At some point, I came across The Charlatan by Léonard Defrance, sold by Sotheby’s in 2023, and became obsessed with the woman in grey and her problematic calash. The petticoat was similar to the one I made for the polonaise, suggesting a capsule wardrobe that could include the petticoat, polonaise, short sacque, and eventually a Brunswick, all in changeable grey silk. My plans were slightly thwarted by cutting the sacque too short, but all it takes to fix that is money (for more silk to make a longer short sacque). Measure twice, cut once, folks.
Plans were also thwarted by the small matter of taking 8 credits and working 40 hours a week. I started this last August about three weeks before classes started. I am a genius at time management, can’t you tell?
Pleating the back took a couple of tries, and eventually involved math and a scale layout. The cat supervised, looking terribly pathetic after veterinary dental interventions in June.
Finally, I got the pleats the way I wanted them, and could attach the fronts and set the shoulders in late September. It took another three months to get to the trim, because, of course, I had to make a gown and a mantle along the way while writing papers. Reading and writing isn’t satisfying enough, which must be how I ended up in art school the first time around. Winter break meant the trim was made and stitched on pretty quickly, and then I got stuck again.
All that remained was a stomacher and cuffs: you’d think that would be easy by now. It is not. I like the simple ribbon-edged and ruched trim, which I also used on the polonaise, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it on a stomacher. Eventually I looked at Costume in Detail, and found an example that seemed appropriate. More trim had to be made (it is just endless once you start), but it’s simple enough once you’re in the rhythm.
But the cuffs! I tried one set and hated them, which left me stuck again. What to do? Try it on, of course. I find in-progress photos can be helpful and inspiring, so out to the front yard we went. I have a better idea now of how this looks (and confirmed that it does, in fact, fit), so with a little discipline, maybe I’ll have those cuffs made and attached by this coming August.
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