Panniers - finished

I finally got around to the finishing touches on these and now they are done.  Functionally speaking they are great - sturdy and supportive but aesthetically they are a bit of an ugly duckling.  I think they could be a lot prettier if I made them out of some nicer fabric and maybe even trimmed it with ruffles.

Panniers from the front.

Panniers from the back.

The hem is finished with bias binding and the waistband fastens with a hook and eye on the inside and ribbons for extra security on the outside.

Here you can see the inside tapes used for controlling the springyness of the panniers.  There a two sets positioned either side to sit against the body whilst they are worn thus creating tension against the wearers legs.  There is also another set in each of the domes to keep them stable.

Moderately sized panniers in progress.........

I came to realise that the panniers I made previously were ultimately just too big to work with and require gargantuan amounts of fabric - although I do still love them and hope to do something with them in the future.  These panniers are based on the idea of pocket hoops but with fabric connecting them across the front and back for extra stability.  I'm not too keen on the instability of pocket hoops that just sit on the hips with nothing to control them.

Each hip has three horizontal channels of boning plus one vertical channel which goes almost right up to the waist edge creating an arch strong enough to support a gown.  My boning of choice is a plastic called 'Triple-flex', it's so lightweight which is perfect for crinolines and bustles etc, although not if you're looking to be historically accurate.




















All that remains is to tidy up the insides, apply a waistband and finish the hem!

18th Century petticoat update and the beginning of a new dress

I started this petticoat a while ago but then things got too busy to do any further work on it. I've finally dug the poor thing out of the bag it was languishing in and given it some much needed attention. This is what the petticoat looks like so far - unfortunately it's rather large and difficult to get a photo of it all in one shot.



This is the back - you can see where it fastens at the waist with ribbons.



The front view - which is should hopefully hang smoothly when I'm finished with it. The outward length over the panniers is adustable by pull cords so it could in theory fit over a set of smaller panniers. All that remains is to sew in the pleated side panels and finish the hem.

I have also started cutting a pattern for a new dress, which I have for now nicknamed the "fairytale chiffon dress". This is the final draft of the bodice - it's princess seamed and will be constructed from several layers.

18th Century petticoat

Now that the panniers are done I'm starting to think about the petticoat to go over it and how it might be trimmed and decorated. After much trawling through images and weighing up options this scrumptious robe a'la francaise is my favourite.



I think the proportions of this gown are lovely. I love how striking the box pleated trim is on the gown itself, I wonder if each one is padded slightly to give them a little more oomph!

The flounce that decorates the front of a petticoat is called a furbelow and for reasons of expense only covers the part of the petticoat that is visible. Women would often wear the same dress to different occasions but change the trims to create a slightly different look.

My panniers are finished!!

Yippee! They are finally done. Goodness knows where I'm going to store them, they span well over a metre at hip level. I dragged Claudia outside to get better photos and the wind kept catching her and rotating her like a windmill!



There are supposed to be tapes attached to the inside and tied off to enable the adjustment and control of the 'springyness'. I have played around, pinning tapes to the insides to see how this might work but I have decided to wait and see how the panniers behave with a petticoat over them before I sew any tapes in.



Its boned with continuous spring steel, the boning channels are simply sewn down bias tape. I have made it collapsable, the vertical steel boning is held in by tied off ribbons at each of the four corners but this can be undone and the boning removed. That said, it's still pretty bulky when collapsed. The waist is draw-string and ties on either side for easier adjustment.

Panniers 1755

I have started to make a set of panniers. I cut my pattern for this with guidance from 'The Evolution of Fashion' by Margot Hamilton Hill and Peter Bucknell. They are quite hard to take a photo of because they are so huge, this is just the front! The curved dip at the top in the middle will be gathered to the waist with ties. It's hemmed and all the raw edges are finished. I am currently at the stage of sewing the tapes in place which will form the channels for the boning.