Tag: Frivolous Friday

Frivolous Friday: Just a Pretty Bonnet

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Living History, making things, Reenacting2 Comments

Like Sew 18th Century, I’ve been enjoying preparing for the August 2nd event in Salem.

I’ve not ventured too much into Regency bonnets, or into straw, but I did flirt with a 1794 bonnet. Now I’ve got hats on the brain, and the time to fully indulge my whimsy (though it runs out Sunday).

From the fashion plates, one would almost say, Anything Goes.  Of course it doesn’t, really, but you can get a sense of the exuberance of bonnet trimmings in the illustrations, and the lavish use of ribbons, bows, feathers and flowers.

Not all straw bonnets were lined– in fact, they often weren’t– but the lining protects the straw and the wearer’s face, and finishes this off in a way I like. Pleating in my condition was, ah, challenging, but I figure it was good for my brain to have the exercise. The lining in the brim is white taffeta, but I used white linen in the main crown or tip portion of the bonnet. Instead of bagging the lining, or trying to fit it, I mimicked what Mr B does in the hats he’s made for us. The gathered linen closes with a drawstring and required slightly less effort to fit into the hat.

The velvet ribbons came from Lunarain Designs on Etsy, the ties are taffeta ribbon from Taylor’s Etsy shop, and the straw bonnet form came from Regency Austentation. While the finish work takes time and concentration, I do enjoy both making up and trimming bonnets, and look forward to several more.

Frivolous Friday: Puppy in a Poke (bonnet)

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Research1 Comment
Plate 11, Twenty-four Subjects Illustrating the Costume of Paris
Plate 11, Twenty-four Subjects Illustrating the Costume of Paris

Like most humans, I have whimsical tastes and occasional outbreaks of covetousness. Today, while looking for images of milliners, I found this book for sale online, and while I cannot dream of owning it, I am delighted by this image, and by the others shown on the bookseller’s site. The British Museum has a copy, but only a few images online; Yale has a copy at the Center for British Art, but no images online.

John James Chalon, (more images here) who made this engraving, also made the classic image of the milliner’s shop, and that was where my search began.

La Marchande des Modes
La Marchande des Modes

Searching a little more only improved the results… Dog groomers! I have got to get hold of this book.

AN01035992_001_l
Les Tondeuse de Chiens

While these engravings satisfy my delight with the absurd, more seriously, they provide some insights into daily life in the 1820s. It’s not the United States, but it’s a helpful place to start, because despite the humour in these, there isn’t a layer of satire that has to be peeled off before we can begin to understand the image.

Full-on satires, like those of Hogarth, Rowlandson and Gilray, can be hard for us to interpret: we’re so far away, we no longer get the joke, so the joke is now on us if we take what is shown for exact truth. The prints in “Twenty-four subjects exhibiting the costume of Paris” have a gentler humour.  

I don’t think I’m ready to portray a 19th century dog groomer, but I am stunned that I never considered how long they’ve been around. How many other everyday occupations do we overlook when we think of the past?

 

Frivolous Friday: Fashionable Reading

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, History
Portrait of a seated young lady, watercolor on paper by Anna Maria von Phul, 1818. Missouri History Museum, 1953 158 0013
Ladies’ Monthly Museum, v. 5, plate 71. July 1, 1816. Casey Fashion Plate Collection, Los Angeles Public Library

Anna Maria von Phul’s delicate watercolors of Saint Louis in 1818 (example at left) remind us that cities in the hinterland of America have never been as far behind the times as coastal dwellers might imagine. As a former resident of the Great Fly Over, I know how defensive people can be about their relative sophistication, and that could be why our Young Lady here appears slightly defensive in her posture.

The young lady is certainly fashionable in that white gown, and literate, too, though we cannot see what she is reading; perhaps Maria Edgeworth.

It took some doing to find a similarly posed and dated fashion plate with a book, for fashion has always been more fantasy than reality.

Frivolous Friday: London fashionable Walking Dresses

On By kittycalashIn Clothing, Research
The Ladies Magazine, v/ 4, plate 53, Wednesday July 1, 1812. Casey Fashion Plate Collection, LA Public Library
The Ladies Magazine, v/ 4, plate 53, Wednesday July 1, 1812. Casey Fashion Plate Collection, LA Public Library

I don’t know which I like best: the green and white bonnet, the green silk Spencer, or the suspicious and candid glance of the woman on the left. Perhaps its the date: mere weeks before the purported milliner’s store this coming August. Have I already purchased green silk and white cotton organza? Of course I have. Never let a fashion plate or an event keep you from a new and slightly mad project to make something new.