NOLA 1815: Fox Fur and Pink Silk Pelisse

For daywear, I created a pelisse made of pink silk taffeta, interlined with wool in the bodice and sleeves, and lined with pale pink lightweight silk. The whole was trimmed with white fox fur (yep, the real stuff!). It's very simple in design, relying on the sumptuousness of the fabric and the novelty of the hood to make a statement. It actually kept me quite warm, since silk has insulating properties and acted as a good windbreaker! I wore it over my trusty old Swiss dot and lace insertion gown and a new antique lace chemisette.

I didn't realize that the darned belt had slipped down in some of the pictures *grumble* so please ignore that...! I think it's interesting to see how the colors change in different qualities of light. The battlefield pictures were taken on a very overcast day, and the French Quarter pictures were in brilliant sunlight.

Michael blocked the hats for Nicole and me, and we trimmed them. They are made of shaggy rabbit fur felt.

My main inspiration was this 1815 fashion plate, although you see hoods on pelisses and spencers in the years preceding and following.

For construction, I followed this extant silk pelisse. The bodice and skirt are fully lined. The lower edge of the bodice and the upper edge of the skirt have the raw edges turned in and roughly stitched together. Then the two are stitched together along with a piece of tape to help strengthen the seam.

The fur was lightly tacked on so that it can be removed eventually, and I might turn this into an 18th century pelisse, which is what I originally bought the materials for! I attached the fur to the outer fabric before putting the lining in, so that you wouldn't see big nasty tacking stitches on the inside of the garment.

And of course, everything was hand sewn.