18th century blog

I just finished this polonaise and I’m so happy with it! I have to do one small alteration to improve the fit of the “bodice” but otherwise it’s done.

Edit: The photos are taken in my bedroom.

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July 11 to July 25 it’s time for Lyss till 1700-talet at Skansen again. Check out times and events here.

From Tidsfördrifvet, the blog of 18th century society Gustafs skål, comes this great list of 18th century clothing items from Göteborgs stadsmuseum. Click the picture to go there.

Kina slott by Göran Alm is a book about my favourite 18th century building, the Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm.

This is definitely a new favourite book of mine. It’s very thorough, covering everything from the facade, interiors, furniture and various collections inside to the restorations made, the court life at “Kina”, 18th century chinoiserie in general and the Swedish East India Company. The chapters are written by different authors and everything is incredibly interesting. It’s also an absolutely beautiful book filled with big wonderful photos and also plans and drawings. I can’t recommend this book enough, it’s great.

The book is part of a set called De kungliga slotten (the royal palaces) and I can’t wait to read some of the other volumes. As far as I know they’re only available in Swedish.

Authentic Decor: The Domestic Interior 1620 - 1920 by Peter Thornton is a book about historical interior decoration and architecture.

If you want to learn about historical interiors this book is amazing. Each chapter starts with a longer text about the stylistic period in question and the rest of the chapter is all paintings, drawings and plans of interiors and architecture, everything with in depth captions. There are so many beautiful pictures and I find it very easy to learn when you actually have a visual example right next to the text.

Unfortunately this book is no longer in print but I think it’s pretty easy to find second hand.

A couple of days ago I visited the new exhibition at Nordiska museet, Modemakt or Power of fashion. There wasn’t a huge amount of 18th century clothes but the ones they did show were really wonderful.

The exhibition has it’s own website complete with a database containing pictures and information about most of the garments on show. Continue reading to see my own photos from the exhibition.

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Meg Andrews sells antique clothing and there are some great photos of 18th century garments on the site.

Modemakt - 300 år av kläder is a new exhibition opening at Nordiska museet in Stockholm on February 26. It will show clothing from the 1780s, 1860s and 1960s, “times when economy, new ideas and new technology strongly influenced fashion”.

The Private Realm of Marie Antoinette by Marie-France Boyer is a wonderful book about the more or less private spaces of Marie Antoinette, at Versailles, Rambouillet and Fontainebleau. It’s filled with interesting information and the pictures are beautiful and plentiful. It’s very easy to read and I think even someone with just a a casual interest in the 18th century will find this book entertaining.

On February 6 there will be a lecture, Siden och kattun, about 18th century clothes and fashion at Stadsarkivet. The lecture starts at 12 am.

Two Nerdy History Girls is a fun history blog with a lot of posts about the 18th century. They also write a lot about Colonial Williamsburg.

Pockets of History is a great site with pictures of and information about tie-on pockets, many of them from the 1700s.

November 20-22 Dances of Vice hold a spectacular nautical themed party in New York called The Grand Shipwreck Ball. It’s not strictly 18th century but from what I understand many people dress up in (among other historical eras) 18th century clothes to go to these events.

The festival program features live music ranging from classical opera to rock ballads, international guests, historical costume fashion shows, dance, puppetry, fencing, performance art, vendors, and ballroom dancing, among other chimerical amusements.

Thanks to Abbyelyn on the Historical Sewing forum I just found out that Colonial Williamsburg are putting their collection online! There are lots of clothes but also portraits, prints, furniture and so on. Everything is accompanied by a very informative text about the item. Unfortunately the pictures are rather small, and I can’t find a way of browsing everything in categories (except the “highlights” selection) rather than having to search (I can’t be sure I haven’t missed something!).

Click the picture to go the collection!

EDIT: I found a way to browse categories. In “Advanced search” choose “classification is” and you’ll be able to choose a category.