Mantua Madness: Some Fontange Experiments
As I said, I'm hands on learner. Since I'm not yet ready to do much on the actual mantua I decided to work on the fontange.
I scaled up the two fontange patterns in the Evolution of Fashion and went to work. The first experiment was basically a silk organza cap with cotton organdy covered in silk organza pleated tiers of ruffles. I opted to only do two tiers not three and was fairly happy with it at first...
But I liked the idea of lace tiers so I covered the first experiment with some cotton lace in the stash. I wasn't totally happy with this either, the whole thing felt way too clunky and heavy when I wanted a lighter, fluffier feeling. I also didn't care for the more boxy look of this one. Although I will note that I think lace on it's own that was were wired so the ruffles stood up could look pretty nice.
Finally I decided to go a different direction and drafted my own ruffle tiers and made a third option out of ruffled silk organza. So far I like this one the best. it is as tall as the other two but it has a lighter feeling I like. The ruffles are not still enough to stand up on their own but I wired some ribbons which I added to the back and this helps the fontange stay perky.
The bows in all of these experiments are just pinned in and may be placed differently in the end.
I think I may do yet another iteration of this, I have to admit I've enjoyed these experiments, and after looking at even more fontange examples I have some more ideas as to how to go about this. But of these three I'm thinking I like version 3 best.
I scaled up the two fontange patterns in the Evolution of Fashion and went to work. The first experiment was basically a silk organza cap with cotton organdy covered in silk organza pleated tiers of ruffles. I opted to only do two tiers not three and was fairly happy with it at first...
But I liked the idea of lace tiers so I covered the first experiment with some cotton lace in the stash. I wasn't totally happy with this either, the whole thing felt way too clunky and heavy when I wanted a lighter, fluffier feeling. I also didn't care for the more boxy look of this one. Although I will note that I think lace on it's own that was were wired so the ruffles stood up could look pretty nice.
Finally I decided to go a different direction and drafted my own ruffle tiers and made a third option out of ruffled silk organza. So far I like this one the best. it is as tall as the other two but it has a lighter feeling I like. The ruffles are not still enough to stand up on their own but I wired some ribbons which I added to the back and this helps the fontange stay perky.
I think I may do yet another iteration of this, I have to admit I've enjoyed these experiments, and after looking at even more fontange examples I have some more ideas as to how to go about this. But of these three I'm thinking I like version 3 best.
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