Georgian Masquerade

Since we've had masks on the mind the last 2 years during the pandemic, I thought I'd do a post about 18th century masquerade masks.

I highly suggest the following research article by our friend, Philippe Halbert, about masks in the colonies. 

Let's look at some images of masquerade masks:

The research tells us that some masks were made of velvet, with vellum for stiffening, and lined with silk or linen.  The images also suggest other materials.  There are some that are shiny and painted with facial features which suggests some sort of paper mache and paint.  Some look molded and others not.  I decided that the easiest thing to do was to use pressed paper masks to accomplish something similar.

The easiest thing to do is simply to paint these masks.  If your paper mask is unusually shaped liked the example below, you will want to trim it to be a more appropriate shape.  If the mask has ties fastened on with a metal rivet, pull the ties off and either cut the rivet out or cover it with the ribbon tie.  I did attempt to punch a hole next to the rivet to put my ribbon through.  It worked on one side but not the other so I'll just cover it.

Trimmed to desired shape--this mask will be painted and have silk ribbon glued in place.

You may choose to attach a silk ruffle.  This beautiful mask was gifted to me by a dear friend.  The mask is painted, has a gathered silk ruffle that is glued on and it has silk ribbon ties through the holes on the side.

If you wish to go to more trouble, here are the instructions for covering your mask with fabric.  You will need:

• silk velvet
• linen
• quick grab or thick fabric glue

First-- pull any ties off the mask.

Coat the outside of the mask with your fabric glue, spreading it into a thin even layer.  You don't want it to be so thick that it seeps through the fabric.

Put the mask glue side down onto the wrong side of some silk velvet and roughly trim the velvet to have about a 1/2 inch border.  Run a line of glue near the outer edge of the wrong side of the mask.

Turn the excess fabric to the inside, keeping the edge snug against the paper mask.  Corners can be tricky.  you can try to miter them.  This will be covered with lining so it's not too important.

Make sure the edges are smooth on the outside of the mask.

To finish the eye holes, cut a slit in the center the length of the eye from corner to corner.

Snip the fabric to the paper mask edge, run a bead of glue around the perimeter of the eye hole and turn the fabric to the wrong side of the mask.  Work on smoothing it into place.

The outer fabric is complete.  Allow the glue to dry.

Once the glue is dry, cut a piece of linen a bit larger than the mask.  You want it to be on the bias for eash shaping.

Put some glue on the wrong side of the mask on the exposed paper.  You do not want the glue to be at the edges.  Set the linen on the mask and smooth into place.

Trim the linen to have a 1/4 - 3/8 inch border.

Tuck the linen overhang under and secure with pins.

Prepare the linen at the eye holes as you did the velvet.

Tuck the linen in place at the eyehole and pin in place.

Whip stitch the linen to the velvet at all edges.  Here is the finished covered mask:

I decided to add a ruffle.  I made a pattern using 1 inch grid pattern cloth.  You should be able to use this inage as a guide.

I cut and pinked some silk taffeta and turned the top edge down.

I whip gathered the top edge to fit my mask and stitched the ruffle to the linen.

The stick was covered with black velvet.  I made a tube and slipped the stick inside.  I did stitch it to the lining but I didn't feel it was very secure.

To make the stick more secure, I cut a piece of linen and glued it over the stitching, making it good and snug.

To make Moretti masks:

You will need the full face molded paper masks.  They are way too large so I trimmed the excess to get a shape that resembled the images I had.

I've kept that first cut mask as a reference to trace.

Following the mask contour, I drew a half lining pattern to use.

I followed the above instructions to cover the moretti mask with velvet.  I stitched the center seam of the linen lining and attached it to the velvet.  I used a large glass bead I had and attached it to the inside of the mask with heavy cotton thread which I covered with blanket stitches.  If you choose to use a bead, make sure it is loose enough to be able to put it in your mouth!

Finished wrong side:

Finished right side:

I really enjoyed these projects.  It was a fun diversion during these trying times.  We even had a masquerade mask gift exchange party via Zoom.  I hope to try my hand at creating some of the pained masks with facial features.

If you want a fun little project, give 18th century masks a try!