I have had some lovely silk brocade in my stash for several years and it was time to use it instead of letting it languish. During the initial Covid shutdown my retail job became non existent so I used some free time to make things I normally would put off because, lazy.
Mill Farm casaque is a pattern I have had for awhile. My plan was to camp during the Colonial Festival 2020 so I knew I would need 18th century "casual" wear. I had a well loved IKEA comforter cover I knew would work, Since the fabric wasn't expensive if the casaque didn't work out I would not shed tears over wasted $$$ fabric. Even though the camping never happened since the friend I was borrowing the tent from was unable to make the festival (due to Covid the festival became just an encampment) so I wasn't able to use my casaque, hopefully I will be able to wear it in 2021 or 2022!
Making the casaque went pretty smoothly. The directions are.....scant at times so I just followed along as best as I could. One thing I found interesting about this pattern is the shoulder pleats are pressed towards the front. As I was perusing through some fashion books with (the fancy books with extant gown diagrams n shit) it seems like both casques and the volante have their pleats pressed towards the shoulder. For the IKEA casaque I made it just as the pattern instructed. I knew for the I would want to press the pleats towards the shoulder. To be honest it just looks better that way. Well, onwards to the silk volante.....
Contemplating the silk Beast:
I'm just going to start out by saying this was truly an organic project. Other than having a base pattern to work off of I had to decide how I wanted this to fit. Also in a perfect world I would have a grand pannier to wear under it but hell no I'm not making one of those. Instead I made a very petite pair of panniers that fit the cut of the gown very well. I think had I used a grand pannier I would have had to make changes to the sides and needed to add much more fabric.
So here is what I decided I wanted:
1. lengthen gown to floor level with a slight train in back.
2. add a fitted inner bodice lining like sacque back gowns have.
3. have the pleats pressed towards shoulder.
4. try not to cry if this whole thing goes sideways.
Starting:
I traced off the casaque pattern and lengthened it. The original Mill Farm pattern has a separate front facing but I decided to make the facing part of the main gown pattern piece. One less seam, baby!
Once the fabric was cut out I started the easy part, making the back pleats. That is always fun to see those beautiful pleats come together. I stitched the back pleats down by hand (I know!!! The real Mimi must have been kidnapped by aliens). Then I stitched the side seams and figured it was time to make the inner bodice lining. The lining would be mostly free floating and it's purpose is to help hold the outer gown in place.
Lining:
I used my JP Ryan Sacque back gown lining pattern for my jumping off point. I traced it off and then made some neckline and armhole alterations to the back piece using the casaque pattern as a guide. Hey! I said this was organic and I have never done anything like this before. Once I felt the back lining piece was good to go I started on the fronts. I sort of did the same thing for the fronts I did for the back. I stitched the lining shoulder and side seams, ya know like ya do. I had made sure the shoulder was long enough but...yeah... I didn't check the front bodice lining length. I only realized the damn thing barely covered my boobs after I basted it in to the gown and tried it on. Bear in mind at this point in the game I still hadn't figured out the whole press front pleats towards shoulder and still be able to put in the sleeves without running into the pleats.
Now, because I'm lazy there was no way I was going to make a whole new fronts for the lining just because they were too short, so I pieced them (AKA adding the extra fabric where I needed it). Once the front lining was the correct length I stitched it just round the back of the neck and around the arm openings of the gown. The only points in the gown where the lining would be 100% stitched in would be the back of neck and armholes. The fronts would just be free floating and pinned together when worn. At this point all shoulder seams are still open on both the lining and gown because I still don't know what the hell I'm doing. Oh and just because it's funny and I'm a spaz, I accidentally stitched in the lining with the wrong side facing out 😐😑😐 *sigh*. Hell no I wasn't about to rip it out to fix that issue. It's in like that so it stays like that, because sometimes a girl just wants to watch the world burn....
Sleeves and Shoulders:
Once I had the lining stitched in I machine basted the shoulder seams and tried it on. The fit was good and the lining really helped hold everything in place. On to the sleeves!
I decided to jump into the Pinterest vortex and looks at 18th century paintings of ladies in volante gowns. It seems like they all have beautiful fluffy gauzy chemises worn under their gowns with the lace trimmed sleeves hanging below the gown cuffs. I didn't really want to make a fluffy chemise so I made fake chemise sleeves that I tacked inside the gown sleeves. I trimmed the gown cuff with pretty silk ribbon and they were ready to go. My advice on sleeves, trim them before you set them into the gown. It's so much easier that way. Also I'm a big fan of hand basting in the entire sleeve before making it permanent.
Attaching the sleeves was a challenge so I did the only think that made sense. I stitched the shoulder from the arm opening going in about .75 of an inch. I kept the pleats free until I had attached the sleeve. Because this was pretty awkward I stitched in the top part of the sleeve by hand and the underarm area was done by machine. After the sleeves were set I laid the pleats how I wanted them and folded under the seam allowance. Once done, I top stitched and whip stitched the rest of the shoulder down 😅. It looks a little coarse but at least my fabric has a busy pattern so the stitches aren't super noticeable.
The rest of the gown was easy, if not cumbersome to finish. It's just moving around a buttload of fabric. I whip stitched the fronts together and added self fabric covered buttons. I did add a hem facing of plain white muslin. The entire hem was stitched by hand (shoot me now).....
I made the stomacher from some pretty yellow silk taffeta (Dandelion from Silk Baron). I trimmed with lace and matching buttons. When it's worn I just pin it in place to my stays and then pin the gown to it. I always enjoy the potential of stabbing myself with garment pins because I like living on the edge.
Pictures!
