Monday, March 31, 2014

HSF14 #6: Fairytale

http://thedreamstress.com/the-historical-sew-fortnightly-2014/



The Challenge: Fairytale. 
Fabric: Cotton bed sheet 
Pattern:  Sense and Sensibility - The Elegant Lady's Closet. Drawstring Dress. 
Year:  1790s 
Notions: thread 
How historically accurate is it? Not too bad considering it's made from a bed sheet and machine stitch. The pattern it's made from is historically accurate and for my first ever Regency gown, I think I did pretty good (the stays are another story however). 
Hours to complete: I think I had it done in about a week or so with the here-and-there way I sew. 
First worn: March 22, 2014 at the Regency Exhibition Ball in Lansing, MI 
Total cost:  Believe it or not.. $5.47. I got the sheet at the thrift store for $3.98 (1 full or queen top sheet and 1 pillowcase) and $1.49 for the little flower trim... that I forgot to take a picture of, sorry.

This was my very first go at Regency era. I have never had much interest in it bu my friend Jennilee of Miss Leah Wilde's Sewing Blog found the Regency Exhibition Ball online somehow and we decided we would make the 4 hour drive to Lansing, MI to give it a try. We had a great time and will definitely be going back next year. The dancing was fun and easy to pick up on with the instruction, the people were friendly and we did not end up being the "country cousins" we thought we might be. I know what I want to do for next year thanks to all my movie watching to get into the right mind set. For weeks I watched everything Netflix had for Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre and Emma...... AND I discovered one of my new favorite movies... Austenland!!! I've seen it at least 1o times in the past month and it's my Friday evening routine now.

Now on to the challenge. I didn't really choose a fairytale and didn't think I would be completing anything for this one because I couldn't find anything on my list that fit. But while I was working on the dress it hit me... Cinderella. The blue that is in the dress is pretty close to Cinderella Blue and either a.) what would the mice had made her dress out of that they could have gotten easily? or b.) what if the fairy godmother didn't have  magic and maybe she was... I don't know, another servant in the house or something like that that knew how to sew? They would have used what they had on hand to make a ball gown. In my case, it was a bed sheet and pillowcase. And I used the magic of electricity to sew that sheet into a dress that I wore to a ball. It's a bit of a stretch I know, but hey, I have a challenge entry!

The Plan.


Check my awesome use of limit fabric! That's the whole bodice (minus sleeves) cut from 1 pillowcase! The scalloped edge and piping was removed and saved and ended up on the sleeves.

 The back panel *just* barely fit!!!!

Inside the bodice, showing the "lining" (this was really awkward to pin in place once it was on).

The bodice after the sleeves are in and the drawstring casing at the top made. I first made the dress with the short poof sleeves but they looked and felt absolutely terrible so I ripped them out and cut the elbow length sleeve instead and one size larger for comfort and had much better success.

Putting in the tabs on the back for the drawstring.

Skirt on and drawstring inserted.

The back before finishing the neckline. I picked out that spot on the left sleeve and fixed it, it looks like the right side now.

The trim added to the bottom of the dress. Sad thing is, if I would have figured out that I could get skirt out of the dress out of the single width of the sheet, I would not have had to take the trim off in the first place (though then there would have been a seam in the trim and with the way I did it, there is not, so that's a plus.)

The finished dress.

What I learned from this project: This style Regency dress was not made for my body type or maybe it just needs to be a different color, I never white anything with this much white.

Overall though, the dress was very easy to make in comparison to my other projects. and I might try and make the cross front dress from the pattern if I find another sheet I like at the thrift store... or maybe some curtains :)

2 comments:

  1. excellent use of thrift store finds :)

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  2. Thank you. When I saw the sheet it was like "take me home and make me into a Regency gown" and I was like "but I've never made anything Regency and I don't really have an interest in that ear" and it was all "don't care, take me home NOW!"

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