Yellow chintz francaise

Words do not express how much I adore this fabric! It was a lucky find at a heavy discount (although I think the original price was a bit ridiculous anyway since it's just cotton, no matter who makes it). The pattern is "Calimere" by Lee Jofa, and is a gorgeous approximation of 18th century 'Indienne' prints.

As soon as I saw it online, immediately a gorgeous sacque at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston came to mind:

(French, 1770s, Chinese yellow silk taffeta with polychrome painted vining floral motifs)

I used the JP Ryan sacque pattern, and I discovered that like my plaid pet from last post, I had issues with the sleeves. Apparently there is just too much fabric in the sleeve head for my shoulder build or something, because I have had to cut a lot of it off to avoid poofed sleeves Anne of Green Gables would be proud of. Everything else went together easy peasy though!

 Yeah I use ugly cotton bias tape for petticoat waistbands, what of it? Ignore the hilarious poof under the petti, you would laugh if you could see how my duct tape dummy is mounted on this thing that was a table lamp built onto a small wooden table/magazine rack. It makes an interesting support shape under skirts anyway.

My favorite part, of course.

 

Proud of my teeny weeny stitches that are slowly getting better!

 

 I just love how buttery and rich this looks. It didn't act too heavy for cotton at all.

 I have yet to get this gown trimmed the way I would like. The sleeve ruffles are done, and I managed a stomacher before the event, but I still have plans for long ruched trim on the robings.

You can see the left sleeve that has a little extra party going on over there, due to the extra sleeve head fabric...I think I got it tamed down correctly on the right. 

And now, have some pic-spam:

 

These were taken in the Saint Louis Art Museum on the day of a picnic. I love this one. "Yes, I'll have that writing desk to go, please."

 

 Untrimmed gown, but hey, there's a lot going on with that fabric print. I have since ripped the stomacher apart because I didn't like my last minute decoration on it.

 

#selfsatisfiedwoman

 

 Overlooking my palace grounds.

 (jk, 'Art Hill' in Forest Park has a stunning Versailles-like lake with bridges and steps.)

à la vôtre!

 

And this leads right into the next post, which will be insanely picture-heavy, so I didn't want to combine the two! Read on for the Saint Louis Georgians' spring picnic!