FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
Close family friends for over 20 years, Zach considers Ellen his “Other Mother.” Early in college, Ellen taught Zach the basics of sewing. Fast forward to present-day, they have reunited for the Foundations Revealed Competition. They chose to recreate “The Gentleman with the Thistledown Hair” from the book “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke, was a magical villain whose powers allowed him to converse and form bonds with the various forces of nature. Set in the year 1806, this cold and calculating antagonist remained childlike and simple in his demeanor but not when it came to his garments. In the book, he is described as always being well-dressed, with his most prominent feature being his leaf green coat. With that detail in mind they began to create an outfit that was not only green, but seemingly accurate for the early 1800’s England. After some deliberation, they settled on a frock coat, a velvet vest, a pair of fall front trousers, a dress shirt with complementary ruffles, and finally a dandy cravat.
Outline the construction…
The style and details of early 1800’s clothing in England was unfamiliar to us, but we were ready to take on the challenge of drafting and constructing this ensemble. The patterns blocks of the coat, vest, and trousers were drafted using books by Harry Simons. These pattern blocks were then shaped to the fit and size of our model, who is Ellen’s son and Zach’s childhood best friend. The white ruffle shirt was a modified commercial pattern, with a drafted collar and collar stand reinforced with hair canvas to create a more crisp and traditional shape. The jacket was constructed using traditional tailoring techniques, including a floating chest canvas that is created with canvas and horsehair, then the canvas was padstitched to the jacket lapels. The cuffs and sleeves of the jacket were hand-stitched in place to ensure correct alignment and hang of the sleeves, while also allowing the sleeve cap at the head of the sleeve to be full. The trousers were converted to fall front, and finished with mother of pearl buttons. Finally, the vest was constructed simply, but with an addition of pick stitching to give it a crisp edge and a subtle detail.
I love this inspiration and the color choice and layering of texture is so good. *chef’s kiss*
Love the cuffs and jabot!
This is simply put incredibly charming. Love the gold stitches on the waistcoat too
Wow, this is gorgeous in all the details. Well done!
Beautiful! I love how each piece could also be repurposed into another look. That color combination is exquisite.
The details and textures of this are so glorious. He really looks like a dapper fae, and I wish I could see those cuffs in motion!
the ensemble is great and i love the waiscoat, and the golden lining too !
I know there were two of you, but dang you did a lot of work! The color is fabulous. The fit is nice. He is indeed very handsome and a charming villain should be!
I really like the contrasting textures of the jacket and the vest. The whole outfit is great!
Yes, yes, yes! The textures and colors are amazing.
I love the colour and the texture of the vest.
The colour is really nice and it looks great!
That is a beautiful shade of green! It really makes the white cuffs and collar stand out, very dapper indeed! Well done for all the hard work which evidently went into making this!
Great job! This outfit is very lush and fits your model very nicely!