Yes, that is the infamous chemise gown and would have been made of lightweight linen or cotton--supposed Marie Antoinette adopted the style worn by the Creoles in the hot and steamy Caribbean.? It is possible that, during the time, an even more sheer linen or cotton was used for the ruffles, although I had always thought the sleeve ruffle was a continuation of the sleeve made by drawing it up.? There is a pattern for an extant English chemise dress in "Cut of Women's Clothes."
? Ann Wass -----Original Message----- From: otsisto <otsi...@socket.net> To: Historical Costume <h-cost...@indra.com> Sent: Thu, Aug 13, 2009 4:40 am Subject: Re: [h-cost] Fabric suggestions - Marie Antoinette 1786 portrait You are looking at possibly an ecru silk chiffon lined with white linen or cotton. The shoulder region is not a different material from the sleeve, it is the two layers only flat. The edges of the ruffles seem to have either bia tape, ribbon or possibly embroidered edge. http://www.lostcoasthistpatterns.com/chdrbyrohofa.html http://www.jennylafleur.com/diary/georgian07/chemise07.jpg http://www.jennylafleur.com/diary/georgian07/chemise05.jpg http://www.jennylafleur.com/diary/georgian07/chemise03.jpg This one is in cotton http://www3.fitnyc.edu/museum/Arbitersofstyle/chemise.dresses.htm Someone made it http://wearing-history.com/images/chemisedress.jpg De -----Original Message----- Hello, My mad scramble to get myself ready for Costume College left me with a new goal, but I'm very uncertain about fabric. I want to make this gown: http://www.ladyreading.net/marieantoinette/big/marie14a.jpg I know that there are other copies of this image on the web, but this was the first one I found just now. What fabric would you use for this? It is certainly semi-sheer, more so than voile. Silk chiffon would be too soft, silk organza possibly too stiff? I just can't decide. Laurie T. Phoenix _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
