My Fantansy Dress Part 1

In which I introduce you to my most daring sewing creation yet- my own fantasy dress

Hello Friends! I am posting on a project- a very risky, scary, amazingly cool project! I have gone completely off the historical charts-I think i may have even gone mad too. *cough*. We will see in time if I have lost my mind.

Here is the back ground: Back in November my mom got me some gorgeous gold taffeta, a dotted length, and a length with some lovely raised designs on it. She assumed I was going to make a Regency gown from it. Well, time came and went, i was hired by a Theatre company to do some sewing and then there was my Christmas sewing, and so the gold material sat. Sad huh?
Then, in my bed one night, I thought "How nice a light blue taffeta would look with gold Lexi."
Somehow I ended up at Joann's after Christmas (with gift cards-that is what my family all gave me) and low and behold in the red-tag section there was some dotted light blue taffeta-just like my gold taffeta! But, it was still a little pricy. So, being a penny pincher (even with gift cards), I waited-and low the next wee the red-tag section went on 50% off and I got the whole rest of the bolt (about 6 yards) for $22.
Praise! God-I do not know how it happened-only that it was a God thing!

And then,,,,the thought process came about my gown. This was no ordinary gown.
I was not in the mood for Regency-and my closet is full of regency anyhow. I had sewn Medieval all December for the Theatre Production of the Musical Camelot, and so, naturally, I was in that kind of mood. But not totally. Then I remembered a dress from the Narnia movie Prince Caspian:
On the internet this dress of Susan's is known as her Farewell Dress. I sketched it out to see how it worked:

Yes, I thought- but not quite. I had to alter it to fit what I wanted. First off-the under gown was going to be gold. And the front of the over-gown-I wanted it to lace up the front. I went back and forth about having the large "v" shape bust- but decided to go with a slight heart-shape neckline instead. The over-gown's basic construction is different too-I did not want an A-line type over-dress, I wanted a fitted bodice (that gave an a-line allusion) and then a gathered skirt. The bodice is basically a full corset with a skirt attached.
My design:
The selection of pattens happened when the patterns went on 99cent sale.
For the over dress-I choose this as my basic jumping off point:
The under-dress was easier. I am using the under gown of this pattern, with an altered neckline (to give me that off the shoulder look with the folded band attached) :
I decided, after much thought, to make the over-gown first, as it is the hardest part, being a corset, and as I want to be able to have it done when i construct the neckline of my under-gown. The pattern I used had to be altered to open in the front, and I did not make separate grommet panels for it, since I have an under-dress I want to show through a bit! All this made for a lot of changes, but not hard one when I cut out my mock up. I cut the reg. paper pieces out, and then used a nice felt/fleece on which I cut my mock-up-with the changes I needed.
I am happy to say that all is going well, and that I have lots of progress to report. But you will have to wait for now.

Enjoy!
xoxox
Lexi