Secret things have been stirring, and new plans are forming in my life, that as of yet, most of my dear blog readers know nothing about!
But, the time has come for things to start coming out, and because of this, I have a Regency post for you today!
I have an "event" come September and have been sewing for it with great joy-though I know it might be a little early!
This dress is made from lovely White-Dotted Swiss from Hancocks. I have not found Dotted Swiss at Joannes-and for an inexpenisve option-I recommend this cloth! On sale you can get it for under $5 a yard.
I know of several costumers who have used this for Regency projects. One wouldn't suppose a sheer cloth like this would be so hard to get your hands on-but it is. So when I stumbled upon it in May of last year-I snagged it during the 1/2 price sale and saved it-like precious metal-for months!
The joke in the family became that whatever happened in our life-I would be okay because I had my fabric stashed away!
When I started to think about my new adventure in the upcoming fall of this year, I got the fabric out, pressed it and set to work.
The main dress was based on this Past Pattern-
But the sleeves were altered by me-I replaced the narrow 3/4 length with a huge puffed sleeve attached to a narrow wrist-length sleeve.
The only real visible evidence for the passer-by to tell that this dress is from that pattern, lies in the back bodice-the diamond shape in the center back. That detail is what attracted me to the pattern in the first place.
The sleeves are actually set into a v-shaped hole! I found the first ste of puffed-sleeves I cut out were too small, that the odd-shaped holes pulled the light gathers too much-and that I need more ease.
But I had no more Dotted Swiss! Panic time! But then I remembered what I had told one of my little children who I teach, that mistakes are the greatest opportunity for creativity. At Joannes I found some lovely diagonally pin-tucked fabric which looks perfect. A nice little detail.
I am not positive how closely I followed the directions. For instance, I did not take the dart-like raise in the front bottom skirt (I believe they did that so that the front of slightly higher for walking) instead I was lazy and did some cute rather large (but straight!) pintucks!
And confession of confessions, I lined both skirt and bodice (not sleeves) since I did use a sheer fabric.
I took my time with this dress-pleats instead of messy gathers, french seams (okay not on all the seams!), pressed pintucks, sleeves basted first and then sewn, no elastic in the waist-a real drawstring!
I am very proud and happy. The hard work paid off!
So happy and Blessed. Only God gave me the patience to re-make the sleeves instead of leaving the ugly ones on.
I praise HIM for His help and love.
xoxox
Lexi
Nice job, Lexie! I love dotted swiss! :)
ReplyDeleteAh! You got white dotted swiss from Hancock! When I tried to get it at my local Hancock, they were all out and it wasn't in the warehouse or online :-(. But I'm glad to see that you got some and that you put it to great use! And I love the pintucks!
ReplyDeleteWhat you could try on a future Regency gown is using a sheer fabric, but instead of lining it make a petticoat (which is essentially a sleeveless Regency dress) to go with it. I had some success with it and I've seen examples of it around where it looked really nice. Sense and Sensibility pattern's website has instructions on how to make a Regency petticoat if you're interested (though read carefully through the instructions first -- I rushed through them and made some mistakes along the way that I could have avoided).
But again, great job! :-)