Zone Gown from 1792

Although I've never had an excuse to make 18th c. clothing in the past, this era is probably my favorite period from all of fashion history. So when our local costumers' guild finally decided to host an 18th c. event, it was a dream come true for me! I agonized over what to make for months, but I finally stumbled across some blue silk taffeta, and I decided that it must be fate pointing me in the right direction. I had fallen in love with this fashion plate from the 18th c. fashion magazine, "Journal des Luxus und der Moden", and nothing is more fabulous than a zone gown done up in stripes! I've always loved transitional styles of dress too, and the 1790's have a lot of quirky features that you don't see costumers making quite as often. I thought the lace, sash, round waistline, and softly gathered batiste petticoat gave it a very soft and romantic look. But my favorite part of this outfit is my walking stick, huge hedgehog wig, and tall straw hat. As they say, it's all about the accessories!

I had tons of fun making and wearing this costume, and I think it might be my favorite outfit that I've ever made. You can find some more notes on construction below the photos, and more pictures from the costumers' guild event are on my flickr page.

Clothing construction

The construction of my overgown was based on the zone-front 1790's anglaise in The Cut of Women's Clothes: 1600-1930 by Norah Waugh. I had a hard time finding patterns for 18th c. dresses with long sleeves, so I was extremely grateful to find a suitable pattern diagram here. The dress made up beautifully, and I didn't have any problems with the fitting (thank goodness!). It has an en fourreau back - where the center back pieces are cut as one with the skirt - which was much easier to put together than I thought it would be. the dress is just pinned closed over a stomacher in front, which is a very period practice. I need to pin it a little tighter next time though because my stomacher got a bit wrinkled as the day went on. The lace at the neckline and cuffs is recycled from the flounce of an irreparably damaged Victorian petticoat. The petticoat of this outfit is made of 3 rectangular widths of some gorgeous batiste that a friend gave to me. It has an underlayer of unbleached muslin since the fabric is pretty sheer. I decided to make the sash go all the way around my waist instead of just across the zone front like you see in the illustration because I loved the color and wanted to see more of it.

As for the accessories, I'm wearing a miniature portrait of my son that I faked by combining his face with the hair and body from a real 18th c. portrait. I was short on time, so I just did it in photoshop, but I'll probably paint a version later. The portrait frame is an antique that I found on ebay. The tall walking stick was made by combining the handle from an inexpensive cane that I bought at an outlet store and a $6 pool cue from Walmart. The wig is a super long and curly style called the Lioness, that I got in a light ash blond color. I teased out the top, pulled the back into a ponytail, coaxed the hanging curls into ringlets, and sprayed the whole thing with white temporary hair color. The hat was originally a short-crowned style from the 1940's or 50's, but I made an extension out of buckram to make it taller and hid the join with ribbon. For the shoes, I dressed up a pair of simple black pumps with a fake tongue, bows, and jeweled buckles that I found on ebay.