Robe à la Française: The Gown Part 1

Here we are. The moment we've all been waiting for... or maybe just the moment I've been waiting for haha. Making the Robe à la Française Gown. As this is the biggest part of the overall project, I've split this into two posts.

As with most garment making, it all starts with pattern drafting. As with making the templates for the trim, I had to draw over the existing grids to make the squares an inch rather than a centimeter wide. The pieces were rather straightforward to draw to scale once I'd done that. 

After cutting the lining out of some white linen I bought on sale at a market, it was time for the first fitting. I got my mum to help me with this as it can be very tricky to do on yourself. Luckily for me, I seem to have a very similar size to the pattern pieces in the book so we didn't have to make many adjustments. Once we were both happy with the fit, I very carefully removed it and moved onto the next step.

I cut the front bodice piece and straps out of the silk and followed their instructions on attaching the front bodice piece to the lining. I did find it fiddly to sew down the very bottom front edge as it comes to a thin point. Now, here's a tip from what I learned about making the bodice, make sure that the back lining piece has the raw edges facing out from your back, not against your back. Otherwise, you are gonna be like me and have to resew the ties and back opening so that the raw edges are on the wrong side for when the fashion fabric covers it. 

Now for the part that I was the most excited for, the back pleats. I was rather nervous about this as I didn't quite understand what they wanted me to do for cutting out the panels. They call for you to cut four panels that are about 50cm wide. Referring to the diagram, I determined that they wanted the selvage edges to be at the neck and feet while the raw edge was now the length on the side. I cut out the pieces and then sewed them back together using a mantua maker's seam. (My silk thread also arrived at this time. It is a dream to sew with. It barely knots and if it does, it is easy to unknot.) I did follow their instructions but it felt rather odd to cut the pieces to just sew them back together again. I understand wanting to be historically accurate, but it honestly felt like a bit of a waste of time when you could just create false seams like they want you to do with the petticoat. Essentially, I did do it, but making this again, I wouldn't. I would create false seams as it saves time but you still get the look they want. 

Anyway, the pleats! This is definitely a tricky process that you really need to think about before attempting. I also just want to say that don't worry about cutting your shoulder area until you have stitched down the pleats. The diagram has the shoulder area already cut into shape, but if you do this before your pleats, it may not aline resulting in not enough or excess fabric. I made my pleats to the measurements that the book suggested. However, once all pinned down, it was far too wide for my back lining piece. I made the outer pleats deep to fit the back lining piece. Once I was happy, I sewed it all down, per the instructions. There is quite a bit of stitching done here to make sure the pleats are held properly in place. Make sure you do them all as they each serve a very important job in creating the perfect pleats.

I pinned it to my dress form and I just have to say that I absolutely love it!

Moving onto the skirt, I found the instructions very well detailed about what to do for the front panels, but very vague about what to do for the back panels. Initially, I cut out the panels as directed. I then was sewing it all together when I realised that I wasn't meant to cut the back panel into two pieces. So I sewed them together. After the fitting and almost at the end of attaching the skirt, I found find that I had been right in cutting two panels by mistake and needed to undo the sewing I'd done to sew it up. It just didn't feel very straightforward as there wasn't anything telling me exactly what the back panels had to look like. Not even a photo of the back panels in full. I almost even cut gores out of them which would have been a nightmare if I hadn't caught it before cutting. I also usually only read the steps on the page rather than the whole thing which probably contributing to the issue (I am trying to fix this bad habit). Even so, it was rather confusing.

But onto the positive, doing the front panels was much easier in comparison. The gores were very well explained and straightforward. Making the pocket openings was a bit fiddly but wasn't too tricky. 

Now, I'll be finishing up the gown in my next post which hopefully should be sometime next week. I'm currently working on the sleeves so I'm almost done. 

I'll talk to you soon. Have a swell day!

-Maysie