(Under)wearable!

I have been making serious francaise progress! Or rather, I have made so much progress on everything I need to go under my francaise that I can actually start the dress itself. Exciting and terrifying!

As I've mentioned previously, I'm mixing period hand sewing techniques and machine sewing to accomplish a decently accurate ensemble in a short amount of time. I'm learning a lot, and I look forward to making more 18th century garments in the future!

First, my stays can now go onto my body and be worn, which is awesome because it means I can start making the things that need to be fit over my stays. I'm reasonably happy with the fit, and as this is my first foray into stay-making I will accept that as a win. This week I went to my friend's house so she could lace me in and help with fitting my dress lining. She also kindly took a bunch of pictures of my making ridiculous faces in my various layers, so that I could post. Pardon the grainy cell phone quality!

stays! I haven't fully cut my tabs yet, but otherwise these are in good shape (I'm also wearing the new 18th century chemise that you haven't seen yet)

Since my last stays post, I've set the lining into the stays and added eyelets. All that's left is to bind them, which I will start this weekend and continue as a handwork project whenever I'm not home and can't sew big things.

my biggest concession to modernity was to use grommets instead of hand-sewing eyelets. so much faster, which was a necessity here!

and from the back. these can probably be laced slightly tighter, but I'd just eaten my weight in mozzarella sticks so we went a little easy :)

I used The Dreamstress's excellent pannier tutorial for my pocket hoops. They were super easy and I quite like the shape! I ran out of twill tape, so these need a couple more ties (including a waistband--at the moment there's a temporary polka-dotted hairband in there that needs to come out...), but are otherwise done. I again used heavy-duty plastic zip ties for boning. I had them on hand, but also they are very lightweight which will help in packing for the flight.

I did say silly faces...

While I do really like the shape of these panniers, they are a little too practical for Versailles. So I made double under petticoats!

Both are constructed in the same manner, based on Katherine's tutorial. I was sneaky and used the selvage edge of the cotton for the bottom of each petticoat, so that I didn't have to hem anything. The white petticoat is a little narrower (about 55 inches across), while the rust-colored one is fuller.

I think I was explaining to my friend that there are pockets

This helps with the fluffiness of my silhouette in general, but is also because I plan to wear the colored petticoat as a visible/outer layer with a someday printed gown. I've had the fabric in my stash for years, but the hurdle of starting a new century kept me from every breaking it out. Now that I've jumped on board, this will actually get made!

my petticoat fabric with the stash printed cotton for a robe a l'anglaise (someday...)

So far, I'm pretty happy with everything. I've also cut and assembled my visible silk petticoat, but am waiting to pleat it onto a waistband until I attach the trim. I used a slightly different assembly method for that one, and I'm waiting with somewhat baited breath to try it on and see if that was a good idea or not.

I've also done a mockup of the dress lining, adjusted the pattern, and cut it out. Hopefully this weekend I can assemble the lining for real, and be ready to start the dress next week.

from the back

It feels like I'm both making tons of progress and none at all, ha.

Done:

shift
panniers
under petticoats
Still To Do:
stays
visible petticoat
francaise gown
paint shoes
hair