Wearables A Rococo Robe a la Francaise for Frederica

I've been itching for years to make a robe a la Francaise, one of the most iconic gowns of the 1700s. For those unfamiliar with the term, I'm referring to this kind of outfit:



Frederica, my Volks F-06, prefers looking mature and formal, making her an ideal model. After years of dithering, collecting fabric, and rereading, I'm ready to take the plunge. In my overambition, I will make not just the gown and required underpinnings, but all the accessories needed for Frederica to look her best. This will include wigs and shoes.

Ensemble checklist:
Stays- Complete
First underpetticoat- Complete
Second underpetticoat- Complete
Pocket hoops- Complete
Practice petticoat- Complete
Practice stomacher- Complete
Practice robe- In progress
Engagents
Stockings
Mules
Apron
Caps- Complete
Wig- Complete

 

Frederica isn't busty, and I might be able to get away without making her stays to achieve a flat fronted look. However, she has some volume in front, and stays might help giver her a smooth silhouette. I found and adapted the stays found here, cut out the stays pieces from a pair of old jeans, and started sewing.



I hand sewed these stays with orange thread, as I had that on hand, and I wanted some contrast. Rather than insert boning, I hand quilted many many faux boning channels. In my experience, this is plenty to stiffen MSD sized corsetry. This process took weeks, but I enjoy minute work like this.

 

I have! I'll show the fabric in a later post.

Layers wise, I have some strategies for reducing waist bulk, and so far so good. The panniers also do a good job so far of making the waist look small.

Thank you both for your interest.

 

After sewing the channels, I edged the stays with buttonhole stitch in pink embroidery floss. Next came lacing. I figured between seam allowances and all the quilting, the stays would be a snug fit on Frederica. I was wrong.



It was so loose I switched to hooks and eyes to draw in the fabric for a closer fit. If you look closely, you can also see where I started pinning tucks to make the stays less baggy.

More tucks at the upper bust.


The white and purple skirt is the first underpetticoat. Since this won't be visible in the final project, and it has somewhat long seams, I machine sewed most of it, when whipstitched the top to fabric tape. The tape serves as both closure and a less bulky waistband.





The back of the saddle stand gives somewhat of a bustle effect. This disappears after another petticoat or two.

 

Thank you both. I'm also excited to see how this turns out.

 

I do not like using sewing machines for short seams. Hence when I made pocket hoops, it was entirely handsewn. Since it'll be covered in petticoats, I didn't bother to make the pocket hoops look pretty. It's cobbled together with scrap muslin, ribbons from the stash, and zip ties.



I tie waistbands closer to Frederica's hips to keep her waist from being too bulky. Even with pocket hoops to make her waist look smaller, there are places I want to minimize bulkiness.

That said, I wasn't ready to cut into good fabrics to start on the outer layers. I made another underpetticoat, this time designed to go over hoops. This way I get to work out hiccups without putting too many pinholes in taffeta. Said underpetticoat used to be a sheet, before it became an 1780s underpetti for my first SD:



I don't have a photo of the full SD sized petti on hand. I picked it apart and cut it down for Frederica. I'm glad I made this test petticoat, as it took me a few tries to level the hem properly. Knife pleating all that fabric into and MSD waistband was also a headache. Frederica will live with generous overlaps on the sides of her skirts.

Front view


Back view, with the saddle stand bustle now vanished


Detail of the pintucks I made when I was creating the SD sized version. Extra fluff!

 

It wasn't too bad scaling this down. The big changes were doing two lines of boning instead of three, and cutting a T for the pocket slits instead of a line. It was easier to double fold hem that way, though I buttonhole stitched the crossbar I cut in.

 

With so much underwear squared away, I moved onto the visible parts of the outfit. Here's the fabric I've chosen:



The brown satin and the red/blue taffeta will be for the practice outfit. A friend gifted me an old brown dress to take apart and use as i please. The red/blue taffeta I like very slightly less than the other swatches. I will use these fabrics to get more experience in making this style before moving onto the look I have in mind.

Onto the outer petticoat!



I don't know if I'm overly meticulous, but making and applying trims were more tedious than I'd like. I think I gathered the trims too densely, as they don't look right to me. I ended up cutting a longer piece of scalloped trim to replace the piece you see here, as this looked too skimpy. I also redid my trim plan for this petticoat, changing around the scalloped and straight rows.

Also, lots of flyaway threads. The pinked swatches don't fray as much as the trim, but I also handle the trim much more intensely than I do the swatches.

Finished petticoat:







Detail of the pocket slit layers.

 

I'm looking forward to the orange and blue myself. I've also had way too many mishaps over the years from going too fast into a project, skipping mockups, etc. In theory, I should have enough wisdom and patience to try a wearable mockup this time.

 

I used linen scraps from a human sized project for Frederica's bodice lining. I lined up the pattern pieces very carefully, making sure everything was on grain, while leaving as little waste as possible.

So far so good...


This doesn't look right


Argh! The side fronts don't fit right.


At first I thought I needed to enlarge the side fronts. Then I realized I accidentally cut them on the straight rather than on the stretchy bias.

I recut the side fronts on the bias, leading to a much better fit. I sewed the lining in place, cut out the fashion fabric for the fronts, mounted that onto the front lining, and cut the back lining and installed lacing. And forgot to photograph any of it.

 

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

I want to make a wig with a period hairstyle to go with this outfit. I thought everything was going well as I crocheted the wig cap, and sewed on the wefts. Here is it prior to dyeing:


And after dyeing and overdyeing:


The original box of hair dye had a coppery red similar to Frederica's usual wig, but the end result was lighter and less saturated than the box advertised. Attempts at overdyeing either didn't work, or left behind residue, requiring me to wash it out.

If you look closely, you can see I've curled the front over where her forehead would be. In back, I made three braids I planned to sew into an updo:



Unfortunately, not only are the fluffy front pieces more late 1700s than I was looking for, the wig cap too big. Even after I tried taking it in, the wig cap wants to eat Frederica's head.

 

Wig attempt #2 involved buying a wig that didn't eat Frederica's head, and trying to style it. As said wig kept popping off her head, I used this arrangement:



I put the wig on a yarn ball, and skewered with wig/ball onto a tailor's roll using a pair of hatpins. After a few tries, I got a pretty hairdo.







The style itself turned out well, but there's a reason Frederica isn't modeling. The wig barely fit on her in its loose state. Now that it was up and braided, it only fit my smaller headed dolls. %$^*(^

 

This is my third wig, and third attempt at making a period hairstyle. This time, I used a lace front wig I bought from Denver Doll. It's not the most secure on Frederica's head, but it's more stable than the last one. I refused to take chances, so I kept the wig on her head when it came to pulling back her hair and arranging the braids. I also used ample amounts of wig spray and wax.

Here are the beribboned rope braids. As wefts and cap showed on the sides when I pulled the hair up, I used some strands to wrap around the sides of the wig cap and become a three strand braid at the center bottom. I looped it up prior to securing the ropes.





Rather than pinning, Frederica's hair is sewn into place. I find it much more secure, and it's a headache finding doll scale hairpins that are utilitarian rather than decorative.







It's not perfect, but I'm satisfied enough to move back onto sewing.

 

Now, to the most dramatic part of the gown, the back. I cut out four out of eight panels of the satin, along the bottom hem. You can tell this is from a princess cut dress:


While I want a wide, dramatic sweep, I also want to be able to pleat the top without the result being an inch thick. I removed one of the narrower center panels.


Then came much pleating and repleating. Since every panel is a trapezoid, I'm sure the pleats have a wonky grain and hang funny. I eventually found a compromise for pleats, sitched down the top, and marked where to cut away parts for the side back skirt. Here's the gown and the manual I'm using:

 

Once more, I forgot to photograph some details, like sewing the side back bodice in place, or attaching front skirts to the back. However, I did remember to photograph a more exciting part, the second fitting.

Here's a shot of the back lacing.


A primmer view of the back. Behold the dramatic sweep!


Pins to secure the bodice, pins for pleating the side skirts, and pins for marking the bodice dip:


The center front skirts need to be smooth, to better showcase the trim that'll appear later.


I'm not sure if it was an issue of scale or something else, but it wasn't easy pleating so much fabric into very little space, while maintaining smooth fronts. I only photographed Frederica's first skirt fitting here, but it took three before I was satisfied with the pleats.

More dramatic sweeps.

 

Thank you all for following my work. I'm also glad my journal is useful.

 

Work on the gown continues, though completion will be a while yet. In the meantime, here are some quick creations:

A half moon cap trimmed with lace. Rather than try to hem curves that tight, I cast over them with a buttonhole stitch. The straight line at the bottom is hand hemmed, and includes a drawstring.


I think the lappets are adorable. They remind me of rabbit ears.


The second cap I made is triangular. Even though the base and trims are entirely hand sewn, I finished this within a week.


It's barely visible from the front.

 

More quick-ish gratification projects, stomachers! These fill in the center front of the gown, and serve as more vehicles for trim.

From left to right is the lining, interlining, and fashion fabric. I padstitched the linen and denim together, then folded the taffeta over the edges and hemmed in place.



I have scalloped taffeta strips leftover from the petticoat. I ruffled some to trim the stomacher. Someone insisted on photobombing.


Here's another stomacher, but with satin and lace. It has the same lining and interlining of the first.

 

It's fun looking at the historical clothing posts, isn't it?

Thanks! They were satisfying to make.

 

@Teddy, it took some willpower not to spend a whole month just making stomachers. Maybe later.

 

With the bodice and skirts in order, all that's left are... THE SLEEVES! *cue dramatic lightning*

Sleeves are also known as "sleevils" in various sewing communities. 18th century gown sleeves have a very different installation process than what I'm used to. I was prepared for an uphill battle.

First though, here's a magic trick. Cut out sleeves and lining, then pin sleeve and lining into a connected double tube like so:


After sewing along the pinned line, flip the sleeve inside out so all four raw edges are gone. Magic!


I forgot to photograph hemming the sleeve, or anything related to the sleeve flounce. None of these were hard, but I had to go slow since I'm not used to pinning and sewing narrow tubes. Things got trickier when it came to setting in the sleeves. I followed the instructions here. I imagine it's much easier to evenly pin a human sized amscythe. I had to do a lot of fiddling and repinning to get even seam allowances. Even then I had raw edges hanging out on the inside and outside of the gown. Thankfully, whipstitching more of the sleeve to the bodice helped.


Sewing the top half of the sleeve was more straightforward. Pin strap lining seam allowance down, baste, pin and pleat sleeve head to strap lining, baste, pin fashion fabric strap, sew it all down.


I've also hemmed the skirts and decorated the gown. It is technically finished, but I'm not calling this complete until I finish a couple of accessories.

 

If all goes well, I should have the outfit complete within two weeks. I'm trying to get everything done in time for a meetup. I plan to have many photos of Frederica in her full attire.

 

A francaise without engagents, or fluffy sleeve ruffles, doens't look right. Due to scale and time constraints, I didn't hem or overcast the ruffles. Instead, I machine zigzagged over the raw curves. Even though I stay stitched in advance, the flimsy ramie got a wonky grain from the experience. I pushed on, pinning on lace, then stacking the short ruffles over the big ones. Here's an in progress image:



A detail shot:



After stacking the ruffles, I whip gathered them to a small length of tape, then sewed the tape into cuffs. I didn't photograph this part.

 

Eek. I hope they give you minimal trouble in the wash.

 

One last teaser before the debut.

Making the tucker was easy. Cut lace and tape to the same length, hem ends, and sew lace to tape. In th photo the tucker is pinned in place and ready for basting.

 

Frederica wore the completed ensemble on Saturday at the doll meet. Here are a few pictures:













As a reminder, the brown satin francaise is a prototype. I'll work on the "main" outfit next year, though I'm taking a break for now.

 

Thank you

I'm happy how the cuffs came out, and that they survived a mishap where they got a little squished when dressing Frederica. Nothing wrinkled, thankfully.

A major perk of sewing for BJDs is tiny stitching goes faster. I don't think I'd be nearly as patient handsewing all of this at human scale. Then again, "sewing for BJDs is faster" then translates into me going into minute detail, so I guess it balances out.