American Duchess: Dressmaking!
Many of you will already be familiar with “American Duchess” for their “historical footwear” (I’m in love with their new “Regency” shoe, called Dashwood), or for the American Duchess blog on “Historical Costuming“. Those of you who do your own hand-sewn costumes, or those who WANT to begin such a project, will be happy with a new book by Lauren Stowell (“American Duchess”) and Abby Cox.
Click the book’s cover to see the “preview” at Amazon.
Lauren and Abby have a well-thought-out series of “Georgian Gowns”. The Amazon preview gives the pages that cover “Historic stitches and how to sew them.” The photos that accompany this section show the detail clearly.
From the table of contents, other sections cover gowns:
- The English Gown, 1740s
- The Sacque Gown, 1760s-1770s
- The Italian Gown, 1780s-1790s
- The Round Gown, 1790s
Looking at the sub-categories, topics covered include items like “1740s Cap”; “1760s Undies – Side Hoops”; “1760s Ribbon Choker Necklace”; “1780s Poufs and Bows”; “Learning to Love Linen”; “1790s The ‘Frog’ Reticule”.
_I_ am more impressed with books that narrow the focus of research. Heaven forbid a brief book on an all-encompassing idea of “European Men and Women’s Fashions, 17th to 21st Centuries”.
So this book gets a BIG thumbs up for a nice number of pages (240 pages) and a tight focus that makes it a true “Guide to Eighteenth Century Dressmaking: How to Hand Sew Georgian Gowns and Wear Them With Style“.
Dare we hope that there will be further entries, making a series of Dressmaking Guides?!? Fingers crossed!!
Book release date is 21 November 2017! The video has “news” about MANY of their upcoming plans – watch it to find out more…. They also promise more videos as the weeks pass, counting down to November.
(note that Lauren & Abby show the cover, above; rather than the picture on Amazon’s website. Barnes & Noble have the correct cover. Be advised: the book images are “reversed” in the video.)
The Ladies and their “favorite gown to work on”
Alles Waltzer
With classical music sometimes hard to come by (or really boring stations playing the SAME s**t), I sometimes tune in to KDFC, in San Francisco. Graceful hosts; fine music; nice listening. Find them online at kdfc.com
And when you first “plug in” you can read through offerings like the blog post I want to mention today.
“BEWARE THE WALTZ”
Screamed the headline title.
You _know_ I had to take a look!
Even in the 1810s, my Smiths & Goslings were discussing this dance “craze”. So how wonderful to find someone delving into the history of the dance that we tend to think of as “Viennese” and from a period far later than the Regency.
“Beware the Waltz” (by Alan Chapman) of course speaks to the contact between the dancers, but also the “speed with which the dancers moved around the room” (who knew?!). A couple of useful links are embedded within the article, including the comments of LORD BYRON.
The site CAPERING & KICKERY has more on the subject of dancing, dances, and the depiction of both in drawings and illustrations.
New Matrimonial Ladder (c1853)
In search of images by artist Thomas Onwhyn (c1814-1886), also known as Samuel Weller (under which name he did “illegitimate” illustrations of works by Charles Dickens), I came across a wonderful blog post at BOOKTRYST. Onwhyn illustrated his own version of a book I fell in love with when first coming across The Matrimonial Ladder (1825).
Onwhyn’s version – called (surprise) A New Matrimonial Ladder – of the “tale” has charm, and you see above his deft handing of scenery (many of his drawings were published by Rock & Co., London), with the cliffs in the background. It is a hard choice – like choosing between the prettiness of Brock or the allure of Hugh Thomson when discussing illustrations of Jane Austen novels.
The drawings of “M.E.” (above) have much in common with such delightful books as Mrs. Hurst Dancing (drawings of Diana Sperling) or A Picture History of the Grenville Family of Rosedale House (drawings of Mary Yelloly).
I think you will enjoy BOTH (online) “books”.
- MORE Thomas Onwhyn:
- Onwhyn’s Pictures of London
- Boz and Weller at Christie’s auction house: Pickwick Papers (2008)
- “A Railway Adventure“, an 1841 “comic strip” at Princeton
- For sale: “Nothing to Wear” (1858), at ABE Books
- Thomas Onwhyn at The Online Books Page
- “The Love Match” (1845) is a story along the lines of the Matrimonial Ladder
- drawings by Onwhyn at National Trust venues
Marylebone: the Art of Painting
Watching a recent episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?,” featuring Charles Dance, there came an intriguing moment for _me_ when he chased after an ancestor who had a shop at No. 83 High Street, Marylebone.
It began when Charles Dance encountered a husband/wife pair of portraits. Knowing the husband was officially “an artist,” he simply had to track down some of his work (which he secretly hoped would lead back to the portraits, i.e., a portrait of his wife by the artist and a self-portrait).
His ancestor, Charles François FUTVOYE caused a LOT of comment. “Unusual name” was the gist of the consternation. When the following turned up in one of the London papers which _I_ have often consulted, MY ears perked up!
Charles Dance was related to a man who taught “Japanning” to the “Nobility and Gentry”. The above ad ran in 1829. Could any of my Smiths & Goslings visited his shop at No. 83 High-street??
For the older girls, married or marrying by 1829, some of them with young children, their desire for Japanning may have been lessening. And, like Charles Dance, I could well imagine that SUCH an unusual name (the man had emigrated from Spa, Belgium) would have caused me no end of consternation during transcription. So, even if he’s there, his name could be misspelled!
I did search, with no luck, Emma’s diaries from the 1820s; I’ll go back further – and also take a look through all the letters, to see if anything turns up. No. 83 High-street would have been a ten- to fifteen-minute walk from Portland Place. Mr. Futvoye also sold art materials. Anything is possible, therefore.
Today the premises is a lovely bookshop: Daunt Books for Travellers.
Recent fans will join Charles Dance’s newly-found kin in wanting to hear about Game of Thrones (his role: Tywin Lannister); I remember him most fondly for The Jewel in the Crown (his role: Guy Perron).
Two Teens in the Time of Austen 