How to Sew a 1690's Mantua | Holiday Barbie but 1694!

What would Holiday Barbie have worn in 1694? In the revolutionary gown that changed the entire course of dressmaking history, of course: the mantua! In this video, I will walk you step by step how to make a mantua as I turn myself into Holiday Barbie 1694 (minus the blond wig. I couldn't ruin my gown like that 🤣)

Cut in straight rectangles and pleated to the wearer's body, these gowns caused a sensation! Worn over the stays and petticoat unlike earlier gowns, which were heavily boned and structured, these gowns could be made by women instead of tailors, a business that was entirely male-dominated.

Unfortunately, because these gowns were basically giant rectangles, they were prime picking to be taken apart and made into more fashionable, later silouettes, with the result that very very few mantuas remain in existence. In fact, only two have been patterend. One by Janet Arnold, stuck in the very back of the original Patterns of Fashion 1, and one by Norah Waugh in the Cut of Women's Clothes. Neither mantua has much instruction (and in the case of Waugh, ZERO instruction.)

And to make my mantua, a gown that I've wanted to make for a very long time, I must tread into the abyss of darkness and figure out not only how to pleat this on my own, but how to actually make the thing. Augh!

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Chapters:
00:00 Holiday Barbie but 1694
00:45 The Mantua Revolution
03:06 Making the mantua
04:52 Pattern modifications
06:54 Mockup
09:06 The petticoat
10:40 Cutting out
12:35 Materials
13:15 Pleating
17:41 Assembling the stomacher
18:18 Fixing the pleats
20:26 Seaming the mantua
21:58 Trimming
23:36 Attaching the front facing
24:30 Final touches
31:22 Reveal

Resources:
Fabric and trim from www.mood.com
Patterns of Fashion: http://theschoolofhistoricaldress.org...
-Please note that the mantua is no longer in the updated Patterns of Fashion 1. I have reason to believe it's now in Patterns of Fashion 6, but I don't own that one, so I can't confirm.
The Cut of Women's Clothes: https://smile.amazon.com/cut-womens-c...

Wool embroidered mantua courtesy of the Met: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
Victorian tea gown also courtesy of the Met: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collect...
Later mantua courtesy of the V&A, given by the Crawley family: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1...

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#17thcentury #christmas #holiday #barbie