1770's Research

My research for this period was significantly less than it was for the 1880's as this just happens to be my all time favourite period. The majority of my work has been within a 50 year span prior to this time. I am most confident with the line, shape, colors and structures that are we used so it was a logical place for me to start. I poured over some of the 500 pictures I have of this time, and ended up turning to my Fashion Kyoto Institute book for my final concept. (By the way this book is well worth whatever you have to pay to get it- It's filled with stunning pictures of the most beautiful garments you will ever see- and it even has undergarments too!)

2 days before I found out about this project I stopped by the local thrift store, you never know what treasures you might find there, and at this visit I found a very pretty single window curtain panel. It was polyester (of course...) but had a very soft gold on gold floral pattern that appealed to me, and for a whole $1 I couldn't pass it up. How glad I was that I'd found it when I found this contest- all the other material I have for this period was too heavy or had too large a pattern to be of any use to me working on a half scale.

I loved the richness of the color in this gown and I have to say I seriously considered stamping or embroidering the fabric I had to make up for it's simplicity, but alas there just wasn't time... The second picture I had floating around my image folder and I think it's a good way of confirming that my material choice still suited the era even if it wasn't as rich as I wanted it to be.

I enlarged the corset pattern from Norah Waughs Corsets and Crinolines by scanning and printing on an 8"x11" piece of paper for the sake of time. I was quite please it worked so well for half scale actually. The panniers I did freehand and they didn't turn out as I'd hoped- I was about 2" too short at the top so they don't close up properly, and they gave a squarer shape to the skirt rather than the triangular one in the pictures, so I'm hoping I'll have time to remake it as a single hoop rather than two pocket panniers...