And the final product...

Hubby and I had a grand time at our annual volunteer dinner, and I magically finished the dress 2 whole hours before the event! It was so refreshing to see all the wonderful people in this hobby since it has been a couple of months. There were so many lovely new gowns there it was almost like a preview of next month's upcoming fashion show. And kudos to the Fort and staff, they have created a lively event calendar that should make for an incredible 2010 season. Our family is so excited to participate!

Here is the official full-length of the dress. I wish I had a mysterious Victorian house to photograph myself in, or a deserted old ballroom, but our suburban home will have to do for now. Maybe someday we will get to restore something more antique :).

This the first dress I have made in 2 years, so I am simply happy I finished it! Having a customized toile fit by Carolann Schmitt of The Genteel Arts Academy, certainly helped inspire my confidence! Now if I can only make about 3 more to upgrade my dresses that no longer fit...ah, the joy of winter is sewing!

The trim!

I've been pondering trim options, colored cotton lace like that on the original being out, and settled on this version. It is strips of bias fabric, fringed and double box pleated, and then tacked up in the center. The 1850s were all about fringe and frou-frou and while I do feel slightly like a cupcake, it generally suits my girly side just fine.

A sneak peek of the dress...and that's all you'll get to see until after our dinner this weekend!

Edited to add:
Interesting research tidbit - I talked with the owner of the original dress, and she said that the trim was added on the sleeve to cover the sleeve hemming which was done on the right side of the fabric. The original dress was really quite poorly constructed by modern terms (skirt plaids not matching at all, sleeve hemming on the outside). So while I don't have the same need for disguise, trimming is one of my favorite aspects of design and I can't imagine not augmenting in some way!

Sometimes I win...

...and sometimes the dress wins, as is definitely the case right now. I think I finally have the skirt gauged after 3 tries, but there is still the task of attaching it and figuring out how to do an off-set closure. Wish me luck!

It's back on!

The sewing machine is back and working beautifully. I always love how my machine sews right after its been tuned. It actually was really broken this time, so I'm glad I took it in.

The weekend rain afforded me some time to finish my plaid silk bodice. I'm pretty happy with how the sleeves turned out. The top sleeve is a two piece shirred down to a fitted lining on both sides. I'm a bit crossed-eyed, but the plaid is mirror-imaged on sleeves and bodice, biased and matched (with the exception of the underarm sleeves and side seams), whew!

The bottom bell sleeves are lined with white silk (not sure exactly what type, probably chiffon or habotai, courtesy of the Sew Expo remnant table) so as to show off the eventual white undersleeves. This is my first dress using custom and/or completely drafted patterns, and wow, does it ever make a difference in the fit! The bodice is drafted with 1/2" ease, compared with 2-3" of ease in a modern garment, so it can be tricky to get a good fit with that little wiggle room!

Our Northwest winters are quite rainy, so we headed out with the kids to our local museum's family day this weekend. The kids loved the fossils, dino footprints, replica dinosaur teeth and toys!

The rowed in their very own Native American canoe, inside the local tribes exhibit (which also had a nice display of various Hudson's Bay Company beads I wished I could use for reenacting).


The museum also had a furnished 1886 classroom (our school district is one of the oldest in the state, and while I'm not certain, I believe this was an original classroom). The kids found their seats and Nate started doing his "work." The books on the shelves were many that we have in our own home for study.

There was also a "pioneer" area with half a covered wagon, a general store and a place to try on some clothes. I almost wanted to volunteer to sew them some things, but I can't even keep up with my own projects! It was a fun family morning though, and the kids had a good time.

I'm off to keep plugging away at my dress, I'm gauging with tiger tape this time, so the stitches and gauging "pleats" should be my most even yet! Hopefully, this dress will be finished soon!

Beginnings of the Plaid Silk Dress

I've begun working on my first silk dress! I decided after working with the silk yesterday (while watching Gone with the Wind I might add), that I am so spoiled by the fabric I may never sew anything else again :). My inspiration is the dress above. The sleeves on this one may be a bit tricky and I'll have to draft them myself, but I'm excited for the challenge.



This is my progress on the bodice so far, I'm rather petite in real life, and I can't get my dress mannequin to go small enough to properly display the bodice, but it fits beautifully. It did take me a couple of hours of planning and frustration (made all better by a snack of chocolate peppermint bark), but I managed to "mirror image" the plaid on the bodice fronts, just like the original dress.

One of the many tips I learned at our conference last Spring put on by Carolann Schmitt of The Genteel Arts Academy, is how to do a faux 3-piece back. This back is actually a one-piece, but with tiny tucks that appear almost like piping. I need to finish up the bodice boning and piping, and I'll be ready to tackle the sleeves!

I am encouraged by how fast this went together now that I have a base pattern toile. Once I get a good basic sleeve draft, I should be ready to produce several dresses which will be very much used this busy season. I should be updating the project list soon with a slate of new lovely things for the New Year. Merry Christmas to all!