Two 18th Century Gowns
The Challenge: Create two complete costumes (including all undergarments) in one month while teaching full time and taking a grad course. Hmm...should be interesting.
Inventory:
2 chemises: Mantua Maker* 1600-1840 Chemise
2 corsets: Mantua Maker 1720-1790 Stays or Period Impressions
1 hoop: Mantua Maker 1720-1780 Hooped Petticoats
1 hip pad/roll: No pattern
1 under petticoat: No pattern
2 dresses: Wingeo 204 and Polonaise style gown from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion.
2 caps: La Fleur de Lyse
The Plan:
Mom's Gown
This will be the Wingeo gentry gown. We have a lovely striped silk to use for the robe and will be purchasing a matching solid silk for the petticoat and stomacher. If time permits, I will do some machine embroidery on the stomacher. Her corset will be simpler than mine, since it only needs to be half boned, but her dress will require the structure of the side hoops. We thought about doing pocket hoops, but I've heard people complain that they have a tendancy to want to shift around while they are worn. We decided to go with the Mantua Maker pattern because it has the same advantage as the pocket hoops in that they are reasonably compact, but also have the added stability of extending all the way around the body. I haven't looked at the pattern yet, but I'm also hoping that I'll be able to make them adjustable so that I can wear them later, whereas, from what I've seen, the pocket hoops aren't really interchangeable except with someone who has the same hip size and waist to hip ratio.
My dress
A lot is still up in the air with my dress. I have found the pattern I want to use--a polonaise in Patterns of Fashion--but it might be a bit of an adventure since I have never scaled up a pattern before. I'm also still undecided about the fabric; I'd like to find something to match the hat I bought at Costume College last year, but the condition is that the fabric must come from my current stash--NO NEW FABRIC! Still, it shouldn't be a problem with how much fabric I have. I guess I could always retrim the hat, too.
