#fauxtuny

 I finally made a Fauxtuny

This is as John Singer Sargent as I will ever get

This started last year

https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-fortuny-dress-cant-be-that-hard-right.html

The grey pleated polyester fabric for the toile was more expensive than the Joann's but too heavy and not suited to the task. The Joann's is thin fake china silk, the perfect weight and did I mention that it was already pleated? 

https://www.joann.com/navy-solid-pleated-bodre-silky-fabric/18260612.html 

The toile is heavier and not worth mentioning for this use, but it was informative. I did not quite pay attention to everything it told me.

The neckline is a portent of things to come

the ensemble, minus handboat

There's no photos of it in action because it sorta fell off me.

I have had cosplay failures. Seam ripped up the backside of the pants, the belt disintegrated. Heat stroke in a onesie in a cold convention ballroom. You just keep going as if nothing is wrong. this is how it works. 

Pay no attention to that woman with the dress falling off her

This time the problem was something I anticipated but didn't do anything about and forgot about. 

The delphos opening of the dress at the top is entirely gathered by cord and the sleeve are secured by beads spaced out. The neckline needs to be a separate loop of cord, or secured somehow, to keep it from expaaaaaaaanding so the dress falls off your shoulders. 

Which it did.

I was wearing a slip dress underneath, so it's not like anyting was showing, but the comments went from "I love your dress" to "Your hat is very nice" over the course of a few hours. Sitting in a theater seat did not help. The cocoon wrap also slid off. Not checking in the restroom mirror did not help (I was ushering, I did not have time)

I needed to keep the beads in the gap and the cords at the end. It's 50% of the design, and 100% of the effort I put into it. No, I did not pleat my own fabric (thus the faux) but the beading was vital to the look.

So much handsewing to keep the pleats pleaty and the tunnel for the cord open

THIS TIME, I added stitching through the cord and the first bead and the fabric, back and forth a couple of times. The neckline is stablized.

I used my head as a measuring device to determine the optimal neckline opening.

And here we are

With the not entirely period one piece cocoon wrap, made from a frosty mesh knit from Joann's 

(it leaves a trail of silver dust wherever it goes)

There is no pocket in this ensemble. That is a fault I will live with.

For a cheap piece of Joann's polyester and a bag of glass beads, it's a great dress; It really looks great, it's appallingly comfortable. I made a belt only because without it feels unwieldly.

Now I'm going to need a hat to wear this to Seattle Frocktails

A Fortuny Dress Can't Be that Hard, Right? #fauxtuny

 We'll start here at Joann's. In September 2022.

This slinky pleated fabric is all that and a bag of chips. I am frankly obsessed with it, and once I purchased it, I treated like a very sacred object.

And go here

https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-birth-of-a-unique-gown-the-delphos-palazzo-fortuny/SgVhyD72_413Jw?hl=en

(oh my gosh, what a presentation! Well done Goggle!)

which leads to here

(the album this is in is https://www.flickr.com/photos/ateliersol/albums/72157602156412189/with/1472610094/ )

which is from here

https://www.fashionstudiesjournal.org/partnership-content-a/2022/4/22/mariano-and-henriette-fortuny-notes-on-co-creating-the-delphos-gown

And here I am. yardage and ideas.

Palazzo Fortuny image, from artsandcultureGoogle

Palazzo Fortuny image, from artsandcultureGoogle

This second image hits twice for me. One, I want the sleeveless dress and a sleeved 'jacket', and two, the model in front of a drapery and the view of the studio behind would work for photos in the sewing cave. two thought processes in one photo

But dress.

https://streisandstylefiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Screen-Shot-2019-05-23-at-12.31.36-AM.png

The top edge is going to be handwork, and I really don't enjoy handwork. But if you do

https://www.larva.eu/en/fortuny-delphos-or-how-to-pleat-by-hand/

and a lovely Delphos by Before The Automobile

https://beforetheautomobile.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/merja-palkivaara63-1.jpg?

Many pretty photos and secretive process on IG under #fauxtuny, but I'm using that Joann's stuff, so as is my usual, to hell with the purity of process, let's go for results and perhaps some relatively quick ones at that.

Going from the Fortuny patent text in the FSJ article: my numbers are these

My head is 23 - so half of that is...12 for A. My arm got chubby, so that is 18, half that is 9 for C. For the drop between my head and the top of the armhole should be at least 9 (I arrived at that number mostly from the proportions in the patent sketch. B looks like it's about as long as C. So 9 for B.

9 + 9 + 12 + 9 + 9 = 48" wide (or 96" sewn into a tube)

I want it to be 47" from my neck to the hem (maybe 46").

So my fabric will be 97" by 48.25ish. I need rattail. Also interior cord that doesn't show. I need beads.

Front neck and back neck have separate cords for width adjustment so I don't choke

For a video of one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8nxA8d3AcE

And a slip to fit and make me feel comfortable

I have made significant progress on this, but I realized I had not finished this and posted it because the project had stalled. It has stopped stalling.