Since the last post I’ve been busy busy busy with school. But I’ve made some progress – sporadicly. =) Sleeves are now longer, I have meters and meters of trimming, and both sides of the pet-en-l’air is gathered! I have also been working on the chemise/shift… Well, just have a look at the pics! =)
A hip:
One shoulder of the shift:
A heap of trimming:
So last friday at 1600 h I turned in that soul eating degree thesis… Since then I’ve been re-building my soul, by sewing of course!
I’ve taken upp the pet-en-l’air again (I’m working on several parts of the outfit at the same time). I have now finished what I have dreaded for a long time – fitting the front opening. This was however necessary to be able to continue with other parts of the piece, like trimming. I feel sooo close to finishing now, I can taste it (kinda tastes like wild strawberries ;P).
And that’s kinda it… For now… Today I think I’ll make the sleeves a weeeee bit longer, to see how I should distribute the little fabric that’s left for trimming and stuff. =)
This degree thesis thing I’m working on has kept me awake at night for a week now, it’s the only thing I think about – almost… I think it’s a waste of time to eat, sleep and go to the toilet (I can’t even begin to describe how stressed out I am), but still I find time to think about 18th century fashion! XD
By chance I came by this wiki-page full of interesting high resolution pictures from a book: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Le_Corset_(1905). The book is from 1905, it’s called Le Corset and is written by a Dr. Ludovic O’Followell – you can view the whole book here.
Have you noticed how good the MET are at putting up new pieces in the costume institute’s online collections? I totally adore them – they should get a price or something!!! <3
At breakfast today I had a cup of tea and a new look at the MET’s online collections – and to my total exultation I found a new pet-en-l’air to inspire my work. It’s labeled “Jacket (Caraco)” but don’t you think it should say pet-en-l’air? S=/
Notice the super cute printed cotton! Have to have!
I’m also noticing the lack of trim at the bottom… I was considering leaving that out on my own pet-en-l’air, but I thought it might not look very good – this kinda confirms my thoughts; it’s the only thing on this piece that I don’t like all that much. I’m trimming the bottom of my pet-en-l’air!
Oh, and about that lecture I went to: It was fun – but you didn’t miss much. One hour was a short lecture considering they went through 300 years of wedding and coronation fashion history. All the costumes they showed pictures of will be exhibited at Livrustkammaren in Stockholm in May 2010 – so look fowared to that instead! =)
So yeah – I probably will not be able to attend the masquerade at Kalmar Castle, this degree thesis is just taking up aaaaaall of my time! =((((((((((((((((((
Well, not all of my time… ;D Beacause I just learned that there is going to be a lecture about fashion in the age of Bernadotte (early 1800’s ) at Örebro Läns Museum TONIGHT at 19.00!!!
Believe me when I say I would have told all of you fellow Swedish costumers out there if I had known about it earlier. You still have time to come though! It only takes 2 h by car from Stockholm *wink wink*!
Instead of using my inspiration for the pet-en-l’air the last time, I started with the chemise/shift. I’m doubting the fabric actually is linen though… =/ It totally looked and felt like the linen I used for the lining of the pet-en-l’air when I bought it, now it kinda doesn’t, I think it’s 100% cotton… Hmmm… =/
I also started the hat making process the day before yesterday, yesterday I finished it! With a lot of ugly swearing and PMS-tears (PMS really sneaks up on ya, doesn’t it!?) it came out better than I could have imagined actually.
The finished product! It’s totally the look I wanted, it’s a bit uneven, but after a little decoration I’m sure no one will notice! ^^;
And just for fun – crown on an old lingonberry jam bucket… XD
I was just watching a show about all the work behind a Chanel collection and suddenly got the urge to continue with the pet-en-l’air! I’m just gonna write a little on my degree thesis and then I’m gonna pull on the stays and do some fitting so I can start with the stomacher and stuff. =D
Chanel paper hats inspired by the 18th century.
So I totally gave that pink trim (for the shoes) thing up today… I could not find a shade of pink I liked (and there were at least 8 or 10 shades of pink!), so I bought some black bias tape in duchesse.
I am, however, going to make an embroidery in a dark burgundy color of flax floss on the tounge! Maybe on the straps too… This is what it, hopefully, kinda, will look like, hehe ^^;
I was just watching Cranford (mid 1800’s) on SVT Play and they mentioned flannel – It got me thinking about my previous assumption that flannel didn’t exist in the 18th century – maybe it did?
Googling it I found this on Wikipedia:
The French term flanelle was used in the late 17th century, and the German Flanell was used in the early 18th century. (Wikipedia: Flannel)
Which got me googling further and I found this:
Dicky was 18th century slang for a flannel petticoat (Probert Encyclopaedia)
It apperas this is all said about wool flannel though, and I got that super cute cotton flannel I wanted to use… Hmpf… Oh well, it seems flannel wasn’t really used for anything other than undergarments anyway so… =/ I guess it still has to be for a not very accurate project, hehe… ^^;
I just added the very “expensive” wig to the total of what I’ve spent so far on the outfit. I also added the lace I’m going to use for the shifts aaaaaand a linen sheet I bought at the same time as the gloves that I’m going to use for the shifts! ;D
The list now has two totals – with and without the wig. I just felt the wig kinda ruined my very cheap total… Hehe… ^^;
Maria