February - 'The Months' by J.June - 1749

February!

'The Months' by J.June

1749

Details:

-We'll start off with her cape - it's an interesting one this. It's obviously ermine fur lined and black on the outside. But it's the frilled collar style thing at the base of her hood which is the intriguing bit. And the fact that it looks like she has her neck cloth or some kind of bundled up white thing under this frill and over the top of the cape is even more interesting. It could be an outer neck cloth worn over the top of the cape - maybe an added layer for warmth; a bit like a modern day scarf, as it definitely seems to have an end that is tucking under the yellow band at the bust. She also has a yellow ribbon tying the hood or her lappets under the chin. Her cape is lined with a dark red.
- Under her hood she wears a lappet cap that is tied under her chin.
- There are shadows of robings around her bodice area and the apron seems to go over the top of these robings - this is worth noting as there does seem to have been a fashion for wearing them under the robings around the 50s.
- She uses a fur lined muff in a dark red. It is an interesting fact that the colder months have the stronger and plainer colours - we find this really fascinating!
- Her gown is blue over a petticoat of yellow and her long white apron hides most of the yellow petticoat.

January - 'Months' by J.June - 1749

January!

1749

 'Months' by J.June and Published by Voisin

Details include:

- She wears a wide hooped petticoat - I love seeing these in action!
-Her dress is of a strong red colour - although probably if these are prints then they could get coloured whatever colour. It's interesting to note, however, that the winter months are all strong dark colours!
- Her cape is black with fur edging. it has a yellow ribbon tying it at the front.
- She wears a fur-lined muff in a dark red and fairly small in it's appearance.
- She also wears the compulsary Undress fashion of a long white apron.
- Her Bergere is black - again interesting and good to have an actual image of this. Although, again to be fair, these type of prints could vary in colours. It still remains though that an 18th c person coloured the hat black. She wears is it with a matching yellow ribbon, the same as the cape.

We'd also love to know what 'According to Act Nov 25 1749' means. Atleast, we think that's what it says.

Working on Coifs

17th C. Coifs

We had the unexpected pleasure of studying a few of these little babies during a study session at a Museum. And little they were! They were so delicate as we carefully lifted them out of the box of caps at the Manchester Costume Museum and so very different from the 18th c caps we'd come to study.

Sadly we're not allowed to share our images online but have put here instead images of our re-creations.

These coifs are literal head caps and the shaping created by the gathering circle positioned at the crown is gorgeous and simple. We learnt so much about their construction it was incredible. There was one Blackworked Coif that hadn't been made

Our Classic Coif

up yet so we got to see that stage of the preperation, and then looking at two other you could see how they were put together. 

With the top seam finished and complete, the two finished edges get abutted up to one another and sewn. The length was somewhere between 2 3/4" to 3" long. What was left over was delicately hand stitched into a circle and joined.

Our Blackwork Coif

The rest was unshaped except for a channel running the length of the hem for a ribbon. One of the coifs had instead of a channel, a line of loops through which 2 ribbons passed through. Each ribbons was secured at the other end so that they acted as a draw-cord. Very clever, except, perhaps a little too clever for us as we still can't figure out what they did with the ribbons then - where did they tie them? Has anyone seen image of ladies with a tie around their neck from their coifs, because we haven't. Not that we've massively studied the 17th c yet - still being happily stuck in the 18th - but this is a little mystifying. If they tied the ribbons together then it pulls the hem of the cap under and would no long sit nicely. Anyone else know?

Anyway, through this study session we have developed a Blackworked Coif, a Gentle-Eared Coif (our words lol - not a 17th c term) and the Classic Coif. The Blackwork Coif comes with a Forehead cloth as did one of the originals in that wonderful box and our forehead cloth has been created to mimic that one.

Here's a quick video of one of our Coif Sampls: Coif Footage (please click here!)