My 18th century muff

So, after my thoughts about the what's and when's on 18th century muffs I've come up with my own version.
I really liked the idea of having a muff base and then the option of sewing many many many different covers. Here's Katherine's tutorial muff base and muff cover for reference. It's really just working with rectangulars (this reminds me of this video on Sesame Street "Dancing with Triangles")

So I started with the base. I have used twill from my fabric stash. And the filling is synthetic fibre that used to be the stuffing of an IKEA pillow that was just sitting there waiting to be given another purpose. ;) I needed most of the stuffing, I was really surprised how much material you can stuff into that muff base!
My base was a 21x26 inches rectangle. I foldes that in half and made a tube (see Katherines tutorial) make sure you close the right end of the tube. :)

I've had some faux fur in black (or blackish blue, I'm not quite sure..) sitting around here for 12 ( in words TWELVE!!!) years and cut a 21x15 inch rectangle. Again, I did what Katherine did, I closed one side, made two tunnels on the "open" sides, some ribbon in it, FINISHED!!!

I think I am going to attach some sort of sturdier ribbon to one side so I can casually carry it around, but as I've not got anything suitable at home at the moment and I am not yet sure what that ribbon is supposed to look like... it might not happen. ;)
 I could also carry it around like this:

 And now I can make SO many covers, maybe like this...

All in all this muff business was done in about 2-3 hours (fabric search included), and making the cover takes about 30min... maximum....

Analysing - 18th century muffs

I have given making another 18th century accessoire some thought. A muff.
A while ago I have seen this tutorial by Kathrine http://koshka-the-cat.blogspot.de/2013/01/an-18th-century-muff-cover-tutorial.html and thought it was a rather simple task. Unfortunately she doesn't give any reference as to the suitable decade. To cut a long story short, this sort of smallish muff works for the whole century, which might account for the fact that she didn't refer to a certain decade. If you want to look at a few more pictures, I have collected some muff-picture on may Pinterest - 18th Accessoires

 Muffs in the 18th century seem to be smallish (rather earlier) to medium (always suitable) size. Towards the end of the 1780s and the 1790s muffs tend to grow up to ridiculous measurements. But also medium sized ones can be seen on fashion plates. What seems to always work is a smallish-medium sized fur coated muff.

Here are a few examples:

1740s

Jean Baptiste Massé (French, 1687–1767), 'The Blue Muff' c 1740

1750s

1755. Louise Henriette de Bourbon.

French 18th Century Young Woman with a Muff, c. 1750 Chester Dale Collection 1943.7.5

1760s

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour with a Fur Muff - François-Hubert Drouais, 1763-1764 - The Athenaeum

Catherine Havers, attr. Barthélemy du Pan, ca. 1765; LMG LEEAG.PA.1966.0002.0002

1770s

Galerie des Modes, 11e Cahier, 2e Figure Middle class woman in a striped Satin Gown with a furred pelisse and a white muff. (1778)

Miss Lovejoy, 1772.

Winter by Collett Satire: a woman and her daughter wearing fur coats and muffs walking in a street with snow; behind them fighting school boys and a boy carrying a toboggan. c.1778/9 Hand-coloured mezzotint

1780s

Muff. English, 1785–1800. Silk satin, mezzotint on fabric, silk embroidery, pearls, gauze appliques, and silk plain-weave lining - in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Mrs. Wilbraham Bootle, 1781 by George Romney, oil on Canvas, (c) National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.

Dress of the Year 1781, by Ann Frankland Lewis.

Striped dress ensemble with large striped fur muff - Magasin des Modes - March 1789 .- I LOVE that outfit, actually. :)

1790s

Gallery of Fashion, January 1796.

Gallery of Fashion, March 1798.

I recommend the above mentionned tutorial by Katherine. :)  Some time soon I shall post my own version. See you!

Chateau de la Motte-Tilly - 1768

Just a short while ago I had the pleasure of sharing a weekend at the Chateau de la Motte Tilly (you know, the one from "Dangerous Liaisons", ... Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman... oh lala!) with the Association Le Bosquet. Here are some impressions of the stay:
I've been wearing the Chardin Francaise (JPR), the Walpole Francaise (JPR), and a Riding Habit (Janet Arnold). All garments are more 1740s-60s, but still suitable for the late 1760s.

dans le parc du Château de la Motte-Tilly, avec Mme du Jard, black and white ( Walpole Francaise, JPR)

we're going on a bear hunt!!

Walpole Francaise

No bear but a baby on the run!

(C) Coltrane Koh

(C) Coltrane Koh

back view of Chardin Francaise (C) Coltrane Koh

(C) Coltrane Koh

(C) Coltrane Koh

I'm not quite sure...

I LOVE green stockings, Janet Arnold riding habit

you can only see about 1cm2 of it BUT i AM wearing red stockings. ;)

bye bye Chateau de La Motte-Tilly!

Please respect the Copyright of the Pictures

Zeilitzheim 1763 - Treaty of Paris

(C) Claudia Behnke

1763 - The Seven Years War is finally over and the Treaty of Paris has been signed. Enough to travel to Zeilitzheim and celebrate in the more than pleasant company of fellow costumers. I am quite good at escaping the camera so again there is little evidence of my activities... but here's what I've got so far:

(C) Claudia Behnke

I just can't help wriggling around... due to that fact my pinner cap was all over the place... ;)

I had the please to wear the riding habit of the wonderful Mme du Jard.

The Walpole Francaise - 1750-70s

I have finished the Robe a la Francaise in the 1750s-70s style. I have followed the JPRyan pattern for the Pet-en-l'air/Robe a la Francaise. The pattern itself was very precise sizewise and ran rather short (upper length) which means I didn't have to make big adjustments there.

JP Ryan Pattern

 My inspiration was this painting by Gainsborough of Maria Walpole. I am not a big big fan of lacy, chantilly-like decoration, so I opted for a plain black stomacher, and less laces at the sleeves, my sleeves flounces are plain black silk tafetta, as the rest of the robe. I am not sure about how much decoration is on the robe itself (in the painting, that is) and again I decided for the plain silk taffetta. I like the way the light is reflected on it and the back pleats should be the center of attention anyway (imho).

Gainsborough "Maria Walpole" 1763

Walpole Francaise - 1

Here's some small pictures from the Walpole Francaise ensemble. I have finished the Pinner Cap (following Rocking Horse Farm pattern #184, very easy!), entirely made by hand from thin white cotton fabric. And a little teaser picture from the Walpole Francaise.