#Eighteenth Century

[pintoras]

Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647-1717): Five Plates, from Dissertatio de Generations et Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1719) (via Bonhams)

[voyage-of-venus]

Left: François Boucher, Aurora and Cephalus, c. 1769

Right: François Boucher, Venus on the Waves, c. 1769

[elizabethan-memes]

Another novelist among the friends of the family was Jane’s favourite, Frances Burney, who had written Evelina and Cecilia, and who now was publishing her novel Camilla by subscription. A bit like crowd-funding today, subscribers got the privilege of having their names listed in the front of the finished book. The list for Camilla reads rather like a sisterhood of Georgian female novelists, because so many of them supported their fellow author. It includes a Mrs Radcliffe, and Miss Edgeworth (author of Belinda) and indeed a nineteen-year-old ‘Miss J. Austen of Steventon’, whose guinea must have been paid for her by her father.

Lucy Worsley, Jane Austen At Home

[danskjavlarna]

Source details and larger version.

Some strange and unusual vintage diagrams.

[bananna-threads]

Back panels done, and roughly pinned in place to see how it lays! I was too optimistic with thinking that my 100 squares would be enough for both the front and back 😭 I only have 15 squares (plus one star) left over. Definitely not enough to fill the whole front panel. My guess is I need 50 more for everything including the shoulder strap and sleeve. I'm running out of fabric, plus I need to make 3 more stars for the front! So much left to do!

I was originally gonna put batting and a backing on the dress below the waistline but I'm starting to question that, because I do want the classic quilted look, but it would also make it really heavy...and possibly droopy looking? I'm really not sure. I am open to advice if anyone has some. Idk wtf I'm doing.

I've ordered another sapphire sky layer cake, which is what I've been using--except this time I got one that includes light blues as well, which will be perfect for tying the two halves together with similar fabric patterns. I already have some cool sky fabrics for the daytime side:

As always credit to Wombat Quilts for her Starry Night Quilt

[deathzgf]

oh yeah did i show you guys this cool ass coin my mother randomly found on our bench lol

silly little 1791 french 30 sols ( i have no idea what a 30 sols is )

[eyesaremosa1cs]

Mahogany Bookcase In Gothic Style

[jewellery-box]

SILK BROCADE ROBE A L'ANGLAISE, 1770-1790s

Augusta Auctions

[pennink-witch]

Finally some updates on the shift! The side seams are at last done and the gussets are sewn, or very nearly, into the sleeves. Next is the sleeve seams and hems.

[alice-and-ethel]

“It was, however, the death of the eldest boy, the Duc de Bourgogne, in 1761 that left the seven-year-old Louis Auguste with a permanent inferiority complex. His parents made no secret of their lamentations at the death of the favourite (whom Maria Josepha had called that special pet name, her chou d’amour). The man in charge of Louis Auguste, the Duc de Vauguyon…also took the opportunity to lecture him on his inadequacy for the role [of future king] once played by his incomparable brother.” • Antonia Fraser, Marie Antoinette: The Journey

“[O]n the eve of Easter 1761 Bourgogne died. For his parents and the King, who had thought very highly of him, it was a terrible blow. [Louis Auguste] was now a future King of France. But he had been brought up without the adulation usually given to future Kings. On the contrary, all through his formative years he had been put in the shade, treated as a foil for brilliant Bourgogne. As a result, he was that rare creature, a prince with a poor opinion of himself.” • Vincent Cronin, Louis and Antoinette

Portraits of Louis Joseph Xavier, Duc de Bourgogne (b. 1751) and his brother Louis Auguste, Duc de Berry, later Louis XVI (b. 1754) by Jean-Martial Frédou, 1760

[pintoras]

Anna Reijerman (Dutch, 1773-1835): Floral still life (via Düsseldorfer Auktionshaus)

[voyage-of-venus]

Comparison of the Three Graces from Sandro Botticelli's La Primavera c. 1481 and detail from The Native Peoples of the Pacific Ocean by Jean-Gabriel Charvet and Joseph Dufour et Cie, c. 1804-1806

[elizabethan-memes]

The Prince of Wales (the future George IV) had his own favourite bather, John ‘Old Smoaker’ Miles of Brighton, but refused to heed his expert advice. ‘Mr Prince, Mr Prince, come back’, Old Smoaker would call, if George went out too far, before swimming after him and ‘seizing him by the ear’ to drag him to shore.

Lucy Worsley, Jane Austen At Home

[crystalclaire]

details from Flower Still Life with Bird's Nest, Jan van Huysum (1682 - 1749) c. 1718, Oil on copper

[bananna-threads]

I "fixed" my panniers today 😎 In my first iteration I used plastic boning--you know the kind meant for structured bodices that you can sew through? They weren't nearly sturdy enough for what I knew were gonna be some heavy skirts. So I ripped some of my seams (which was sadder than normal, since they were hand-sewn 🥲) and inserted some new 1/2" steel boning. I also pleated up more of the fabric at the sides so they sat firmly on my hips. I am super happy with the result! Below is a before and after:

As you can see, the hips are much more dramatic. I was worried I'd have to make a set of grand panniers, so being able to get this affect with these was such a relief. The only downside is that I made the petticoat using the old measurements, so now the hem isn't even anymore...but that will be hidden when the overdress is done!

I think the silhouette is now much closer to my original concept sketch. Befitting of a Queen Mattress!

[deathzgf]

danton and robespierre were the What ?