Loretta reports:
I’ve grown to love the puffy sleeves of the 1820s and 1830s, and their numerous names. We find gigot and imbecile and Béret sleeves and sleeves à l’Amadis, à la Donna Maria, à la Marino Falliéro, à la Sultane, à la Montespan, à la Caroline.
When you have stopped laughing, you might ask yourself how they managed the poufiness. Did the sleeves actually pouf as much as it seems in the pictures or are the artists taking artistic license? If the sleeves were as gigantic as they appear, how was this accomplished?
But maybe you’re not puzzled. Maybe you read my blog about the Green family estate auction, and noticed my remarks about the rare 1820s sleeves puffs (pictured above left).
I also learned that the sleeves might be lined with stiffened fabric, though I'm not clear on how this worked, exactly.
But now you may be wondering other things, like OMG, how could they stand to have padding (or stiffened fabric) in their sleeves? Indeed, the inconveniences of these sleeves is pointed out several times in the course of Last Night's Scandal, sometimes by my very fashionable heroine. I figure, they just suffered to be beautiful.
But another question is, How did those puff things work--were they sewn in or what?
I opened my trusty volume of Fashion in Detail 1730-1930 by Nancy Bradfield, with its meticulously detailed drawings. And there, on page 156, I found what I was looking for. “The tape ties inside the armhole are for securing the huge sleeve puffs, used 1825-1835.” Several other pages in the book show undergarments, including the sleeve puffs. Among these is a sketch of a figure from the Gallery of English Costume, Manchester, (U.K.) which rang a bell. In Blanche Payne’s History of Costume there’s a photograph of a woman wearing this typical underwear of 1825-1835. Her sleeve puffs are filled with down. I tried without success to find a link to the photo online. If you know what I'm talking about and have a link, please share!
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