Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Forage into the 18th Century

This is my first post in a while, to catch you up, I have been working on an 1740 (ish) a la Français gown for an upcoming National Gallery of Canada exhibit on Marie Antoinette's portrait artist  Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun. I was taking a course with Outlandish Canada (the Outlander fan group) and met some great ladies, and we decided to show off our creations at the exhibit.

Woman's Dress and Petticoat (Robe à la française) | LACMA Collections
I have been following more 18th century blogs lately as I am working on my gown. I have been following this excellent blog for just a short time and today's post really hit me. I have been keeping track of how many hours I have been putting into this gown (I have not really done that for any of my SCA clothes) and she talks about the cost of our historical clothes.

This gown (yet to be named) has a lot of hand sewing in it. More than I have ever done before, and I am not exclusively hand sewing, so it could be so much more. I don't think I am there yet in skill or in available time, but I have come to enjoy the hand-sewing more than I thought I ever would. It has given me time to spend with the Husband watching TV. Where I would usually be stuck in the basement by my machine alone. I am still doing a lot of that, but a little less than usual.

I am excited for this gown to be complete and on display. I have found passion in sewing again, and have many new adventures queuing up for the next year.

Also, I challenge my friends who do historical costumes/clothing - can you estimate what your most expensive outfit with and without labour? Post it here and be proud of the work you all do to look amazing at events!

https://kittycalash.com/2016/05/25/whats-it-worth-wednesday/