Edwardian

Folkwear Patterns Now At Atelier Lily Absinthe!

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / Leave a comment

We’re pleased to announce that we’re now distributors for Folkwear Patterns at Atelier Lily Absinthe! Here’s just a few of our personal favorites:

This pattern has clear, concise, easy to understand directions and construction is very simple with no surprises. This pattern is size-inclusive with sizes range from small through 3XL. Although it’s aimed at the early 1900s, this style will also work for the mid to late 1890s. To order, please go to our Etsy Store.

Edwardian Underthings is one of Folkwear’s earlier patterns, first being published in 1978 (it was one of our first historical patterns at a time when there weren’t many on the market), it’s been updated with inclusive sizing ranging from extra-small to 3XL. This is another pattern with clear instructions and construction is uncomplicated. With camisole, drawers, and petticoat, this is the perfect set to construct a basic set of Edwardian Era undergarments. Also, although it’s primarily focused on the Edwardian Era, it will also work for the late 1890s. To order, please order from our Etsy Store.

And for the men, there’s the Victorian Shirt! This is a basic shirt pattern that will work for the 1870 to 1900 time frame. This pattern is sized for men’s extra-small through extra-large (men’s sizes 30 1/2 through 48). To order, please order from our Etsy Store. These are only a few of our offerings and to see them all, please go to our Etsy Store at  Atelier Lily Absinthe.

The “Ultimate” Champagne Dress 😁

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

Nothing says “Happy New Years” more than opening a bottle of champagne and here’s a circa 1904 costume dress from the Bath Fashion Museum that takes this idea to the next level… 😎

Costume Dress, c. 1904; Bath Fashion Museum

According to the Museum, this dress was made in around 1904 for Mrs. Ada Power and the dress and matching hat has been designed to mimic the classic Veuve Clicquot champagne bottle. The dark green velvet skirt represents the green glass of the bottle and is adorned with the signature Veuve Clicquot yellow labels which were produced in France especially for the costume. A gold metallic thread bodice is the foil ‘coiffe’, the frothy sleeves suggest bubbles and the hat is the cork.

Below are a couple of close-ups of the top and bottom:

From the above picture, it appears that a gold metallic fabric was utilized for the top part to include a looped gold-colored robe trim along the neck and shoulders.

Here’s a closer look at the skirt and although it’s difficult to tell from the picture, it’s a dark bottle green that was designed to mimic the Clicquot bottle.

Above is a close-up of the accompanying coiffe hat, no doubt meant to mimic the bottle cork/outer foil wrapper. 😁

Ms. Ada Power in the Clicquot Dress.

And the finished product!! And yes, Clicquot is still made today and it’s a definite favorite here at the Atelier!

Cheers for a happy new years!!

What’s On- Holiday Edition

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / Leave a comment

It’s been a busy year for us and a time of many changes. If you haven’t noticed, we’ve created an online selling presence on Etsy at Atelier Lily Absinthe where we are selling a variety of fabrics, trims, books, and patterns that have been curated by us. For fabrics, we have a mix of newly-acquired and vintage fabrics from our fabric stash. We will also be offering a variety of historical fashion ephemera that we have acquired over the years. Our motto: One of a kind, few of a kind!  😁

Finally, we’re still taking commissions and we will be offering a line of ready-made garments in the near future. We welcome you inquiries- feel free to email us at info@lilyabsinthe.com

Karin McKechnie & Adam Lid

 

In Progress

/ Adam Lid / Leave a comment

One of our latest projects is a men’s smoking jacket. These were loose-fitting lounge jackets that were intended for wear at home, often while smoking (hence the name). Depending on cut, these were a looser-fitting version of the conventional sack coat (although often they looked more like glorified bathrobes). Below are a few progress pictures:

Sewing in the front pockets:

Finished exterior- front right piece.

Pad-stitching and taping the canvases on the left front piece:

And then the right front piece:

There’s definitely a lot of hand-stitching going on there. Just the pad stitching and taping alone took four days…but the end result will be worth it. Stay tuned for more! 😁


In The Works- Tea Gowns, Part 1

/ Karin McKechnie-Lid / 1 Comment

William Blake Richmond, Mrs Luke Ionides, 1882; V&A Museum (E.1062:1, 2-2003)

In recent posts, we’ve been going on about tea gowns and aesthetic dress and you’re probably beginning to wonder what it’s all about. Tea gowns have always been a big favorite with us and we’ve always wanted to explore this area more and we now that we have some free time, we’re going to act on it! 🙂 We’re looking to take the basic tea gown design and add a flair of Aesthetic style to it- more to follow on that! In the meantime, here’s some of the gowns that are inspiring us:

Worth, Tea Gown, c. 1895-1900; Modemuseum, Hasselt (2013.0075)

The fabric on the above gown is very striking and appears to be a gold-colored silk print floral pattern with a blue/lavender background and trimmed with lace. The silhouette is fairly typical of a house dress style although it’s evident that this was meant more for receiving guests at home than any practical work around the house. Interestingly enough, it appears that the bodice and skirt are separate pieces rather than the usual princess line style typical of this design. While this gown contains many Aesthetic Dress design elements, it’s still more of a mainstream style. Still, we love the fabric and clean lines (although we would be employing a one-piece princess-line style).

Tea/House Dress, c. 1905-1907; The State Hermitage Museum (ЭРТ-9473)

The above gown definitely reads Edwardian, lacking the defined curves characteristic of 1880s and 1890s tea gowns and as such, is seemingly a loose draped robe (although there is no doubt that a corset was worn underneath). What is most striking to us about this garment is the incorporation of Neo-Classical and Renaissance design elements with its straight lines and geometrical trim arrangement. In much the same vein, the tea gown below also captures many Aesthetic Dress features although it’s more structured:

Unfortunately, we’ve been unable to track down any specific information on this tea gown (the downside to Pinterest) but we believe that this either a late 1880s or early 1890s style. As with many examples of this style, the gown is designed to give the effect of an outer robe being worn over an full-length under-dress (in reality, these were actually a single garment with elements artfully arranged to give the appearance of there being two pieces).  Below is a more extreme example of the open robe effect with this circa 1888 example:

Tea Gown, c. 1888; Antiquedress.com

Finally, just to bring it home, there’s this example from circa 1890:

Tea Gown, c. 1890; Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.I.44.122)

Is it a tea gown? House dress? Something in between? Given the styling, we guess something that would have been worn to receive guests at home (and definitely not for going out). With this style, there’s not really any specific “Aesthetic Dress” style going on except to note that the basic silhouette is very similar with an emphasis on seeming ease of movement.

And of course, period artwork also inspires as with these two paintings by August Toulmouche:

August Toulmouche, Dolce Far niente, 1877, Private Collection

August Toulmouche, An Afternoon Idyll, 1874

So what’s going to be our specific design? Wait and see… 😉