Started On A New Fall Ensemble! This Amazing Gown Is From A Tischbein Portrait From 1770! Im Halfway

Started on a new fall ensemble! This amazing gown is from a Tischbein portrait from 1770! I’m halfway through the petticoat now, and will hopefully be finishing it up in the next few days.

I’m using two shot taffetas for this dress - a blue/green taffeta and a red/yellow taffeta (that looks bright orange!). Things are going a bit slowly because there is a lot of hand-sewing involved. The hem on the petticoat is 2″ deep and all had to be hand-sewn. The edges on the fabric ribbon that will become the box-pleated trim also had to be hemmed by hand, all 360 inches! It was horrible, and now it looks like I’ll have to add another length of fabric on, so that’s another 120 inches to hem! Yeesh. I’m still hoping to wrap the petticoat up by the end of the week, though!

I do not knit, but I have seriously considered learning how, exclusively so I could make one of these.

We have a surprising number of these knitted jackets in museums, most of them of Italian origin, most likely from Naples or Venice. According to the V&A, it seems that they were made in workshops as individual panels that were sold as sets that could be sewn together at home. I'm partial to the green and gold ones, like this one from the Cleveland Museum of Art.

clevelandart.org

Knitted Hunting Jacket Italy, 17th century | Cleveland Museum of Art

Knitted Jacket

1600s-1690s

Italy

Knitted silk jackets were fashionable in the early 17th century as informal dress. This example is very finely knit by hand in plain silk yarn and silk partially wrapped in silver thread, in contrasting colours of blue and yellow. Characteristic of this style of jacket, it has a border of basket weave stitch and an abstract floral design worked in stocking and reverse stocking stitches. The pattern imitates the designs seen in woven silk textiles. The jacket is finely finished with the sleeves lined in silk and completed with knitted cuffs. Along each centre front, a narrow strip of linen covered in blue silk has been added, with button holes and passementerie buttons, worked in silver thread. The provenance of the jacket indicates that it is probably Italian.

Victoria & Albert Museum (Accession number: 473-1893)

The petticoat is finished! It didn't even take as long as I anticipated, even with all the hand-sewing that was involved. Everything but the long interior seams had to be hand-sewn, which was a bit of a pain, but it makes the finished skirt so much nicer looking. The next step will be to pattern out the under-bodice before starting on the levite itself. This particular dress is a little unusual, in that the under-bodice actually closes under a stomacher rather than down the center-front, which is more typical for levites and polonaises. I'm so pleased with how quickly and smoothly this project has gone so far! Of course, I haven't started on the gown itself, so we'll see if my good luck streak lasts

One of my favorites. Still planning to make my green version someday.

yellow silk evening dress with oak leaf design

c.1902

House of Worth

Fashion Museum of Bath

I started this project quite some time ago (almost 2 years!) and I’ve finally gotten around to finishing it. I actually finished the embroidery last year, but I didn’t end up finishing the rest of the stomacher until this week. It’s based on an extant example from the V&A dated 1730-40. I copied the embroidery pattern exactly, but I changed the shape of the bottom of the stomacher since I don’t usually costume that early (I usually do ca. 1760.) More photos and making-of are on my most recent blog post : http://mistress-of-disguise.blogspot.com/search/label/18thC%20embroidered%20stomacher

When I started choosing embroidery patterns for my store, I was really focused on relatively small, simple designs. Things that would be quick and easy for beginners. But honestly... I think I underestimated just how easy the printed interfacing would be, since it's the needlework version of completing a dot-to-dot patterns. They take time, but none of the constant counting and ripping stitches out.

So that meant I've started to get ambitious. Little designs are still great, but what about a few designs that are dazzling from the other side of the room? As a treat?

Maybe just one of Giovanni Ostaus's shirt opening border designs from 1561?

Some fancy chickens and um... tulips? pomegranates? water fountains?

And just for me, a pattern you won't find in any history book, a little confection I made that I like to call: "Strawberry Fieldmice Forever"

That's only like, half of them. I just dumped a whole bunch onto my Etsy.

Interested?

Beginner-friendly historical and fantasy embroidery patterns, right this way!