The Aristocat

New plans

Fri, 18 May 2012 19:05:22 GMT

Forget this: http://the-aristocat.livejournal.com/33189.html
Or at least some of it. The riding habit and the silver and muslin ball gown are still on, as are both of the shoes. But the pink polonaise is being postponed, because, since deciding on the Georgian picnic, I've been going through this fabulous site http://damesalamode.tumblr.com/ and I think I want to make a more "me" dress sooner instead. And I really want a tall and pointy early 1790's hat. So a 1790's ensemble instead. And then I must finish the 1874 promenade dress. No matter what, it's going to get done this year. And, I think I have fallen in love with the Marie Antoinette redingote style dress, so I might have to make it in the fall. And because it's white, and most of my sewing for this year is white, I'm postponing the white Toulmouche dress and replacing it with the long overdue 1877 mourning dress. And I think that's about it for this year.

And now I'm off to sew the sleeve seams of the riding habit.

Small 18th century gathering

Sun, 13 May 2012 16:28:13 GMT

Most of the Finnish historical events are more or less lower class, and as I'm definitely not a lower class kind of seamstress, I usually don't have anything appropriate to wear and patiently wait for the next ball. Last Friday's entertainment was also strictly lower class, but for some reason I was tempted to go. Silk is usually forbidden, but, as my mourning round gown is simple and sombre, I got a permission to wear it to the event. The theme for the event was an evening in an 18th century stagecoach station where travelers could wait for their ride, eat and drink and get travel passes. Earlier in the afternoon there had been an actual horse outside the venue with a carriage that anyone from the street could get a ride after paying a small fee. Because of work I arrived so late that I just got to see the carriage leave for the last round, so I went straight in to get my travel pass and mix with other people.

Herr Waselius signing travel passes:

My travel pass. Passes are in Swedish as Finland was a part of Sweden in the 18th century (as you probably already know).

The food was excellent and by the time I took the picture, most of it was already gone.

The rest of the evenings entertainment included music, community singing and dancing.

Fröken Tirbuck playing the violin:

The evening went swiftly and by midnight my own "stagecoach" came to take me home.

Me in the Helsinki night, just outside the venue:

And the dress:

It was great to get to wear the round gown again and I still find the cap rather delightful. It makes a funny profile.

I can't decide!

Tue, 08 May 2012 18:45:28 GMT

The silver and muslin dress is driving me crazy. One thing is certain, the embroidery is silver plate. This is the motif that will be scattered all over. Simple and effective:

And this is me trying out silver plate on the dress fabric. It's unfinished, but I didn't find it in me to finish it since it won't be used in the dress. Just a practice piece.

So the problem is that I can't decide between a traditional robe à l'Anglaise, edge to edge closure, just past the elbow -length sleeves, open in front, matching silver plate embroidered muslin petticoat OR a cut away front robe à l'Anglaise, short muslin sleeves, longer just past the elbow sleeves, the bodice zone and petticoat in white duchess satin. And if I'd choose the latter, should I just scatter the motifs all over the muslin and that's it, like in this dress:
http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/131021.html?mulR=30282|73
or should I do some embroidery around the gown skirt fronts, cut away fronts, neckline and short muslin sleeve hems? And if I should do embroidery on the edges, should it be something very narrow, straight and simple made with silver purl or something elaborate with tiny sequins or is it historically inaccurate to combine silver plate embroidery with sequins and purl when done in cotton muslin? Because if it is indeed inaccurate, I would need to make the edge with silver plate too and I don't think I have the time to do it. And one important thing when making the decision. The silver embroidery is almost invisible on the white ground except when the light catches it.

If you know more about silver on muslin embroidery in the 18th century, please help me! And even if you don't, I'd love to hear what you would choose to make if it was going to be your ultimate trendy 18th century party dress.

My main inspiration for this dress is a quote:
"In the evening I went to the Ball. I had an English Night Gown of muslin with silver sprigs and all white." Extract from correspondence, Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire, 1784 (18th Century Embroidery Techniques, Gail Marsh)

The whole story

Sun, 06 May 2012 17:49:17 GMT

The shift is done so today I got to try the stays properly on for the first time and for once I managed to leave enough bust room. And they feel sturdy and comfortable. And who would have thought such an ugly fabric could make a nice looking garment.

Now the facts:

The top layer is light brown cotton, the next two layers underneath are linen canvas and the lining is of fine white linen. They are completely hand stitched, mainly with pale blue linen thread, but I also used white linen occasionally and silk twist for the back lacing holes. The pattern is my own and, as I was drawing it, I tried to achieve a close resemblance to the original stays but also to achieve a better fit than in all my previous stays meaning more bust room and more curve in the lower back. I used cane for boning. I was planning on experimenting with high land cattle horn for durability, but as I haven't had problems with snapping in my previous stays and these were to become almost fully boned, I chose 1/4 inch wide flat caning that I narrowed down to an almost tooth pick width of 2-3 mm. The front and back bones are narrowed down from a sturdier 1/2 inch wide flat cane. The seams are covered with narrow silk ribbon and the stays are bound with straight cut self fabric strips as it looks like it was done that way in the original stays too. Armholes are bound with ivory chamois leather.

And a closer look.

It was an intensive month, but I remembered to take some construction pictures.

First I outlined the pieces by stitching around the edges through all three layers. After they were outlined, I stitched the boning channels.

Then I boned the channels.

I turned under the center front and center back edges and made the lacing holes.

Then I turned under the seam allowances and whip stitched them down.

I joined the pieces by whip stitching, covered the seams and started binding the stays.

I finished the binding an added shoulder traps.

The last step was adding the lining.

And the shift. I had started the shift a while ago by cutting the pieces, and I had already attached the gores with a selvage join. http://the-aristocat.livejournal.com/29921.html#cutid2 Now I finished the chemise with felled seams and plain hems. The gores are hard to see, but they are on the right side in the picture.

A positive announcement

Tue, 01 May 2012 06:32:39 GMT

I finished the stays. And now I have a lot of catching up to do. (All the amazing Titanic dresses I have yet to see.) To stay focused I had to stay away from the internet, especially costuming sites, as they can be very distracting and it's very easy to get lost and spent hours of looking at the pretties. And if I was going to make hand stitched stays with 176 pieces of boning in about a month (as was my goal), I didn't have the time, so no internet. I still need to finish the new shift and then I will give you the whole story and display them on me. But until I accomplish that I will leave you with these two pictures.

Planning further

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:49:12 GMT

As I'm forced to wait a while for everything I need to finish the riding habit jacket, it is now the perfect time to make the new stays. Many of the late 18th century stays were made in brown, beige or natural, unbleached colors and the top fabric was often cotton or linen instead of silk. And I've seen a fair amount of them with blue stitching. So that's my plan too. I love that 1780's stays pattern that can be found in Corsets and Crinolines, but I've been using it for so long that I'm absolutely sick of it. It was time for a change and so I spent few nights looking at these stays http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O115752/stays/ from every possible angle and made up a pattern. Tomorrow I'll start stitching the boning channels. I hope they are going to fit. I should have made a machine sewn mock-up, but I was lazy an I didn't, so I'm taking little risk with them. But I have faith in my pattern. Fingers crossed.

But, the plans. The current plan, as I've already mentioned, is to finish the stays and the riding habit. Then it is time for the silver and muslin dress. But instead of making just the pink and black shoes I intended to wear with it, I'm also making lower heeled pale blue shoes without buckles to wear with it instead. And because I will need a dress to wear with the pink and black shoes, that dress is going to be a pink robe à la Polonaise. I can't imagine a dress that would be less me (loose fit, pink, fluffy, definitely not me), but that's what makes it fun, right? And then I really need to do something victorian. First a dress that I've been craving for a long, long time, a copy of the dress in Young woman in an interior by Toulmouche http://www.flickr.com/photos/37892495@N08/5029028993/ and then finish the 1874 dress that has been hanging in the closet for about 16 months now.

And that's about it. I can't plan any further, because that would make it impossible to stick to it.

Now all I need is the jacket

Sun, 18 Mar 2012 19:33:30 GMT

And gloves. And a hat. I was able to finish the waistcoat and make a neck cloth. And I already started to pattern the jacket, but I haven't cut out any pieces yet. As I told previously, I pinned the silk satin fronts of the waistcoat to shape and sewed the bust darts and trimmed the edges accordingly. Then I cut small interlining pieces of horsehair fabric to stiffen the fronts a little.

Not the most professional pad stitching, but I was in a hurry to finish and it seems to be working.

Then I made facings of the same silk. I whip stitched it to the linen lining on the inside edge and finished the front edges with running stitches through all the layers. I usually hate making hand sewn buttonholes but these were a dream to make in the stiffened fronts.

So this is where I am now. The finished shirt:

And the waistcoat with the neck cloth:

A good enough progress considering that I was still able to go for a run on five days. Yay! I usually struggle with combining exercise and sewing.

The promised picture proof

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:40:25 GMT

So this weekend hasn't been productive at all. I've been mostly devoting my time to jogging and movies, so the waistcoat isn't finished yet. But it's okay. I'm having a day off of work on Thursday, so I will make the final fitting and finish with the buttons and buttonholes then.

Back to the beginning. When I first got interested in 18th century riding habits in the beginning of 2006, I just assumed they wore a boy sized man's shirt under their waistcoats. Not long after Katherine made her fabulous turn of the century riding habit http://www.koshka-the-cat.com/riding_habit.html and a light bulb turned on on the top of my head. What a fabulous thing, the riding habit shirt for women. I googled the thing and found a few images of surviving examples (that I can't find anymore) and made a version of my own to be worn under my black riding habit. The habit and the habit shirt are lost in the turmoils of life, so for this project I had to start over. My riding habit shirt is a slimmed down and cropped version of man's shirt. I used the Costume Close-Up -shirt for construction reference, and since the few extant 18th century riding habit shirts I had seen seemed also to be made short, I left mine short too like Katherine's. A great way to reduce waist bulk, and, what's the point in the whole tie around the body -system, if the shirt is long enough to reach waist and could be tied in place with petticoat tapes.

Since constructing a shirt is such a basic thing that many are already familiar with, I didn't bother to take many pictures.

It's made of light weight linen, hand sewn with linen. The first picture shows the shirt base with the neckline gussets and the collar attached.

Then I sewed on the sleeves and the sleeve gussets and closed the side seams and gathered the back in to a tape. In this picture the basic construction is done and the only things missing are the neck and sleeve ruffles. I got the dress form last christmas from my husband. I haven't made any modifications to make it shaped like me, but it's nice to have a human shaped form to help visualize the outcome. And in this case the dark dress form shows the shoulder reinforcements as well. They are quite wide and reach the neck gussets. The skirt is worsted wool. I ordered the fabric without a swatch and I was anxious to find out the hue, but it was just the perfect bright red I was looking for.

Here is the waistcoat back.

In construction I've been following the 1790's man's waistcoat from Costume Close-Up with the exception of back lacing and bust darts. I didn't use any pattern for the waistcoat back, and the fronts were vaguely based on the Janet Arnold riding habit pattern with a lot of extra around the pieces to be pinned in shape on me. In the next picture I'm doing just that, but I'm showing the back only. The fronts look so unattractive with pins everywhere.

Since taking this picture, I've finished the shirt ruffles and made progress on the waistcoat fronts. My goal for the next week is to get all the finishing touches done including the waistcoat buttons and a neck cloth. And also to pattern the jacket and get the construction started on weekend. Doable I think. Even if I keep the jogging routine going too.

A quick update

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 07:10:34 GMT

I've made some steady progress with the riding habit. As I planned. Sticking to the plans. I'm quite proud of myself. I've failed the sticking to the plans thing too often. Anyway, the skirt is done and the riding habit shirt needs just the neck and sleeve ruffles. Pictures soon. Also the waiscoat has been started and I would really like to get it done by the end of this week.

In other news, as metal embroidery is a new thing for me, I ordered small amouts of different silver embroidery materials in the side as I ordered the silver buillion for the epaulettes of the riding habit. Last night I started experimenting with them and the end result is that I personally like just the flat stuff with lightweight cotton. Purl and such would be quick, but I didn't like the way it looked. This means that I plan on using just silver plate and sequins. And because of that, I also decided it would look very nice if I made small flower sprigs all over the gown instead of just the sequin dots. I want this riding habit to be over (and the stays) so I can start working on this muslin dress full time.

Want to see me blond?

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 13:15:21 GMT

Me and my husband went to visit a local furniture museum today. The museum is located in a simple but beautiful mansion built in 1790 (or a few years earlier). The courtyard is very charming. I've often walked there as my parents live nearby and I've lived my whole childhood there, but it was my first visit to the museum. The museum visit was a good enough excuse for me to put on the mourning gown and see how it looks with the wig or the cap. This is my first wig and it was an agony to style, synthetic hair and curlers don't go together well, but it's nice to have one. I'm forever grateful to Jen (http://festiveattyre.blogspot.com) for sharing where she got her fabulous wigs so I could have the courage to buy one too. Dressing up takes so much less time.

And with the cap. The cap one of the beribboned caps by Country Wives.

The back seam lines.

The insides.

Then again...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:35:05 GMT

...it could have a zone front. Like this: http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/131021.html?mulR=30282|73
With a narrow embroidery along the gown fronts, both skirts and cut-away bodice. I'd still like to sequin the rest of the gown. The zone and petticoat could be plain without the sequins. Maybe an elaborate floral hem embroidery on the petticoat?

Now I get back to my cap.

Not what I'm supposed to be doing

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:54:45 GMT

But I'm still keeping in line with my planned projects. I do need to make the riding habit and the new stays first, but I'm so excited about the silver embroidery, that I couldn't wait. I sketched the first version of the embroidery pattern for the petticoat hem and gown front edges. It's almost exactly the same (if a little simplified) as shown for the silver embroidered petticoat hem in 18th Century Embroidery Technique By Gail Marsh and I'm quite happy with it already, but I will be making some changes to it. In addition to the embroidered borders, I will dot the dress with silver sequins all over.

I will also have some decisions to make about the embroidery. As I'm going to find a somewhat sheer and lightweight cotton for it, any embroidery on the petticoat back would most likely be seen through the gown. But not in good glittering way it would through a netting, but in dark-dots-that-could-be-small-insects -kind of way. But if I put the sequins only in the front of the petticoat, it would be hard to put them in way that no sequins are under the gown skirts but no non-sequined areas are is visible when I walk or dance or whatever. And same thing goes for the petticoat hem, it could look bad if it goes all the way around the hem and shows through the gown train. I suppose the 18th century way would be to embroider around the hem and sequin it all over, but then again they were often also very economical and saved expensive materials were they weren't seen, so maybe not. Decisions, decisions. The sheer material makes it hard. I don't care about the more work - less work aspect of the thing. I just want it to look good.

But luckily the decision doesn't have to be made just yet and for now I can focus on the embroidery pattern. Here's the first version.

All that is left to do are the things above my neck

Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:36:13 GMT

And I have ordered some wigs to take care of that. I might be the only person in the world to get excited about a dress as simple as this, but that's enough for me. So here's the dress as promised a week ago. A simple round gown. I'm sure it will get more exciting with proper styling.

I've been planning

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:08:12 GMT

Now that the mourning gown is only a few stitches from finishing, I've been planning on what to do next. In fact, I planned a little further too. I'm usually hopeless in sticking to my plans, but now I honestly think I will. I have very important reasons for sticking with these. So next week I'll be able to start a riding habit. I will, perhaps disappointingly, be making the Lady Worsley one as it is, with no creativity of my own. But for me it is the perfect riding habit. I can't top perfect with changes just to make it unique.

Then I think it's the perfect time to make my new stays that I was planning on making before the mourning gown. Then I want to make an 18th century ball gown like the one Georgiana Cavendish described herself wearing in the 1780's; silver emroidery on cotton muslin. And I'm making the pink and black shoes too to wear with this dress (among others). And I'd like to accessorize a lot. Make gloves and a fichu for evening wear, maybe new garters.

Mourning gown progress

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 18:44:22 GMT

I've been good and and I've been working a little on it every day. And something amazing has happened. I've learned to like sewing. And that's a good thing considering how much I've been sewing lately. But back to the subject. This far the skirt panels have been cut to period widths and sewn together with running stitches (with an occasional back stitch).

Then it was time for the bodice. The pattern and construction are both based on the gown with a front fall opening, c. 1780-90, in Patterns of Fashion. I love the pattern (nicely low cut neckline, a little rising back waistline) and the construction method is my 18th century favorite. A little time consuming, but I love it. As I've done it before, I had existing pattern pieces ready. I usually just place the pattern pieces on the fabric and draw around them, but now that the fabric is black and I didn't have any chalk, I pinned the pieces and folded the seam allowances under using the paper edge as a guide. The gap was left so I could sew a line to mark the tuck placement.

Then, after both silk taffeta and linen layers had folded down seam allowances, it was time to put them on top of each other and sew around the edges with running stitches. I made them in a way that only a little dot shows outside and longer line on the lining side. I sewed the false seams, tucks, with a back stitch. Later I realized that I had turned one side too many on the back pieces where I need to have the seam allowance for the sleeves and straps, but that was an easy fix.

Then I whip stitched all the pieces together.

I like making neat insides.

Then the sleeves. I sewed them up first. The bodice has separate straps. I joined the strap lining and cover on the neckline edge with the point à rabattre sous la main. Then I sewed the linen strap lining on the bodice from both ends. Then I sewed on the sleeve underside from the inside using back stitching. Then I sewed the top sleeve from the outside on the strap lining. Last step was covering the strap lining with the silk and sewing it on from the outside using back stitches.

I tried it on and it's okay. In this picture the other strap covering is just pinned on and that same side sleeve end doesn't have the shaping dart so it looks flare like that.

Now I still need to attach the skirt to the bodice and hem it. And I always leave finishing the bodice front edges last. And I promise it will be done before next weekend. And I will also make a fichu. And I try to make a cap. I will show you what I have accomplished a week from now.

Is anyone familiar with late 18th century mourning?

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:11:33 GMT

I have tried to find out if there were any rules about accessories, but nothing has come up that would seem like a universal fact. Like the thing about caps. I've seen imprisoned Marie-Antoinette painted in a black cap. I've also seen her painted in a white cap and black coif. Then there is this this painting, my favorite and my original inspiration for this dress, in which the women are without caps and in a fashionable hairstyle.
Hauer, The The Dauphin taken away from his family, 1793
http://www.lessing-photo.com/dispimg.asp?i=26030658+&cr=48&cl=1
Then there are these incidents in which it has been recorded that a family has chosen not to go in to mourning at all for various reasons and it was noted but not necessarily judged by others.

So is it just that there were no strict social expectations yet and one could choose to go all black, caps and fichus and all, or just put on a simple black dress but keep the pearls and fashionable head dress and still be in mourning? Or were these liberties granted for royal families only? If there are regional differences, I'm mostly interested in continental Europe, but I'm curious to hear about other regions as well.

I'm sorry to bother, but if there is anyone who has learned about this subject I would appreciate an advice.

A little like Anna Karenina

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:48:33 GMT

We spent a wonderful weekend in our cottage from my husbands side. It's a lovely place and I like being without running water, bathing in a small wood heated sauna across the yard and spending time without internet every once in a while. And the place is so romantic! It's also great that, in there, both of us have an equal possibility to spent time with our hobbies. As he has all his welding equipment there, I don't have to feel guilty for sewing all the time. The only inconvenience during winter months is the unheated outdoor toilet, but I survive.

So, the sewing part. I was busy and finished the princess line dress! And I like it very much. Especially the back. It's so wintery and it somehow feels russian to me, so it instantly became my Anna Karenina dress. What do you think?

I got the beautiful old hair comb from my husband as a christmas present. I managed to put it on a little crooked, but isn't it gorgeous!

The vest makes all the difference, see.

Boring...

Luxurious!

Since the last post, I drafted and made the sleeves and faced the hem. The collar is the bias binding type that you see a lot in this and the previous era.

The vest was very easy in construction.

Now on to the new dresses

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 22:55:27 GMT

I've taken some time off of internet during the holidays. And some time off of sewing too. But I've done some slow progress. The Scachinger dress is coming along nicely and I tried it on today. I haven't ironed the fabric or the dress yet although it needs ironing badly, but it's starting to resemble a dress. Of course it still lacks it's most interesting feature, the short vest type thing with the marabou feathers, but I'm already becoming quite a fan of the princess style. I used to think it's so boring that I would never be tempted to make one, but now I'm secretly planning new ones. The silk brocade I used doesn't stand a change against the lovely fabric in the portrait, but I'm slowly getting used to it. And I've come in to a conclusion that my body type is so much more suited to victorian fashion than 18th century. I wish I could have a smaller bust for my robes à l'Anglaise, but fitting this style comes quite easy for me.

I flatlined it with cotton and sewed the main seams. After that I faced the CB edge and made a million tiny hand sewn lacing holes. Very annoying.

Then I spent three evenings whip stitching the seam allowances down. Also annoying.

It's still unboned and I'm thinking of leaving it that way.

Then I started the 18th century underthings with a chemise. I've had a piece of narrow width linen a long time and it turned out to be the perfect fabric to make a narrow chemise in which a gores are applied to one side only using a selvedge join. The variation C on the bottom of this page http://www.marquise.de/en/1700/howto/frauen/18chemise.shtml

It's been cut and the gores have been applied. Now it's waiting for the princess dress to be finished.

A new year, new dresses

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:47:49 GMT

But since I haven't got any new dresses yet, I take a look back too. I usually never do that, but this time I'm making an exception. My list of accomplishments is short, but all in all, I'm quite happy with everything. And to avoid just posting the same pictures again, I figured out a way to show a new side of the dresses; some blurry candid videos. So be prepared for a lot of ridiculous giggling.

So the first months of the year were very unproductive, but in the spring the striped bustle dress went together very swiftly.

Then I made the chemise dress. No video.

Then it was the robe à l'Anglaise with stockings, garters and shoes. Please excuse my posture. I guess I'm unconsciously balancing the hair or something.

And then the saque and the mitts. I really was a windy day.

Then again, it doesn't have to be black to be pretty

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 12:15:58 GMT

I got distracted. I couldn't resist. So I'm currently making a victorian princess line luxury house dress after this painting by Gabriel Schachinger.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gabriel_Schachinger_Das_Vergissmeinnicht.jpg

The tragedy is, that I don't have any silk brocade to match the fabulousness of the original, but I have an indian style silk brocade that looks decent enough and Indian influence was some kind of a trend in the Victorian times, so I'm going to use it. The pattern needs just a few tweaks, but I'm making the changes directly to the dress fabric, because the fitting to test the pattern this morning was a success.

Finally a black dress

Mon, 05 Dec 2011 06:47:10 GMT

Two black dresses to be exact. Black has always been my favourite dress colour (white and purple being only a little behind), but it's taken me all this time to make my first black historical dress. But now I'm making the most of it with these two. I actually planned on making these four years ago http://the-aristocat.livejournal.com/6627.html but as life turned upside down and sewing wasn't my first priority, they didn't end up being started until now. The victorian dress design has gone through a few minor changes, no jet beads and everything will be made of taffeta, but otherwise I'm going with the original plan. So far I've made a fantail skirt half way through, and enlarged the pattern for the polonaise, both from The Fashions of the Gilded Age. I've also sewn together the skirt panels for the round gown and lined one front piece of the bodice. The round gown is going to be on hold for a while though, for I'm making (again) an improved set of late 18th century underthings. That project was started yesterday as I cut the pieces for a new chemise.

My goal is to finish the 1877 dress by the end of the month and make some progress on the chemise, stays and rump on the side. We'll see how it goes.

An 18th century evening

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:55:03 GMT

The traditional 18th century Christmas season opening ball was held last Saturday in an old naval fortress, Suomenlinna http://www.suomenlinna.fi/en/ The construction of the fortress begun in middle of 18th century and it used to be a lively cultural center in 18th century Helsinki so, although being a little dungeon-like, it is an appropriate place for such an event. It was my first time at the Christmas season opening ball and I had a blast. As I was feeling lazy and the cream Française was still hanging unpacked in our hallway, I wore it. It also had the advantage of an easy hairstyle. I wanted to enjoy the evening and not to think about photographing too much, so I have only a few low quality pictures, but you get to see the ones I have. I start with a few dorky looking pictures of me.

There had been an 18th century fair earlier that day and my friend Mademoiselle Tirbuck was still wearing her maid clothing when I arrived, so we took a picture of her serving me some secret and unknown delicacy.

She then changed in to her much admired new striped robe à l'Anglaise.

First we were served a toast of something mysterious in content, but I'm sure it had at least some alcohol in it. Mademoiselle Tirbuck filling her glass:

Not long after that we were served a fabulous dinner.

During the dinner and dessert a group of musicians played 18th century music. One of the musicians had made some of the instruments played that evening and I was delighted to examine the beautiful and very ornamented lute and a simple viola da gamba. After dinner we were entertained with bagpipes and a drum. I loved it, but even better was still to come, a shadow play accompanied with Bellman's songs.

The 18th century me was shocked by the content of the play. After all there were a few young unmarried women in the audience, that shouldn't even be aware of the things that happen between a man and a woman in such detail, but here these things were so grotesquely portrayed to us. The 21st century me enjoyed the risque play immensely!

Later in the evening the musicians took over again and we were able to dance.

The best thing about the evening was meeting for the first time a most delightful young lady from northern Finland who shares my passion for pretty dresses. You can already see the back view of her beautiful polonaise style gown in the picture above. See, she looked pretty as a picture!

During the evening I also stumbled in the middle of a picturesque scene, where our senior soldiers were gathered in the chilly and dark hallway calmly talking the usual historical manly things, guns and wars and such, and I tried to discretely capture the moment.

I left the ball at midnight. I finish with a scene of how Helsinki looks like at night from the sea.

I finished it

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:11:17 GMT

Snow should be already covering everything by now, but since it hasn't snowed yet and I had my mitts to warm my arms, we went outside to take the pictures. But the wind was unbelievable and it was almost raining. I'm surprised we got as many decent pictures as we did.

The dress closes by pinning the stomacher first in to the stays and then pinning the dress in to the stomacher under the robings.

Monkey see, monkey do

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 16:03:18 GMT

Like so many before me I started a sister blog on Blogger. I update it only when I actually finish something.
Take a look if you are interested.

http://augustintytar.blogspot.com/

Both of the mitts are done.

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:40:09 GMT

And I have a bunch of blurry pictures to prove it. I also turned to my old and trustworthy pinking tool instead of the fly fringe for the Française. I just couldn't decide the colors and I really like pinking. Most of the trimming is already gathered so the dress will be done in a few days. Which is great since I've been cheating it with some black silk taffeta and Fashion of the Gilded Age. And since I have nothing much else to write now, I'll compensate it with tons of pictures.

And I realized that I haven't yet showed any proper full length pictures of the dress. This was taken when the second sleeves were being fitted.

Pinking, the nicest way of finishing raw edges.