Soooo......

[llyrafantasyfae]

Living in the desert of the SW means I don't get much of a winter. In fact this year I think Big Guns Upstairs completely forgot. Its in the high 70s and soon to be low 80s this week. I am sure I have said here before but I hate the heat. I had heat stroke in the military and my internal thermostat is now broken. I like cold weather because its easier for me to warm up then it is for me to cool off. Why the long story about hating the heat? Because I am sooooo jealous of those of you who do get winter. Besides the personal "I want cool weather" You all get to do Costuming events where you wear winter ensembles! Soooooo looking and being jealous of you, mandie_rw And then you guys started knitting your Gettysburg stuff. Yea.... Green eyed Monster over here.
But koshka_the_cat came up with a plan for next year, to go play in the moutains by her. They actually get snow!!!! I've been so excited but just in the planning stages. I want to make an outfit that I can wear to year round events so it can't have fur or be made of thick materials. Snow is a reason to make a new outfit but not one that I will only wear once. So the plan is to make winter accesories for the outfit. Then I found this:

on pinterest. I automatically assumed it was knitted and dismissed it because I am still just learning to knit. That looked to me like a fancy knitting stitch and a whole coat of a fancy stitch was beyond my capabilities for this year. I sent the pic to koshka_the_cat as a 'one day when I can knit I want this' type thing. She is awesome and sent me the Met link and informed me that it wasn't knitted. And once I zoomed in on my computer (not phone like I view 95% of my stuff,) I could see what she meant. I am not entirely sure what it is but its not knitted. And so now not knowing ANYTHING about this coat. I want to make it even more. I must have this coat so I can go play in the snow with it.
So wonderful LJ hive mind. Curious if anyone knows anything about this coat. I plan to research the heck out of it because I WANT IT. But if any of you know about it or even something about it I would thouroughly adore and appreciate a push in the right direction.

Comments

[starlightmasque.livejournal.com]

oooo that's magnificent! It looks to me like one long puffy strip of soft wool, then it is manipulated and criss crossed and looped to make round puffs and sewn together in a grid. I'm sure that makes no sense, but up close you can see it's a single strip bunched and twisted around a second strip that is also bunched and twisted. IT'S CRAZYPANTS. Love it!

[starlightmasque.livejournal.com]

OH!! I get it now. It's a long string of puffballs, made from a fluffy strand of (something-- wool?) and tied/sewn at intervals to make the round balls... then the strands are woven together, then sewn to the next row, over and over. You can see the puffball strands on the fringe-- that is just an incredible coat!

[trinnyt.livejournal.com]

I SO understand these feels!

I want carraige boots, and woollen bustle coats, and woollen pelisses...

Curse you Brisbane Australia Winter and your lack of cold!

[mala-14.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure it's swansdown that has been manipulated into those little puffs but left fluffy around the edges. They were pretty popular in this era. I think it's one in the V&A that I'm remembering from 19th Century Fashion in Detail that is like this. Unfortunately, that sounds really difficult to replicate, but maybe you could find a substitute material?

[missmalexander.livejournal.com]

You could do a similar pattern with quilting. It is beautiful and I'm so jealous of your mountain frolick!

[ashamanja-babu.livejournal.com]

No idea, but it's gorgeous!

You are absolutely right about winter being awesome. Have fun in the mountains!

[mandie-rw.livejournal.com]

Aww! Yeah, I really like my winter weather; I don't do very well in heat. Though I will say I'm glad we're not being dumped on like the Boston area is...that might be a bit too much, haha! I hope someday you'll be able to come visit us on the East Coast. In winter, naturally, so we can all wear Pimp Coats, hehe. ;)

That's such an interesting coat, isn't it! I actually played this game with Robin; she thought it looked like knitting as well, and I pointed her to this mantle at the V&A that's of similar date and location with the exact same nubbly bits: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O114452/mantle-unknown/

Apparently it's "swansdown shaped into roundels." Madness! Well, ultimately doable once you break it down...but madness! ;)

[sadievale.livejournal.com]

I so forgot to post earlier but when I first saw this I was like yay, please make this!! :)