Hit the saque! ...beginning HSF #17: Robes and Robings

...ok, bad pun.  Remember when I said that the 1865 evening gown was going to be the most ambitious thing I did?  Well, as it turns out, this robe will probably take the cake for that - mostly due to the shape of the skirt.  It's gone well so far, only a couple snafus (granted they were big ones, but thankfully easily fixed), so the robe part is done (stomacher will be finished Tuesday, and hopefully lower sleeves, too).  Granted - it won't be trimmed, and it won't have a proper self-fabric petticoat (yet), but the basic dress will be there.

Here's the dress as it was this weekend: no sleeve flounces or engageants, no trim, a pinned-in piece of fabric temporarily used as the stomacher (actually the square 'sample' piece that the stores have for ordering in bulk, it was on sale for a dollar so I grabbed it one day), and the bodice waist pinned to the correct height...

I rather like it so far, especially the back, though the front needs finishing at the time of these photos.

... Without further ado, here's how it got to the above photos.

Inspiration (and historical reference/"proof" for the existence of printed/indienne cotton saques) came from this Pinterest page of cotton saques put together by Katherine of Koshka-the-Cat (thank you!!).  And MAJOR props also to Katherine for her tutorials on making a saque (this project really fits nicely under the "Gratitude" HSF, too, I realized); I used those as my "making-of" guide, though I did a few things differently (so far it's come out ok though).  The silhouette I'm going for is not a "court" silhouette, but narrower, more everyday one like that of the "block print francaise (c.1770)".  Wide isn't the most flattering for me, anyway, and right now I'm making do with a rather extended hip roll padding (with quilted petticoat on top) in place of panniers, so I doubt I'd've been able to get that trapezoid shape perfectly right (I know, I know, shame on me.  Pocket hoops are on my to-do-list).

And the construction...

HSF floral tablecloth anglaise progress (or, a race against time)

So, I left off on Monday with just the lining sewn together and the skirt and back pinned on.

Well, I'm almost done, as of tonight.  Not bad. :-)

After sewing the skirt on later Monday night, the gown graced my dress form until Wednesday night, when I cut and pinned the bodice front, a small bit of robing on the shoulder, and the sleeves onto the dress.  Used up a full box and a half of pins doing that, so pinning the en fourreau back in place will have to wait until I've sewn everything else (which I'll do tomorrow).  It took a while, too... since I wanted to get the pattern to match perfectly on the front, with the stripe going over the shoulders the same way, too.

Here's a few progress photos...

The last of the fabric; just enough for the bodice fronts and two sleeves.
That pile of fabric at the top (left on the fabric) is the skirt as it's attached to the bodice lining (white), in case you were wondering. 

One reason that I might actually be done with this on time: the tablecloth's edges were already hemmed, which I am shamelessly taking advantage of for my sleeve edges and bodice edges and skirt hem.

I pinned the sleeves in first before pinning the bodice fronts on.  Not sure how period that is, but it seemed to work really well.  I think the sleeves for this one may have come out better than for the cranberry...

Modeled on the dress form... The bodice doesn't close because the dress form isn't wearing the stays...

I'll take a better picture later, in better light, I promise.

So far, not bad for a second first attempt; not great, but not bad.

I'm really enjoying this project... especially the challenge of using the tablecloth. I've heard tell of 'curtain-alongs' - has anyone else ever done a 'tablecloth-along'?

It's also interesting because the fabric is so old (older than me by at least 10 years if not more) that it is stiff and almost brittle in places (which made the pleating kinda fun since it didn't want to un-learn a pleat).  Quite the different experience than the cranberry that had newer fabric which was also a tad thinner.  If I can find some more time this summer, I may just go hunting around in the attic again to try and find the curtains and make a petticoat to go with the overgown.  At this rate, though, since I'll be taking another class this summer and still working, not sure I'll have the time... So, I will prolly wear it with either the cranberry petticoat or else will need to make a plain off-white one (since the fabric is no longer a true white, but has yellowed a bit - thankfully evenly).

Next steps... 1) sew everything that's pinned; 2) pin and sew the en fourreau back; 3) if have time (and fabric), make engageants for sleeves (perhaps?).  So close, but not quite there yet :-)

Cranberry 1770s anglaise - part 1 - finishing the bodice and skirt

Since the fabric was so thin, I decided that I needed to line the bodice (not the sleeves, since I'd be wearing this with a chemise anyway) so it would wear better (and also give an extra layer between the boned stays and the exterior of the dress).

Bodice, lining pinned in place:

Then, once the lining was pinned, I created a sleeve mock-up out of the lining fabric.

Cranberry 1770s anglaise - part 1 - bodice (reprise) and sleeve flounces

With the extra strip that was left over from when I cut the skirt, I decided to make sleeve flounces for the 3/4 length sleeves.  Anglaise sleeves sometimes had flounces and sometimes didn't; the Snowhill Manor dress did, so I'm basing mine on that.  And yes, I worked on the flounces before I measured/cut/attached the sleeves to the bodice.  I'm not a fan of sleeves (most costumers aren't; especially period sleeves because they're very tricksy), so I did the easy stuff first.

Sleeve flounces strip and partial pinning:

Sleeve flounce, fully pinned (and standing upright on its hem):

Sleeve flounces, sewn (pinned together):

Fixing the bodice...