Colourful

For the sake of simplicity, I’ve pretty much decided to make one of the polonaise style jackets first, with a pierrot probably after that.  And slotted in somewhere will be the hooded Snowshill jacket – it started raining when I was walking to work the other day and the first thing I thought was: I wish I had the Snowshill jacket, so I could pull the hood up and stay warm and dry.  (Yes, I am afraid I have a long-standing jacket obsession – when I was still living with my Mum, she actually banned me from buying any more jackets as I had so many of the darn things.  So.  Sorry, Mum - I will soon possess an entire wardrobe of early modern jackets!  But they are pretty.)

I haven’t decided which of the two polonaise-style jackets I’m going for (I have a feeling a friend of mine might be making one of them, but I’m not sure and I want to check rather than seeming like a big copying douche!), but I have been looking for some colour inspirations.

The jacket without a collar is from the 1770s and the collared one is 1780s, so I’ve been looking at these two decades for pretty colour combinations.  And there are plenty of them – oh, 18th century, how do I love thee?!

Turquoise, deep raspberry pink and off white.

Yummy purple, via Reliving a Legacy blog

Ooh - purple and blue goodness!

Check out that mauve polonaise with the cobalt turquoise quilted petti - lush!

Cor - that colour is making my mouth water!

As for the eventual pierrot, in my mind, it’s already blue – either like the lady in the Pehr Hillestrom painting (below), or a darker blue with gold trim – so I want to go for something different in my polonaise-style jacket.

'Cause everyone loves a self-stripe petticoat! Swoon!

Considerably more sober will be the graphite grey hooded jacket (if I can find the right shade of wool), but the little splash will come from a bright lining – I’m considering a yellow, since I like the colour but can’t wear it as it makes me look jaundiced!

I’m afraid I’ve had a lot of these pictures for ages and I’ve lost the info on where they’re from – so sorry, no references.

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Pierrots and Polonaises and Hoods, Oh My!

That pesky (and lovely) Idzit has gone and made the lovely hooded jacket in Patterns of Fashion that I’ve been lusting after since I first saw the pattern/sketches – her version is stunning, you should really go and see it.

Snowshill Hooded Jacket from Patterns of Fashion Vol 1

Looking at the photos of her creation and catching up on all the fabulous costuming blogs I read has rekindled my inspiration, which has been sorely lacking lately.  So, in the next week or so I plan to have my stays finally finished (I seem to get wimpy when it comes to cutting the real fabric, so these have been on hold) and I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to make afterwards.

My criteria are as follows:

• Not too expensive – something that can be made up with cotton and that doesn’t require approximately 3 miles of fabric.
• Not too difficult – because of my lack of stitching experience.
• Something that has the potential to be modern wear – as I have no idea when I would have an opportunity to wear an 18th c. outfit and to justify the money, I want it to be something I could get wear out of.
• I’ve gotta love it.  No explaination needed!

So, a jacket seemed the best option.  I’ve spent today and yesterday going through the patterns I have access to from books and have narrowed it down to these …

Pierrot from the Cut of Women's Clothes

I love pierrot jackets, and to make a complete ensemble, I’d just have to add a froofy petticoat, which shouldn’t be a massive challenge.  So in theory a pierrot would be perfect … the only down side is that this particular pattern looks a bit difficult with all those pleats on the bodice and I’d want to change the front slightly (to not have the tabs with buttons), so I’d have to think of something different to do there.  I do love the shape though – it’s just the difficulty that’s putting me off …

Which made me think – perhaps I could make this Anglaise into a pierrot by leaving out the skirts:

Anglaise from the Cut of Women's Clothes

It has a pierrot shape and pleats to make that lovely back, but it doesn’t have as many pleats as the above pierrot.  It also has that nice zone-type front.  I rather like the piece and looking at the pattern, I don’t think it’d take much to convert from gown to jacket.

Or, I could go for even simpler in terms of pattern pieces and pleats:

Polonaise style jacket from the Cut of Women's Clothes

I think this is a really pretty little piece and would work well as a jacket for modern-wear.  I love that collar!  And the fastening!  And those little cuffs!  It has fewer pattern pieces and pleats and generally looks like a much simpler garment to construct …

And this is along similar lines:

Polonaise jacket from the Cut of Women's Clothes

Though it lacks the cute collar and fastening, it does has its own charm.

And, lastly, the hooded jacket from Patterns of Fashion, as shown at the top, which I would make up in wool rather than quilted fabric.  I love this jacket so much, and I’m generally a big fan of hoods – I can’t be bothered with umbrellas when it’s wet, so hoods and hats keep my curls dry and frizz-free!

Any thoughts would be most welcome, especially if anyone’s made any of these or knows of other pierrot patterns.

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Fabric Desire – Silk Stripe (Polonaisey goodness)

I have found what looks like the perfect silk for the Marie Antoinette stripe polonaise:

The site is wonderful and has some other lovely shades… I’ll be really disappointed if they don’t have it when I come to actually make the polonaise!

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