Little White Dress
Finished! Well, except that I need to order more white silk ribbon for the drawstring...I discovered this afternoon that I'm out, and used stiff unpleasant poly for now.
Photos first, and then I'll complain about tucks...
Modeled with very historically-inappropriate hair and footwear (for my age, anyway!), but I just wanted to get this documented and out of the way.
The back closes with two hooks and eyes, and a drawstring at the neckline; I find this tends to gap just a little bit, but as all my underwear's white, I'm not too fussed. And there are so many period examples of dresses that close the same way, somebody must have had a slight gap at some point, right? Plus with only two hooks, I can put it on myself...more than that and I need help dressing!
And a couple of silly pictures. We have wild strawberries growing in our lawn...
And now a few details: the dress is made of white cotton Swiss dot and is inspired by a dress in Costume in Detail by Nancy Bradfield. It's all hand sewn, and yes, those tucks were very very boring to sew! The dress is completely unlined; all the white you see is from my undergarments.
It's a little easier to see on the pictures I took on Mabel, my dummy(who is still wearing her 18thc stays!):
And she also shows off the dress' dirty little secret...I completely screwed up my mental math when adding for tucks, and the skirt ended up far too short!
Like, this much too short.
Like, shows the tops of my boots and a bit of stocking too short. It looked rather silly. Of my options for fixing this screwup (because apart from that I was very pleased with the dress!), making the hem into a fake tuck and putting a piece in below that seemed the best. It does mean that the lowest "tuck" is closer to the tuck above it than the others are, which looks a little silly in and of itself, but...it's not as instantly noticeable as "LOL your dress is too short, innit?"
Now you're all scrolling back up, looking at the hem, and going, "...oh, you're right, it does look totally screwy," aren't you? ;)
Regardless of wacky tucks, now I get to move on to the fun part, and the whole reason I wanted the new dress - as a base for a spencer and a new bonnet! I bought a couple of straw blanks to see if I can wrangle them; if not I still have time to buy buckram.
Photos first, and then I'll complain about tucks...
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| Strawberry! |
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| Yeah, try not to get it on your white dress. *brushes hands off* |
It's a little easier to see on the pictures I took on Mabel, my dummy(who is still wearing her 18thc stays!):
Like, this much too short.
Now you're all scrolling back up, looking at the hem, and going, "...oh, you're right, it does look totally screwy," aren't you? ;)
Regardless of wacky tucks, now I get to move on to the fun part, and the whole reason I wanted the new dress - as a base for a spencer and a new bonnet! I bought a couple of straw blanks to see if I can wrangle them; if not I still have time to buy buckram.
Very pretty! I really wouldn't have noticed the tucks being off, if you hadn't pointed it out. I was just about to say how pretty the tucks were before I read that! Still pretty, though :)
ReplyDeleteCaroline
Thank you! And I always feel the need to point out things I've done wrong on costumes, for fear some Very Helpful Person will point them out for me, as if I didn't know, hehe. It's a habit at this point! "It's a nice dress BUT..."
DeleteLove it! Didn't notice any of the "flaws" you mentioned, until you mentioned them! Great job!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteSo simple and beautiful! It fits you perfectly!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteLovely little white dress. I really didn't notice that the dress was too short. it seems intended with the extra length added. Thanks for sharing your goof as it helps to know others are "human" too!
ReplyDeleteThanks! And that's precisely why I share my "oopsies" - no dress of mine springs fully-formed and perfect from my hands! There's always *something*.
DeleteHello Amanda! Another beautiful creation! Like everyone else, I didn't notice the shorter hem length - still one of the best little white Regency dresses I've ever seen!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I've nominated you for a Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award! (Link here: http://youngsewphisticate.blogspot.com/2015/06/sisterhood-of-world-blogger-award.html) Have fun & keep inspiring us, Anneliese :)
Thank you so much! :)
DeleteAnd I'll have to take some time to answer those questions, they're good ones!