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What clothing techniques were used during the 18th century in France?

January 30th, 2013 1 comment

I am researching Marie Antoinette and 18th century fashion for my textiles A level.
I know that Toile de Jouy was very popular, does anyone know ways i could recreate this??
Also goldwork – i.e. using the gold metal threads. but i dont know how to do this. is it easy to try/copy?
any other suggestions of how i could recreate techiniques? i would be really grateful. thanks

I should have a shufti at the Costume department at the Victoria & Albert Museum – there isn’t much that they don’t have. If toile de jouy is the printed pictures technique (?) have you considered actually making a picture on a piece of muslin/light cotton by actually drawing and using a textile marker or just paint with watercolour and a fine brush? For the gold metal threads – get a book of basic embroidery stitches out of the library and some gold thread (any haberdashery shop with a good thread selection will have it). I got mine from John Lewis and it wasn’t expensive. Practise basic stitches and do a simple pattern. You’ll also be able to get a book on goldwork from the library.