Recreating the Isabella MacTavish Fraser Scottish Tartan Wedding Dress
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 30. 06. 2024
- **Download a FREE PDF pattern of the gown here: www.american-duchess.com/isabe... (psst - there's a special bonus surprise when you download the pattern too! đ )
In Summer 2019, Abby and Lauren went to Scotland to lend our skills on a project led by Rebecca Olds of Timesmith Dressmaking at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Recreating the Isabella MacTavish Fraser wedding gown was no easy feat (despite how simple the gown might appear...). 18th-century dressmaking is a fickle beast and a challenge for even those of us who are quite familiar with the mantua-making trades. This "simple tartan gown" demanded all of our skills, expertise, and patience to come back to life as a recreation, and luckily, we were able to document the process, from start to finish.
This documentary on recreating the Isabella MacTavish Fraser wedding gown, from its history, the history of tartan, reproducing the fabric, and recreating the gown, is a result of many months of work, research, dreams, bloody fingers, and incredible interviews with experts. We learned so much during this project, and we are thrilled to finally share it with you.
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Timesmith Dressmaking: timesmith-dressmaker.co.uk/
Chas Whatmore, Videography, (@Sole Productions): soleproductions.co.uk
Simon Lees, Photography: www.simonsstudio.co.uk/
Prickly Thistle: pricklythistlescotland.com/
The Scottish Tartans Authority: www.tartansauthority.com/
"O Whar gat ye that hauver-meal bannock?
O Silly blind body. O dinna ye see?
I gat it frae a young, brisk sodger laddie,
Between Saint Johnston and bonie Dundee.
O gin I saw the laddie that gae me't!
Aft has he doudl'd me up on his knee:
May heav'n protect my bonie Scots laddie,
And send him safe hame to his babie and me!
My blessins upon they sweet, wee lippie!
My blessins upon they bonie e'e brie!
Thy smiles are sae like my blyth Sodger laddie,
Thou's ay the dearer, and dearer to me!
But I'll big a bow'r on yon bonie banks,
Whare Tay rins wimplin by sae clear,
And I'll cleed thee in the tartan sae fine,
And mak thee a man like thy dadie dear."
- Robbie Burns, 1787
Don't forget to subscribe! †- Jak na to + styl
Fabric was so expensive at the time, it's amazing that the dress survived, and was not cut up to recycle the fabric.
David Hutchison agreed! Thatâs why we were surprised to not find evidence of remaking. Definitely isnât normal!
It probably survived because this one was expensive, due to the dye used on it. I don't really know anyone easily cutting away expensive fabrics or dresses. If the original wearer liked it a lot, perhaps she wanted it preserved for future generations.
@@sapphirecamui6447 But that is exactly why most pieces were recycled. Because the fabric was so expensive and rich, that the owner would typically have it recycled into something else (women didn't save their special occasion dresses like we do, an 18th century wedding grown would certainly not sit in a wardrobe as memento it would be recycled or refitted to wear again or for a relative).
@Sapphire Camui expensive fabric price is all the more reason why it's so remarkable that it was NOTâïž cut up. Either by alterations for the original wearer, passing it down to a daughter & being fitted for her, or by turning it into different articles of clothing entirely. No fabric was wasted-it was re-purposed.
Seeing the Peacock Dress on the wall at 4:16 automatically made me think of Cathy Hay. Goodness, thereâs so many exciting projects happening in the sewing community! And all at once, too!
I know!! It's friggin great!!
I saw that too.
@Saul Thatcher No, nobody gives a damn. Reported for spam.
I know im asking the wrong place but does anybody know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account..?
I was stupid lost my login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me.
@Sean Peter Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm in the hacking process atm.
Seems to take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
The thing that I find most amazing is the fact that the colours of the original gown remain so very beautifully vivid even after all this time. It is a testament to the talent and skills of the original craftspeople who created the cloth, and to the honour the family have paid to it over the centuries.
Seona Elizabeth Coster agreed! Itâs in amazing condition!
@@AmericanDuchess1 it's definitely give on the - admittedly now several pages of 8pt font long - list of things to see when I finally make it to Scotland. . .
I have worked with tartan made on antique looms and once ONCE one made " old school" When working with wool one of the first things I learned was to get it wet in cold water. Stretch it on a frame whilst wet, work with the fabric making sure your lines are straight, pin down and allow to dry over night . Come back the next day make sure things are still straight. If not , dampen the areas that need some pushing around and stretching and do it again. I know that there is no way you could have done that with this project. But, that's how I was taught to work with wool tartan . That stuff is strong and can take a beating.
I just imagine the poor dressmaker rolling in her grave when she realizes that someone found her mistake and then recreated it! But it also makes it so much more real.
I get stressed when cutting into my fancy fabric, the first cut of that tartan would have made me nauseous.
Also, I get this is about the tartan, but I love the burgundy dress you are wearing throughout the commentary- Iâm hoping you made it as well and could share the pattern?
lol that poor mantua maker, and yes to the cutting of the tartan - I definitely felt a bit sick! lol As for the dress - it's an old one from the Banana Republic in collaboration with Issa. I've had it for years. Probably a similar option would be something from Sew Over It - they have a lot of lovely patterns & the blouse I'm wearing in this is the Anderson pattern from them. sewoverit.co.uk
I could seriously do with an in-depth mini-series of this
Here because Outlander and learned some actual history
Not alone at all
Me too!!
Meee
I've been a fan of dress history for a bit, mostly with Bernadette's videos but the name of this video in particular struck a cord after watching Outlander, too.
14 hours! My jaw hit the floor when I heard that. Iâm amazed. Youâre miracle workers
Iâd love to have seen a picture of Isabel Beaton wearing her great grandmotherâs dress from her wedding too.
There is one photo but it is a private photo and could not be used in the video
I just find it so amazing how long and into recent history her descendants wore it for their own wedding days! That it has survived so long and was still a wearable item surely speaks to the longevity of the fabric and design. A wonderful story and an even more amazing tribute to all of your hard work and research and discoveries regarding this dress!
My grannie was a fraser from Inverness.
Thatâs awesome!
This just reminds me so much of Outlander
That's sooo amazing
My great Grandmother had the maiden name Fraiser, but I haven't been able to trace her lineage beyond our immigration to the US. But every time I see a Fraiser, Fraise, or Fraser surname, I get so excited. I'd love to be able to reconnect with that Culture, and the name gives me such a strange feeling of kinship. But who knows, maybe our line split before the Danes ever even invaded, so we were never Scottish to begin with! History is wild.
Thank you, to Abby and Loren; including everyone in this documentary who recreated The Isabella McTavish-Fraser wedding gown for enlightening me on historical garments worn in the highlands of Scotland. Looking forward, to more documentaries of this type.
Congratulations Ladies!!! You did a wonderful job!
thank you!
I wana learn
What a fascinating journey. The fact that it survived and with very little altering is amazing. Thank you for taking on this project and sharing it with us all. Well done.
Absolutely beautiful tartan and I adore the dress! I really love how this dress has continued to be worn at weddings in the same family! Incredible history and the recreation is EPIC!!!
A Gypsy Circle thank you! đđ»
I'm from Edinburgh but now live in London, did some of my costume construction study up there so this was a selfishly fun watch! I had a bit of a tartan aversion for a long time as I had to wear a kilt as part of my school uniform but I'm slowly coming round to loving and embracing it again. I feel some not so historical but still old clothes in tartan making coming on!
This makes me really want to just wear one of these out in public for the heck of it.
doitdoitdoitdoit!
DO IT!
DOOOOOO ITTTTTTT.
Do it! I made one for myself and swanned all over town wearing it! đ
Slightly irritating that the name Fraser was constantly mis-pronounced. She kept saying Frasier as in the American TV show
Seeing the Isabella McTavish Fraser gown made me realise what I'm going to try to make and wear for Christmas 2020, economy willing. Thank you for recreating this beautiful dress.
Wonderful! Best of luck to you on the make!
Well done ladies - some fantastic research there, and thank you for making it readily available!
Thank you very much & you're very welcome!
As you started to talk about the more modern fabric, even though the weaver was older I realized what was going to happen. Even today you can have a different dye that can change how a fabric will fit. What you all did is amazing and such great investigative skills. You Ladies did a wonderful job. I just love it.
Because of this dress I'm considering doing my own wedding dress in tartan!
Will you use the tartan of your
future husband's clan or of
your own clan? I wonder if
the original dress was a gift
from the bridegroom to the
bride?
Having hand-sewn four kilts, I can entirely empathise with how hard that stuff is on the hands!
you understand!!
RIP extinct breeds of sheep, your wool is dearly missed đą
agreed!
It was absolutely beautiful â€ïž the colors are still so Vibrant I can't imagine seeing it at the first brides wedding.
that red was a color of status, too. It would have been wonderful to see
When I came to see you guys make Isabella McTavish Fraser's Gown, I was enthralled. I wish I could have stayed for longer, because it was a utterly wonderful to watch.
Elisa Finlayson thank you so much for your kind words and thank you for coming! â€ïž
Love the journey you took us on. I can't wait to go on the next one!
Thanks for the video and the download. Not sure I'll ever do anything with it, I haven't made any clothes yet. I quilt, have a few to get finished before trying any clothes, probably something fairly simple to start and give myself confidence. Awesome job on the dress.
Oh, what a stunning dress! I especially like the gorgeous pleated back. Thank you for sharing the pattern for free, although I would have payed good money for that amount of work. I wanted to make an "Outlander" dress and now I have a pattern for it! I'm thinking some lushious green is in my future. :)
Thank you! đ
This whole process, and seeing the finished product, makes my soul so happy. đđ Beautifully done!
I'm so glad!
Thoroughly enjoyed watching the progression of the gown and your adventure with it!
thank you!
That was awesome! I loved the history and that you guys recaptured the intention of the original dress. â€ïžâ€ïž
Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for all your hard work on this and releasing the video & the pattern!
This is incredible! Thank you so much for sharing the process! I love your 18th century dressmaking book and as a Scottish-By-Proxy person (I attended the Univ of St Andrews too!) who loves Scottish history, I am loving the women's highlander information.
You are so welcome! thanks for following
Lauren's hair is so cute in that pin-up style, I love it!
This was wonderful and congratulations on completing this project!!
This was fascinating! I want to make a tartan dress so bad!
Oh hello, Dressed Podcast intro!!! I loved the American Duchess episode. Itâs so exciting when worlds collide!
I love how doing this kind of thing allows insight into the life and minds of the people of the time. Of course, it's speculation, but the more you know about the context, the more accurate those speculations are. This was such a fascinating project.
Indeed! We did do some entertaining speculation about Isabella and how this dress may have gotten made ;-)
Beautiful work! What an exciting adventure. Oh to have been a fly on the wall. Have a great day.
Wow I really enjoyed this! There are so many amazing projects going on on costube lately, it really inspires me to work on my 1890s pieces :D
Such fun. Thank you. I've read of earlier tartan gowns - primarily in their political significance- but have only now seen what that meant.
Gorgeous dress! I wish I had known about this project as I would have loved to be there. I am just down the road and I have a degree in costume so something like this would have been perfect! I will definitely be downloading the pattern too! Thanks!
Thank you & enjoy the pattern!! :D
I LOVE this dress!!
This is so cool, I want to cry!
You all do cool stuff! Thank you for sharing. I loved this one. So beautiful.
thanks!
Surprised you didn't mention that tartan was illegal after The '45 until 1782. If the dress seemed 40 years out of date it may be because that was the last time the family was able to make a wedding dress out of tartan. Once the tartan was made legal again it had moved from a cloth for everyday use, to more for ceremonial garments. As others have said , because you can see so many of the stiches it may have been more likely made by the family and they tried to add "modern" touches to the type of Tartan dresses they have made in the past.
Those laws are actually more nuanced than what general history has tried to portray, and the exhibition (Wild and Majestic - Romantic Visions of Scotland) that the original gown was featured in addressed these nuances. It wasn't that tartan was illegal for everyone, all the time, it was very specific instances. Additionally, it didn't apply to women - which we found fascinating as well! We're obviously not scholars on the subject, we did learn a lot from Dr. Tuckett, Clare Campbell, and the curators at the National Museum of Scotland. :)
Hi @Katherine, sorry I've missed seeing your comment! While aspects of the gown were old-fashioned in style, the construction techniques were fairly typical for a mantua maker working in the 1780s. So the situation was like our experiences today: say you're a skilled modern dressmaker trying to make a dress that looks vintage. As indeed many dressmakers are asked to do, for brides that want something "in the style of their grandmother". đ
English Gowns were something you had to be trained (serve an apprenticeship) to learn how to make - although it's certainly true that just about everybody learned basic stitching as a child. The order of operation and the stitches used meant the threads were visible - I know, odd to our eyes today! And it was very common not to colour match your thread to your fabric -- unbleached linen thread as you see here in both the original gown and in our re-created gown was a versatile go-to thread for a wide range of garments, unless your fabric was silk.
Well done! You guys did an amazing job
Bravissimo! It's such an inspiration to see the amount of work that went into researching this gown!
Thank you!
Oh this was well done! I wish there was more!
So beautiful, Iâm inspired to the core!
What a WONDERFUL project ladies! As I was watching this I was thinking of the people who made this gown in a first place... They wouldn't have guessed that some centuries later, some seamstress would have studied this dress millimeter by millimeter :'D They would certainly feel proud but freak out and think something like they should have paid more attention to this or that hahaha :'D
Haha, indeed! I wonder if the dressmaker who made the funky sleeve mistake and fix would be embarrassed or just like "hey, what, we had 3 days to make this in the dark, get over it," lol
Oh, totally! đ
Now I just need a handsome kilt to go with my beautiful new red tartan dress!đđ
yessssss
This was such a fantastic video!
I my self plan on sewing my wedding dress and I am Clan Buchanan and proud and want to use the tarten in it as well. I cant wait but need to find a site where I can order.
Downloaded the pattern! đ Exciting!
yay!
Amazing video!
I remember seeing this gown at the museum when they had the special exhibition... but didn't notice the mistakes/unusual bits!
They're hard to spot and mostly only visible on the inside :-)
This is so neat đ
please do a report on the historical space suit sewing! thank you for this great effort! :)
Fascinating. Thank you for sharing this! Amazing job :)
Glad you enjoyed it!â€
Tartan would, particularly early in history have been worn by EVERY one. This is because tartan is a result of the weaving, not specifically a âpatternâ that weavers were going for, especially at first. Most weaving cultures produce a plaid or tartan pattern because it is a natural outcome of crossing warp and weft of different colours. It was only later that the colours of tartans became codified in the highlands, to particular colours and patterns for particular clans.
Timesmith Dressmaking, ahem, yes please đđ»ââïžđđ€
Timesmith Dressmaking, thank you so much!!!
Yes, thank you!
You did a great job on this one, as usual :)
Abby is like the fanatical English teacher in high school you had a weird bond with.
lol!
gorgeous!
Wow!
Wow, the preservation of the cloth and history is amazing. I would love to know the history and storage of the cloth , as well as recommendations for storing garments in contemporary time. Thank you.
Peter Macdonald is an expert on tartan - highly recommend talking to him about storing tartan.
I have some questions, would it have been possible that this gown was worn by someone else before Isabella? Or Maybe the dress makers didnât know the latest fashions? I only ask because of a few things you said like how out of date the style was and how it was adjusted for sizing and shape? Or maybe the older style supported the tartan better, being so heavy?
Thanks for sharing I really enjoyed seeing this đ„°
That's what we would like to believe, and if the dye testing hadn't been done - something that we would argue till we're blue in the face. However, because of the dye test dating the gown to post 1775, it doesn't seem likely that it was a remake from an older gown. (However, we are secretly hoping the dye dating was wrong and that what maybe it was a remake...)
American Duchess I was actually curious myself; when you pointed out that the â80s fashion for stays conflicted with the cut of the bodice, I wondered if â40s stays might have been a bit less âthrusty.â Iâm not versed well enough to identify stays from decade to decade, though.
Timesmith Dressmaking Well then perhaps the undergarments would have matched the fashion of the outer! (Regardless of the reason why the dress seemed so out of date.)
Once upon a time an American boy with Scottish family met a Canadian girl with Scottish family
Weâre getting Scottish married and I need a dress lol
fantastic! congratulations!
Thank You for the video, I have a strong Irish and Scottish ancestral line including MacTavish Fraser line two generation before Simon Fraser, which was Hugh Fraser the 7th Lord.
that's so cool!
Great learning process. Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
@@AmericanDuchess1 I bought today a Simplicity Pattern, American Dutchess, 8161. IAM going to use the petticoat for a skirt. Because it's winter, I will have an underskirt in flannel, and an outer skirt in a brown tartan, thinner material. And then add a off white petticoat, next to my body. Haven't sown in thirty years. Ha
WOW!
Absolutely a gorgeous recreation! â€â€ Thank you for sharing.đđ
I wonder if the original dress was a gift from the bridegroom to the bride?
Is the original fabric the tartan of the MacTavish family or the Fraser family?
my name is Arabella Isabel rose MacTavish. Im going to make this dress, it will be an amazing project and is going to be made out MacTavish Tartan. and well, it has my name on it, so..
Gorgeous work! Abby, what is the gray skirt that you have on? I love the detailing at the waist.
Debbie Green Snider thank you! itâs from Walker Slater! â€ïž
Amazing project! Have you found any discolouration of the pigments in the original dress, or alterations of the shape/size done after its making? and how did you account for that if you did find any?
Thank you! Most fabrics will fade over time, that's pretty standard for antique textiles, so it's safe to assume that the original dress has faded a little bit from it's original glory. The weaver took samples of the yarns and was able to do a pretty close color match for the reproduced textile, so that was what we did/how we handled it. :)
The colour match was extraordinary! As for any alterations or changes made to the original gown over the past 235 years (and counting), no, we could find no evidence of that. The same unbleached linen thread is used throughout and there are no marks in the lining of the bodice indicating any seams have been shifted (and that's where alterations are usually made, when they happen). It's a remarkably "unmolested" original!
YESSSSSS! đ
Abby, you look so stunning!
Abby is so calm and professional here. Hahahahaha
Working from the assumption that the colours are done with natural dyes, I think that the red colour is more similar to what you usally get from madder root, cochinille tends to have a pink tone to it. Also dark colours are really hard to do! Greens are mostly done with either woad or indigo in combination with yellow. If I don't know what a colour a plant gives, it is usally safe to assume it will be yellow.
Ada H. A. There was some dye testing done, which I think has been published online, so I believe they know that the red was done with cochineal and not madder, and the green was quercitron which was how the fabric was dated after 1775. Which was very surprising because there is a lot of indicators that the gown was actually older than 1785 in its construction and design. âșïž this gown is full of mysteries and secrets!
@Timesmith Dressmaking interesting that cochille gives blue on wool, that I have never seemed mentioned in any of my books! Now I might order some to try for myself :) Personally I just dabble with natural dyes, preferably mushrooms.
@Timesmith Dressmaking makes more sense with the extra word đ€Ł i am aware, which is one of the reasons I have not tried it yet since it is not local to me. Also there are loads of local mushrooms that yield different shades of red.
@Timesmith Dressmaking For example Cortinarius phoeniceus gives red, and quite a lot of the mushrooms in the Cortinarius family is mentioned in my Bible. Cortinarius sanguineus are for me one that gives the best reds.
Also sarcodon squamosus can yield blues, although that I have not been able to replicate that yet.
@Timesmith Dressmaking as far as I understand mushroomdyeing is a rather new thing.
Abby cox the burgundy dress you were wearing where did you get it it's beautiful? Or what pattern?
It's an old-y from the Banana Republic -- a collaboration they did with Issa to recreate the same dress (in a cheaper textile) as Kate Middleton's engagement dress. Probably a close option would be the 1940s wrap dress from Sew Over It sewoverit.co.uk/product/1940s-wrap-dress-sewing-pattern/ đ
Gee CZcams, thanks for the notification on this video that I want to watch....oh wait, that's right. You never sent me one.
Abby's dark blouse in this is beautiful. Please tell me it's home made and there's a pattern out there so I can sew one.
I believe that blouse came from H&M
Is it weird that I have a very similar fireplace (if not the same) than what is behind Rebecca Olds? I was meant to watch this video, silly as it may sound :D I love historical gowns and how they are made. This video is very interesting. :)
interesting!
Was there any particular reason that the fabric you used was not waulked and stretched beforehand?
Thanks! I mustâve missed the explanation,
Just found your channel Iâm a new subscriber! Thank You for what you do. So interesting. Iâm a weirdo and canât help but notice how much you move your hands and arms when you speak lol. Do you teach classes of some sort? You look like youâre talking to a large group of people, always. I love it. đ
Abby used to work at Colonial Williamsburg as an interpreter - so yeah - she's used to talking to really big groups! đ
American Duchess đ it makes me want to watch. Like youâre really interested in what your saying so I should be too. Haha!
I'm very late to the party but I was disappointed to see the pattern is "sold out" on the American Duchess website. But this was a great video!
The pattern is not sold out - you just have to scroll down to the download link in the description under the pictures. I know, super annoying, but there's a bug in our new website that doesn't let us put the button where it ought to be.
@@AmericanDuchess1 Oh thanks! I'll definitely be trying that!
Soy de San Juan RepĂșblica Argentina â€ïžđđž
I was wondering, are you assuming that any assymetri in the dress were made by mistake, or could it not be the result of it being made to fit Isabella's body? (Like the bodice pleats being un-centered)
Sarah Algelius some things are absolutely because of how mantua makers worked - shaping fabric to the body, and some things just seem to be mistakes. The cb seam would have been done on a work table, so is a result of some not so careful folding and stitching and not necessarily because of Isabellaâs body. đ
Hello! If you wouldnât mind, could you fix the link to the pattern? The link in the description seems to be broken, and a lot of people are also confused since itâs listed as âsold outâ (to anyone who encounters that issue: just scroll down to the download button). Thank you!
I asked our web guy about this and unfortunately there's (apparently) no way to remove the "sold out" on the image. We'll keep working on it.
â€ïž
Why I have not seen this vid before? I'm subscribed, have my notifications engaged... wt hey?
Oh gosh, not sure! But we're so glad you've seen it now
@@AmericanDuchess1 me too. I like the history presented through clothing. I am so curious, and would love to see a photo of the granddaughter who wore the dress in 78.
Is the pattern no longer available?
it's available here - www.americanduchess.com/collections/books-and-patterns/products/isabella-mactavish-fraser-pattern-pdf
Me gusta mucho, lo pueden traducir al castellano, por favor, me interesa mucho, ya que soy modista, gracias đđ
gracias!
shame how "we want to honor our model" also turns into "this body is "wrong" ". i think it would have been more satisfying to find someone as close to isabella as possible, to make the focus the dress rather than changing it to fit a different body.
the final result is GREAT tho
well, all bodies are different, and we often don't discover the small, subtle differences until the dress is in progress or nearly done. Just goes to show that even when the bust-waist-hip measurements are the same, a garment made for one individual can and will fit very differently on another.
@@AmericanDuchess1 agreed! But so there was an attempt to match them? In that case i have no complaints:)
Where's the dress now? What was the family of Isabella reaction to the dress?
I believe the gown is back in Inverness. The family members that came to the demonstration all seemed quite happy with our recreation :-)
Is it possible that the weirdness of the gown is from later alterations from the later generations?
No, there doesn't seem to be any evidence for remaking - that was one of the things Abby requested be looked for when the gown was examined. (though we really wish there was - it would explain a lot!)
You said you were in Nevada. I looked you up and realized you guys are from Reno!
I am from Reno. I was just wondering if you guys work with any of the young chautauquans? I know I would have loved a business like this being around when I did it as a child
Hi! I (Abby) have never heard of the young chautauquans - could you elaborate more on the program?? :)
For a short moment, I thought this had something to do with the Outlander tv show
Must be the "Fraser" aspect - this Fraser, though, was a real person. ;-)
American Duchess yeah đ as well as the MacTavish part.
I thought the same. Who knows perhaps the author was inspired by these names?
Which book is this from?
Hi! Not sure I understand what you're asking? The gown is an original in the Inverness museum, and we did a recreation of it in June 2019. We released a pattern w/ instruction in November 2019
American Duchess I did see the pattern and I canât wait to try it.
I thought Lord Lovett was made up till I found it in my family tree.