1795-1800 Blue Printed Cotton (Half/Open) Robe from Patterns of Fashion 1

      

     

Having found some amazingly perfect late 18th to early 19th century cotton print in my local fabric store I had to buy it...inspite of there being just under 2 metres of it. I thought quite a lot about what I could use of for and kept it in my increasingly overflowing fabric box for quite a while. Stumbling across the pattern for the half robe which was scaled up quite a long time ago, but left due to a lack of love for the look, I thought the fabric would be perfect for it, so fished it out and began work.

To complete the outfit I will need:

- the half robe
- regency underwear +
- an under gown - I have a plan for a spotted muslin one which will be perfect
- chemisette +
- shoes +
- hat & hair

+ already made

The Half-Robe

Take from the 1795-1800 Half-Robe from Janet Arnold's irreplacable and unique Patterns of Fashion, made with blue printed cotton and blue cotton lining.

29/05/07 All of the bodice part is sewn together. I had an awful lot of trouble with the sleeves. Strangly there was no indication on the pattern about where exactly the sleeves fitted into the arm hole, but I worked it out in my dummy eventually.

Lining is all sewn up too. Just have to put the skirt on and put the lining in (she says knowing that something HAS to go wrong). I'm planning of buying the trim etc tomorrow.

01/06/07 Well something has changed rather than gone wrong. Having played around with the skirt fabric a bit I decided to alter my designs. I decided that having one big block of this rather fussy and dark fabric in the middle of an outfit would look a little top heavy. This and the fact that, as I said before, I've never been a big half robe fan, made me opt for a full open robe. This will also enable me to wear the outfit out more.

I pleated the fabric in a design which mixed both the Open Robe and Half Robe pleating patterns in Patterns of Fashion, which resulted in a beautiful flowing train.

I've since hemmed everything up by hand and hand-sewn the topstitching around the neckline.

I also decided, despite having bought some little coloured glass buttons that using small Dorset Buttons would be much more appropriate, which I have been weaving this afternoon. So now its just the fastnings!

04/06/07

I finished the robe! It all went together fine in the end and I wore it yesterday at the Jane Austen event at Basildon yesterday. I particularly like the shape created at the front with the buttons and loops.

The rest of the pictures bellow show various views of the dress taken around the house and grounds at Basildon. The balcony at the front of the house (seen as Netherfield in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice), had a contemporary flag at the front, so I took the opportunity to get a picture next to that. There are also pictures in the stairwell at the front of the house and in the gardens at the back.

     

     

     

Underdress

My next project is to make the underdress for this, which will be made out of white spotted muslin and a self-drafted pattern.

04/06/07 I decided to make the underdress later, and just used my normal musline undergown yesterday.

01/06/07 I have decided to use a pattern from The Cut of Women's Clothes instead. Its a pattern I have likes for a long time and, having decided on an open robe which would show its underdress off more, I decided to go for it!

Accessories

- hat & hair

I just went with my 18th century Bergere in the end. I thought it went quite well in the end and I've seen some with robes in fashion plates.

29/05/07 Not really sure what to do about hat and hair yet - my normal late 18th century style would work for my hair, but do I need a cap of some kind? Despite my dislike of them... I'm not sure yet.

Pictures

click on the thumbnail to see the whole image