Hello! It has been a while. This portion of the project has taken a bit longer than expected (doesn’t it always). That, coupled with some life events such as starting a new job, weddings, vacation etc., led me to miss posting in the month of July and August 🙁 However, I’m excited to be sharing the final portion of ‘how to reuse curtains’/historical dress series!!! This post covers the final portion of the robe a la francaise ensemble: the gown/petticoat. I learned a lot of lessons from this project: chief among them how to balance enjoyment with attempts at perfection. I’ll go into further detail throughout the post. Let’s jump in!
Material and Method
Material
I am excited to report that I reused probably 90% of both curtain panes! The picture on the left is one of the two original panels I started with, and the picture on the right is all that is left of both 🙂 I would say this qualifies as a successful reuse!
I utilized the outer, Waverly, fabric called “Capulet Stripes” for the gown base, stomacher, ruffles, hat trim, and front of the petticoat. I used the curtain lining for the undergarments in my previous post, as well as the gown lining and back of the petticoat.
Method
As I previously alluded to: I used the JP Ryan pattern for the gown and petticoat. As inspiration, I looked to this gown in the MET:
To trim the hat, I followed the Burnley and Trowbridge Sew Along for Hat B.
Construction Notes
This was quite the challenge. The JP Ryan pattern was very well written and illustrated, and luckily I had access to awesome pattern notes from Confused Kitty Sewing. I won’t go into a ton of detail about construction, because between the pattern itself and Confused Kitty most everything is covered. I will be mentioning a few things that either gave me some trouble or adaptations I made.
Lining
Two notes on the lining:
First, I made a rookie mistake. I accidentally made a portion of the outside the inside and so had to finish all the seams. This added a bit of extra time, but didn’t compromise anything structurally.
Second, instead of making eyelets for the closure of the lining, I used grommets which are not historically accurate. I saw Sewstine do this in her Madame de Pompadour video and did the same to save time and sanity.
Gown
The only part of the JP Ryan pattern that gave me pause were the pleating instructions. For the back pleats, I ended up following the instructions from the right side fo the fabric.
For the side pleats, however, I followed the instructions from the wrong side of the fabric. I have no idea if I understood that correctly, but it worked out in the end.
Petticoat
I had originally planned on purchasing some plain cotton for the petticoat to match the blue/green stripe in the pattern. However, this color turned out to be nearly impossible to match, and so I was left to piece together leftover fabric. I did my best to match up the pattern, and used the curtain lining for the back of the petticoat.
Trim
Making trim with this fabric was not easy! It is heavy and and has an extremely loose weave. It frays when you so much as look at it. This meant that I had to make more bulky finished edges whenever I did anything with it. Pinking was simply not going to cut it!
Furthermore, the back of the fabric is white, so I had to take extra care to make sure it never showed. For example, I chose to go with a pleat to form the ruffle because I knew it would lay flat. I went with a knife pleat because I liked the more random pattern it created over the larger sections created by the box pleat.
My reference gown didn’t have a surviving stomacher, so I had to improvise. The JP Ryan pattern suggested making bows for the stomacher so that’s what I went with. I basically sewed two rectangles, right sides together, and turned them inside out. I then ran a running stitch down the middle to cinch in the center, put another rectangle behind it, and wrapped the center with strip of fabric. I made three of these, each one smaller than the next and tacked them onto the stomacher.
I also used the trim from the decorative swag portion of the curtains for the top of the stomacher and around the neckline. I removed the tassels and used the woven ribbon portion. I’m not sure I love how it lays so I may add some white ruffles behind the ribbon eventually.
Accessories
Hat: I bought a 15″ bergere hat from Penny River Costumes. I then used fabric from the blue/green stripes to trim it using the aforementioned Burnley and Trowbridge Sew Along.
Stockings: I purchased a pair of cotton stockings from Burnley and Trowbridge.
Shoes: I bought the black Pompadour from American Duchess to complete the look.
Final Thoughts
Overall
As my first ever attempt at historical costuming, I am very proud of this! I learned a lot and am glad I didn’t have to invest a lot of money to do it. This was definitely a worthwhile way to reuse curtains. Now I will have to wait until I get invited to a costume party or event of some sort to wear it.
Things I Would Change
There are, of course, a lot of things I would like to fix:
- The fit. I didn’t sew the waste down, as the JP Ryan pattern said it wasn’t necessary. However, I found that the gown wasn’t as form fitting as I would have liked without it and hung a bit loose. I also couldn’t figure out how the robing was supposed to fit in. Should I have put the trim on it? Should I have tacked it down?
- The trim. There are a lot of things I don’t love about the trim and I may end up redoing it entirely. Firstly, it is a bit too wide at the top. Secondly, I had to use one color of thread to sew it together. The yellow thread is visible down the center so I may add some more decorative ribbon or lace to cover it.
- The stomacher. I didn’t use firm enough interfacing for the stomacher so it was a bit flimsy. Also, I’m not sure if the oversized bows really suit the dress. I may end up removing them. I also never truly figured out how to properly pin the stomacher in place, which may have added to the ill-fittingness of the gown overall.
A Note About Perfection
I made the decision to post this without fixing the above list: which was actually pretty hard for me. I tend to want to make things perfectly, but always end up loosing some enjoyment in the process. I reached a moment where I knew that if I continued to work on this project, it wasn’t going to be fun anymore. I decided I need a break 🙂 I’ll pick it back up again if/when I want to.
I hope you enjoyed this three part series on how to reuse curtains! I think I’m going to do a couple of smaller, non-sewing related projects next. See you then.
1 comment
Can’t stop looking at this. Amazing work!