A sewing friend gifted me a pair of sheer voile curtains. She’d intended sew a robe chemise but there wasn’t enough fabric, so she reckoned she’d see what I could make with them instead. One became a ruffled 1780s apron and the other became a white muslin summer mantelet!
One of my favorite 18th Century costume references is a portrait by Sir Nathanial Dance-Tolland. I love the puffy blue stomacher bows. I love the enormous pearls worn high on her neck. I love her pet squirrel. But mostly I love the lace mantelet that she is wearing over the top of all of it. While less heavily textured, this embroidered silk gauze from FabricGuru has such a similar scale and vibe to the fabric in the portrait that I reckoned it was MEANT. I would make the blonde silk gauze mantelet from the portrait!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it another wrapping gown? It’s the Fitting and Proper Chintz Banyan! Let’s talk about how to put it together.
An 18th Century short-gown is the same sort of garment as a bed gown, except, well… shorter.
Sort of. Mostly. Sometimes.
Here’s a well-dressed woman in her 18th Century bedgown, hanging out at the top of a mangrove tree. As you do.
When I was gifted a length of striped linen from Burnley and Trowbridge,I knew just what I wanted to do with it – Burnley & Trowbridge had just released a new pattern, and I would turn my summer fabric into a summery 18th Century linen bedgown!
How often do you have a sewing project that goes really really wrong?
In which I take my 1790s printed cotton round gown, and this time, I finally get it all right!
In which I sew a 1790s printed cotton round gown, and make some really REALLY dumb technical decisions.
Winters in the Pacific Northwest are very wet. I needed a cloak to keep me warm. Here’s a tutorial for your own 18th Century Cardinal Cloak!
