So what have I been doing for nearly a month? The long answer is prepping for our Spring Break trip to Colonial Williamsburg, dealing with multiple computer crashes and internet outages and shuffling between numerous birthday parties. The short answer is -- this dress.
It's the
1780s Portrait Dress from
Sense & Sensibility patterns and it's quite similar to the pricy (and daily) Williamsburg costume rental dress for young girls. It's a very wearable dress, unlike the heavy dress-up I made last year, and the simple white frock dress style is easily found in paintings and portraits in the latter half of the 18th century. In other words, it ain't so
farby too.
I chose to do the fitted bodice style with elbow length sleeves in a white midweight linen. Size 6 with a few changes, of course. Instead of hook and eye fastenings up the back, I went with a more authentic (says my textile historian brother-in-law) "ladder of bows", five sets of 1/4 inch linen tape to tie up the back. I also cut the skirt to the size 8 length and, in hindsight, could have gone a few inches longer.
Most of this dress is machine sewn, but the hems and finishing were done by hand, including that super deep bottom hem. I had wanted to do grow tucks, thus the size up in length, but I was just shy of extra material for two tucks and one tuck looked skimpy. I didn't want to cut off the extra length as Miss Loodyloo always grows up before out so the three inch hem was my compromise. Fortunately, it nicely weights the bottom of the dress which maximizes twirl.
The dress pattern is listed for an intermediate skill level and I'd say that's a fair assessment. The fitted bodice option requires some hands on tailoring since this style of dress is meant to be perched on the edge of tiny shoulders. In the end, I took an inch off each side of the shoulder strap and reduced the seam allowance to a scant 1/4 inch at the top of the sleeves/bodice area. There's still a bit of growing room in the width, but the back ties help keep that in check. We'll get a few years at least out of this option. The drawstring/gathered bodice would likely not require much tweaking as it's more forgiving. Something to keep in mind for easy on/easy off play dresses too.
The sash is silk crepe de chine in a gorgeous deep teal. I pinned several period portraits on my
1780s Pinterest board showing different colored sashes, mostly blue and pink, but it was the
Oddie Children by Sir William Beechey in 1789 that was the inspiration for that marvelous color. The crepe de chine has a wonderful drape and miraculously, for silk, it resists wrinkles. Even crammed into a suitcase, it came out crease free. Amazing.
The best part of this outfit, however, is the thing you hardly see. A handkerchief weight (3.7 oz) linen shift, just poking out of the bodice top, that I hand sewed from start to finish. All seams flat felled, no raw edges to be found, all with linen thread that I waxed with beeswax for strength and smoothness. I even hand sewed the long body seams, often the place where machine sewing is considered acceptable in such a garment. Crazy, I know, but excellent practice. The shift pattern is from Mill Farm and I found out after I cut it that we now know a drawstring neck is not period appropriate. Oh well, there's always something to improve upon, right? The Loo loves this shift so much, she's worn it every night since as a nightgown. In fact, I have no better picture to show you since she will not give it up!
Cost in materials -- $37.50 Cost saved from costume rental -- $25.
But at least we get to keep this one...
