* This gown is completely hand sewn using techniques in The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking, which also contains patterns and instructions for the underpetticoat, pocket hoops, tucker, sleeve ruffles, bows, and at attifet (cap): * The lace is antique, though not 18th century. Similar silks perfect for 18th century can be found at Fancy Styles Fabric here: * The gown in this video was made using Simplicity 8578, with a few small adjustments that you can read more about here: The Robe a la Francaise continued to feature the beautiful 'Watteau' pleats at the back, but by the 1760s featured a waist seam and could be made with or without robings, and with or without a separate stomacher.
By the mid-18th century, panniers (or pocket hoops) had shrunk in size and width, but were still essential to creating the wide silhouette so popular and iconic in the Georgian period. Robe a la Francaise gowns were popular for almost all of the 18th century, in one form or another. Have you ever wondered what all goes into dressing in those big, fancy eighteenth-century dresses? What did Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour wear, and what were all the layers of her Rococo dress? In this video Lauren demonstrates getting dressed in a Robe a la Francaise, or sacque, gown, accurate to the period of c.
