HSF Challenge 9: Black and white

This is the challenge that grew. My first plan was to just finish the gaulle, since it's white, then I realized that it would look a lot better with a sash, and since the challenge was black and white I decided to make a black sash. I found something that was described as silk organza on ebay, and it was so cheap that I decided to take a chance and buy it. I was quite sure that it wouldn't be silk, but when it came it didn't behave like poly organza at all. I didn't do a burn test, but I'm pretty sure that it is actually silk.

So I sewed together three lengths of organza to make a sash that was long enough and hemmed it by hand. Then I felt that the outfit wouldn't be complete, so I decided to make a hat as well, and decorate it with what was left of the organza and some white pearls.

The challenge costume consists of three parts:

The white gaulle, the main piece. It's made of 6 m of cotton voile and one meter of fine linen to line the bodice and sleeves. The seams of the bodice and the side seams of the skirt are sewn by machine, but felled by hand. The sleeves are totally sewn by hand, and all the hems as well. For more information on the gaulle you can follow the tag 1787 revolutionary.

The sash, made out of 1 meter of silk organza, sewn by hand.

The hat, made from a storebought straw hat and leftovers from the silk organza. A full post on the hat can be found here.

As a bonus it's worn with the stays from HSF14 challenge 4: Under it all and a petticoat I made for the HSF13 challenge 15:Colour challenge white.

Front

BackS

Side

I also had to try the full outfit on myself. I must say that it's probably my favorite historical outfit I've ever made. I really hope that I can get the chance to make a proper photoshoot with it. As for now I just threw it on and put on my big wig, without styling the hair.

Me barefoot and out of focus, but still

The HSF facts:
The Challenge: 9 - black and white
Fabric: 6 m cotton voile, 1 m linen, 1 m silk organza
Pattern: Self drafted from the instructions in Constructing Historical Clothes, and with inspiration from the bib front gown in Patterns of Fashion 1.
Year: ca 1790
Notions: sewing thread, pearls, straw hat
How historically accurate is it? The gaulle and the sash around 85%, the hat 25%
Hours to complete: The gaulle - 1 month, the sash - three evenings, the hat - 3 hours
First worn: For the photo above
Total cost: gaulle - ca $65, sash - $4, hat - $20

What I've learned with this challenge
This is a challenge that has really helped me to develop a lot of different skills. For the first time I've drafted my own pattern, I've handsewn most of the gown and I even made the hat.