Polonaise jacket and skirt

Ikea has always been a great source for fabric with period rococo patterns! I found this former bedlinen used on Ebay, the striped part for the skirt, the flowery part for the bodice. It was a single bedding, so the amount of fabric is absolutely limited. The striped fabric really is just enough for an ankle-length skirt, the equal amount of flowered cotton is enough for a casaquin, casually called a pet-en-l'air, or for a polonaise. The cotton is rather coarse, so it won't do as an upper-class outfit but I found matching silk floss so it will get fly fringe trimming nonetheless ;)

The fabric had been sitting in my storage for quite some time until recently I found that "right now" is the time for a new costume for a one-shot character I was playing three days hence. Because why not.

The skirt is the usual, simple rococo skirt shape, a little longer at the back so it can be worn with a padded rump.

The jacket was actually intended to be a casaquin but upon closer inspection the fabric wanted to become a polonaise. I used Janet Arnold's caraco pattern from 1775/85 but changed the front.

I had found matching embroidery floss and also had the intention of making some fly trim decoration, plus I wanted to close the jacket with ribbons, and for all this I'd need a stomacher; a very broad one - J P Ryan's stomacher from the jacket package is perfect. The jacket pattern gave me quite some trouble when I discovered that despite enlarging it to my size without much ado the front part of the peplum makes horizontal creases at the waist that definitely don't belong there. The peplum demands to be taken up at the sides and the back, then the creases vanish and the ensemble looks lovely. The problem can be remedied by taking in a small tuck along the waistline to shape it (not done in the original), in which case the caraco can also be worn with the peplum down.

The neckline is quite large at the front, and required a stomacher with a rounded top. It's put in with hooks and eyes and the ribbons closed on top.

The hat is actually the first thing now that has been finished (I might want to add fly trim to the ruching once I've produced enough, but for now I call it finished!) completely and looks so lovely I took up re-working the caraco (which is just the tiniest bit too tight to feel perfect) and finally adding a decent waistband to the skirt. The hat consists of an Ikea straw placemat, the crown shaped with water and ordinary household jars. Decoration became more and more as I was working along, and at one point I stripped the hat of its original ruching to switch to a lighter tone to match the dress pattern more perfectly. I'm finally able to de-stock my plethora of artificial flowers - the ones on the hat are even silk (the blue ones) - and artificial birdies :D The lace around the brim is the only thing that's glued on invisibly, everything else, ruffles, hatband, flowers, was sewn on with invisible stitches.