Archives for March 2018

 

After the whites and pale pink of the dresses in the previous two months of Ackermann’s Fashion Plates, it feels like a breath of fresh air—holiday air—to gaze on the crimson red slip and silver-striped French gauze evening gown of December’s plate 33. Trimmed with white flowers and green leaves, the gown conveys a decidedly festive air. The three-quarter length frock is “drawn up in the Eastern style” on the bottom, the slit “confined by a cluster of flowers” that matches those adorning the hem. The white satin trim, edged with crimson ribbon, trims the hems of both gown and slip, as well as the bodice and sleeves. And to top it all off, the evening gown features a negligé, this one not an item of intimate apparel, but rather a necklace of irregularly set beads or pearls.

I can’t remember seeing evening gloves trimmed with a quilling of tull before, as are the ones in this plate.

 

Plate 34’s Walking Dress also features a splash of color, this time the dark blue of a twilled sarsnet pelisse. Look at those large ribbon bows adorning the front opening of the pelisse! And I’m amazed by the border of leaves decorating the hem; it is difficult to tell from the picture, but the description suggests that they might be appliquéd onto the pelisse itself, rather than simply embroidered (“a border or leaves formed of the same sarsnet, edged with white satin”). The slashed sleeves at shoulders and wrists, as well as the elaborate collar (not described in the copy), must have added hours and hours of work for whichever seamstress was assigned the task of crafting this gown. Not to mention the way the hem is drawn up into small festoons, almost like a curtain…

 

Mrs. Bean, the creator of this ensemble, was, according to her trade card, dressmaker to both the Duchess of Kent and to Princess Charlotte. It must have been a mark of distinction to rate a “special appointment” with “the ever-varying and approved taste of Mrs. Bean.”

 

December 1815’s needlework patterns are also quite unusual: six circles, each with its own design. They remind me of the hex signs you see adorning the barns in Pennsylvania Dutch country. What do you imagine they were intended to adorn? Seat backs? Screen covers? Pillows?

 

 

As in last month’s fashion plates, Ackermann’s November plates feature a morning gown and a walking dress (although this month labeled with the fancier title “Promenade Dress”), and a lady with a book in hand. I wonder if after the tumultuous summer and fall in the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, ladies were spending more time at home or on quiet walks than they were socializing?

Plate 27, the morning dress, features a petticoat topped by an unusual cross-bodice jacket, rounded at the bottom front and collar. The high waisted look of the period is achieved by the addition of a ribbon or belt cinched or tied right below the bosom. Both the petticoat and the jacket are trimmed with a broad border of cross-hatched “French work,” which also appears at the wrist of each sleeve. I’d like to try to sew a version of that little jacket some day…

 

The description of plate 28, the Promenade Dress, says it is made of “the moreno blue striped satin,” something the painter of this plate doesn’t seem to have heeded; the dress appears white, or perhaps a pale pink, and I don’t see anything in the way of stripes. At least the illustrator got the blue of the satin ribbon on the hat right!

Have you ever heard the word “gypsy” as a verb? The copy here says  the bonnet is “composed of orange-coloured satin, gipsied with a handkerchief of the same.” Any guesses as to what that might mean?

 

 

Although it is termed “Patterns for Needle-Work” in the issue’s Table of Contents, the actual pattern page appears to be titled “Muslin Patterns.” Unlike patterns in earlier issues, which typically featured long, narrow patterns for the edge of a gown, this page features three sets of tiny repeating motifs, along with two short leaf and vine patterns. To embroider on a handkerchief, perhaps, instead of a gown?