sheer fluffy gowns

I have been on a pinterest-go-round but also while doing so found others who had liked some really old auctions and museum pages I had way back when, so I’m going to do a post about the inspiration for my next historic project 🙂

I was trying very hard to find the perfect gown, or even the perfect gown examples but there are so many. Perhaps I’ll have enough lace and net to make them all. That would be amazing.

One of my very first pricey book purchases way back when was The Paris Collection,

See the doll in the middle? Sigh. I love this jacket over flounced skirt combination. I need to update my historic pages section but this basic style definitely influenced my black and white day dress.

This is early 1870s, but this jacket and flounced skirt combo is seen in both art and extant items.

Afternoon dress, Metropolitan museum

Date:ca. 1871

Culture:European

Medium:cotton

Credit Line:Gift of Lee Simonson, 1938

Accession Number:C.I.38.23.247a–d

I would like to make my cotton net really pop, so I am looking to use some blue sheer sateen and around 26m (29 yards-ish) of wide rayon lace. It’s about 2 1/2″ wide which really pushes the balance of potential stripes into closer to the mid-late 1870s.

My sincerest apologies. This is from an auction, my files attribute them to Saturday, ‎14 ‎February ‎2009, ‏‎12:35:48 PM, so that may be the date of the auction. The naming practice is familiar but I just can’t remember and my old bookmarks seem to have not made their way to my new browsers.

However this is a perfect example of tone on tone with different textures that was a very big deal of the 1870s. It also includes the use of horizontal lines on the sleeves and gown I adore.

I do however keep coming back to an auction from ebay that was just so beautiful. At the time I had much difficulty in terms of being able to purchase from US ebay that it never even crossed my mind to contemplate putting in a bid! However this gown I believe would work with my heavier net and heavier lace.

 

I saved these in 2006, so this gown has been just there in the back of my mind for a decade! I have never found the perfect lace, but I do hope to be able to do justice to this regardless.

Of note is the mix of vertical lines in the bodice and sleeves, and the horizontal elements to the skirt.

Evening dress (Metropolitan Museum)

Date:ca. 1872

Culture:American

Medium:cotton

Credit Line:Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Amelia Beard Hollenback, 1966

Accession Number:2009.300.3290

Dress (Metropolitan Museum)

Date:1870s

Culture:American

Medium:cotton

Credit Line:Gift of Richard Martin, 1993

Accession Number:1993.35.2a–c

Again, lace is used to create linear interest. The satin appears to have originally been pink.

This era did however also have some Medieval/Renaissance revival going on and it even affected sheer gowns with sleeves.

Dress (V&A museum)

Place of origin: Great Britain (made)

Date: ca. 1868 (made)

Artist/Maker: Unknown

Materials and Techniques: Linen lawn, trimmed with silk-satin ribbon overlaid with bobbin lace

Credit Line: Given by Miss Ada B. Cooper

Museum number: T.13-1943

Gallery location: In Storage

Note the blue beneath the lace! This feature is in the doll dress and so I am very keen to use this element in my own. I had intended to use my sheer sateen as a princess line petticoat but am seriously thinking that it would be very effective as a base for the lace.

This means I do need to think carefully about the foundation garments but I think Tissot possibly has a solution that would look as striking on this project as it does in his artwork.

  

Three paintings of the same gown. Two of Kathleen Newton (both on WikiCommons) and a genre portrait at the Tate. This is the same kind of jacket as seen at the top of this post.

A similar arrangement can be seen on this princess line gown. Both dresses have solid white sleeveless foundation garments. These appear to be full length petticoats and they sit very low indeed in the back. I am not sure I can achieve such a low back, though there does appear to be a of illusion going on- there is a lacy detail that could be a corset cover on the right.

And then, thinking of stripes and princess lines I can’t help but want to then make a sheer version of at least two fashion plates from Harper’s Bazar!

1875 (23 October) and 1876 (19 August)

I can just see both of these translating to sheer gowns so easily. And it may be the nudge needed to finally actually make the reference gown for Mina as well as Mina 🙂

found them

Supplements from Der Bazar! I have a stack to go through and make a good proper post about, possibly a plage. I have terrible tagging habits so a page may be best.

Also I’m going to switch up blog settings to share “medium” sized thumbnails as the thumbnails seem to be smaller. I love this theme but it is now possible to put images inline now as well.

Anyway.

So the current list of things wot to make is ridic.

Mon Mothma -my current one has shrunk so if anyone 5’3″ and shorter is interested… I’d really like to have a slip on costume as I’ve got so many complicated layered costumes as it is.

Yes. That’s Genevieve. I was so looking forward to seeing her in Revenge of the Sith 🙂 So perfect casting in Rogue One is more perfect and established than many realise 😉

Leia Senatorial

(My apologies to the gif maker, but LOOK AT HOW BIG HER BUNS ARE!!!! Higher than her hairline and over the top of her collar. Onto her cheeks and extends past the back of her head.

I wore her to the Rogue One premier, it’s actually really pretty but the belt is real leather and has stretched so it sits on my hips which is wrong and incidentally makes it look like my waist is huge. I need to make the boots, in fact they are the sole (get it??) reason for wanting to finish. But I’m also happy passing her once I have Mothma! But the wig I made uses two price lacefronts

Senya Tirall.

Oh my goodness. In SWTOR my relationship with her has been tough but I’m so glad I made the decisions I did.  Just realised I have stretch twill in off white and grey that is perfect. I knew I had enough plastic but woo! fabric!

Please do watch, the expansion does pack a wallop too. There were only a few moments I felt locked players into having to do something- and they were intended to add variety- for my hands they were only doable after my infusion which had a lovely pre-med prednisone infusion and other help.

Just got some email in game from characters, they are pretty expressive too.

SPOILERS! But you can watch the opening cinematic and crawl to at least understand why I love playing so much! BTW I tend to play Empire but light side. I’m such a Granny Weatherwax! And I usually play from level 1.

Ahsoka Tano, Rebels era

Speaking of feels… Ahsoka grew up with the audience who followed her in TCW. Her leaving TCW was incredible. The story group respected her so much that her story was not predictable. Her last TCW story was familiar in real life. Who hasn’t had to deal with the accusation of “where there’s smoke….” So I may have related a little too well!

Anyway. I’m not 14 so grown up Ahsoka is a little more me! So far all the leather has been tooled and shaped. The sabers are being worked in Sketchup.

My montral are curing right now, I’m trying to do them in two parts to really control the latex thickness. More latex is on the courier truck right now. As of typing.

 

Right, it’s time to make, so my post is really about my current SW costumes. I also have a Padme Light Blue to remake. Need threads…