There was a break in the rain long enough for a few outfit photos. For Saturday I chose to wear my 1928 Egyptomania Inspired Dress and American Duchess/Royal Vintage Ginger shoes. The pop of color was nice on the rainy day.
For the Saturday evening ball, I wore my 1927 Blush Sparkle Evening Gown and black American Duchess Seaburies. It’s always neat to wear these shoes in Newport — they are designed based on shoes in the collection of the Newport Historical Society!
On Sunday, I decided to go to a behind-the-scenes tour of The Elms. As with all of the Newport mansions, this one has a grand facade and all sorts of interesting (and expensive!) details to learn about.
For example, the rounded area of greenery (below) actually conceals a sloping driveway to the basement and servants’ entrance. This is where deliveries were dropped off, as well. With the greenery growing on a lattice above this area the family could carry on without needing to see the servants or delivery people come and go.
The servants had very nice quarters on the top floor of the house. They also had access to roof space that ran around the entire house — but of course this was concealed by a parapet. Just as with the servants’ entrance, the family wouldn’t want to see the servants taking leisure time on the roof.
For modern tours, there is a platform that lifts you above the level of the parapet so you can see the view of the grounds and harbor. It’s quite lovely!
Back at the entrance, I was very amused by the shaped trees. They reminded me of mushrooms!
So instead of the usual outfit photos, I chose to take some highlighting the trees and pretending to be a mushroom! The weather had completely changed from the rain the day before! It was warm, and I chose to wear my 1953 Dot Dress with comfy Crocs flats.
In addition to the servants’ area in the basement and on the upper floor, we also toured the boiler room in the house. It’s massive, with multiple boilers! Well, I guess it is a huge house!
Along the lines of the concealed delivery entrance I already shared, this house also has a tunnel that runs from a side street to the boiler room in order to move coal without the family seeing. This is the entrance to the tunnel in the boiler room. Look at the floor! They had ways to turn the carts around and everything!
Finally, after lots of walking around the house and up and down stairs, I finished the trip with a picnic lunch by the water in a new-to-me area in Benton Point State Park. It was lovely, breezy, and the geologic formations in the rocks are beautiful.
And that’s it! After that it was time to head home to await another future adventure.
An elegant outing… to my cherished, oldest (as in, we’ve been friends since we were 5 years old) friend’s vintage-themed wedding in 2022. I’m slow at posting about it!
This is the sort of friend for whom I would have dropped everything for to be present at her wedding. And, I was!
She chose a lovely space built in the 1920s, with a view overlooking Paris, and requested that it would be great if I wore one of my historical dresses. I decided not to stick exactly with the 1920s theme and chose my 1950s Baroness Dress (first posted about in 2014… that seems like ages ago!) instead.
Honestly, the fabulous red Baroness dress gets worn quite a bit, for all sorts of vintage and modern semi-formal events. I love the dramatic color and unusual details that would be difficult to find in a store-bought dress. (And, while I knew it wasn’t a 1920s dress, no one else did! It had sufficient vintage charm, regardless.)
For this wedding, and other occasions where I’ve worn this dress, I chose to wear my silver American Duchess Seabury shoes. For jewelry, I figured the red dress was statement making enough and decided on small dangle crystal earrings.
Both my friend and her husband love silliness and fun, which led to decisions for their photos (see below) as well as for their wedding. They mixed French and American guests and traditions in a charming way, creating a lovely wedding and reception full of personal touches. I was so grateful to be able to celebrate with them in person!
This friend was my maid of honor in 2015, and she and her now-husband were inspired by my unique wedding choices as they planned their celebration. I appreciated being able to return the favor of being supported at my wedding by supporting them at theirs!
It’s funny to me that on both occasions I’m wearing a halter dress style and my friend is wearing an illusion bodice dress style. I guess we both have styles we feel are flattering to us!
Time just keeps flying! It feels like 2023 started with a bang and the momentum hardly let up. All of a sudden it’s time to look back on this year’s accomplishments and start looking ahead to next year. Crazy!
I participated in my 11th year of the Historical Sew Monthly. This year I completed 5 of the 12 challenges. That’s three more challenges than last year! It’s been wonderful to have a little bit more time to sew.
Also, in May the blog hit 500,000 all time views! Wow!
Event Recap
I attended 1 ball (as part of a weekend event), 3 other events (picnic, croquet, outings, etc.), 1 dance performance, and participated in 1 weekend event (that included dancing, games, teas, picnics, winter activities, and grand house tours).
To Do Lists
I kept last year’s Definitely To Do list quite short, so that I could feel accomplished when completing it. And success! I completed both of the things on that last (The Stays of Fail/Success and updating my 1933 Dramatic Evening Gown).
I didn’t fully complete any of the items on the Maybe list from last year, but I did make substantial progress on two of the four items. In fact, they’re almost done! A new 1790s petticoat and dress… and they just need hems! I was derailed from finishing those at the end of the year because I was inspired to start (and finish!) a new 1940 dress that I’ll be blogging about early in 2024.
So, my ‘definitely-do’ list for 2024 includes:
Finishing a 1790s petticoat and bum pad (started and mostly finished in 2023)
Finishing a 1790s dress (started and mostly finished in 2023)
1770s yellow sacque/Robe à la Française (started in 2023)
I’m very pleased to have achieved my goal of finding more time to sew. I hope to continue that next year. That seems reflected in my to-do lists!
I’m very grateful for the many kindnesses and gifts in my life. Thanks to all of you who have continued to read, comment on, and appreciate this blog. Wishing you the very best in 2024!
In addition to the c. 1770 Pink Panniers that I recently posted about, the blue foundation petticoat pictured below (front view) is also intended to be easily loaned to friends.
I’m super pleased with this for a few reasons:
1 – I was able to easily replicate the construction steps that I used for my Apricot Petticoat in 2013, ten years ago!
2 – I was able to re-make the petticoat from an old project: the 1812 Blue Under Dress I also made in 2013. I was never very happy with this color under my 1812 Striped White Gown (it was blah) and within even a few years of being made it no longer fit the width of my back, anyway.
3 – This remake qualifies for the HSM Challenge # 8, All Tied Up:
Make something that closes with ties, or something that uses knots/bows as a decorative feature.
Just the facts:
Fabric/Materials: Approximately 3-4 yards blue cotton/polyester blend fabric (salvaged from an old dress).
Pattern: None, but I referenced both of these tutorials on constructing 18th century petticoats. Katherine’s tutorial is for a petticoat with an uneven length (to go over panniers, or a bum roll, for example). Rebecca’s tutorial is for a petticoat with an even length (the same length all the way around, to be worn without extra supports). Both tutorials have construction information, Rebecca’s includes a bit more detail in terms of which stitches and methods to use.
Year: Loosely 1700-1790.
Notions: 3ish yards of 1/8″ blue polyester ribbon and thread.
How historically accurate is it?: 70%. Accuracy gets knocked down because: 1- all unseen seams are machine sewn, 2- I used polyester ribbon for ties, 3- I haven’t seen research that shows cotton being used at this time for a single plain petticoat of this sort.
Hours to complete: 5? I didn’t really keep track.
First worn: Has not been worn yet.
Total cost: Free! Materials were either in the stash/gifted to me or re-used from other projects.
Here are more photos of the petticoat, starting with a back view.
And, close-up evidence of weird things, such as the twice-stitched machine hem, which could be useful if I ever want to lengthen this petticoat. These hems are leftovers from the salvaged dress–no hemming required for this petticoat. Perfect!
I followed the instructions as indicated in Just The Facts earlier in this post. This leads to tidily finished waistbands, as you can see here (along with a randomly located vertical seam).
(Another weird thing about this petticoat is where the seams landed on this, now that it is a petticoat and not the skirt of a dress, and that each seam is finished in a different method!)
And here’s a the same view, but with the front folded down to show how the petticoat is made shorter at center from than it is anywhere else.
Below, a final closeup of the extra length at the front folded down and left raw. The top fold is encased in the waistband, which is machine sewn and whip stitched down on the inside.
I was super pleased to just barely fit this petticoat length out of the skirt length of the old dress. The hem circumference was just about perfect, too! And, I was able to cut the waistband strips from the front bodice pieces of the original dress!
All in all, a quick and satisfying project! I’m much more pleased with this as a petticoat than I ever was with it as a dress.
For the holidays last year, friends and I decided to have an 1830s-clothed dinner at a local historical inn. We had a lovely meal, enjoyed the company, and had fun looking around at all of the lovely seasonal decorations!
There were new vignettes around every corner, with everything from human-sized nutcrackers to animals and greenery. These owls, perched up on a rafter, amused me very much!
In another, more modern part of the building, we paused to take photos with a tree whose decorations matched my 1832 Velvet Gown and 12 Days Of Christmas bells & berries hair accessory. This dress is always fun to wear–lightweight, despite the velvet, and with a silhouette that is always entertaining.
I hope your holidays are full of joy, friendship, and gratitude!
I have a longer-term goal to make a another sacque (similar the one I made for Versailles in 2016–documented in these many past posts). I specifically want this new one to be loan-able to a few friends, so I’m adjusting the size a bit from the one I made for myself.
I know that foundations make the garment on top look good, so it’s important to me to also be able to provide the foundation pieces that might be needed to go with the sacque. Stays are covered, as I now have the c. 1785 Green Linen Stays that can be loaned and/or some friends have their own, but panniers and an additional foundation petticoat felt like items that I don’t already have and therefore should make in addition to the sacque itself.
This post is going to document the panniers I made for this new ensemble. I’m pleased that they qualify for the Historical Sew Monthly Challenge #12, Paired to Perfection:
Make something that comes in a pair (mittens, stockings, garters, braces etc.) Or make something in which the trim or construction prominently features sets of two.
Just the facts:
Fabric/Materials: 1 yd (or probably a little less) pink cotton twill.
Pattern: The Dreamstress’s pattern from the Pannier Along in (oh my, has it been this long…???) 2013! All the steps, information, etc. is available on Leimomi’s blog, here.
Year: c. 1770.
Notions: Thread, 3 24″ x 3/8″ zip ties, and approximately 2 yds grosgrain ribbon.
How historically accurate is it?: 70%. Machine sewing and materials are generally not historically accurate, but the overall pattern and shapes are.
Hours to complete: I didn’t really keep track. Let’s say 5.
First worn: Has not been worn yet.
Total cost: All of the materials are from the stash (leftovers from other projects), so let’s say free!
A view of the top of the stays, with them collapsed down on themselves.
I made these following all of the steps in The Dreamstress’s tutorial, as mentioned above. I decided to mostly machine sew them, in the spirit of speed and because I knew the fabric I chose was not accurate to start with.
I made my boning channels out of the same fabric as the exteriors (pink cotton twill leftover from making early 19th century stays over ten years ago).
There are only two hand sewn bits. One is the slit on top (to be able to use these as pockets and store things in them), pictured below. Each slit is reinforced at the bottom to keep the fabric from ripping during use.
The other hand sewn bit is the band at the top, which is whipped down after being machine sewn on.
And that’s it! Pink panniers! It has a bit of a ring to it, I think!
I’ve been on a roll finishing up foundation and accessory projects that I started over the summer as smaller pieces of larger ensembles I have in the works! Today, I’m sharing about a hand sewn 1790s cap!
This accessory qualifies for the Historical Sew Monthly Challenge #5, Hair Apparel:
Make something worn in the hair or on the head.
Just the facts:
Fabric/Materials: ¼ yd white linen, ¼ yd white silk organza, ¼ yd gold striped polyester organza, and 1 yd ¼” white cotton twill tape.
Pattern: 1790s “Vigée le Brun” Turban Cap in the book The American Duchess Guide To 18th Century Dressmaking, by Lauren Stowell and Abby Cox.
Year: c. 1790.
Notions: Thread.
How historically accurate is it?: 95%. Polyester is obviously not historically accurate, but most of the materials, methods, and hand sewing method are.
Hours to complete: 5.
First worn: Has not been worn yet.
Total cost: All of the materials are from the stash (leftovers from other projects), so let’s say free!
This is a fun accessory to add to my collection! I’m amused by the oversized crown and bow. The oversized crown, especially, is visible in the photo below.
The silk organza used for the outer crown is fun, but when considered with the all white dress in the works it seemed a bit monochromatic. So to liven things up a bit, I decided on a gold stripe organza (leftovers from my 1817 Duchess Gown) for the bow. It’s polyester, so points off for historical accuracy, but I like that it’s neutral but more interesting than white.
For now the cap is just living on my sewing table so the carefully pressed fabrics don’t crease. Hopefully, next year the cap will get an outing and be documented on my head!
The Quintessential Clothes Pen 