Changes for Felicity

It's been way too long that this project has sat, unfinished! Twenty-one years is a LONG time to long for one particular dress! ;) I'm presently on a little bit of a "summer vacation," and am dreaming of wearing this dress in Williamsburg this fall (I hope!) and so, I've picked back up where I left off. Which is, with an almost perfectly patterned bodice/sleeves/stomacher, and a partially made petticoat.

My goal here is still to find a happy medium between faithfully recreating the doll's dress, but also achieving some historical accuracy. One of the reasons I stalled on this project for a long time was because the doll's dress has the bodice back pieces and skirt back cut separately, yet every extant example of a dress from this era with a stomacher that I could find had the bodice and skirt cut in one, and then pleated down. I wasn't sure if I wanted to lean more towards the doll dress, or historical accuracy with this detail. In the end, I've decided to go with the separate bodice back and skirt pieces. I hope I'll some day find at least one surviving example supporting this, but even if not, I feel it is plausible that someone who was sewing a dress at home would like the stomacher-front that had been in fashion, and mix it up with the new fashion for cutting the bodice and skirt separately. And in the story, this dress is indeed homemade, partly by Felicity's mother, and then finished by Elizabeth's mother. That the dress was made by two different seamstresses helps my case for the possibility of the two styles being blended even more. Yes, I am a dork. ;)

So far today, I have cut everything out, and shortly will begin sewing it. . .

And now with a hat!

Today I attended a stroll and tea which required a hat as part of the dress code, so of course I started mine last night. ;) This is just a cheap party store straw hat, which got soaked and shaped and left over night to dry - which it didn't! So this morning, I spent time going over it with my hair dryer, which got it mostly dry. Then I took a long strip of fabric and fashioned it into something bow-ish. It's not perfect, but hey, it worked! And, being ever so slightly damp meant I was able to shape it a bit more once I had it on. Here it is in the picture below, worn too far off to the side, because during the course of the stroll, I discovered this hat is definitely a two-hat-pin hat!

1840s Ensemble Finished!

Bodice #1 done! I managed to get sleeves that I really like, and actually, there are so few things I would end up changing about the bodice that I might not need to make a bodice #2 after all! And, skirt done as well. I did the bodice mostly by machine (except some hand finishing), but the skirt is entirely by hand. That is a LOT of cartridge pleating by hand! But, I just love the way it turned out. I can now live out the Jane Eyre fantasies I've had since I was little and first read Jane Eyre! ;)

 



"You play A LITTLE, I see; like any other English school-girl; perhaps rather better than some, but not well."



Pining for Mr. Rochester on the moors! ;)

1910s Ensemble Finished!

I managed to finish the Armistice blouse (well, minus closures, as I have yet to find buttons I like well enough, and may just use hooks and eyes instead), as well as whip up a skirt from Butterick #4092, in time to wear at Dress U last weekend!

 

1840s Dress!

The sleeves of this dress have been an all-out fiasco, and I'm not entirely sure this is exactly the bodice I wanted. . . But in the interest of getting it done in time for Dress U - and because I have enough fabric to make a whole second bodice if I don't like this one - I'm plunging forward!

Starting the 1840s dress. . .

I've set aside the bonnet for now, so I can focus on the dress, and get it done in time for Dress U 2012! Here is my first draft of the bodice, and with the petticoats. (First time wearing the petticoats over a corset! Though, I'm still not wearing a chemise, and it's not the right corset. . . That is a project for a future date, when I have more time!)



And a bit closer up, front and back:

  

Lizzy Bennett bonnet is begun!

I've finally got around to putting this pattern of mine to good use! I've got the brim almost completely done, and the "pouf" is all gathered and ready to be attached. Here is the brim: