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Thursday, 12 December 2013

1780 Robe à l'Anglaise (printed cotton

I found the test gown for my robe à l'anglaise was so straight forward, that I decided to make another one. So this another version of the Reconstructing History 822, with my modified sleeve. I also skipped on the "en fourreau" back. I simply used the same pattern piece for the outer material as I did for the lining, and thus I got a waist seam. To make it a bit more correct I should probably have split the bodice back into several pieces, now it's just one whole bodice back, not even a middle back seam.

This was made from a lovely hand printed Indian cotton. It's a very soft and thin fabric, and I love the feel of it. To make it sturdier I used cotton canvas for the bodice lining, but some softer cotton for the sleeves. The pattern of the fabric is maybe a bit busy for the 18th century, but it's made with exactly the same technique as back then. Since it's hand printed it's quite narrow though, and I also hadn't bought very much of it, it was quite expensive. By puzzling all the pattern pieces I managed to get a full robe out of it though. It's a bit less width in the skirt than ideal, and that is also one reason why I I simply couldn't do the "en fourreau" back. They had to save on fabric in the 18th century as well. The sleeves are a bit too short, due to the problems with the sleeves I mentioned in my post about the blue anglaise, but I'm going to add a proper flounce to them one day, so then it won't be so noticable. I can't add a flounce in the same material though since I used up every single cm of the fabric to make the gown, that is also why it's quite plain and has no decorations or trimmings.

This is the craziest sewing project that I have ever done. I managed to make the whole robe in less than a day, from rolling out the fabric to finishing the last hem. I had after all just tried the pattern with the light blue dress, so now I could just sew on without any breaks or problem. For the event in June I wore the same petticoat as the year before, but for an event in October I had had time to sew a new, prettier, white petticoat.

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October 2013
June 2013

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