Sewing Facinators

Carlotta Maria Ivanova was a famous seamstress who lived in Russia.

Carlotta could sew anything and she did!  The rich and famous, as well as the poor, went to Carlotta when they needed a garment made or repaired.  Carlotta was also adept at the art of ‘darning’ socks.

Carlotta was born in 1829 and she worked as a seamstress right up until her passing in 1919. She lived her entire life in the town of St. Petersburg.

Everywhere Carlotta went, she wore her one of a kind, seamstress hat, (called a facinator) which she had created and sewn herself.  Carlotta also had a large tooth, which she kept covered with a silver thimble.

Carlotta once hired an artist, Igor Jean-Louis, to compose a likeness of her on her tablecloth using the sewing items she identified with.   That artwork is preserved today and considered part of one of the Masterpiece collections in the State Hermitage Museum.

Carlotta was so pleased with the artist, Igor Jean-Louis, that she commissioned him to create tablecloth likenesses of her two children which are hanging on either side of their mother’s famous likeness, in the museum.

Fedora Ivanovo, eldest daughter.

Innochka Ivanovo, youngest daughter.

Fedora and Innochka grew up to become famous seamstresses in their own right.  Each of them also created their own fascinator hats in their early teens.