Elsa mantua inspiration -3

I’m separating each inspiration source, so here is the Welsh Museum garment with a bit more information. COLLECTION AREA Social & Cultural HistoryITEM NUMBER 23.189.1MATERIAL damask (silk) metal thread silver parchment flax (spun and twisted) silk (spun and twisted) https://museum.wales/collections/online/object/e2ce99c3-462b-3da3-af0a-953e4f94008d/Dress/footer/ I don’t know if it’s possible to convey how much I love this gown. A…

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Elsa mantua inspiration -1

My progress has gotten to the “piece very chunky silver lace into an invisible join” stage of my own Mantua, so to let my mind work in the background on that I’m using the front of my mind to look at my inspiration garments. So the first is the one that started it all. Many…

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Elsa Mantua foundations

I have all my stay pieces. They are a beautiful satin faced linen, a very close weave so still will be a bit warm. I need to cut some straps, but all the channels are stitched and it is fully boned. Meaning no gap between bones. The majority of stays are like this. But the…

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Elsa inspired mantua

Finally, I’ve started to get back to projects. I really need something with no rules, and makes use of two very pretty but modern fabrics, a shot blue taffeta and a heavy fully sequined lace. It was very hard to decide between my two designs. My few rules are it does stick to historic cut,…

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easy mantua cutting

(updated on my research site: https://www.thefrockchick.com/the-baroque-frock/easy-mantua-cutting/ ) I did manage to cut my fabric panels for my mantua, it really is pretty darm easy as it is all on the grain rectangles. It is pretty much exactly what I expect from a pre-1920s measure, cut, fit process. It looks a bit different but ultimately it’s…

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manteau-or not (inc patterns)

(Update June 2024: I have written and visual evidence that neccesitates reworking all these images and text. The update will be on my research site soon.) The mantua as often described is a garment with a very unique construction. It puts all the side skirt shaping on a single wedge of fabric, made of several…

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18th century musings

Well this has been a tough decision and I’m still not sure. First is my 100% dino shot taffeta. It’s a really heavy weight incredibly crisp and is such a beautiful shade I can forgive the content. But I usually have a very distinct line between historic and historic inspired. Second is my black silk….

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1720 Tailor's manual

I have posted this before but wanted to make sure that this was really put out there so to speak Geometria y trazas By Juan Albayzeta, 1720. So a lot of this is religious apparel, but oh what do we see? f75-78? Ropa de levantar para muger Looks like a… View Post

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